Cold Yucca Mountain: Is Carbon Capture & Sequestration the Coal Industry's Gordian Knot?by Dr. Eric Loewen
June 18, 2010
Cold Yucca Mountain: Is Carbon Capture & Sequestration the Coal Industry's Gordian Knot? by Dr. Eric Loewen, a Marshall Institute Fellow, draws lessons from the nuclear industry's experiences in seeking a permanent waste repository.
Dr. Loewen writes "The tribulations suffered by the nuclear industry in their quest to open a repository stand as a warning to those who put their hope in carbon sequestration."
Dr. Loewen first reviews the Yucca Mountain experience, in particular drawing attention to regular congressional interference with the project.
Drawing the connection to CCS, Dr. Loewen finds that "Radioactive waste is perceived as the Gordian Knot for the nuclear power industry because of the lack of a disposal system for the spent nuclear fuel. Long-term storage of waste CO2 is the Gordian Knot for the coal power industry because CO2 is now regarded and regulated as a pollutant, and a possible means of abatement is disposal into a geologic repository."
Specifically, he says proponents of CCS face three difficult questions -- "how does an engineer design a CO2 repository that will last forever? How would a regulatory agency license this repository? And how could a government guarantee to the local stakeholders that this CO2 repository will last forever?"
|
