Nuclear Free

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Alternatives to the nuclear option

Alternatives to the nuclear option
Professor Johnny Chan Chung-leung
Dean of the School of Energy and Environment
City University of Hong Kong
January 2012
In the Know

Demonstrations against the use of nuclear energy were staged worldwide following the radiation leaks at the stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan in March 2011. The incident highlighted the concerns of many people of using nuclear power as an option in addressing the issues of climate change, alternate energies and energy security.

Besides the possible environmental effects, there is the issue of cost to contend with. Building a nuclear power plant is very expensive: the best construction materials are required for a strong protective shell; multiple safety measures and contingency plans have to be put in place; and nuclear waste has to be treated and disposed of.

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However, nuclear energy has proved popular; for example, it currently accounts for around 23% of the total electrical power consumed in Hong Kong.

Many now feel that we have no other option but to go nuclear especially as a reliable, cost-effective and renewable energy supply has yet to be identified.

As an alternative to nuclear energy, and until we can create a sustainable alternative with less of a perceived threat to the environment, we should allocate more resources to researching the more efficient and cleaner use of fossil fuels so as to reduce the amount of pollutants and the emission of greenhouse gases.

Coal can be made cleaner and more efficient, for example. Newly developed devices can reduce the amount of sulphur dioxide emitted when coal is burned, while coal gasification is a promising method of exploiting the planet’s richest source of fossil fuel.

Similarly, scientists are developing carbon capture and underground storage technologies that mitigate the carbon dioxide created when natural gas is burned, although a lot of energy is consumed in this process. Researchers are investigating how to develop an artificial photosynthesis
process that simulates the way plants break up carbon dioxide’s strong molecular bonding.

Another approach is to look for ways of extracting carbon atoms from carbon dioxide and combine them with hydrogen for fuel.

Experts are currently looking at ways to diminish the consequences of using silicon in the production of solar energy. Although the actual process of power generation through solar energy produces minimal pollution,
extracting silicon—the raw material for the production of solar cells—from the earth and transporting it to the plant can damage the environment.

Carbon is contained in food waste, sawdust, the internal organs of animals, and even fallen leaves and branches.

Using them intelligently, we can create fuel. Organic waste can even be used for the production of plastics which would reduce the over-reliance on petroleum.

As Hong Kong is surrounded by water, we can explore the possibility of turning the energies of the sea, such as the kinetic energy of wave and tide, into electricity.

CityU is studying how to use the regular tidal pattern
for power generation. In addition, because wave conditions in Victoria Harbour have become rougher due to land reclamation projects, we can explore the possibility of using wave energy.

Before building any kind of device that can convert energy into electric power, we need to assess the whole production process, from the extraction of the raw materials and power generation to waste management.

Especially we need to study the pollution caused by
the production process and the deployment of manpower and other resources.

The practical solution to the deficiency of nuclear energy and fossil fuels is to develop a more environmentally friendly energy that will ensure the sustainable development of the economy.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

A year on, Japan nuclear film shows lives in limbo

A year on, Japan nuclear film shows lives in limbo
Wed Mar 7, 2012
Reuters

* Film cautions about depending on "nuclear money"
* The most damaged people also most ignored - director
* Pride in nuclear money turns to anger

By Chris Gallagher

TOKYO, March 7 (Reuters) - Decades ago, the citizens of Japan's Futaba town took such pride in hosting part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex that they built a sign over a promenade proclaiming that atomic power made their town prosperous.

Now, they are scattered around Japan with no clear sign of when they might return to their homes, and their story has become a cautionary tale about the dangerous allure of nuclear power.

"Nuclear Nation," a documentary that premiered at last month's Berlin film festival, follows the residents of Futaba who were evacuated after a series of explosions set off by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami at reactors some 3 km (2 miles) away in neighboring Okuma.

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With Futaba hit by high levels of radiation, its former residents don't know when, or even if, they will be able to return to their homes within the 20 km (12 mile) exclusion zone around the plant. In the broader region, tens of thousands were forced to flee.

"You tend to think about the resolution of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, but you have to look at the people," the film's director, Atsushi Funahashi, told Reuters.

"The people who got the most damage are the most ignored, and that's (what) you have to show."

Besides "Nuclear Nation", two other March 11-themed documentaries also screened at last month's Berlin film festival, as filmmakers start focusing their lenses on the worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986.

Funahashi began filming last April at an abandoned high school in a Tokyo suburb where 1,400 Futaba evacuees were living in classrooms and had set up town administrative offices.

Based on interviews over the course of the year, the film captures the monotony of their daily lives as they bide their time in cramped conditions with nowhere to go and the mayor describes a "refugee feeling."

"The thing that I really wanted to depict in 'Nuclear Nation' was the waiting time of these people," Funahashi said.

"They're going to get compensated eventually for the land and homes they lost. But they're not going to get paid for the time they lost, and that's one of the tragedies."

Their only chance to return home was for one two-hour visit last summer, clad in protective suits and masks to collect belongings and pray for ancestors in tsunami-flattened cemeteries.

"NUCLEAR MONEY"

They express anger at the government, regulators and plant owner they feel had assured them of the power station's safety.

That's a far cry from the sentiment of the late 1970s when the town of 8,000 suddenly found itself flush with funds from property taxes and government subsidies after plant owner Tokyo Electric (Tepco) began construction in Futaba on two reactors.

With this "nuclear money" to burn, Futaba spent big on an athletic center, a library and other infrastructure, while residents were able to work in town at the plant and get bigger houses -- the power plant was seen as a godsend.

In one scene, the camera lingers on a sign that proclaims: "Atomic Energy Makes Our Town and Society Prosperous."

Under depreciation rules, however, the reactors were worth almost nothing after 15 years, and Futaba nearly went bankrupt under a pile of debt, becoming one of Japan's poorest towns by the late 2000s, according to the film.

Futaba nearly tapped new nuclear money to help fix its financial woes, with Tepco set to begin construction on two new reactors, in April 2011.

"We thought Futaba's future was at stake without that money," Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa said in the film. "Now I realize the cons far outweigh the pros ... I've come to think it was wrong to invite the nuclear power plant into our lives."

Some 500 people are still living in the high school, and Funahashi said he has already started work on "Nuclear Nation 2," about their lives in the second year since the disaster.

"I really feel a strong urge that I have to follow them until they go back home," he said.

"Nuclear Nation," produced by Documentary Japan and Big River Films, has secured distribution rights in the United States and is set to screen at Hong Kong and other film festivals. France's Wide House is handling global sales. (Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Project Facebook Groups Pages