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Electricity, heat touted for use in northern industry
Gordon Jaremko, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Saturday, March 29 2008
A research partnership between the Alberta and U.S. governments will investigate the possibility of using atomic power to fuel oilsands development.
The Alberta Research Council and the U.S. Energy Department’s main nuclear laboratory in Idaho signed a co-operation agreement Friday calling for work to investigate the potential to use electricity, heat and chemical byproducts produced by reactors proposed north of Edmonton in the region’s oilsands plants.
“This is a marriage made in heaven,” said Idaho laboratory associate director Bill Rogers.
Although no budget for the collaboration was announced, Rogers said potentially all of his operation’s 3,800 staff can be drafted as needed into the Alberta project.
“The U.S. is dependent on Alberta for energy security,” Rogers said, pointing to the province’s “essential” role as the biggest source of growing American oil and natural gas imports. Alberta stands out as a reliable and stable supplier, he said, in a world where America faces “nationalization of resources in countries that are hostile to the U.S.”
ARC vice-president Ian Potter said the partnership plans to work out a research agenda by late summer or early fall.
Potential topics range from using nuclear reactors to provide heat for steam used in thermal oilsands extraction to the production of hydrogen and oxygen used by bitumen upgraders, Potter said. Industry will take part in the research, he said.
“Technology transfer to industry is key to our work at both our labs,” Rogers said.
Idaho National Laboratory has built 53 reactors on its 2,200-square-kilometre site near the Canadian border and developed the propulsion system used by the U.S. navy’s atomic-powered ships.
The Alberta project breaks new ground, Rogers said. “This is a first for a national laboratory in the U.S. Our current and future energy security of the U.S. is inextricably linked to Canada.”
The U.S. agreement to work with ARC came together after Alberta Energy Minister Mel Knight visited the Idaho lab last year, the scientists said. He toured the American operation after proposals emerged to build nuclear power facilities near Peace River and Whitecourt.
The international science co-operation will “provide solid analysis and research on options available to address Alberta’s unique needs,” Knight said in a statement pledging support for the new agreement.
Potter and Rogers set no target dates for adding a nuclear plant in Alberta. A recent study by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers predicted technical barriers and public skepticism will prevent atomic energy from having a significant effect on oilsands projects before 2020.
But growing industry needs for more efficient and environmentally cleaner production may speed up improvements, Rogers said.
Shell, Chevron and Dow Chemical are collaborating with the Idaho lab to devise uses of nuclear technology to reduce carbon emissions and natural gas consumption by U.S. oil and petrochemical plants, Rogers said.
Pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and natural gas use will encourage oilsands developers to pay attention to technical improvements offered by the nuclear-power industry, said an executive of a candidate to build Alberta atomic plants.
While providing electricity at reasonable cost, atomic power plants produce no greenhouse gas emissions and can replace natural gas as fuel of oilsands plants, Areva Canada president Armand Laferrere said. The firm is a subsidiary of France’s global nuclear giant.
Current oilsands operations burn one thousand cubic feet of gas or more for every barrel of synthetic crude oil produced. As a result, the northern Alberta plants consume about one-sixth as much energy as they produce.
gjaremko@thejournal.canwest.com
© The Edmonton Journal 2008