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Did you ever wonder how we make choices? How do people decide to split their time between work and play? How do companies decide to split their expenditures between workers and equipment? How do advocacy groups decide what to be an advocate for? And how do these decisions result in the diversity of activity we see around us every day?
When the topic is energy, all of these individual choices come together to create the complex and interconnected systems we refer to as global energy enterprise. In order to understand the big questions related to global energy eneterprise, we need a shared framework for thinking about choices. Economics provides such a framework. In this lesson, we will review the workings of a conventional economic model and consider the imperfections, or limits, of this model that create opportunity for nonmarket activities. We will begin to apply this theory to energy-related issues and data.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
The table below provides an overview of the requirements for Lesson 1. For details, please see individual assignments.
Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK |
---|---|
Read Lesson 1 content. | Not submitted. |
Content Activity 1: Complete quiz | Yes—Complete quiz located in the Modules Tab in Canvas. |
Feature Activity 1: Participate in discussion as directed in assignment. | Yes—see "Feature Activity 1" Discussion Forum under Lessons Tab in Canvas. |
Economics is the study of allocation of scarce resources.
Resources yield benefits through their use in consumption or production. And resources are scarce when making use of them in one way removes the opportunity to make use of them in another.
For example, we use our time for play or work. And the organizations where we work ask us to perform different tasks in order to fulfill their objectives. For example, a corporation’s objective is to earn profits for its owners by creating a product valued by their customers. Advocacy groups may have some objective other than profitability. But in a way similar to corporations, they serve their objective by providing a service valued by their constituents. These organizations receive payments--revenues or donations--that they use to invest in equipment and to pay workers. And workers use the income derived from work to buy a house, or heat a house, or buy a car, or put gasoline in the tank. And then we decide where to go, to play or to work.
All of these decisions require tradeoffs. How much equipment will an organization forgo in order to hire another worker? How much income will we forego in order to play? How much heat will we forgo in order to travel? Economics provides a framework for thinking about these choices.
Worldwide demand for “energy” is growing rapidly. In the International Energy Outlook 2013 [3], the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that, in 2040, world marketed energy consumption will have increased by 56% from 2010 levels. See Figure 1. Most of this increase will occur in non-OECD countries. Remember who they are? See the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) [4].
This energy is going to come from a wide and changing mix of fuel types, see Figure 2. In general economic terms, Figure 1 is the demand forecast and Figure 2 is the supply forecast.
In the wild scramble to meet soaring demand with limited resources (ah ha, “scarce resources”!), the situation is made far more complicated by volatile external issues such as those involving the environment (from emissions and climate change to land use and biodiversity), security (energy independence) and local health and economies.
Economics provides the framework for studying global energy markets and the effect of external forces. How will these resources be allocated? What are the forces that could, or should, drive this process? How do non-market factors, such as environmental impact and national security, affect this process?
Sometimes we can realize the value of a decision all on our own, without involving others. If we enjoy staring at the clouds, all we need to do is decide to lie down and stare, and we can do so. (Go ahead, try it!) But most of the time, we need to exchange with others in order to realize the value of our decisions.
For example, once we've decided to work and an employer has decided to hire us, we need to agree on the terms of exchange. How much labor does the employer need? How much do we want to offer? And at what price are both parties willing to make the exchange? And once we have income, we'll need to determine the terms of exchange for the goods we desire--food, gasoline, movie tickets, phone...a place to live. What will we buy? What are we willing to pay? To whom?
The arenas in which these exchanges take place are referred to as markets.
Formal economic models give us the tools we need to study the process of market exchange between economizing agents (buyers and sellers). The economic models provide a logical set of relationships between economizing agents. Much of our conventional wisdom about the benefits of markets is derived from these models.
We will first visit three basic assumptions underlying conventional economic models:
Conventional economic models assume that people make rational choices. Rational choices are choices that result in the optimal level of benefit or satisfaction for the individual.
We assume that the consumption of a good or service confers some value to the consumer. Rational consumers are those who make choices that maximize the total satisfaction they derive from available consumption options. In economics, the concept of satisfaction (benefit) received from consuming a good or service is called utility. Rational consumers make choices to maximize their utility from consumption.
Similarly, we assume that producing organizations (businesses, firms) desire to return value to their owners. Rational producers are those who make choices that maximize the total value of their production, net of the costs of creating that value. Rational firms make choices to maximize their profits from production.
And, in this fabulous dance, the business owners who desire to increase their income do so in order to increase their own consumption!
Importantly, just to be clear...
Assuming that agents are rational does not imply they are necessarily materialistic. Individuals and organizations may expend their time and financial resources to obtain material comforts. But, they may also expend those resource to achieve principled objectives that depend upon moral considerations. All that rationality requires is that agents economize. By assuming rationality we are simply assuming that agents will pursue their objectives, their utility or profitability, at the lowest cost possible. Those objectives may be materialistic or principled or a little of both - for example, the person who pays extra for coffee that tastes the same but comes from a farm that is certified as sustainable [6].
This sounds like an interesting page, right? Really, it is! Read on...
Conventional economic models assume that successive units of consumption of the same good or service will provide the consumer with a particular pattern of additions to their utility. Specifically, these models assume that consumers derive more benefit from earlier units of consumption of a good than they derive from later units of consumption. For example, we may enjoy an apple, but we probably won't enjoy the second apple as much as the first. And by the time we're eating the 10th apple, we might not enjoy it at all.
Marginal utility is the utility (benefit, satisfaction) consumers derive from each additional unit of a good or service. Diminishing marginal utility is the assumption that marginal utility declines with each additional unit that is consumed. As we enjoy each apple less, we are experiencing diminishing marginal utility.
The price of a good or service reflects opportunity cost, the cost of giving up other opportunities in order to enjoy this one. For example, when I spend my money to purchase an apple, I give up the opportunity to spend that money to purchase a banana. At a given price, consumers will purchase a unit of a good or service if the utility they derive from consumption of that unit is greater than the utility they could have achieved from any alternative consumption opportunity.
And, if the utility derived from the next unit of the good or service is still greater than the price, the consumer will purchase and consume that unit as well. In fact, consumers will continue to purchase successive units of a good or service as long as the benefit of consuming each marginal unit of the good exceeds its price. As long as apples give me more satisfaction for my money than other available options, I will continue buying apples.
Our economic model assumes that the marginal utility of consumption is declining. Eventually, a consumer in this model will have acquired so many units of a good that the price exceeds the consumption benefit of the marginal unit. At this point, the consumer, having purchased all previous units, will not purchase the next unit.
I enjoy each apple a little less than the one before (diminishing utility). For a while I continue to buy and eat apples, but eventually I will decide that the satisfaction I will get from the next apple (the marginal utility) is not worth the money I have to give up to get it (the opportunity cost). At this point, I will stop buying apples.
Diminishing marginal utility of consumption results in a negative relationship between the price of a good and the total quantity of that good demanded from the marketplace. Graphically, we call this relationship a demand curve. Consider the good or service depicted in the demand curve here. When the price is PA, the total number of units desired for consumption is QA. The combination of price and quantity is depicted by point "A" on the demand curve. If apples are priced at PA, then I will purchase some apples, and so will other consumers. And the total number that we will buy and eat is QA.. For each of us consumers in the marketplace, the satisfaction that we get from any more apples (marginal utility) is not worth the price..
If the price of the good is suddenly increased to PC while we consumers are consuming QA (depicted by point "B"), then we will conclude that the benefit of the marginal units consumed no longer exceeds the cost of those units. I will no longer demand my marginal units. And because I assume the other consumers are rational like I am, total units demanded in the marketplace will decline. Consumers will continue to reduce total units demanded until they reach a level at which utility from the marginal units demanded are not exceed the higher price PC. The new price-quantity combination depicted by point "C" represents another point on the demand curve. If the price of apples suddenly goes up to PC, the price (opportunity cost) will outweigh the benefits at a lower quantity of total consumption. Together, we consumers will now buy only QC apples. For any more apples than that, the satisfaction we get (marginal utility) is not worth the price..
Similarly, as the price of a good is decreased, consumers will find that the marginal benefit of additional units of consumption exceeds their opportunity cost. They will consume those additional units, and total units demanded in the marketplace will increase. If the price of apples goes down, it will take longer for the price to outweigh the satisfaction each consumer receives from their next apple. I will buy more apples, and so will everyone else.
Factors other than price can also increase the quantity of a good demanded in the marketplace. They can cause the whole demand curve to shift, to the right or left. For example, if consumer incomes increase, then consumers will desire more of all goods at each given price. This can be illustrated as an outward (rightward) shift in the demand curve.
Similarly, changes in the prices of related goods can also shift the demand curve. A substitute good or service is one that can be used in place of another. For example, economizing agents can drive their own car or take the bus. An increase in the price of fuel will lead some consumers to take the bus. An increase in the price of a substitute good will make the subject good more attractive to consumers. Thus, the demand curve would shift rightward. A complementary good or service is one that is associated or paired with another. For example, DVD players and DVDs. An increase in the price of complementary goods would make the subject good less desirable, resulting in an inward (leftward) shift in demand.
Finally, a fundamental change in preferences can also shift a demand curve. For example, demand for tobacco products declined at all prices levels as consumers became increasingly aware of links between smoking and lung cancer. And this occurred regardless of changes in consumer incomes, and regardless of the prices of cigars (substitutes) and scotch (complements.)
Economic models also assume increasing marginal costs of production. Marginal costs are the costs of each additional unit of output. For example, if a factory is running at full capacity, producing additional units may require paying overtime. In some cases, marginal costs are small. For example, the music and software businesses. And sometimes marginal costs will initially drop due to economies of scale but eventually rise again as quantities get higher and higher. But, in general, economic models assume that marginal costs increase as quantity goes up.
Similar to the way consumers experience diminishing marginal utility, output producing firms derive more productive benefit from their first input units to production. And successive inputs to production yield smaller marginal additions to output. For example, an apple farmer may increase production by investing in a pound of fertilizer. (Let’s assume it is organic!) But the second pound of fertilizer will increase apple production to a lesser degree. Consequently, equivalent incremental increases in apple production will require successively increasing expenditures on fertilizer.
For the producer, the price paid by the consumer for each unit of good or service is the marginal revenue of output. As long as this revenue exceeds the costs of inputs required in production, the producer will continue to produce.
Our model assumes that marginal costs are increasing. Eventually, if prices remain constant, the cost of producing the next unit will outweigh the marginal revenue (benefit) of the next unit. Firms will increase production until they achieve this level of output.
Increasing marginal costs of production result in a positive relationship between the price of a good and the total quantity of that good supplied to the marketplace. Graphically, we call this relationship a supply curve. As the price of a produced good is increased, from point 1 to point 2, for example, firms will find that the point at which marginal costs exceed marginal revenue occurs at a higher total production quantity. Firms will increase production to this level of output, and total units supplied to the marketplace will increase, to point 3 in the figure above. Similarly, as the price of a produced good is decreased, firms will find that marginal costs exceed marginal revenues at a lower number of output units, firms will decrease output to this level, and the total number of units supplied to the marketplace will decrease.
The quantity of a good supplied in the marketplace is dependent upon other factors in addition to price. These factors can cause the supply curve to shift to the left or right. For example, if the costs of inputs decline, then suppliers can afford to supply a larger quantity of a good at any given price level. And technological advances can shift a supply curve. For example, technological improvements in computing processor design and manufacturing had a profound impact on the markets for computers, cellphones, and other ‘smart’ consumer electronic devices. These technological innovations increased the supply of products that manufacturers were capable of producing at any given price level, leading to a significant reduction in prices to consumers.
A 2011 report, The Future of Natural Gas [7], includes the supply curves shown below. The marginal costs increase differently depending on the source of the natural gas. We’ll discuss these details in a later lesson!
These three assumptions--rationality, diminishing marginal utility from consumption, and increasing marginal cost of production--are all that is required to understand market exchange in an ideal-world model.
Consider first a simple world with consumers who desire to purchase a good and firms with the ability to produce a good for sale. If markets are free to set prices, then prices will adjust to equate demand and supply.
If price is such that quantity demanded is less than quantity supplied, as depicted by P0, for example, then some producing firms will not find willing buyers for their products. Those firms will reduce their price in order to entice buyers to purchase their goods instead of competing products. Falling prices will encourage demand, but will also discourage supply. (Remember, producers will continue to produce only as long as the marginal revenue exceeds the marginal cost of production.) Price adjustments will continue until a market equilibrium is reached, in which all produced goods find willing buyers and producers no longer face incentives to reduce prices, as depicted by P1 and Q1.
Similarly, if price is such that quantity demanded is greater than quantity supplied, then the market can allocate product to only some consumers. Some prospective consumers who did not receive any goods will increase the price they're willing to pay. After all, consumers receive a relatively high marginal utility from the first unit of good consumed, so we know they're willing to pay more for that unit. Consumer demand will be discouraged as the price they must pay rises above the utility (satisfaction) derived from the marginal good. And production will be encouraged as the price received for goods rises above the cost of producing the marginal good. Price adjustments will continue until a market equilibrium is reached, in which all produced goods find willing buyers and consumers no longer face incentives to increase prices.
This same story can be told simultaneously, to represent the multiple markets within an economy: markets for labor and homes and fuel oil and cars and gasoline and apples and... Economizing agents will simultaneously engage in multiple markets, supplying labor and consuming goods. And those same agents may organize firms, demanding labor and input goods in order to produce output goods. But even in this more complicated sounding case, the dynamics are the same. Market participants will adjust prices until the quantity supplied is equivalent to the quantity demanded in each market. And at this point, market participants have no incentives to continue to adjust their resource allocations. They will have acquired a magnitude of goods for which their marginal utility exceeds marginal cost. And they will have supplied a magnitude of goods for which their marginal revenue exceeds marginal cost.
For a quick demonstration of these concepts, visit Exploring Supply and Demand [8] from the University of Nebraska, and watch the supply and demand curves shift. It's a great way to see how well you understand this!
Free exchange among market participants achieves the most-desired allocation of resources from the set of all possible allocations of resources. At the set of prices equating demand and supply in each market, there are no additional exchanges that can increase any one agent's utility without reducing some other agent's utility. The price of apples will settle at the point where I have bought and the orchard has sold exactly the number of apples we want. At that price, I don’t want to buy more, and at that price the orchard does not want to sell more.
In this simplified model, the process of free and voluntary exchange maximizes total social well being, or social welfare. In this context, social welfare does not mean state-funded programs and services to assist disadvantaged groups. In economics, social welfare is simply the well-being of the entire society.
But this welfare result is based on an important, oftentimes implicit, assumption. The model we've described assumes frictionless exchange. To simplify the study of mechanical principles and to make calculations manageable, problems presented to students often begin with “Assume no friction.” Of course, in the real world, we can’t get away with this! Nonetheless, in engineering, this simplifying assumption does allow for a clear and useful study of the underlying principles. In economics, frictionless exchange is the same idea—it is a simplifying assumption that, though useful, leaves out some unavoidable real world forces. Frictionless exchange assumes a market place with no transaction costs.
Examples of transaction costs (exchange frictions, friction costs) are considerations such as fees paid to lawyers and accountants and the time and effort spent shopping and comparing prices -- these are resources that do not provide utility. Nor do they produce other goods that produce utility. Transactions costs refers to resources that are destroyed through the process of exchange. They are the costs incurred in overcoming market imperfections. (In another use, the term “transaction cost” simply means the fee paid to a banker or broker to execute a transaction. This narrower interpretation is not our intended meaning here.)
Transaction costs are a broad group of incurred costs, which can be generally summarized into three groups:
Search and information costs: the costs (resources expended) to determine information about available goods and services. Information such as product availability, price, quality, features and performance, etc.
Bargaining costs: the costs required to reach an agreement with the other party, such as negotiations, documentation and drawing up a contract.
Policing and enforcement costs: the costs of the activities necessary to make sure the other party adheres to the terms of the contract, including legal action (or the threat thereof) when necessary.
We have Ronald Coase to thank for this added complication to our simple economic models! In fact, transaction costs and all that they imply are so important to economic theory that Professor Coase was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences for this work. For more about the man and his work, including on-going research, visit The Ronald Coase Institute [11]. In his Prize Lecture [12], Professor Coases talks about making the “essentials of the argument” in a college lecture he gave in 1932 and then goes on to say, “I was then twenty-one years of age and the sun never ceased to shine. I could never have imagined that these ideas would become some 60 years later a major justification for the award of a Nobel Prize. And it is a strange experience to be praised in my eighties for work I did in my twenties.” I love the humanity of his words and the subtle power of his ideas. Thought you’d enjoy them too.
