Energy Options

Mar 16, 2011 Editorial

As Japan struggles to deal with the staggering effects of its triple disaster – earthquake and aftershocks, tsunami and nuclear meltdowns – the impact from the last catastrophe will certainly leave the greatest impact; not only in Japan but the entire world. This should be borne home with even greater force because as the Japanese tragedies unfold, the world is once again being reminded about the precarious and finite state of its fossil fuel stock precipitated by the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.
The fossil fuel dilemma has been on the agenda for some time and the major consumers – the developed and the larger developing nations – have been scrambling around for alternatives to fire up their factories and vehicles. Paradoxically, the pollution caused by fossil fuels had precipitated its own crises – global warming, melting glaziers, extreme weather disturbances and rising seas –which gave an extra impetus for alternative sources of fuel.
While for the long term it was conceded that renewable sources of energy such as wind, hydro and biomass was the way to go, the industrialised countries and (especially) the industrialising giants China and India, began to hedge their bets in the last decade. They not only began to take a new look at nuclear power, but made the decision to plunge vigorously ahead with new reactor installations.
A number of near catastrophic (Three-Mile Island, USA, 1979) and catastrophic (Chernobyl, USSR, 1986) had publicised the downside risks of the supposedly “inexhaustible” new source of energy for the world and put the brakes on expansion for a while. There was also the not insignificant and omnipresent question of how to dispose of the waste from the utilisation of the uranium, which was potently radioactive and would persist for thousands of years.
But a combination of improved engineering technologies, which supposedly bolstered the safety of nuclear plants, the inexorable dwindling of fossil fuel reserves and powerful lobbyists, all worked together to force world leaders to look at nuclear power much more favourably.
Even President Obama of the US, which had not built a nuclear plant since the 1970s, accepted that “nuclear power must play a role in the US’ plans on energy”.
China announced that it would build nine new nuclear plants in addition to the two presently under construction, but it is in India where the most intense activity is expected. Russia is already building two plants in that country and the private sector has projected that another 18 to 20 new nuclear power plants were likely to be set up over the next 15 years. There are approximately 439 nuclear power plant units in 31 countries with an installed electric net capacity of about 372 GW in operation and a further 38 plants with an installed capacity of 32.6 GW in 14 countries under construction.
In the fallout over the nuclear disaster in Japan, where it is certain that we have a disaster that will put Chernobyl in the shade, this expansion in generation of power from nuclear reactors will definitely slow down precipitously, if not grind to a halt.
Apart from the idiosyncracy of the Japanese meltdown – Japan’s proximity to an earthquake-prone zone – it is now clear that the vaunted improvement in technological competence in designing and constructing reactors, leaves much to be desired.
Added to the fact that even the ultra-thorough Japanese systems of regulation and compliance were subverted by corporate executives who hid data from regulators, confidence in the safety of nuclear power has once again been undermined. Germany has already taken off 7 nuclear reactors from its power grid in the last few days.
For us in Guyana, the most significant impact is that the uranium find in the Pakaraimas that was announced by the Canadian company Prometheus Resources might not be as valuable as it was projected two years ago.
As for our energy options, in addition to the oil reserves off our coast, the government has assured us that construction of the hydro electric plant at Amaila Falls will start later this year.

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