Okay, back to business! In our simplified model, we assumed no transaction costs. By doing this, what were we leaving out? Remember, transaction costs are the costs incurred to overcome market imperfections. By assuming no transaction costs, we implied the following:
Potential buyers do not waste resources on information discovery and verification. For example, suppose you are shopping for a car and you know that you can purchase one of two types; fuel efficient or fuel inefficient. If all other attributes of the cars are identical, the fuel efficient car should be more valuable because it is relatively inexpensive to operate. In a world without transactions costs, you costlessly distinguish between these two cars.
Firms can costlessly and effectively provide employees the incentives necessary to maximize firm value/profits. For example, suppose you own a full-service gas station. In order to maximize the profitability of your business, you've determined the optimal amount of effort to expend on various tasks - sweeping floors, washing windshields, and assuring customers get the gas they want, regular when they pay for regular and premium when they pay for premium. In a world without transacitions costs, you can costlessly create the employment contracts and monitoring and enforcement mechanisms necessary to elicit this optimal level of effort from your employees.
All parties affected by an exchange can costlessly participate in the exchange. The “affected parties” include parties that are external to the transaction itself (parties other than the producer and consumer). Consider our gas station example. But now, you are a bystander experiencing the external (to the gasoline sale/purchase) cost of breathing pollution emitted by the driver's exhaust. Your displeasure provides an incentive to mitigate the consequences of the exhaust. You could pay the driver to take a route outside your neighborhood. If the driver's cost of the detour is lower than your displeasure from the exhaust, then there is a transfer payment that makes you better off without making the driver worse off. And because contacting and enforcement is costless, you will establish property rights to clean air in your neighborhood. Alternatively, if the driver's cost of the detour is greater than your displeasure, the driver can compensate you for tolerating the dirty air. In this case, the driver will have established property rights to foul the air, again, because contracting and enforcement is costless. In either case, the parties can effectively exchange through markets to optimize the resource allocation (i.e., gasoline, money, air quality, time spent driving).
Of course, in the real world, parties to an exchange (producers, consumers and external parties) do incur transaction costs. Parties external to the transaction may be affected. These nonmarket "externalities" will be the subject of our next lesson.
Complete the quiz "Content Activity 1," located in the Quizzes folder under the Modules tab in Canvas. The quiz consists of 10 short "essay" questions (will be graded by instructor). The quiz is not timed, but does close at midnight on the due date as shown in Canvas. If you have questions, please post in "Questions about EME 444?".
You will be graded on the correctness and quality of your answers. Thinking is good! Make your answers as orderly and clear as possible. (Be sure to select "HTML Editor," as instructed in quiz.) Help me understand what you are thinking and include data where relevant. Numbers should ALWAYS be accompanied by units of measure (not "300" but "300 kW"). Proofread and spell check your work. Thank you!Participate as described in the Discussion Forum "Feature Assignment 1: Fuel Economy Labels." Access this Discussion Forum under "Discussion" in the Modules tab in Canvas. Any questions, let me know!
In this lesson, we introduced the concepts of rational decision making, market exchange and equilibrium, transactions costs and externalities. You learned:
You have reached the end of Lesson 1! Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
With this lesson, we will explore the energy landscape of Europe, including policies and programs, energy sources and consumption and the challenge to create an infrastructure supporting a internal EU internal energy market.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
The table below provides an overview of the requirements for Lesson 9. For details, please see individual assignments.
Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK |
---|---|
Read Lesson 9 content | Not submitted |
Content Activity 9: Complete quiz | Complete Quiz located in Quizzes folder under Modules Tab in Canvas. |
Feature Activity 9: Complete assigned readings and submit written answers to all questions. | Yes—submitted to Canvas dropbox under Modules Tab in Canvas (To access this dropbox, must have completed Course Orientation activities) |
Europe is the 2nd smallest continent after Australia. The mainland of Europe is a peninsula of the western part of the Eurasian supercontinent, with no clear geological boundary to the east. By convention, it is separated from Asia by the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caucasus Mountains and in the south east by the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
In the south, Europe is separated from Africa by the Mediterranean Sea. In the west, Europe's borders are defined by the Atlantic Ocean and, to the north, by the Polar Sea.
The United Nations recognizes four subregions in Europe [14]: Eastern Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Western Europe.
Visit One-World [15]
Read view list of countries in Europe. Then take a little trip! Use interactive map [13] to explore. Notice cities, languages, currency, natural resources.
From NPR, read A Brief History of the European Union [16]
Visit Eurpoa and read
Since 2004, the number of EU member countries had grown from 15 to 27 through two waves of "enlargement," as the process is called. To address needed reforms for the larger group and current times, The Lisbon Treaty was signed by all EU Member States on 13 December 2007.
This important treaty "rethinks" some of the ground rules for EU countries working together. It "defines what the EU can and cannot do, and what means it can use. It alters the structure of the EU’s institutions and how they work. As a result, the EU is more democratic and its core values are better served."(Treaty of Lisbon, Taking Europe into the 21st Century [24]) The Treaty went into effect on 1 December 2009.
The Treaty opened the door for many new opportunities for the EU to work together, including areas related to the environment and energy.
"The Treaty of Lisbon states that one of the Union’s objectives is to work for the sustainable development of Europe based, in particular, on a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. Although the idea of sustainable development was included in the existing treaties, the Treaty of Lisbon reinforces and better defines this objective. Sustainable development is also affirmed as one of the fundamental objectives of the Union in its relations with the wider world.
The environment is one of the spheres of competence shared between the Union and the Member States. When the Union intervenes in this area, it must contribute to the pursuit of clear objectives: preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment; protecting human health; promoting prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources; promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems.
Climate change is among the biggest environmental, social and economic challenges currently facing mankind. With the Treaty of Lisbon, combating climate change on an international level becomes a specific objective of EU environmental policy. The Treaty of Lisbon adds the support of international action for fighting climate change to the list of objectives defining environmental policy at EU level. In so doing, the Treaty clearly recognises that the EU has a leading role to play on the world stage in this area.
(Treaty of Lisbon, Questions and Answers [25], retrieved October 2011)
The Treaty also contains "a specific chapter on energy which defines the key competencies and the overall objectives of energy policy: the functioning of energy markets, security of supply, energy efficiency and savings, the development of new and renewable forms of energy and the interconnection of energy networks. For the first time there is a principle of solidarity, ensuring that if one country faces severe difficulties in the supply of energy, other Member States will help keep the country supplied." (Europa, Policies for a better life [26], retrieved October 2011)
To Read Now
Important EU policies and programs related to energy and the environment
- EU-ETS The EU Emissions Trading System operates by the allocation and trading of greenhouse gas emissions allowances throughout the EU - one allowance represents one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent. From the European Commission Climate Change, read European Union Emissions Trading System [27]
- 20-20-20 From the European Commission Climate Change, read The EU Climate and Energy Package [28]
- The SET-Plan (Strategic Energy Technology Plan) From the European Commission, read Overview [29] and What is the SET-Plan [30]
Visit the European Commission's Market Observatory for Energy [32]
The International Energy Agency [34] (IEA) is an "autonomous organisation which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 28 member countries and beyond. Founded in response to the 1973/4 oil crisis, the IEA’s initial role was to help countries co-ordinate a collective response to major disruptions in oil supply through the release of emergency oil stocks to the markets. While this continues to be a key aspect of its work, the IEA has evolved and expanded. It is at the heart of global dialogue on energy, providing authoritative and unbiased research, statistics, analysis and recommendations."
Launched in June 2006, Energy Technology Perspectives is the IEA's leading biennial publication. The series is a response to a request from the G8 in 2005 for guidance on how to achieve a clean, clever and competitive energy future and how to achieve a 50% reduction in global CO2 emissions by 2050.
Energy Technology Perspectives uses scenarios to evaluate technology and emissions outcomes. The Baseline scenario illustrates what is likely to happen if no new action is taken through the energy system to address climate change and energy security concerns. The Blue scenarios explore what needs to be done to reduce CO2 emissions to one half of their 2005 levels by 2050. There are several different variations of the Blue scenario (described in Energy Technology Perspectives 2010, Chapter 2, "Overview of Scenarios," if you'd like additional information.)
In the International Energy Agency's Energy Technology Perspectives 2010, read sections of Chapter 8 OECD Europe, as described below. You will find the full publication in Canvas, under the Modules tab in "Related Materials." We will refer to this same publication in the next several lessons.
The EU’s goals for a competitive, sustainable and secure supply of energy for all member countries is best achieved when energy is available from a wide range of sources. And often, these energy sources are located far from the areas of highest demand, the major markets.
The requirements for infrastructure are addressed in the EU communication, Energy infrastructure priorities for 2020 and beyond -A Blueprint for an integrated European energy network [37] (Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, November 2010, COM(2010) 677 final).
Excerpt below sets the stage for understanding the map above. More details are provided in the assigned reading. Excerpt is from opening section of Energy infrastructure priorities for 2020 and beyond -A Blueprint for an integrated European energy network [37] (Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Socail Committee and the Committee of the Regions, November 2010, COM(2010) 677 final)
Europe's energy infrastructure is the central nervous system of our economy. EU energy policy goals, as well as the Europe 2020 economic aims, will not be achievable without a major shift in the way European infrastructure is developed. Rebuilding our energy system for a low-carbon future is not just a task for the energy industry. Technological improvements, greater efficiencies, resilience to a changing climate and new flexibility will be necessary.
This is not a task which a single Member State can achieve on its own. A European strategy, and funding, will be necessary.
The Energy Policy for Europe, agreed by the European Council in March 2007, establishes the Union’s core energy policy objectives of competitiveness, sustainability and security of supply. The internal energy market has to be completed in the coming years and by 2020 renewable sources have to contribute 20% to our final energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions have to fall by 20% and energy efficiency gains have to deliver 20% savings in energy consumption. The EU has to assure security of supply to its 500 million citizens at competitive prices against a background of increasing international competition for the world's resources. The relative importance of energy sources will change. For fossil fuels, notably gas and oil, the EU will become even more dependent on imports. For electricity, demand is set to increase significantly.
The Energy 2020 Communication, adopted on 10 November 2010, called for a step change in the way we plan, construct and operate our energy infrastructures and networks. Energy infrastructures are at the forefront of the flagship initiative "Resource efficient Europe".
Adequate, integrated and reliable energy networks are a crucial prerequisite not only for EU energy policy goals, but also for the EU's economic strategy. Developing our energy infrastructure will not only enable the EU to deliver a properly functioning internal energy market, it will also enhance security of supply, enable the integration of renewable energy sources, increase energy efficiency and enable consumers to benefit from new technologies and intelligent energy use.
The EU pays the price for its outdated and poorly interconnected energy infrastructure. In January 2009, solutions to the gas disruptions in Eastern Europe were hindered by a lack of reverse flow options and inadequate interconnection and storage infrastructures. Rapid development of offshore wind electricity generation in the North and Baltic Sea regions is hampered by insufficient grid connections both off- and onshore. Developing the huge renewables potential in Southern Europe and North Africa will be impossible without additional interconnections within the EU and with neighbouring countries. The risk and cost of disruptions and wastage will become much higher unless the EU invests as a matter of urgency in smart, effective and competitive energy networks, and exploits its potential for energy efficiency improvements.
[...]A new EU energy infrastructure policy is needed to coordinate and optimise network development on a continental scale. This will enable the EU to reap the full benefits of an integrated European grid, which goes well beyond the value of its single components. A European strategy for fully integrated energy infrastructures based on smart and low-carbon technologies will reduce the costs of making the low-carbon shift through economies of scale for individual Member States. A fully interconnected European market will also improve security of supply and help stabilise consumer prices by ensuring that electricity and gas goes to where it is needed. European networks including, as appropriate, with neighbouring countries, will also facilitate competition in the EU’s single energy market and build up solidarity among Member States. Above all, integrated European infrastructure will ensure that European citizens and buinesses have access to affordable energy sources. This in turn will positively contribute to Europe's 2020 policy objective of maintaining a strong, diversified and competitive industrial base in Europe.
Referring to the map above, "EU priority corridors for electricity, gas and oil," open and read the EU publication, Energising Europe [39].
Grading—You will be graded on how well your answers reflect an understanding of the issues and the content of this course, the level of detail and clarity of your response, and the quality of your research. Take time to do your research.
In this lesson you learned...
You have reached the end of Lesson 9! Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
The previous section provides an analytical framework that can be used to formulate qualitative predictions for non-market issues. In addition, that analytical procedure can help to identify the key stakeholders driving an issue toward its predicted outcome. Consequently, that analytical framework can also be useful for developing and evaluating strategies for influencing non-market issues.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
For a given issue, students will be able to develop recommendations for each of these strategic dimensions, which are based upon the non-market analysis they learned in Lesson 2.
This lesson will take us one week to complete. Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. There are a number of required activities in this lesson. The chart below provides an overview of those activities that must be submitted for this lesson. For assignment details, refer to the lesson page noted.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK |
---|---|
Read Chapter X in the textbook. | Not submitted |
On-line quiz | This will be submitted via Canvas. |
If you have any questions, please post them to the Comments area that appears at the bottom of this page and all other pages in this lesson. I will check these comments regularly to respond. While you are on a page, feel free to go through the comments and post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
Preparation
Coal mining employs basically the same traditional mining techniques used in hard rock mining - underground and surface ("strip") mining. One of the more efficient but environmentally destructive methods for mining coal involves "strip" mining. This technique is analogous to the open pit mining techniques used in hard rock mining whereby the soil and rock above the coal seam are removed to expose the seam. The seam is then blasted and the coal is scooped up by huge front end loaders or electric shovels and transported to a coal processing plant. These coal preparation plants use a variety of physical (e.g., screening) and chemical (e.g., flotation using high gravity liquids) methods to separate the raw coal from all of the non-combustible waste rock and minerals (e.g., pyrite). The coarser waste rock is piled up adjacent to the mined out area and the finer coal tailings coming from the preparation plant are discharged as a thick slurry into a man-made impoundment. After coal mining operations have ceased, the mine is reclaimed by dumping the waste rock into the pit, regrading the area to approximate the original contours of the land and then replanting the area using native grasses and trees. Source for this para, direct quote from US EPA glossary, here http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/glossary.cfm [40] term, "Mining (Coal)"
An impoundment is "The entire structure used for coal slurry waste disposal, including the embankment, basin, beach, pool, and slurry." (source: National Research Council, 2002 this book: Coal waste impoundments: risks, responses, and alternatives, by National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Coal Waste Impoundments) See http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030908251X&page=213 [41]
During the process of mining and cleaning coal, waste is created and must be permanently disposed of in an impoundment. Preparation of coal, also called washing, is how non-combustible materials are removed from the mine. As the coal is washed, waste is created and classified as either course refuse or fine refuse. Larger materials such as rocks and pieces of coal are defined as course refuse. Slurry, a combination of silt, dust, water, bits of coal and clay particles is considered fine refuse, and is the most commonly disposed of material held in an impoundment. Between 20 to 50 percent of the material received at a coal preparation plant may be rejected and housed in impoundments (National Research Council, 2002). The coarse refuse is used to construct the impoundment dam, which then holds the fine refuse or slurry, along with any chemicals used to wash and treat the coal at the coal preparation plant. Directly from http://www.coalimpoundment.org/aboutimpoundments/facts.asp [42] What is an Impoundment?
Coal preparation, or “washing,” also causes water pollution when chemicals and water are used to separate impurities from mined coal. Up to 90 million gallons of coal preparation slurry are produced every year in the U.S., most of which are stored in large waste pits known as impoundments. Impoundments leak into local water supplies and can even burst dramatically, sending millions of gallons of wastes barreling down in mudflows and destroying property and lives. (The SIerra Club description: www.sierraclub.org/coal/downloads/0508-coal-report-fact-sheet.pdf [43])
Notes and possible exercises:
Coal preparation/processing and related topics (slurry, impoundments) not mentioned on pro-coal sites that I can find. Except here, http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/coalprep.htm [44]. Activist group here http://www.sludgesafety.org/coal_sludge.html [45]
http://www.coalimpoundment.org/aboutimpoundments/facts.asp [42]
Methane
http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/coal-seam-methane/ [46]
http://www.tri-starpetroleum.com.au/02_what_is_csm/what_csm.htm [47] from an oil&gas company
http://www.terrapinn.com/2011/csm/the-big-idea.stm [48] Coal Seam Methane World 2011
http://www.epa.gov/coalbed/faq.html [49] FAQs, including coalbed methane vs coal mine methane
http://www.encana.com/news/topics/cbm-groundwater/ [50] coalbed methane and water from a natural gas co. (canadian)
water quality and safety
Safety
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/us/20mine.html?partner=rss&emc=rss [51] Fatal Mine Blast Was Preventable, Report Says
Transport
http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/market-amp-transportation/ [52] Market & Transportation overview from World Coal Association
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technol... [53] How Coal Works w Transportation section
"Simply moving coal from one place to another has a significant environmental impact, with coal transportation accounting for about half of U.S. freight train traffic. These trains, as well as trucks and barges that transport coal, run on diesel—a major source of nitrogen oxide and soot." In envionmental section of above source
http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2010/01/25/2 [54] Railroads, utilities clash over dust from coal trains
Combustion
Coal Trade (section directly from World Energy Council, 2010 Survey of Energy Resources, http://www.worldenergy.org/publications/3040.asp [55]
Coal is traded around the world, being shipped huge distances by sea to reach markets. Over the last twenty years seaborne trade in steam coal has increased on average by about 7% each year with seaborne coking coal trade increasing by 1.6% a year. Overall international trade in coal reached 938 million tonnes in 2008; while this is a significant amount of coal it still only accounts for about 17% of total coal consumed, as most is still used in the country in which it is produced.
Transportation costs account for a large share of the total delivered price of coal, therefore international trade in steam coal is effectively divided into two regional markets:
Australia is the world’s largest coal exporter. It shipped 261 million tonnes of hard coal in 2008, out of its total production of 332 million tonnes. Australia is also the largest supplier of coking coal, accounting for 53% of world exports.
Transporting Coal
Paras below excerpted directly from http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/market-amp-transportation/ [52]
The way that coal is transported to where it will be used depends on the distance to be covered. Coal is generally transported by conveyor or truck over short distances. Trains and barges are used for longer distances within domestic markets, or alternatively coal can be mixed with water to form a coal slurry and transported through a pipeline.
Overall international trade in coal reached 941Mt in 2009; while this is a significant amount of coal it still only accounts for about 16% of total coal consumed. Most coal is used in the country in which it is produced.
Transportation costs account for a large share of the total delivered price of coal, therefore international trade in steam coal is effectively divided into two regional markets
Australia is the world’s largest coal exporter. It exported over 259Mt of hard coal in 2009, out of its total production of 335Mt. International coking coal trade is limited. Australia is also the largest supplier of coking coal, accounting for 54% of world exports. The USA and Canada are significant exporters and Indonesia is emerging as an important supplier.
In the USA
"Simply moving coal from one place to another has a significant environmental impact, with coal transportation accounting for about half of U.S. freight train traffic. These trains, as well as trucks and barges that transport coal, run on diesel—a major source of nitrogen oxide and soot." (Union of Concerned Scientists [53])
The Economist [56] reports that coal is the biggest single rail cargo in the USA, accounting for 45% by volume and 23% by value. More than 70% of coal transport is by rail.
In the USA, 24% of the total price of coal to electricity power plants was for transportation costs from the mine. (2008, US Department of Energy [57])
Notes and possilbe exercises:
http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2010/01/25/2 [54] Railroads, utilities clash over dust from coal trains
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technol... [53] How Coal Works w Transportation section union of concerned scientists
http://leeuniversal.blogspot.com/2011/03/shaanxi-to-build-chinas-first-c... [58] China to build first coal slurry pipeline mar 2011
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2010/01/08/victory-for-black-mesa/ [59] black mesa coal plan permit denied, native tribe is pleased, later plant destroyed, slurry pipeline no longer needed/used
The term "strategy" can best be understood in the context of "goals" and "tactics." Goals (and/or objectives) are the measurable outcomes that serve a purpose (or mission), for an organization or an individual. Tactics are the specific actions executed to achieve goals. And strategies make sure that tactics serve goals–strategies are the plans used to identify, organize, and focus tactics to achieve goals (thereby serving a purpose.)
Consider our example from the previous lesson [check to see that this example still is in the previous lesson], wherein you are trying to site a transmission line for your planned solar array project in the desert. Your mission may be to establish a profitable renewable energy organization utilizing solar-electric technology. In order to serve your mission, one of your goals is to install a reliable solar array at relatively low cost. In order to balance several elements of that goal (i.e., reliable and low-cost), your strategy is to purchase solar panels that are one generation older than the state of the art (for cost savings and reliability.) And you’ve also decided to employ a construction firm experienced in solar array installations utilizing an incentive-based contract (again, to balance reliability with cost savings.) This strategy helps to identify the tactics to achieve your objective.
One of your tactics could be to hire a solar technology consultant to prepare a report summarizing the age, price, and reliability of solar technologies currently available in the marketplace. Another tactic could be to hire a law firm experienced in negotiating incentive-based contracts. And yet another could be to require that all bids for the installation contract include a list of previous solar installations, so that you can judge prospective contractors’ levels of experience. Your market-based strategy is implemented through these market-based tactics in order to achieve your goal to install a reliable solar array at relatively low cost.
An alternative strategy may necessitate non-market tactics. For example, your goal could also be pursued through a strategy to attract government subsidies, grants, or loans. Indeed, your strategy could be to organize as a not-for-profit corporation. These strategies can be implemented through a variety of non-market tactics, such as applying for specific grants and building relationships with granting and regulatory authorities. These are referred to as non-market strategies because they are intended to achieve resource allocations (i.e., in this case, allocation of grants and permits) through social and political processes that differ from market-mediated economic decision making.
As discussed in the previous lesson, another goal necessary to achieving your mission is to site and install a relatively direct and cost-effective transmission line connecting your solar array to the grid. Can you think of alternative strategies for achieving this goal? Can you distinguish between market and non-market tactics that may be employed to implement those strategies?
[note: TWO QUESTIONS ABOVE COULD BE USED AS IN-LECTURE EXERCISE. I COULD DRAFT A FEW BULLETS SUGGESTING ONE SOLUTION TO THOSE QUESTIONS. E.G. “Purchase privately-owned parcels of land to construct transmission corridor from solar array to grid. This would be a relatively market-based strategy that could be implemented through discreet land purchases. Alternatively, you could purchase only enough land to provide a right-of-way to the nature preserve boundary (i.e. the nature preserve that we imagined was a shortcut to the nearest opportunity to connect to the grid.) Since this would require regulatory approval, and NGO’s would have more standing to protest, this strategy would be considered a relatively non-market alternative. This strategy would necessitate tactics such as lobbying congressmen, employing technical experts in order to increase informal authority in the discussion about whether you would damage the preserve, etc.]
The framework for non-market issue analysis is useful for identifying non-market risks. An issue analysis indicates whether an issue is tending toward a desirable or an undesirable outcome. The analysis also suggests which stakeholders are particularly influential in determining the likely outcome, and why those stakeholders are influential. In addition, the analysis may suggest how less influential stakeholders can play a key role in the issue outcome.
The primary objective of a non-market issue analysis is to provide a qualitative prediction about the resolution toward which an issue is tending. In the case of our electrical transmission line siting example, the analysis may be structured to indicate whether the project is likely to receive regulatory approval to cross the nature preserve. An analysis indicating overwhelming influence in favor of a particular issue outcome suggests relatively low risk for achieving that outcome. Alternatively, an analysis indicating that influence is more balanced among alternative issue outcomes suggests greater risk of realizing any particular outcome.
The issue analysis also indicates which stakeholders are most influential in determining an issue outcome. Moreover, the analysis suggests why particular stakeholders may be more or less influential; be it because they perceive the issue as highly relevant to their interests, because they are more authoritative in bargaining for the issue outcome, or otherwise. Consequently, an issue analysis helps to identify stakeholders for which changes in influence is more likely to result in a change in the likely issue outcome.
Similarly, the issue analysis can be used to identify seemingly less influential stakeholders. Counterfactual variation in various determinants of influence is useful for identifying less-influential stakeholders that increase the uncertainty of realizing the likely issue outcome.
[Stevie: Look for some images for this, or possibly make some informatonal graphs of some kind to indicate the possible ways things could trend...]
Information obtained from our issue analysis framework can also be used to formulate non-market strategy. A non-market strategy includes four basic dimensions:
Let's take a moment to look at each of these.
Given the foregoing strategic and issue analyses, have you selected an issue position that is not only congruent with organizational objective, but also feasible? That is, the bargaining problem modeled in the issue analysis stage provides some guidance/idea about the range of feasible outcomes. If a desired outcome is feasible, then there exists some scope to influence the bargain in a way to increase the likelihood of that desired outcome. But if the desired outcome is not feasible then resources expended to influence the outcome are simply wasted. In this case, an organization should consider modifying it’s desired position, or abandoning attempts to influence the issue.
There are two types of influence opportunities--direct and indirect. Each of these is organized around some central questions as listed below.
Direct
Please Note: We don’t propose tactics to substantively affect organizational "relevance" or "resolve" because they are determined by the organization’s broader goals.
Indirect
Timing Stakeholder Interactions
Strategic Response
In this lesson we introduced the concept of....
At this point, you should be able to perform the following tasks:
If you log on to Canvas you will find an on-line multiple choice quiz, Quiz #X. Complete that by the date noted on the calendar tab in Canvas.
You have reached the end of Lesson X! Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
Uses of Coal
Entire page from World Coal Association http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-of-coal/ [60]
Coal has many important uses worldwide. The most significant uses are in electricity generation, steel production, cement manufacturing and as a liquid fuel. Around 5.9 billion tonnes of hard coal were used worldwide last year and 909 million tonnes of brown coal. Since 2000, global coal consumption has grown faster than any other fuel. The five largest coal users - China, USA, India, Japan and South Africa - account for 82% of total global coal use.
Different types of coal have different uses. Steam coal - also known as thermal coal - is mainly used in power generation. Coking coal - also known as metallurgical coal - is mainly used in steel production.
The biggest market for coal is Asia, which currently accounts for over 65% of global coal consumption; although China is responsible for a significant proportion of this. Many countries do not have natural energy resources sufficient to cover their energy needs, and therefore need to import energy to help meet their requirements. Japan, Chinese Taipei and Korea, for example, import significant quantities of steam coal for electricity generation and coking coal for steel production.
Other important users of coal include alumina refineries, paper manufacturers, and the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Several chemical products can be produced from the by-products of coal. Refined coal tar is used in the manufacture of chemicals, such as creosote oil, naphthalene, phenol, and benzene. Ammonia gas recovered from coke ovens is used to manufacture ammonia salts, nitric acid and agricultural fertilisers. Thousands of different products have coal or coal by-products as components: soap, aspirins, solvents, dyes, plastics and fibres, such as rayon and nylon. Coal is also an essential ingredient in the production of specialist products:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/pdf/coal.pdf international [61] coal consumption data and projections
In this lesson, you will perform a Nonmarket Analysis and Strategy Case Study on an energy-related issue of your choosing. This structured case study will give you the opportunity to integrate topics from this course and apply them to a subject that is of interest to you. The following page provides detailed guidance for the structure and content of your work, building on material from earlier lessons.
You are encouraged to choose an issue that is meaningful to you and of genuine interest--consider issues in your community, related to your line of work, or that are aligned with research or specialized studies you are doing in other courses.
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
The table below provides an overview of the requirements for Lesson 12. For details, please see individual assignments.
Please refer to the Calendar inCanvasfor specific timeframes and due dates.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTED FOR GRADING? |
---|---|
Case Study Issue for pre-approval |
Submitted for Approval and Comment, not graded. However, late submission of Case Study Issue will result in 10% penalty on project grade. Submit to Canvas dropbox under the Modules tab |
Case Study Research and prepare a Nonmarket Analysis and Strategy Case Study as described in this lesson |
Yes—submitted to Canvas dropbox under the Modules Tab |
For this assignment, you will prepare and submit a document that is similar in format to the RPS Case Study, presented in lessons 2, 3 and 4 of this course. You are encouraged to start early, especially in the selection of your issue. A good choice will help your work go more smoothly and align easily with the values of this assignment.
(For example, see RPS Case Study, part 1) Choose an issue to use as the topic of your case study. Your issue needs to be energy related, but may be a current or past issue and may be local, national or international. Remember, an issue is a specific policy question for which stakeholders (individuals, organizations, firms) care about the outcome. The issue is one dimensional—outcomes can be described along a scale (how much, how often, etc.) or simply yes/no, support/oppose. State your issue as a one sentence question about a specific policy.
Careful selection of an issue is a significant part of this assignment. Take your time and do some research. Look for an issue that is truly interesting to you and where sufficient information is available to form a good case study. It may help to consider issues in your community, issues related to your line of work or issues that are aligned with research or specialized studies you are doing in other courses.
(For example, see RPS Case Study, part 1) Collect background on the issue. Document key terms and concepts, historical context, current status and overall timeline of relevant past events and upcoming ones (if known). Clearly explain what the issue is about! Use data, graphs, pictures, and tables as needed to describe the issue.
(For example, see RPS Case Study, part 2) Identify stakeholders (firms, associations, groups, or individuals) that have an interest in the outcome of this issue. Include at least four stakeholders that represent at least two different positions on the issue.
For each stakeholder, first provide name, type of organization and its mission. Establish stakeholder’s initial position on the issue and explain as needed.
Continue your analysis of each stakeholder with an orderly presentation of all variables related to demand for and supply of nonmarket action and your prediction for amount of nonmarket action the stakeholder can be expected to take.
To evaluate demand for nonmarket action, assess available substitutes, aggregate benefits, per capita benefits. To evaluate supply of nonmarket activities, assess effectiveness (numbers, coverage, and resources) and cost of organizing. To make these assessments, you’ll need to establish a scale for each variable. You can use the one in the RPS case study (for example, benefits are “small”, “moderate”, “considerable”, “large” or “substantial”) or design your own. Either way, include the scales you are using in your case study.
In all cases, be sure to give some reasoning that supports the value you have assigned. If you indicate that “coverage” is “extensive,” explain why you believe this to be true.
Now you are ready to predict the likelihood of the stakeholder taking nonmarket action. To do this, review the information you have collected to this point and, for each stakeholder, weigh the demand for taking action against the supply of action. The greater the demand, the more likelihood of taking action. The greater the cost (considering available resources), the less likelihood of taking action. You’ll need to establish a scale for this too. You can use the one from the RPS case study or establish your own. Either way, be sure to include it.
(For example, see RPS Case Study, part 2) Summarize all of your findings into a Nonmarket Analysis Summary Framework as used in part 2 of the RPS Case Study. You’ll find an Excel template for the Nonmarket Analysis Framework in the Related Materials folder under the Modules tab in Canvas. Be sure to group stakeholders based on their position on the issue.
(For example, see RPS Case Study, part 3)
a) Introduction. Whereas data collection and analysis may be handled the same way by all stakeholders, the strategy deployed by a stakeholder will depend on that stakeholder’s objective (position on the issue). At this point, select one of your stakeholders and assume you are writing a strategy recommendation to that specific stakeholder. Begin this section with a statement to that effect, indicating the stakeholder and the stakeholder’s position on the issue.
b) Consideration of Individual Strategies. Depending on the nature of your issue, your recommended nonmarket strategy may involve public or private politics. If your issue will be handled in a government arena, consider appropriate public politics strategies. If your issue is not being addressed in a government arena, consider appropriate private politics strategies. Do remember, many of the strategies described in this course are applicable to both private and public politics. Create a brief list describing at least five different strategies that are being considered and why they would or would not be applicable to this stakeholder for this issue.
c) Recommendation. With as much detail as possible, describe your recommended strategy. Include specifics; be imaginative! If you are writing about a past issue (that has already been resolved), write about the actual strategy that was used.
For this lesson, your only assignment is the Case Study as described on the previous page.
Grading
Each section has a weight of 20%. (Your Issue section will be short, but you may put a great deal of effort into identifying an issue that interests you and is well suited to this project.)
Scoring for each section will be based on completeness (meeting requirements outlined above), level of research and quality of information (reasoning, supported with data, clearly stated assumptions), documentation of all references and sources, clarity, and presentation.
This assignment will count as 8.25% of your grade (the equivalent of one Content and one Feature Activity).
If you have questions, please post to the "Questions about EME 444?" Discussion Forum. I'll be happy to help you!
In this lesson, you learned about general types of nonmarket strategy and specific strategies for activities in non-government arenas (private politics). The case study, continued from the previous lessons and concluded here, developed a nonmarket strategy based on the outcomes of the nonmarket analysis. The Case Study introduced new concepts related to non-profit organizations and their role in the nonmarket arena.
You demonstrated to yourself and others that you can
The Case Study is your only assignment for this week. You have reached the end of Lesson 12, and you have completed this course. Congratulations!
This lesson discusses tactical considerations for the specific actions or 'tactics' available to stakeholders when implementing non-market strategies. Tactical options depend upon the particular institutional setting in which stakeholders are acting to influence an issue. Traditional news media and new social media can play an importation role in tactical execution. And stakeholders must consider the ethical implications of various tactical opportunities. Our issue analysis and strategy framework can increase the likelihood that an issue is resolve in our interests by helping to idenify what we can do to influence issue outcomes. We must also cosider what we should do.
[the last three sentences of this intro assume that we move 'Ethics' section to here. If we don't, then move these sentences as placeholder in lesson 5 intro.]
Michael--Not sure what to do with what is below (in the box) on this page. Is it stuff that should be kept?
Lesson 2 provided a parsimonious framework that can be used to assess an issue and its likely resolution in the context of diverse and competing stakeholder interests. This lesson considers various strategies that may be used to influence likely issue resolution. Non-market strategic alternatives depend upon the various 'forums' in which a diversity of stakeholders may engage in order to affect issue resolution. And the predominant forum for non-market interaction will evolve with progress through the issue lifecycle.
What depends on it? depends, in turn, on the stage of the issue life the resolution of issues .
A forum is defined by the set of institutional features, both formal and informal, that govern stakeholder interaction. The forum within which stakeholders engage over an issue will change as the issue evolves through its lifecycle. At early stages, stakeholders in an issue may engage with one another directly. Later, an issue may advance into a more formal, public political phase, wherein stakeholders may attempt to influence an issue within the constraints of a formal legislative, regulatory, or legal framework. The various forums can be distinguished according to the tactical opportunities available to stakeholders and the role of the media.
At the end of this lesson, you will:
I'm leaning toward moving everything below this comment to a new page. Does that work for you?
There are four basic types of forums. Three of these are referred to as public political because the outcomes within these forums affect the public as a whole (at least in principle, even if many out comes are of no interest to large portions of the public in practice.) They include thelegislative forum, which refers to stakeholder engagements that occur leading up to the establishment of new laws. The regulatory forumrefers to stakeholder engagements intended to affect rule promulgation and implementation. And the judicial forum refers to stakeholder engagements within the court system.
The private political forum refers to stakeholder engagements intended to affect an issue that is not being engaged within a public political forum. Traditional and new social media may be used by individuals and groups to influence strategies/tactics chosen by other issue stakeholders, thereby affecting the impact of the issue on their own group's interests. Does this mean that the private political forum is the title of the forum itself, unlike the public political forums, which have sub-categories?
Forums can be described by the actions and strategies available to issue stakeholders. Actions and strategies available to stakeholders are a result of the institutional constraints that describe each forum. For example, if an issue is being resolved in the court system, stakeholders are prohibited from interacting with the jury. Strategies for stakeholder engagement will also depend upon the informational regime (TOO JARGONY) unique to each forum. For example, courts will solicit the advice of expert witnesses whereas legislators will invite input from lobbyists. And the media plays a different role in each forum.
Is this a new subheading? -- Private Political Action --
Between the asterisks seem to be notes--or is this something we'll be filling out later?
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These strategies are a result of the Forums are also distinguished by the rules constraining stakeholder participation in a particular forum, And finally, role ... [predominant stakeholders, typical actions, role of media]
There are four different types of forums.
An issue in the private political forum refers to issues for which stakeholders attempt to influence the resolution of an through direct interactions a
e.g. Shell Brent Spar,
The private political forum refers to the set of stakeholder interactions that
An issue in the private political forum is one that refers to those interactions that are (not mediated by government).
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Forums are the venues in which issues are resolved. Resolution of issues is governed by the institutions characterizing the forum in which they are considered.
Non-market issues have the potential to evolve though various stages, which can be understood as a life cycle. Once an issue is identified, interest goups often form based upon their interests in potential outcomes. Some issues will evolve to a legislative stage, where law makers are lobbied to address the issue. Issues resulting in legislation will eventually be administered through a regulatory framework. And finally, in cases where there are disputes over application of that regulatory framework, interested parties may seek enforcement through the regulatory framework and the court system. [Baron Ch.1, p.13-16] This seems to be the same as the information above. Are these your earlier notes?
what is a forum:
The term "forums" refers to the venues in which a diversity of stakeholders engage in order to affect the resolution of an issue of interest. For example, early in the 'life' of an issue, when it is just emerging, stakeholders may engage with one-another primarily though private "political" interactions.
Stakeholders may engage with one another directly, through "private political action." And stakeholders may attempt to affect an issue through "public political action" by petitioning legislators, regulators, or the judiciary to resolve an issue in their favor. The predominant forum for issue engagement will change as it evolves though the issue life cycle (see Lesson 1, "The non-market environment"--I can link to the particular section here. Which page would you like?). And stakeholders will adjust their roles and strategies to be most effective within / congruent with the constraints and opportunities afforded within each new forum. played and strategies played by the various stakeholders will evolve change with the evolving forum.
Stakeholders develop strategies to pursue their interests, which are typically in conflict with the interests of other stakeholders. Stakeholders' perceptions of how an issue affects their interests is determined by their information environment. This information environment is determined, most directly, by the news media. More indirectly, academic institutions also affect the information environment. Importantly, within an informational environment Stakeholders can attempt to influence an issue by shaping the...something here?
There are several different types of stakeholder groups: individuals, advocacy groups, businesses, academia, media, and government, among others. (or should we hold-aside media and academia?)
Stakeholders may attempt to influence an issue through private political strategies and/or public political strategies.
The issue forum depends upon the stage in the issue life cycle in which an issue is: (Something here?
Stakeholders may find different strategies for influence differ across forums : (Something here?
North [1990] [We'll need the full reference for this to put at the bottom of the page] describes institutions as “the rules of the game in a society or … constraints that shape human interaction. In consequence, they structure incentives in human exchange, whether political, social, or economic.” Institutions can be formal or informal. Formal institutions refer to the codified rules that govern interaction. Informal institutions refer to the customs and commonly-accepted practices that govern interaction. For example, {…} An example will be good here. In my head, I see the connection between institutions as in businesses/bureaucracies that have such rules, and institutions as sets of rules, but I think it would be easy to get lost there, just because folks are so used to referring to "institutions" as the businesses/organizations.
There are four basic forums for resolving non-market issues: Private politics (the court of public opinion), the public legislative forum, the public regulatory forum, and the public judicial forum. This seems the same as above. Was this part of your earlier notes?
What will we learn?
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
This lesson will take us one week to complete. Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. There are a number of required activities in this lesson. The chart below provides an overview of those activities that must be submitted for this lesson. For assignment details, refer to the lesson page noted.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK |
Read Chapter X in the textbook. [should include Baron Ch. 8, 10, and 9. If we want to minimize Baron, we could probably get away w/ dropping explicit readings for all other sections (though still providing references to his material; I can specify where attributions are necessary on later readthrough). But this lesson is very insititutional and we might just want to include the three chapters (legislative, regulatory, judicial) for readings.] |
Not submitted |
On-line quiz | This will be submitted via Canvas. |
If you have any questions, please post them to the Comments area that appears at the bottom of this page and all other pages in this lesson. I will check these comments regularly to respond. While you are on a page, feel free to go through the comments and post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
Once laws are established, the formulation of rules for implementation and the application of those rules occurs within a regulatory forum. The outcomes for these issues are determined through regulatory agency rule-making and rule administration. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one such arena.
Issues engaged by stakeholders within the court system are resolved within the judicial forum. These issues are resolved through court decisions. For example, if lobbyists contested the electricity generation subsidies in court, that would be resolution through the judicial forum.
In addition, stakeholders may seek to influence an issue within the private political forum. Private political actions, such as protests and boycotts, are not intended to result in new legislative, regulatory, or judicial constraints. Instead, private politics can influence issues by changing the payoffs to the choices facing stakeholders in non-market issues. Some examples of private political action can include blogging that turns viral, phoning or commenting on a company's website, and Twitter campaigns, to name a few.
Non-market issues often evolve systematically through the various forums for non-market action. Early in the life-cycle of an issue, stakeholders will be learning about and assessing the private costs and benefits of alternative positions and issue outcomes. At this stage, stakeholders may engage in private political action in order to influence those payoffs, to themselves and other stakeholders. While the issue is just emerging, the implications for all potential stakeholders are not fully understood. Consequently, the issue is unlikely to be affected from constraints that only arise within formal public political forums–legislative, regulatory, or judicial.
The potential for public political action increases as the costs and benefits of an issue become more clearly defined. First, stakeholders may attempt to create a framework for public governance through legislative action. If legislation is created to address an issue, regulatory action will be required to establish rules for public governance. These regulations define how regulatory authorities commit to resolve conflicts that are not resolved through market-based exchange. Finally, some stakeholders may conclude that a conflict has not been resolved through regulatory administration. In this case, they may decide to improve their outcome through court action.
Private and public non-market forums represent a broad range of opportunities for non-market action. The remainder of this lesson discusses tactical options specific to each of these non-market forums.
Private political action can influence stakeholders by changing the payoffs to non-market action. As discussed in lesson 1, market-based exchange often has non-market consequences. And affected stakeholders have incentives to influence the incidence of these non-market effects. Private political action can be used achieve relatively passive objectives, such as informing key stakeholders. And private political action can also be use for more active campaigns, such as boycotts. Various tactics can be employed to change stakeholder payoffs through private political action.
Letter writing campaigns can be used as a private political tactic to affect non-market issues. Letter writing can influence a non-market issue by providing information that can change stakeholders’ behavior. For example, advocacy groups and universities use letters to build support and solicit donations. And neighborhood groups write letters to encourage residents to monitor and report suspicious activity. Can you think of an energy issue that some stakeholder attempted to influence through private political letter writing?
Protesting or picketing can also be used to affect non-market issues. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution gives people the right to peaceably assemble:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Peaceful assembly for protest can lead to a change in stakeholder behavior by disrupting production and informing the broader public about an issue. For example, a public health advocacy group that believes a particular plastic is hazardous may organize a public demonstration to demand a change in bottled water packaging. Beverage company executives may elect to make costly supply and production process modifications if they believe consumers will be influenced by the protest. Can you provide an example of an energy issue that was affected through private political protest?
Media campaigns can also be used to exert private political influence. Similar to letter writing and protest campaigns, stakeholders can use various media channels to share information and motivate action. For example, a child advocacy group concerned with toy safety can encourage manufacturers to avoid lead-based paint, even if they do not propose legislative restrictions. The group can write editorials or appear on news programs to inform parents about products containing lead-based paint. Companies may unilaterally improve product safety hazards if they believe their sales are at risk.
Using today's technologies, people can even create and upload videos about their position to sites like YouTube. The one below is one such example.
Governments and regulators can have a substantial impact on organizational interests. (fn: For example, corporate leaders rate governments second only to customers in their potential to impact enterprise value, see Managing Government Relations for the Future: McKinsey Global Survey Results, February 2011 (https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Managing_government_relations_for_the_... [62] downloaded June 20, 2011)) Many stakeholders seek to influence issues by establishing formal political institutional constraints. And the tactics they use are mediated through formal institutional settings. Because these institutional settings are established to ensure public access to the political process, they are referred to as ‘public political’ forums.
Three public political forums are defined by the loci of key decisions (political bargains?) determining the constraints that govern non-market issues. The legislative forum comprises the set of stakeholder engagements that can result in new laws. Many legal statutes, however, direct a regulatory agency to promulgate rules specifying how those statutes will be applied in practical situations. The regulatory forum refers to those stakeholder engagements that determine regulation promulgation and administration. Finally, stakeholders may attempt to resolve issues through courts when existing laws and regulations do not adequately resolve associated conflict. The judicial forum refers to those stakeholder engagements intended to influence issues through the court system. Stakeholders can utilize a variety of tactics within these forums to influence issue outcomes.
The legislative forum: (B ch8)
Stakeholders engage in non-market activities to affect issues that are not resolved through cooperative exchange. One way to affect those issues is by establishing laws. Laws delineate property rights by assigning the costs and benefits of an exchange to particular stakeholders. Thus, stakeholders engage in the legislative forum when they attempt to influence issues through new and revised legal constraints.
Legal constraints can be implemented at the national and/or sub-national level. In the United States, a bi-cameral legislature establishes federal law. Thus, stakeholders must employ tactics within both the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to have an influence in the legislative forum. Most US States also establish laws through bi-cameral legislatures.[1] Counties and local municipalities (e.g. cities and townships) may also establish ordinances that can affect the incidence of costs and benefits associated with non-market issues.
Some stakeholders are distinctive of issues resolved in the legislative forum. Legislators, obviously, are distinctive of the legislative forum. The elected officials who vote on proposed legislation may be influenced by a variety of stakeholders and interests. At the local level, a Board of Supervisors will typically serve the legislative function. In any case, it is important to understand the particular officials driving legislation at issue. In addition, it is important to consider the key staffers that legislators rely upon for research and advice.
Legislative committees are also distinctive of the legislative forum. Typically, much legislative progress occurs within the committee structure. For example, in the US Senate, a standing Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will coordinate much of the deliberation on laws related to energy and resource issues. The Senate has another 19 standing committees for handling other types of issues.[2] And these committees may solicit input from public panels and forums.
Finally, legislators are also supported by legislative agencies and services. For example, within the US Federal Government, the Congressional Budget Office prepares analyses and reports used by House and Senate Committees within their policy deliberations.
Individual legislators are particularly important stakeholders within legislative forums. And their staffers, legislative committees, and supporting legislative agencies and services are influential agents within this forum. As a result, various stakeholders will attempt to influence an issue by interacting with legislators and other influential legislative groups. Stakeholders influence an issue within the legislative forum through lobbying, providing legislative testimony, affecting electoral support, public advocacy, and judicial action as a legislative tactic.
Lobbying refers to direct, private engagement of elected officials. There are several bases for rapport between stakeholders and legislators. Legislators may value the technical information provided by stakeholders. For particularly technical issues, legislative staff may lack the capabilities necessary for sophisticated analyses. Legislators also value political information that stakeholders can provide. Such information is useful to legislators who want to understand constituents’ interests and/or are seeking reelection. Providing political and technical information forms the basis for interactions to influence legislative decision-making and obtain valuable information.
Stakeholders can directly engage with elected officials through public testimony. The legislative process includes a number of opportunities for public input. Legislative committees typically schedule public hearings to solicit comments on proposed legislation. Legislative committees will also solicit written testimony from interested stakeholders. Finally, legislative committees may even coordinate workgroups to formulate recommendations for pending legislation.
Stakeholders can influence issues by providing electoral support. Stakeholders often provide financial support for legislative campaigns to increase the likelihood that politicians with shared interests are elected. Stakeholders can also provide support in elections by advocating for particular candidates with shared interests.
Stakeholder groups can also influence legislators through public advocacy for issues of interest. In this case, Stakeholders are attempting to influence legislative decision-making through conversation with the electorate. Legislative candidates may be influenced if they believe prospective voters share a particular set of interests.
[1] Nebraska has a unicameral legislature and is the one exception to this rule. (http://nebraskalegislature.gov/about/history_unicameral.php [63] dowloaded June 26, 2011.)
[2] http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teaser... [64]
The regulatory forum: (B ch10)
… define/discuss
- issues addressed (i.e. via regulation promulgation and administration)
- stakeholders (… + regulators). stakeholder roles in decisionmaking
… typical tactics (informational campaign, regulatory advisory group participation, …)
- participating in rulemaking – serving on committees, providing public comments / testimony
- negotiating administration
[introduction] Even in cases where laws are established to resolve non-market issues, they are often insufficiently precise for practical application. Regulators may be required to codify rules clarifying how laws will be applied. And because even the best-written regulations cannot anticipate every possible situation, regulators will retain some degree of discretion in regulatory administration. Stakeholders can engage in the regulatory forum to influence rulemaking and regulatory administration.
[what is rulemaking?] Rulemaking refers to the quasi-legislative activities of various government agencies. Legislatures often promulgate relatively vague legal requirements, proscriptions, or operability standards. (??? Insert example of ambiguously-stated law? E.g.Clean Air Act ???) Regulators must devise rules to clarify how those laws will be applied in practice.
Governmental organizations employ various procedures for rulemaking. And even within the same country, different regions, states and municipalities may establish unique institutional constraints to govern rulemaking. Generally, regulations are promulgated and administered through a political process exhibiting some degree of stakeholder input.
Within the US, for example, the Administrative Procedures Act of 1946 (APA) governs federal rulemaking.[1] The Act requires publication in the Federal Register the legal authority and terms for substantive rules proposals. Stakeholders are given “an opportunity to participate in … rulemaking through submission of written data, views, or arguments with or without opportunity for oral presentation.” The rule-promulgating agency is required to consider relevant stakeholder input and “incorporate into the rules adopted a concise general statement of their basis and purpose.” The agency must publish the final rule at least 30 days prior to its effective date.
The APA provides for several exceptions to this rulemaking procedure. Agencies are not required to follow this rulemaking procedure for interpretive statements of existing rules. They are not required to follow this procedure for rules specifying the agency’s organization and operation. And they are not required to follow these procedures when “the agency for good cause finds … that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.” In addition, the requirement for 30 day advance publication of new rules is not necessary when the rule change “grants or recognizes an exemption or relieves a restriction.” It is important to understand the rulemaking procedures determining opportunities for stakeholder influence in the regulatory forum.
[what is regulatory administration?] Regulatory administration refers to monitoring and enforcement of promulgated regulations. Regulators execute these obligations through routine regulatory administration and the quasi-judicial processes established for formal adjudication.
Regulatory administration refers to the routine activities necessary to ensure regulatory compliance. In cases where stakeholder activities are regulated through a public registry, for example, regulators will need to process applications and award permits to engage in the regulated activity. Regulators may also need to monitor regulated activities by conducting inspections and maintaining updated records. And they may assess and collect penalties for regulatory violations. Finally, regulators will also gather and share information through various informal communications and engagements with the regulated community and other public stakeholders.
Regulatory administration also includes formal adjudication processes established to award permits, determine violations, and assess penalties. In many cases, regulations specify a quasi-judicial framework for administration. For example, many oil and gas producing states establish a commission to encourage responsible stewardship of state energy resources. A paid civil servant who manages routine regulatory administration typically leads these commissions. For more substantive and less routine commission decisions, a group of elected or appointed commissioners will meet on a routine basis. (??? Could also illustrate w/ any public utility commission. Need to dig into a particular one to get the terminology correct. ???)
[how can stakeholders influence key decisionmakers in the regulatory forum?] Several attributes distinguish regulators from key decisionmakers in other public political forums. Whereas legislators have a direct relationship with the electorate, regulators’ relationship is indirect. The heads of regulatory agencies are seldom elected; they are more likely to be political appointees or career civil servants. This indirect relationship with the electorate means regulators will be less responsive to electoral pressure.
Instead, regulators may be more responsive to research and stakeholder participation in rulemaking. Whereas legislators have greater latitude to pursue their own and various stakeholders’ interests in policymaking, regulators are more constrained by statutory and procedural obligations. Incorporating stakeholder research and comments into the rulemaking process is often used to demonstrate that regulators have fulfilled those obligations. And in times of budgetary pressure, regulators may substitute stakeholder input for research that they do not have resources to undertake. Consequently, regulators may be more responsive to substantive research and stakeholder input to policymaking, as compared lobbying based on political pressure.
In addition to formal procedural opportunities for stakeholder input, regulators may also coordinate informal and ad hoc advisory groups. Participation in these work groups can help to establish ongoing relationships for information discovery and information sharing. Of particular importance, these groups may be given the task of establish a framework for evaluating stakeholder input. As a result, regulator-sponsored work group participants may exert significant influence in the regulatory forum.
Finally, stakeholder-sponsored coalitions may organize independently in order to influence key decisionmakers in the regulatory forum. Stakeholder-led coordination is useful when regulators do not organize stakeholders. Smaller, less-influential stakeholders may benefit by participating in groups to pool authority. And perhaps more importantly, stakeholder-led coordination reduces the cost to regulators of aggregating preferences and opinions of seemingly diffuse stakeholder groups. In practice, however, influence efforts of stakeholder-led groups are at greater risk of being ignored if regulator buy-in is not secured a priori.
[1] see Public Law 79-404, Administrative Procedures Act (or US Code Title 5, Part I, Ch. 5, Sub.Ch. II, para. 553.)
The judicial forum: (B ch9)
… define/discuss
- issues addressed (i.e. via court decisions), role of precedence; note different from judicial action as tactic in legislative forum, insofar as judicial forum is about having the courts resolve issue uncertainty via court decision
- stakeholders (… + judiciary). stakeholder roles in decisionmaking
… typical tactics (legal representation, negotiated settlements)
- filing a case
- negotiating a settlement
… define/discuss media objectives, constraints, and role in private and public politics
- why is media important when thinking about non-market action (i.e. section motivation)
- model of media behavior – objectives, constraints
- role of media in non-market issues
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Technology Overview (nuclear fuel, power plants, radioactive waste)
The series of steps involved in supplying fuel for nuclear power reactors include the following:
Uranium recovery to extract (or mine) uranium ore, and concentrate (or mill) the ore to produce "yellowcake"
As the precursor to the nuclear fuel cycle, uranium recovery focuses on extracting (or mining) natural uranium ore from the Earth and concentrating (or milling) that ore. These recovery operations produce a product, called "yellowcake," which is then transported to a fuel cycle facility. There, the yellowcake is transformed into fuel for nuclear power reactors. In addition to yellowcake, uranium recovery operations generate waste products, called byproduct materials, that contain low levels of radioactivity.
Conversion of yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride (UF6)
After the yellowcake is produced at the mill, the next step is conversion into pure uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas suitable for use in enrichment operations. During this conversion, impurities are removed and the uranium is combined with fluorine to create the UF6 gas. The UF6 is then pressurized and cooled to a liquid. In its liquid state it is drained into 14-ton cylinders where it solidifies after cooling for approximately five days. The UF6 cyclinder, in the solid form, is then shipped to an enrichment plant. UF6 is the only uranium compound that exists as a gas at a suitable temperature.
One conversion plant is operating in the United States: Honeywell International Inc. in Metropolis, Illinois. Canada, France, United Kingdom, China, and Russia also have conversion plants.
As with mining and milling, the primary risks associated with conversion are chemical and radiological. Strong acids and alkalis are used in the conversion process, which involves converting the yellowcake (uranium oxide) powder to very soluble forms, leading to possible inhalation of uranium. In addition, conversion produces extremely corrosive chemicals that could cause fire and explosion hazards.
Enrichment to increase the concentration of uranium-235 (U-235) in UF6
Enriching uranium increases the proportion of uranium atoms that can be "split" by fission to release energy (usually in the form of heat) that can be used to produce electricity. Not all uranium atoms are the same. When uranium is mined, it consists of about 99.3% uranium-238 or U-238 (U238), 0.7% uranium-235 or U-235 (U235), and < 0.01% uranium-234 or U-234 (U234). These are the different isotopes of uranium, which means that while they all contain 92 protons in the atom’s center, or nucleus (which is what makes it uranium), the U238 atoms contain 146 neutrons, the U235 atoms contain 143 neutrons, and the U234 atoms contain only 142 neutrons. (The total number of protons plus neutrons gives the atomic mass of each isotope — that is, 238, 235, or 234, respectively.)
Caption: Natural uranium contains 99% U238 and only about 0.7% U235 by weight. (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/uranium-enrichment.pdf [65])
The fuel for nuclear reactors has to have a higher concentration of U235 than exists in natural uranium ore. This is because U235 is "fissionable," meaning that it starts a nuclear reaction and keeps it going. Normally, the amount of the U235 isotope is enriched from 0.7% of the uranium mass to about 5%, as illustrated in this diagram PDF Icon of the enrichment process.
Caption: The uranium enrichment process increases the concentration of U235 to the amount needed for use in reactor fuel. (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/uranium-enrichment.pdf [65])
Gaseous diffusion is the only process currently being used in the United States to commercially enrich uranium. Gas centrifuges and laser separation can also be used to enrich uranium, as described below.
Deconversion to reduce the hazards associated with the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), or “tailings,” produced in earlier stages of the fuel cycle
As uranium-235 (U235) is extracted, converted, and enriched in the uranium recovery, conversion, and enrichment processes for use in fabricating fuel for nuclear reactors, large quantities of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), or “tailings,” are produced. These tailings are transferred into 14-ton cylinders which are stored in large yards near the enrichment facilities. A process called "deconversion" is then used to chemically extract the fluoride from the DUF6 stored in the cylinders. This deconversion process produces stable compounds, known as uranium oxides, which are generally suitable for disposal as low-level radioactive waste.
Enriching 1,000 kilograms (kg) of natural uranium to 5% U235 produces 85 kg of enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and about 915 kg of DUF6 (0.3 percent U235). As a result, enrichment processes in the United States produce approximately 12,000 – 15,000 tons of DUF6 tailings per year, which are then transferred to storage cylinders. The uranium in these cylinders consists of high purity U238 with less than 0.7% other uranium isotopes (e.g., U234 and U235). In addition the cylinders contain small quantities of impurities resulting from the natural radioactive decay of the uranium. The high purity of the U238 and self-shielding of the bulk material limit the radiological hazard from the full cylinders. Nonetheless, DUF6 represents a chemical hazard if it is released to the environment.
The deconversion process significantly reduces the chemical hazards associated with DUF6 by extracting the fluoride atoms and replacing them with oxygen. This deconversion process results in depleted uranium dioxide (DUO2) and depleted triuranium octoxide (DU3O8) compounds. These compounds are chemically stable, compared to DUF6, and are generally suitable for disposal as low-level radioactive waste. These oxides are similar to the chemical form of uranium in nature. Depleted uranium has a lower specific radioactivity per mass than natural uranium because the enrichment process reduces the percentage of other isotopes, e.g. U234 and U235. The specific radioactivity of the storage containers increases over time as the daughter products, removed during uranium recovery and conversion processes, return to natural levels due to radioactive decay. Most of the daughter products return to natural levels over the course of several million years.
Deconversion also enables the recovery of high purity fluoride compounds which have commercial value. These fluoride compounds are used in the production of refrigerants, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, high-octane gasoline, aluminum, plastics, electrical components, and fluorescent light bulbs.
Chemical exposure is the dominant hazard at deconversion facilities because uranium and fluoride compounds (such as hydrogen fluoride) are hazardous at low levels of exposure. In particular, these compounds have the following characteristics:
Deconversion facilities are designed to reduce the likelihood and consequences of accidental releases of hazardous radiological and chemical compounds through safety systems, onsite and offsite monitoring, and emergency planning.
Fuel fabrication to convert enriched UF6 into fuel for nuclear reactors
Fuel fabrication facilities convert enriched UF6 into fuel for nuclear reactors. Fabrication also can involve mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, which is a combination of uranium and plutonium components.
Fuel fabrication for light (regular) water power reactors (LWR) typically begins with receipt of low-enriched uranium (LEU) hexafluoride (UF6) from an enrichment plant. The UF6, in solid form in containers, is heated to gaseous form, and the UF6 gas is chemically processed to form LEU uranium dioxide (UO2) powder. This powder is then pressed into pellets, sintered into ceramic form, loaded into Zircaloy tubes, and constructed into fuel assemblies. Depending on the type of light water reactor, a fuel assembly may contain up to 264 fuel rods and have dimensions of 5 to 9 inches square by about 12 feet long.
Caption: Typical Light Water Reactor Fuel Fabrication Facility (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/fuel-fab.html [66])
MOX fuel differs from LEU fuel in that the dioxide powder from which the fuel pellets are pressed is a combination of UO2 and plutonium oxide (PuO2). The NRC was directed by Congress to regulate the Department of Energy's (DOE's) fabrication of MOX fuel used for disposal of plutonium from international nuclear disarmament agreements. For more information about this fuel, see Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility Licensing.
Use of the fuel in reactors (nuclear power, research, or naval propulsion)
There are several types of commercial nuclear power plants that generate electricity. Of these, only the Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) are in commercial operation in the United States.
In a typical commercial pressurized light-water reactor, the core inside the reactor vessel creates heat, pressurized water in the primary coolant loop carries the heat to the steam generator, and a steam line directs the steam to the main turbine, causing it to turn the turbine generator, which produces electricity. The unused steam is exhausted in to the condenser where it condensed into water. The resulting water is pumped out of the condenser with a series of pumps, reheated and pumped back to the reactor vessel. The reactor's core contains fuel assemblies that are cooled by water circulated using electrically powered pumps. These pumps and other operating systems in the plant receive their power from the electrical grid. If offsite power is lost emergency cooling water is supplied by other pumps, which can be powered by onsite diesel generators. Other safety systems, such as the containment cooling system, also need power.
Caption: Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) keep water under pressure so that it heats, but does not boil. Water from the reactor and the water in the steam generator that is turned into steam never mix. In this way, most of the radioactivity stays in the reactor area. (Source and to see animation, visit http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-pwr.html [67])
n a typical commercial boiling-water reactor (BWR), the core inside the reactor vessel creates heat, a steam-water mixture is produced when very pure water (reactor coolant) moves upward through the core, absorbing heat, the steam-water mixture leaves the top of the core and enters the two stages of moisture separation where water droplets are removed before the steam is allowed to enter the steam line, and the steam line directs the steam to the main turbine, causing it to turn the turbine generator, which produces electricity. The unused steam is exhausted in to the condenser where it it condensed into water. The resulting water is pumped out of the condenser with a series of pumps, reheated and pumped back to the reactor vessel. The reactor's core contains fuel assemblies that are cooled by water circulated using electrically powered pumps. These pumps and other operating systems in the plant receive their power from the electrical grid. If offsite power is lost emergency cooling water is supplied by other pumps, which can be powered by onsite diesel generators. Other safety systems, such as the containment cooling system, also need electric power.
aption: Boiling Water Reactors actually boil the water, producing the steam that turns the turbine. (Source and to see animation, visit http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-bwr.html [68])
Interim storage of spent nuclear fuel
There are two acceptable storage methods for spent fuel after it is removed from the reactor core:
The water-pool option involves storing spent fuel rods under at least 20 feet of water, which provides adequate shielding from the radiation for anyone near the pool. The rods are moved into the water pools from the reactor along the bottom of water canals, so that the spent fuel is always shielded to protect workers.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the need for alternative storage began to grow when pools at many nuclear reactors began to fill up with stored spent fuel. Utilities began looking at options such as dry cask storage for increasing spent fuel storage capacity.
Dry cask storage allows spent fuel that has already been cooled in the spent fuel pool for at least one year to be surrounded by inert gas inside a container called a cask. The casks are typically steel cylinders that are either welded or bolted closed. The steel cylinder provides a leak-tight containment of the spent fuel. Each cylinder is surrounded by additional steel, concrete, or other material to provide radiation shielding to workers and members of the public. Some of the cask designs can be used for both storage and transportation.
Reprocessing of high-level waste to recover the fissionable material remaining in the spent fuel (currently not done in the United States)
High-level radioactive wastes are the highly radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors. High-level wastes take one of two forms:
Spent nuclear fuel is used fuel from a reactor that is no longer efficient in creating electricity, because its fission process has slowed. However, it is still thermally hot, highly radioactive, and potentially harmful. Until a permanent disposal repository for spent nuclear fuel is built, licensees must safely store this fuel at their reactors.
Reprocessing extracts isotopes from spent fuel that can be used again as reactor fuel. Commercial reprocessing is currently not practiced in the United States, although it has been allowed in the past. However, significant quantities of high-level radioactive waste are produced by the defense reprocessing programs at Department of Energy (DOE) exit icon facilities, such as Hanford, Washington, and Savannah River, South Carolina, and by commercial reprocessing operations at West Valley, New York. These wastes, which are generally managed by DOE, are not regulated by NRC. However they must be included in any high-level radioactive waste disposal plans, along with all high-level waste from spent reactor fuel.
Because of their highly radioactive fission products, high-level waste and spent fuel must be handled and stored with care. Since the only way radioactive waste finally becomes harmless is through decay, which for high-level wastes can take hundreds of thousands of years, the wastes must be stored and finally disposed of in a way that provides adequate protection of the public for a very long time.
Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel
Spent nuclear fuel refers to uranium-bearing fuel elements that have been used at commercial nuclear reactors and that are no longer producing enough energy to sustain a nuclear reaction. Once the spent fuel is removed from the reactor the fission process has stopped, but the spent fuel assemblies still generate significant amounts of radiation and heat. Because of the residual hazard, spent fuel must be shipped in containers or casks that shield and contain the radioactivity and dissipate the heat.
Over the last 30 years, thousands of shipments of commercially generated spent nuclear fuel have been made throughout the United States without causing any radiological releases to the environment or harm to the public.
Most of these shipments occur between different reactors owned by the same utility to share storage space for spent fuel, or they may be shipped to a research facility to perform tests on the spent fuel itself. In the near future, because of a potential high-level waste repository being built, the number of these shipments by road and rail is expected to increase.
Final disposition (disposal) of high-level waste
On June 3, 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), seeking authorization to construct a deep geologic repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The NRC's review of that application will require evaluation of a wide range of technical and scientific issues. The NRC will issue a construction authorization only if DOE can demonstrate that it can safely construct and operate the repository in compliance with the NRC's regulations.
United States policies governing the permanent disposal of HLW are defined by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA). This Act specifies that HLW will be disposed of underground, in a deep geologic repository, and that Yucca Mountain, Nevada, will be the single candidate site for characterization as a potential geologic repository. Under the Act, the NRC is one of three Federal agencies with a role in the disposal of spent nuclear fuel, as well as the HLW from the Nation's nuclear weapons production activities:
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for designing, constructing, operating, and decommissioning a permanent disposal facility for HLW, under NRC licensing and regulation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for developing site-specific environmental standards for use in evaluating the safety of a geologic repository.
The NRC is responsible for developing regulations to implement the EPA's safety standards, and for licensing and overseeing the construction and operation of the repository. In addition, the NRC will consider any future DOE applications for license amendments to permanently close the repository, dismantle surface facilities, remove controls to restrict access to the site, or undertake any other activities involving an unreviewed safety question.
Final disposition of low-level waste
Low-level waste includes items that have become contaminated with radioactive material or have become radioactive through exposure to neutron radiation. This waste typically consists of contaminated protective shoe covers and clothing, wiping rags, mops, filters, reactor water treatment residues, equipments and tools, luminous dials, medical tubes, swabs, injection needles, syringes, and laboratory animal carcasses and tissues. The radioactivity can range from just above background levels found in nature to very highly radioactive in certain cases such as parts from inside the reactor vessel in a nuclear power plant. Low-level waste is typically stored on-site by licensees, either until it has decayed away and can be disposed of as ordinary trash, or until amounts are large enough for shipment to a low-level waste disposal site in containers approved by the Department of Transportation.
Low-level waste disposal occurs at commercially operated low-level waste disposal facilities that must be licensed by either NRC or Agreement States. The facilities must be designed, constructed, and operated to meet safety standards. The operator of the facility must also extensively characterize the site on which the facility is located and analyze how the facility will perform for thousands of years into the future.
There are three existing low-level waste disposal facilities in the United States that accept various types of low-level waste. All are in Agreement States.
The Low-level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 gave the states responsibility for the disposal of their low-level radioactive waste. The Act encouraged the states to enter into compacts that would allow them to dispose of waste at a common disposal facility. Most states have entered into compacts; however, no new disposal facilities have been built since the Act was passed.
NRC backgrounder on radioactive waste (high level & low level) http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html [69]
Content from Key World Energy Statistics 2010, pp 16 - 17
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) http://www.iaea.org [70]
World Nuclear Association (WNA)
Nuclear Energy Association http://www.nea.fr/ [72]
In this lesson we introduced the concept of....
At this point, you should be able to perform the following tasks:
If you log on to Canvas you will find an on-line multiple choice quiz, Quiz #X. Complete that by the date noted on the calendar tab in Canvas.
You have reached the end of Lesson X! Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
...
...
...
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
This lesson will take us one week to complete. Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. There are a number of required activities in this lesson. The chart below provides an overview of those activities that must be submitted for this lesson. For assignment details, refer to the lesson page noted.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK |
Read Chapter X in the textbook. | Not submitted |
On-line quiz | This will be submitted via Canvas. |
If you have any questions, please post them to the Comments area that appears at the bottom of this page and all other pages in this lesson. I will check these comments regularly to respond. While you are on a page, feel free to go through the comments and post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
Technology Overview (nuclear fuel, power plants, radioactive waste)
The series of steps involved in supplying fuel for nuclear power reactors include the following:
Uranium recovery to extract (or mine) uranium ore, and concentrate (or mill) the ore to produce "yellowcake"
As the precursor to the nuclear fuel cycle, uranium recovery focuses on extracting (or mining) natural uranium ore from the Earth and concentrating (or milling) that ore. These recovery operations produce a product, called "yellowcake," which is then transported to a fuel cycle facility. There, the yellowcake is transformed into fuel for nuclear power reactors. In addition to yellowcake, uranium recovery operations generate waste products, called byproduct materials, that contain low levels of radioactivity.
Conversion of yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride (UF6)
After the yellowcake is produced at the mill, the next step is conversion into pure uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas suitable for use in enrichment operations. During this conversion, impurities are removed and the uranium is combined with fluorine to create the UF6 gas. The UF6 is then pressurized and cooled to a liquid. In its liquid state it is drained into 14-ton cylinders where it solidifies after cooling for approximately five days. The UF6 cyclinder, in the solid form, is then shipped to an enrichment plant. UF6 is the only uranium compound that exists as a gas at a suitable temperature.
One conversion plant is operating in the United States: Honeywell International Inc. in Metropolis, Illinois. Canada, France, United Kingdom, China, and Russia also have conversion plants.
As with mining and milling, the primary risks associated with conversion are chemical and radiological. Strong acids and alkalis are used in the conversion process, which involves converting the yellowcake (uranium oxide) powder to very soluble forms, leading to possible inhalation of uranium. In addition, conversion produces extremely corrosive chemicals that could cause fire and explosion hazards.
Enrichment to increase the concentration of uranium-235 (U-235) in UF6
Enriching uranium increases the proportion of uranium atoms that can be "split" by fission to release energy (usually in the form of heat) that can be used to produce electricity. Not all uranium atoms are the same. When uranium is mined, it consists of about 99.3% uranium-238 or U-238 (U238), 0.7% uranium-235 or U-235 (U235), and < 0.01% uranium-234 or U-234 (U234). These are the different isotopes of uranium, which means that while they all contain 92 protons in the atom’s center, or nucleus (which is what makes it uranium), the U238 atoms contain 146 neutrons, the U235 atoms contain 143 neutrons, and the U234 atoms contain only 142 neutrons. (The total number of protons plus neutrons gives the atomic mass of each isotope — that is, 238, 235, or 234, respectively.)
Caption: Natural uranium contains 99% U238 and only about 0.7% U235 by weight. (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/uranium-enrichment.pdf [65])
The fuel for nuclear reactors has to have a higher concentration of U235 than exists in natural uranium ore. This is because U235 is "fissionable," meaning that it starts a nuclear reaction and keeps it going. Normally, the amount of the U235 isotope is enriched from 0.7% of the uranium mass to about 5%, as illustrated in this diagram PDF Icon of the enrichment process.
Caption: The uranium enrichment process increases the concentration of U235 to the amount needed for use in reactor fuel. (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/uranium-enrichment.pdf [65])
Gaseous diffusion is the only process currently being used in the United States to commercially enrich uranium. Gas centrifuges and laser separation can also be used to enrich uranium, as described below.
Deconversion to reduce the hazards associated with the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), or “tailings,” produced in earlier stages of the fuel cycle
As uranium-235 (U235) is extracted, converted, and enriched in the uranium recovery, conversion, and enrichment processes for use in fabricating fuel for nuclear reactors, large quantities of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), or “tailings,” are produced. These tailings are transferred into 14-ton cylinders which are stored in large yards near the enrichment facilities. A process called "deconversion" is then used to chemically extract the fluoride from the DUF6 stored in the cylinders. This deconversion process produces stable compounds, known as uranium oxides, which are generally suitable for disposal as low-level radioactive waste.
Enriching 1,000 kilograms (kg) of natural uranium to 5% U235 produces 85 kg of enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and about 915 kg of DUF6 (0.3 percent U235). As a result, enrichment processes in the United States produce approximately 12,000 – 15,000 tons of DUF6 tailings per year, which are then transferred to storage cylinders. The uranium in these cylinders consists of high purity U238 with less than 0.7% other uranium isotopes (e.g., U234 and U235). In addition the cylinders contain small quantities of impurities resulting from the natural radioactive decay of the uranium. The high purity of the U238 and self-shielding of the bulk material limit the radiological hazard from the full cylinders. Nonetheless, DUF6 represents a chemical hazard if it is released to the environment.
The deconversion process significantly reduces the chemical hazards associated with DUF6 by extracting the fluoride atoms and replacing them with oxygen. This deconversion process results in depleted uranium dioxide (DUO2) and depleted triuranium octoxide (DU3O8) compounds. These compounds are chemically stable, compared to DUF6, and are generally suitable for disposal as low-level radioactive waste. These oxides are similar to the chemical form of uranium in nature. Depleted uranium has a lower specific radioactivity per mass than natural uranium because the enrichment process reduces the percentage of other isotopes, e.g. U234 and U235. The specific radioactivity of the storage containers increases over time as the daughter products, removed during uranium recovery and conversion processes, return to natural levels due to radioactive decay. Most of the daughter products return to natural levels over the course of several million years.
Deconversion also enables the recovery of high purity fluoride compounds which have commercial value. These fluoride compounds are used in the production of refrigerants, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, high-octane gasoline, aluminum, plastics, electrical components, and fluorescent light bulbs.
Chemical exposure is the dominant hazard at deconversion facilities because uranium and fluoride compounds (such as hydrogen fluoride) are hazardous at low levels of exposure. In particular, these compounds have the following characteristics:
Deconversion facilities are designed to reduce the likelihood and consequences of accidental releases of hazardous radiological and chemical compounds through safety systems, onsite and offsite monitoring, and emergency planning.
Fuel fabrication to convert enriched UF6 into fuel for nuclear reactors
Fuel fabrication facilities convert enriched UF6 into fuel for nuclear reactors. Fabrication also can involve mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, which is a combination of uranium and plutonium components.
Fuel fabrication for light (regular) water power reactors (LWR) typically begins with receipt of low-enriched uranium (LEU) hexafluoride (UF6) from an enrichment plant. The UF6, in solid form in containers, is heated to gaseous form, and the UF6 gas is chemically processed to form LEU uranium dioxide (UO2) powder. This powder is then pressed into pellets, sintered into ceramic form, loaded into Zircaloy tubes, and constructed into fuel assemblies. Depending on the type of light water reactor, a fuel assembly may contain up to 264 fuel rods and have dimensions of 5 to 9 inches square by about 12 feet long.
Caption: Typical Light Water Reactor Fuel Fabrication Facility (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/fuel-fab.html [66])
MOX fuel differs from LEU fuel in that the dioxide powder from which the fuel pellets are pressed is a combination of UO2 and plutonium oxide (PuO2). The NRC was directed by Congress to regulate the Department of Energy's (DOE's) fabrication of MOX fuel used for disposal of plutonium from international nuclear disarmament agreements. For more information about this fuel, see Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility Licensing.
Use of the fuel in reactors (nuclear power, research, or naval propulsion)
There are several types of commercial nuclear power plants that generate electricity. Of these, only the Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) are in commercial operation in the United States.
In a typical commercial pressurized light-water reactor, the core inside the reactor vessel creates heat, pressurized water in the primary coolant loop carries the heat to the steam generator, and a steam line directs the steam to the main turbine, causing it to turn the turbine generator, which produces electricity. The unused steam is exhausted in to the condenser where it condensed into water. The resulting water is pumped out of the condenser with a series of pumps, reheated and pumped back to the reactor vessel. The reactor's core contains fuel assemblies that are cooled by water circulated using electrically powered pumps. These pumps and other operating systems in the plant receive their power from the electrical grid. If offsite power is lost emergency cooling water is supplied by other pumps, which can be powered by onsite diesel generators. Other safety systems, such as the containment cooling system, also need power.
Caption: Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) keep water under pressure so that it heats, but does not boil. Water from the reactor and the water in the steam generator that is turned into steam never mix. In this way, most of the radioactivity stays in the reactor area. (Source and to see animation, visit http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-pwr.html [67])
n a typical commercial boiling-water reactor (BWR), the core inside the reactor vessel creates heat, a steam-water mixture is produced when very pure water (reactor coolant) moves upward through the core, absorbing heat, the steam-water mixture leaves the top of the core and enters the two stages of moisture separation where water droplets are removed before the steam is allowed to enter the steam line, and the steam line directs the steam to the main turbine, causing it to turn the turbine generator, which produces electricity. The unused steam is exhausted in to the condenser where it it condensed into water. The resulting water is pumped out of the condenser with a series of pumps, reheated and pumped back to the reactor vessel. The reactor's core contains fuel assemblies that are cooled by water circulated using electrically powered pumps. These pumps and other operating systems in the plant receive their power from the electrical grid. If offsite power is lost emergency cooling water is supplied by other pumps, which can be powered by onsite diesel generators. Other safety systems, such as the containment cooling system, also need electric power.
aption: Boiling Water Reactors actually boil the water, producing the steam that turns the turbine. (Source and to see animation, visit http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-bwr.html [68])
Interim storage of spent nuclear fuel
There are two acceptable storage methods for spent fuel after it is removed from the reactor core:
The water-pool option involves storing spent fuel rods under at least 20 feet of water, which provides adequate shielding from the radiation for anyone near the pool. The rods are moved into the water pools from the reactor along the bottom of water canals, so that the spent fuel is always shielded to protect workers.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the need for alternative storage began to grow when pools at many nuclear reactors began to fill up with stored spent fuel. Utilities began looking at options such as dry cask storage for increasing spent fuel storage capacity.
Dry cask storage allows spent fuel that has already been cooled in the spent fuel pool for at least one year to be surrounded by inert gas inside a container called a cask. The casks are typically steel cylinders that are either welded or bolted closed. The steel cylinder provides a leak-tight containment of the spent fuel. Each cylinder is surrounded by additional steel, concrete, or other material to provide radiation shielding to workers and members of the public. Some of the cask designs can be used for both storage and transportation.
Reprocessing of high-level waste to recover the fissionable material remaining in the spent fuel (currently not done in the United States)
High-level radioactive wastes are the highly radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors. High-level wastes take one of two forms:
Spent nuclear fuel is used fuel from a reactor that is no longer efficient in creating electricity, because its fission process has slowed. However, it is still thermally hot, highly radioactive, and potentially harmful. Until a permanent disposal repository for spent nuclear fuel is built, licensees must safely store this fuel at their reactors.
Reprocessing extracts isotopes from spent fuel that can be used again as reactor fuel. Commercial reprocessing is currently not practiced in the United States, although it has been allowed in the past. However, significant quantities of high-level radioactive waste are produced by the defense reprocessing programs at Department of Energy (DOE) exit icon facilities, such as Hanford, Washington, and Savannah River, South Carolina, and by commercial reprocessing operations at West Valley, New York. These wastes, which are generally managed by DOE, are not regulated by NRC. However they must be included in any high-level radioactive waste disposal plans, along with all high-level waste from spent reactor fuel.
Because of their highly radioactive fission products, high-level waste and spent fuel must be handled and stored with care. Since the only way radioactive waste finally becomes harmless is through decay, which for high-level wastes can take hundreds of thousands of years, the wastes must be stored and finally disposed of in a way that provides adequate protection of the public for a very long time.
Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel
Spent nuclear fuel refers to uranium-bearing fuel elements that have been used at commercial nuclear reactors and that are no longer producing enough energy to sustain a nuclear reaction. Once the spent fuel is removed from the reactor the fission process has stopped, but the spent fuel assemblies still generate significant amounts of radiation and heat. Because of the residual hazard, spent fuel must be shipped in containers or casks that shield and contain the radioactivity and dissipate the heat.
Over the last 30 years, thousands of shipments of commercially generated spent nuclear fuel have been made throughout the United States without causing any radiological releases to the environment or harm to the public.
Most of these shipments occur between different reactors owned by the same utility to share storage space for spent fuel, or they may be shipped to a research facility to perform tests on the spent fuel itself. In the near future, because of a potential high-level waste repository being built, the number of these shipments by road and rail is expected to increase.
Final disposition (disposal) of high-level waste
On June 3, 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), seeking authorization to construct a deep geologic repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The NRC's review of that application will require evaluation of a wide range of technical and scientific issues. The NRC will issue a construction authorization only if DOE can demonstrate that it can safely construct and operate the repository in compliance with the NRC's regulations.
United States policies governing the permanent disposal of HLW are defined by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA). This Act specifies that HLW will be disposed of underground, in a deep geologic repository, and that Yucca Mountain, Nevada, will be the single candidate site for characterization as a potential geologic repository. Under the Act, the NRC is one of three Federal agencies with a role in the disposal of spent nuclear fuel, as well as the HLW from the Nation's nuclear weapons production activities:
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for designing, constructing, operating, and decommissioning a permanent disposal facility for HLW, under NRC licensing and regulation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for developing site-specific environmental standards for use in evaluating the safety of a geologic repository.
The NRC is responsible for developing regulations to implement the EPA's safety standards, and for licensing and overseeing the construction and operation of the repository. In addition, the NRC will consider any future DOE applications for license amendments to permanently close the repository, dismantle surface facilities, remove controls to restrict access to the site, or undertake any other activities involving an unreviewed safety question.
Final disposition of low-level waste
Low-level waste includes items that have become contaminated with radioactive material or have become radioactive through exposure to neutron radiation. This waste typically consists of contaminated protective shoe covers and clothing, wiping rags, mops, filters, reactor water treatment residues, equipments and tools, luminous dials, medical tubes, swabs, injection needles, syringes, and laboratory animal carcasses and tissues. The radioactivity can range from just above background levels found in nature to very highly radioactive in certain cases such as parts from inside the reactor vessel in a nuclear power plant. Low-level waste is typically stored on-site by licensees, either until it has decayed away and can be disposed of as ordinary trash, or until amounts are large enough for shipment to a low-level waste disposal site in containers approved by the Department of Transportation.
Low-level waste disposal occurs at commercially operated low-level waste disposal facilities that must be licensed by either NRC or Agreement States. The facilities must be designed, constructed, and operated to meet safety standards. The operator of the facility must also extensively characterize the site on which the facility is located and analyze how the facility will perform for thousands of years into the future.
There are three existing low-level waste disposal facilities in the United States that accept various types of low-level waste. All are in Agreement States.
The Low-level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 gave the states responsibility for the disposal of their low-level radioactive waste. The Act encouraged the states to enter into compacts that would allow them to dispose of waste at a common disposal facility. Most states have entered into compacts; however, no new disposal facilities have been built since the Act was passed.
NRC backgrounder on radioactive waste (high level & low level) http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html [69]
Content from Key World Energy Statistics 2010, pp 16 - 17
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) http://www.iaea.org [70]
World Nuclear Association (WNA)
Nuclear Energy Association http://www.nea.fr/ [72]
In this lesson we introduced the concept of....
At this point, you should be able to perform the following tasks:
If you log on to Canvas you will find an on-line multiple choice quiz, Quiz #X. Complete that by the date noted on the calendar tab in Canvas.
You have reached the end of Lesson X! Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
...
...
...
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
This lesson will take us one week to complete. Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. There are a number of required activities in this lesson. The chart below provides an overview of those activities that must be submitted for this lesson. For assignment details, refer to the lesson page noted.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK |
Read Chapter X in the textbook. | Not submitted |
On-line quiz | This will be submitted via Canvas. |
If you have any questions, please post them to the Comments area that appears at the bottom of this page and all other pages in this lesson. I will check these comments regularly to respond. While you are on a page, feel free to go through the comments and post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
In this lesson we introduced the concept of....
At this point, you should be able to perform the following tasks:
If you log on to Canvas you will find an on-line multiple choice quiz, Quiz #X. Complete that by the date noted on the calendar tab in Canvas.
You have reached the end of Lesson X! Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
...
...
...
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
This lesson will take us one week to complete. Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. There are a number of required activities in this lesson. The chart below provides an overview of those activities that must be submitted for this lesson. For assignment details, refer to the lesson page noted.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK |
Read Chapter X in the textbook. | Not submitted |
On-line quiz | This will be submitted via Canvas. |
If you have any questions, please post them to the Comments area that appears at the bottom of this page and all other pages in this lesson. I will check these comments regularly to respond. While you are on a page, feel free to go through the comments and post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
In this lesson we introduced the concept of....
At this point, you should be able to perform the following tasks:
If you log on to Canvas you will find an on-line multiple choice quiz, Quiz #X. Complete that by the date noted on the calendar tab in Canvas.
You have reached the end of Lesson X! Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
...
...
...
By the end of this lesson, you should be able to...
This lesson will take us one week to complete. Please refer to the Calendar in Canvas for specific time frames and due dates. There are a number of required activities in this lesson. The chart below provides an overview of those activities that must be submitted for this lesson. For assignment details, refer to the lesson page noted.
REQUIREMENT |
SUBMITTING YOUR WORK |
Read Chapter X in the textbook. | Not submitted |
On-line quiz | This will be submitted via Canvas. |
If you have any questions, please post them to the Comments area that appears at the bottom of this page and all other pages in this lesson. I will check these comments regularly to respond. While you are on a page, feel free to go through the comments and post your own responses if you, too, are able to help out a classmate.
In this lesson we introduced the concept of....
At this point, you should be able to perform the following tasks:
If you log on to Canvas you will find an on-line multiple choice quiz, Quiz #X. Complete that by the date noted on the calendar tab in Canvas.
You have reached the end of Lesson X! Double-check the list of requirements on the first page of this lesson to make sure you have completed all of the activities listed there.
For Jan 11, 2011 meeting
Agenda
1. Unit 1 (Lessons 1 -5) - Michael
2. Review overall Course Outline (see below)
3. Assessments--big picture (see below)
4. Next Steps and Schedule
Course Outline - as of Jan 11, 2011
Unit 1 The Commercial and Social Environment of Energy
L1. Economics and Market Imperfections (what is "economics", how do agents decide--ideally and really)
L2. Analysis of Non-Market Considerations (id issues, stakeholders, influence; "supply" and "demand" of non-market action)
L3. Venues for Non-Market Action [private politics (eg public opinion) and public politics (legislative, regulatory, judicial)]
L4. Strategies for Managing Non-Market Risk (strategy to influence non-market risk, dimensions (positioning, stakeholders, venues, geography, timing)
L5. Putting it All Together (Ethics, algorithmic approach to stakeholder engagement planning, metaexample)
Unit 2 Global Energy Production Sectors
L6. Coal Industry
L7: Nuclear Industry
L8. Oil and Natural Gas--since students already took EGEE 120 Oil course, maybe skip oil here and add natural gas to coal week?
L9: Sustainable Energy Industry--would like to do this as two lessons--one solar & one wind (plus other)
Unit 3 Political Economies
L10: Political Economy of (European Union)(USA)
L11: Political Economy of (China)(India)
L12. Political Economy of Africa (Nigeria/Ethiopia/Desert-tec) [Off-grid applications]
In course proposal:
Alternatively, I propose (maybe...)—
Lesson 11: Electricity Cases [Spread out over the fuel sources]
Technology Overview (power generation, transmission, smart grid, demand management, off-grid)
Worldwide capacity, energy sources, trends (facts & sources for future investigation)
Leading businesses
Externalities (e.g., siting, regulatory regimes, renewable portfolio standards, deregulation)
Example student learning activity: Prepare an analysis for stakeholders of a hypothetical energy transmission utility in operating in a given country or U.S. state comparing the costs and benefits of major investment in smart grid technologies.
Lesson 12: Oil and Natural Gas Cases
Technology Overview (discovery and extraction, processing, distribution)
Worldwide reserves and markets (facts & sources for future investigation)
Major producers and refiners
Externalities (e.g., environmental impacts, regulatory regimes, energy independence)
Student learning activity: Identify and correct misstatements in an error-ridden hypothetical prospectus to be presented to landowners who own potentially valuable mineral rights to non-conventional gas resources in the U.S. (E.g., Barnett shale and Marcellus shale plays).
Things on my mind, to discuss with you, thanks!
Business content that's energy focused & international
Blending systems thinking into the mix, w/o over burdening students
Like to use Meadows’ Thinking in Systems
Simple class structure—establish routine, as much as possible
Interaction among students
Clear “arc” of the course—continuity across lessons
Text—Barron? Case studies are dated, too much so?
Alignment of course objectives and lessons
“Hours of classroom instruction”?
BP oil spill
Hydroelectric dams in Ethiopia
Case studies in Portugal, Germany
HB80 debate in PA
Ethanol (international perspective, re Brazil & tariffs)
Cash for clunkers
Berkeley study of consumer response to electricity consumption feedback (‘psychology of climate change”)
Course Objectives (from proposal)
Student Assessment (from proposal)--graded work for Lessons 1-5?
Pre-test 5%
Cast-Study Exercises 5@10%
Nuclear
Sustainable Energy
Coal
Electricity
Oil & Natural Gas
Regional Examples 2@5%
European Union
China
Class Participation 10%
On-line discussion forums w/each lesson (each student moderates? topics?)
Post-Test 25%
Optional extra credit (Regional energy profile) 5%
Revised course outline (kept original Lesson numbers for easy reference)
Unit 1 [Science of Social Interaction] Business and Its Environment-- (5.1 wk)--(9/13/10) Mike to revise & refinecombine Lessons 1 & 2 here, add a Lesson in Unit 3?--(9/13/10) instead, condense lessons in Unit 2maybe add Systems Thinking throughout Unit 1, via Discussion Forum? Demonstrate market/nonmarket factors?--(9/13/10) Vera & Mike will work on this
Unit development guidance: what background is required to understand the implications of collective action / multi-party bargaining for development and implementation of energy businesses and policies?
At the end of this unit (lessons 1 to 5?), students will be able to:
Unit 1: (see recommended academic plan for existing content)
WEEK 1 -- (see EBF 200 / EMEC 100)
WEEK 2 --
WEEK 3 --
WEEK 4 --
WEEK 5 --
- Lesson 1: Integrated Strategies—Market and Nonmarket Environments
- Market Environments [market governance: bilateral exchange of goods and services]
- Nonmarket Environments [D. Baron => public/private governance :: low coordination costs/high externalities/environmental wellbeing]: strategies to manage collective action
- Integrative Strategy and Nonmarket Positioning [systems thinking]
- Student learning activity: [Opportunity cost decisions] Identify market and nonmarket strategies in an energy-related industry case example (e.g. BP, City of Phoenix, Bechtel Power, Allegheny Power, PA electricity deregulation, etc.)
- Lesson 2: Systematic Bias and (?): Media and Nonmarket Strategies
- Role of social networking tools
- Role of the traditional news media
- [Thinking in Systems models?]
- Competition among Firms: Private Politics
- Student learning activity: Case study comparison of social network and cable news networks affecting policy change or political process. Assess nonmarket strategies using both.
- Lesson 3: Government Institutions and Nonmarket Strategies
- Connection between Market and Nonmarket Environments
- Collective Action
- Social and Political Dilemmas
- Majority-Rule Institutions
- Bargaining vs. Voting
- Organization of Congress and Committees
- Nonmarket Analysis for Business
- Student learning activity: The politics and energy implications of Daylight Savings Time.
- Lesson 4: Ethics and Responsibility
- Ethics Systems
- Utilitarianism
- Rights and Justice
- Challenge of Corporate Social Responsibility
- Ethics in International Business
- Student learning activity: [Thinking in Systems models?] Enron Power Marketing, Inc. and the California Market
Unit 2 Global Energy Production Sectors (5 wk) :: NOT ENGINEERING SPECIFIC, economic allocations, think in the context of Unit One, role of externalities--(9/13/10) Vera will detail/revise one lesson outline here
- Lesson 5: Government and Markets
- Antitrust
- Regulation
- Environmental Protection
- Law and Markets
- Student learning activity: [Thinking in Systems models?] EPA endangerment assessment of CO2 as a pollutant and the impact of the Clean Air Act.
- Lesson 6: Nuclear Cases
- Technology Overview (nuclear fuel, power plants, radioactive waste)
- Worldwide capacity & history
- Externalities (e.g., safety, security, regulatory regimes, public opinion/activists)
- Student learning activity: Identify and correct misstatements in a debate between a French nuclear power advocate and an opponent. (Where to go for vetted data to make the case?)
- Lesson 7: Sustainable Energy Case--(9/13/10) Jeffrey will revise & detail outline here
- Technology Overview (Hydropower, Wind, Biomass, Solar-PV/HW/CSP,Geothermal, Other – e.g. tide and wave)
- Worldwide capacity, markets & manufacturing, trends (facts & sources for future investigation)
- Leading businesses
- Externalities (e.g., climate change public perception, carbon policy, energy independence)
- Student learning activity: Prepare and justify a recommendation to a hypothetical entrepreneur [wind farm in western OK] about how to maximize benefits (including but not limited to return on investment) in one or more renewable energy enterprises in an assigned country or U.S. state and within a given time frame.
Unit 3 Political Economies (wk 1.9)--(9/13/10) tabling devlopment of this unit for now until more progress is made on Units 1 & 2
- Lesson 9: Coal Cases ["Fossil Fuels" could be a join with Lesson 12]
- Technology Overview (Geographic distribution of known reserves, discovery and extraction, processing and distribution, carbon capture and sequestration)
- Worldwide reserves and markets/end uses (facts & sources for future investigation)
- Major coal producers
- Externalities (e.g., environmental impacts, safety, regulatory regimes, carbon policy, local economies)
- Student learning activity: Identify and correct errors detected in an incorrect investor’s prospectus, news feature, editorial or letter to the editor concerning a leading firm involved in coal mining or use. Erroneous sources prepared and assigned by course author/instructor.
- Lesson 11: Electricity Cases [Spread out over the fuel sources]
- Technology Overview (power generation, transmission, smart grid, demand management, off-grid)
- Worldwide capacity, energy sources, trends (facts & sources for future investigation)
- Leading businesses
- Externalities (e.g., siting, regulatory regimes, renewable portfolio standards, deregulation)
- Example student learning activity: Prepare an analysis for stakeholders of a hypothetical energy transmission utility in operating in a given country or U.S. state comparing the costs and benefits of major investment in smart grid technologies.
- Lesson 12: Oil and Natural Gas Cases
- Technology Overview (discovery and extraction, processing, distribution)
- Worldwide reserves and markets (facts & sources for future investigation)
- Major producers and refiners
- Externalities (e.g., environmental impacts, regulatory regimes, energy independence)
- Student learning activity: Identify and correct misstatements in an error-ridden hypothetical prospectus to be presented to landowners who own potentially valuable mineral rights to non-conventional gas resources in the U.S. (E.g., Barnett shale and Marcellus shale plays).
- Lesson 8: Political Economy of (European Union)(USA)
- Regional energy sources, generation, manufacturing
- Regional population trends and consumption
- Import/export trends
- Major energy businesses
- Institutions of the EU
- Economic and Monetary Union
- Nonmarket Strategies
- Student Learning Activity: Assessing the costs and benefits of the EU Carbon Tax and the economics of emissions control.
- Lesson 10: Political Economy of (China)(India)
- Regional energy sources, generation, manufacturing
- Regional population trends and consumption
- Import/export trends
- Major energy businesses
- History of Chinese Socialism and shift to the modern market
- Institutions of China
- Nonmarket Strategies
- Student learning activity: Assessing rapid economic growth in China tied with increased emissions and the economics of emissions control in light of increased development.
- Lesson XX: Political Economy of Africa (Nigeria/Ethiopia/Desert-tec) [Off-grid applications]
Photovoltaic power plants (“solar farms”) are essentially made up of the same components as residential scale solar: photovoltaic modules and inverter(s). See for yourself!
From Energy.gov, view Solar 101: Concentrating Solar Power [75] (about 2 mins)
From The Atlantic (Mar 2014), read The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System [76] (be sure to look at all the pictures!)
Natural uranium contains 99% U238 and only about 0.7% U235 by weight.
Technology Overview (nuclear fuel, power plants, radioactive waste)
The series of steps involved in supplying fuel for nuclear power reactors include the following:
Uranium recovery to extract (or mine) uranium ore, and concentrate (or mill) the ore to produce "yellowcake"
As the precursor to the nuclear fuel cycle, uranium recovery focuses on extracting (or mining) natural uranium ore from the Earth and concentrating (or milling) that ore. These recovery operations produce a product, called "yellowcake," which is then transported to a fuel cycle facility. There, the yellowcake is transformed into fuel for nuclear power reactors. In addition to yellowcake, uranium recovery operations generate waste products, called byproduct materials, that contain low levels of radioactivity.
Conversion of yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride (UF6)
After the yellowcake is produced at the mill, the next step is conversion into pure uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas suitable for use in enrichment operations. During this conversion, impurities are removed and the uranium is combined with fluorine to create the UF6 gas. The UF6 is then pressurized and cooled to a liquid. In its liquid state it is drained into 14-ton cylinders where it solidifies after cooling for approximately five days. The UF6 cyclinder, in the solid form, is then shipped to an enrichment plant. UF6 is the only uranium compound that exists as a gas at a suitable temperature.
One conversion plant is operating in the United States: Honeywell International Inc. in Metropolis, Illinois. Canada, France, United Kingdom, China, and Russia also have conversion plants.
As with mining and milling, the primary risks associated with conversion are chemical and radiological. Strong acids and alkalis are used in the conversion process, which involves converting the yellowcake (uranium oxide) powder to very soluble forms, leading to possible inhalation of uranium. In addition, conversion produces extremely corrosive chemicals that could cause fire and explosion hazards.
Enrichment to increase the concentration of uranium-235 (U-235) in UF6
Enriching uranium increases the proportion of uranium atoms that can be "split" by fission to release energy (usually in the form of heat) that can be used to produce electricity. Not all uranium atoms are the same. When uranium is mined, it consists of about 99.3% uranium-238 or U-238 (U238), 0.7% uranium-235 or U-235 (U235), and < 0.01% uranium-234 or U-234 (U234). These are the different isotopes of uranium, which means that while they all contain 92 protons in the atom’s center, or nucleus (which is what makes it uranium), the U238 atoms contain 146 neutrons, the U235 atoms contain 143 neutrons, and the U234 atoms contain only 142 neutrons. (The total number of protons plus neutrons gives the atomic mass of each isotope — that is, 238, 235, or 234, respectively.)
Caption: Natural uranium contains 99% U238 and only about 0.7% U235 by weight. (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/uranium-enrichment.pdf [65])
The fuel for nuclear reactors has to have a higher concentration of U235 than exists in natural uranium ore. This is because U235 is "fissionable," meaning that it starts a nuclear reaction and keeps it going. Normally, the amount of the U235 isotope is enriched from 0.7% of the uranium mass to about 5%, as illustrated in this diagram PDF Icon of the enrichment process.
Caption: The uranium enrichment process increases the concentration of U235 to the amount needed for use in reactor fuel. (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/uranium-enrichment.pdf [65])
Gaseous diffusion is the only process currently being used in the United States to commercially enrich uranium. Gas centrifuges and laser separation can also be used to enrich uranium, as described below.
Deconversion to reduce the hazards associated with the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), or “tailings,” produced in earlier stages of the fuel cycle
As uranium-235 (U235) is extracted, converted, and enriched in the uranium recovery, conversion, and enrichment processes for use in fabricating fuel for nuclear reactors, large quantities of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6), or “tailings,” are produced. These tailings are transferred into 14-ton cylinders which are stored in large yards near the enrichment facilities. A process called "deconversion" is then used to chemically extract the fluoride from the DUF6 stored in the cylinders. This deconversion process produces stable compounds, known as uranium oxides, which are generally suitable for disposal as low-level radioactive waste.
Enriching 1,000 kilograms (kg) of natural uranium to 5% U235 produces 85 kg of enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) and about 915 kg of DUF6 (0.3 percent U235). As a result, enrichment processes in the United States produce approximately 12,000 – 15,000 tons of DUF6 tailings per year, which are then transferred to storage cylinders. The uranium in these cylinders consists of high purity U238 with less than 0.7% other uranium isotopes (e.g., U234 and U235). In addition the cylinders contain small quantities of impurities resulting from the natural radioactive decay of the uranium. The high purity of the U238 and self-shielding of the bulk material limit the radiological hazard from the full cylinders. Nonetheless, DUF6 represents a chemical hazard if it is released to the environment.
The deconversion process significantly reduces the chemical hazards associated with DUF6 by extracting the fluoride atoms and replacing them with oxygen. This deconversion process results in depleted uranium dioxide (DUO2) and depleted triuranium octoxide (DU3O8) compounds. These compounds are chemically stable, compared to DUF6, and are generally suitable for disposal as low-level radioactive waste. These oxides are similar to the chemical form of uranium in nature. Depleted uranium has a lower specific radioactivity per mass than natural uranium because the enrichment process reduces the percentage of other isotopes, e.g. U234 and U235. The specific radioactivity of the storage containers increases over time as the daughter products, removed during uranium recovery and conversion processes, return to natural levels due to radioactive decay. Most of the daughter products return to natural levels over the course of several million years.
Deconversion also enables the recovery of high purity fluoride compounds which have commercial value. These fluoride compounds are used in the production of refrigerants, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, high-octane gasoline, aluminum, plastics, electrical components, and fluorescent light bulbs.
Chemical exposure is the dominant hazard at deconversion facilities because uranium and fluoride compounds (such as hydrogen fluoride) are hazardous at low levels of exposure. In particular, these compounds have the following characteristics:
Deconversion facilities are designed to reduce the likelihood and consequences of accidental releases of hazardous radiological and chemical compounds through safety systems, onsite and offsite monitoring, and emergency planning.
Fuel fabrication to convert enriched UF6 into fuel for nuclear reactors
Fuel fabrication facilities convert enriched UF6 into fuel for nuclear reactors. Fabrication also can involve mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, which is a combination of uranium and plutonium components.
Fuel fabrication for light (regular) water power reactors (LWR) typically begins with receipt of low-enriched uranium (LEU) hexafluoride (UF6) from an enrichment plant. The UF6, in solid form in containers, is heated to gaseous form, and the UF6 gas is chemically processed to form LEU uranium dioxide (UO2) powder. This powder is then pressed into pellets, sintered into ceramic form, loaded into Zircaloy tubes, and constructed into fuel assemblies. Depending on the type of light water reactor, a fuel assembly may contain up to 264 fuel rods and have dimensions of 5 to 9 inches square by about 12 feet long.
Caption: Typical Light Water Reactor Fuel Fabrication Facility (Source: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/fuel-fab.html [66])
MOX fuel differs from LEU fuel in that the dioxide powder from which the fuel pellets are pressed is a combination of UO2 and plutonium oxide (PuO2). The NRC was directed by Congress to regulate the Department of Energy's (DOE's) fabrication of MOX fuel used for disposal of plutonium from international nuclear disarmament agreements. For more information about this fuel, see Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility Licensing.
Use of the fuel in reactors (nuclear power, research, or naval propulsion)
There are several types of commercial nuclear power plants that generate electricity. Of these, only the Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) are in commercial operation in the United States.
In a typical commercial pressurized light-water reactor, the core inside the reactor vessel creates heat, pressurized water in the primary coolant loop carries the heat to the steam generator, and a steam line directs the steam to the main turbine, causing it to turn the turbine generator, which produces electricity. The unused steam is exhausted in to the condenser where it condensed into water. The resulting water is pumped out of the condenser with a series of pumps, reheated and pumped back to the reactor vessel. The reactor's core contains fuel assemblies that are cooled by water circulated using electrically powered pumps. These pumps and other operating systems in the plant receive their power from the electrical grid. If offsite power is lost emergency cooling water is supplied by other pumps, which can be powered by onsite diesel generators. Other safety systems, such as the containment cooling system, also need power.
Caption: Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) keep water under pressure so that it heats, but does not boil. Water from the reactor and the water in the steam generator that is turned into steam never mix. In this way, most of the radioactivity stays in the reactor area. (Source and to see animation, visit http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-pwr.html [67])
n a typical commercial boiling-water reactor (BWR), the core inside the reactor vessel creates heat, a steam-water mixture is produced when very pure water (reactor coolant) moves upward through the core, absorbing heat, the steam-water mixture leaves the top of the core and enters the two stages of moisture separation where water droplets are removed before the steam is allowed to enter the steam line, and the steam line directs the steam to the main turbine, causing it to turn the turbine generator, which produces electricity. The unused steam is exhausted in to the condenser where it it condensed into water. The resulting water is pumped out of the condenser with a series of pumps, reheated and pumped back to the reactor vessel. The reactor's core contains fuel assemblies that are cooled by water circulated using electrically powered pumps. These pumps and other operating systems in the plant receive their power from the electrical grid. If offsite power is lost emergency cooling water is supplied by other pumps, which can be powered by onsite diesel generators. Other safety systems, such as the containment cooling system, also need electric power.
aption: Boiling Water Reactors actually boil the water, producing the steam that turns the turbine. (Source and to see animation, visit http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-bwr.html [68])
Interim storage of spent nuclear fuel
There are two acceptable storage methods for spent fuel after it is removed from the reactor core:
The water-pool option involves storing spent fuel rods under at least 20 feet of water, which provides adequate shielding from the radiation for anyone near the pool. The rods are moved into the water pools from the reactor along the bottom of water canals, so that the spent fuel is always shielded to protect workers.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the need for alternative storage began to grow when pools at many nuclear reactors began to fill up with stored spent fuel. Utilities began looking at options such as dry cask storage for increasing spent fuel storage capacity.
Dry cask storage allows spent fuel that has already been cooled in the spent fuel pool for at least one year to be surrounded by inert gas inside a container called a cask. The casks are typically steel cylinders that are either welded or bolted closed. The steel cylinder provides a leak-tight containment of the spent fuel. Each cylinder is surrounded by additional steel, concrete, or other material to provide radiation shielding to workers and members of the public. Some of the cask designs can be used for both storage and transportation.
Reprocessing of high-level waste to recover the fissionable material remaining in the spent fuel (currently not done in the United States)
High-level radioactive wastes are the highly radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors. High-level wastes take one of two forms:
Spent nuclear fuel is used fuel from a reactor that is no longer efficient in creating electricity, because its fission process has slowed. However, it is still thermally hot, highly radioactive, and potentially harmful. Until a permanent disposal repository for spent nuclear fuel is built, licensees must safely store this fuel at their reactors.
Reprocessing extracts isotopes from spent fuel that can be used again as reactor fuel. Commercial reprocessing is currently not practiced in the United States, although it has been allowed in the past. However, significant quantities of high-level radioactive waste are produced by the defense reprocessing programs at Department of Energy (DOE) exit icon facilities, such as Hanford, Washington, and Savannah River, South Carolina, and by commercial reprocessing operations at West Valley, New York. These wastes, which are generally managed by DOE, are not regulated by NRC. However they must be included in any high-level radioactive waste disposal plans, along with all high-level waste from spent reactor fuel.
Because of their highly radioactive fission products, high-level waste and spent fuel must be handled and stored with care. Since the only way radioactive waste finally becomes harmless is through decay, which for high-level wastes can take hundreds of thousands of years, the wastes must be stored and finally disposed of in a way that provides adequate protection of the public for a very long time.
Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel
Spent nuclear fuel refers to uranium-bearing fuel elements that have been used at commercial nuclear reactors and that are no longer producing enough energy to sustain a nuclear reaction. Once the spent fuel is removed from the reactor the fission process has stopped, but the spent fuel assemblies still generate significant amounts of radiation and heat. Because of the residual hazard, spent fuel must be shipped in containers or casks that shield and contain the radioactivity and dissipate the heat.
Over the last 30 years, thousands of shipments of commercially generated spent nuclear fuel have been made throughout the United States without causing any radiological releases to the environment or harm to the public.
Most of these shipments occur between different reactors owned by the same utility to share storage space for spent fuel, or they may be shipped to a research facility to perform tests on the spent fuel itself. In the near future, because of a potential high-level waste repository being built, the number of these shipments by road and rail is expected to increase.
Final disposition (disposal) of high-level waste
On June 3, 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) submitted a license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), seeking authorization to construct a deep geologic repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The NRC's review of that application will require evaluation of a wide range of technical and scientific issues. The NRC will issue a construction authorization only if DOE can demonstrate that it can safely construct and operate the repository in compliance with the NRC's regulations.
United States policies governing the permanent disposal of HLW are defined by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA). This Act specifies that HLW will be disposed of underground, in a deep geologic repository, and that Yucca Mountain, Nevada, will be the single candidate site for characterization as a potential geologic repository. Under the Act, the NRC is one of three Federal agencies with a role in the disposal of spent nuclear fuel, as well as the HLW from the Nation's nuclear weapons production activities:
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for designing, constructing, operating, and decommissioning a permanent disposal facility for HLW, under NRC licensing and regulation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for developing site-specific environmental standards for use in evaluating the safety of a geologic repository.
The NRC is responsible for developing regulations to implement the EPA's safety standards, and for licensing and overseeing the construction and operation of the repository. In addition, the NRC will consider any future DOE applications for license amendments to permanently close the repository, dismantle surface facilities, remove controls to restrict access to the site, or undertake any other activities involving an unreviewed safety question.
Final disposition of low-level waste
Low-level waste includes items that have become contaminated with radioactive material or have become radioactive through exposure to neutron radiation. This waste typically consists of contaminated protective shoe covers and clothing, wiping rags, mops, filters, reactor water treatment residues, equipments and tools, luminous dials, medical tubes, swabs, injection needles, syringes, and laboratory animal carcasses and tissues. The radioactivity can range from just above background levels found in nature to very highly radioactive in certain cases such as parts from inside the reactor vessel in a nuclear power plant. Low-level waste is typically stored on-site by licensees, either until it has decayed away and can be disposed of as ordinary trash, or until amounts are large enough for shipment to a low-level waste disposal site in containers approved by the Department of Transportation.
Low-level waste disposal occurs at commercially operated low-level waste disposal facilities that must be licensed by either NRC or Agreement States. The facilities must be designed, constructed, and operated to meet safety standards. The operator of the facility must also extensively characterize the site on which the facility is located and analyze how the facility will perform for thousands of years into the future.
There are three existing low-level waste disposal facilities in the United States that accept various types of low-level waste. All are in Agreement States.
The Low-level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985 gave the states responsibility for the disposal of their low-level radioactive waste. The Act encouraged the states to enter into compacts that would allow them to dispose of waste at a common disposal facility. Most states have entered into compacts; however, no new disposal facilities have been built since the Act was passed.
NRC backgrounder on radioactive waste (high level & low level) http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html [69]
Worldwide capacity & history
Major Players
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) http://www.iaea.org [70]
World Nuclear Association (WNA)
Nuclear Energy Association http://www.nea.fr/ [72]
Externalities (e.g., safety, security, regulatory regimes, public opinion/activists)
Student learning activity: Identify and correct misstatements in a debate between a French nuclear power advocate and an opponent. (Where to go for vetted data to make the case?)
Links
[1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/gw1/
[2] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
[3] http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/
[4] http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_36734052_36734103_1_1_1_1_1,00.html
[5] http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/more_highlights.cfm
[6] http://sanstandards.org/sitio/
[7] http://web.mit.edu/mitei/research/studies/report-natural-gas.pdf
[8] http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/Dem_Sup/econqui2.htm
[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Coase
[10] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
[11] http://www.coase.org/index.htm
[12] http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1991/coase-lecture.html
[13] http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/europe_map.htm
[14] http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm
[15] http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/europe.htm
[16] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128389419
[17] http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/index_en.htm
[18] http://europa.eu/about-eu/institutions-bodies/index_en.htm
[19] http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/decision-making/index_en.htm
[20] http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/decision-making/procedures/index_en.htm
[21] http://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/5099255413/
[22] http://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/
[23] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
[24] http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/take/index_en.htm
[25] http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/faq/index_en.htm
[26] https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies_en
[27] http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets/index_en.htm
[28] http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/package/index_en.htm
[29] http://setis.ec.europa.eu/about-setis/overview
[30] http://setis.ec.europa.eu/about-setis/what-is-the-set-plan
[31] http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/subsidy/
[32] http://ec.europa.eu/energy/observatory/index_en.htm
[33] http://www.aps.org/policy/reports/popa-reports/energy/units.cfm
[34] http://www.iea.org/
[35] http://www.flickr.com/photos/oecd/4024912499/
[36] http://www.flickr.com/photos/oecd/
[37] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SPLIT_COM:2010:0677%2801%29:FIN:EN:PDF
[38] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC0677:EN:HTML:NOT
[39] http://ec.europa.eu/energy/publications/doc/2011_energising_en.pdf
[40] http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/glossary.cfm
[41] http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030908251X&page=213
[42] http://www.coalimpoundment.org/aboutimpoundments/facts.asp
[43] http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/downloads/0508-coal-report-fact-sheet.pdf
[44] http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/coalprep.htm
[45] http://www.sludgesafety.org/coal_sludge.html
[46] http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/coal-seam-methane/
[47] http://www.tri-starpetroleum.com.au/02_what_is_csm/what_csm.htm
[48] http://www.terrapinn.com/2011/csm/the-big-idea.stm
[49] http://www.epa.gov/coalbed/faq.html
[50] http://www.encana.com/news/topics/cbm-groundwater/
[51] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/us/20mine.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
[52] http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/market-amp-transportation/
[53] http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/technology_and_impacts/energy_technologies/how-coal-works.html#v_EIA_2007_Coal_distribution_data
[54] http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2010/01/25/2
[55] http://www.worldenergy.org/publications/3040.asp
[56] http://www.economist.com/node/16636101
[57] http://www.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=coal_prices
[58] http://leeuniversal.blogspot.com/2011/03/shaanxi-to-build-chinas-first-coal.html
[59] http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2010/01/08/victory-for-black-mesa/
[60] http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-of-coal/
[61] http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/pdf/coal.pdf%20international
[62] https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Managing_government_relations_for_the_future_McKinsey_Global_Survey_results_2751
[63] http://nebraskalegislature.gov/about/history_unicameral.php
[64] http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/committees/d_three_sections_with_teasers/committees_home.htm
[65] http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/uranium-enrichment.pdf
[66] http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/fuel-fab.html
[67] http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-pwr.html
[68] http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/students/animated-bwr.html
[69] http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/radwaste.html
[70] http://www.iaea.org
[71] http://nucleus.iaea.org/sso/NUCLEUS.html?exturl=http://www-nfcis.iaea.org/
[72] http://www.nea.fr/
[73] http://www.fpl.com/environment/solar/desoto.shtml
[74] http://www.solarplaza.com/top10-largest-pv-power-plants/#sarnia
[75] http://energy.gov/eere/videos/energy-101-concentrating-solar-power
[76] http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/03/the-ivanpah-solar-electric-generating-system/100692/