Alternatives to nuclear energy under focus
By SARAH ABDULLAH
ARAB NEWS
Jun 7, 2010
As a solution to the overwhelming call to meet the growing demand for electricity and energy to fuel water desalinization projects, Saudi Arabia is moving closer to relying on nuclear energy to meet these vital requirements.
Despite the Kingdom’s $80 billion investment to expand its electric generation capacity and construction of several electrical power plants, Saudi Arabia still needs more reliable energy sources to supply electricity to a growing population.
In 2009, power demand grew by more than 8 percent, increasing annually by at least 7% with an additional 60,000 megawatts expected to be needed by 2020. Previous plans for harnessing the extra energy was simple, namely to merely increase the use of crude oil to generate the extra power.
However, the Kingdom has come under tough scrutiny due to environmental issues and the pollution being caused globally by fossil fuels. The American Energy Information Administration (EIA) has predicted that the only way to mitigate global warming is if the world energy consumption of fossil fuels drastically is reduced over the next 10-15 years. They also found that the use of nuclear power is only effective in reducing the causes of global warming by only 10 percent
Nonetheless, despite the recent media reports announcing the Kingdom’s progress toward nuclear energy, the decision to utilize it isn’t exactly a greenfield idea. Saudi scholars have carried out feasibility studies examining the most suitable locations in the Kingdom for construction of nuclear power stations since the early eighties. The results have found repeatedly that the most suitable places to construct such stations in Saudi Arabia, would be firstly Jeddah area and secondly the coast of Dhahran.
As a means of continuing research and gaining of further technological know-how in preparation for the building of such power plants, Nuclear Energy Research Center’s have been established in King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU) in Jeddah and in the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), 80 km north of Jeddah.
Arab News contacted several experts in the nuclear research center of the Engineering Department at KAAU, but received no solid information. Only that the research being done currently is,” highly sensitive and needs further study and planning before any decisions can be made or information released.”
In April, however, there were announcements that the Kingdom is planning to open the King Abdullah City for Nuclear Energy and Renewable Energy in Riyadh. Former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Hashim Yamani, is expected to head of the new research city. “This is a massive step toward securing additional sources of energy and preserving oil for many decades. Turning to renewable energy will safeguard energy supplies for the ever-growing population and its increasing demand for desalinated seawater and electricity,” said Khaled Al-Sultan, rector of King Fahd University Petroleum and Minerals.
Al-Sultan also said that Saudi Arabia has a scientific and research talent for advancement in renewable energy at a time of “unprecedented and intense competition for alternative, diverse, sustainable, and reliable sources of energy to generate electricity and reduce the dependence on oil and gas.”
The objective for the new city is to fund university research labs and assist in private sector rollout of nuclear applications for agriculture, health care, water desalination and power generation industries.
Internationally the use of nuclear energy gained popularity in the 1990s with currently 439 nuclear power plants in operation worldwide and another 28 others under construction. The reason for the popularity despite, the drawbacks is that electricity generation from nuclear energy is considered to be economical and very cost effective compared to generation from renewable energy sources worldwide such as sun, water, wind, or geothermal energy. However, one must also ask at what cost?
Official studies from the German government has shown that the risk of getting cancer significantly increased in children growing up in the neighborhood of a nuclear power station, particularly leukemia. Other disadvantages have to do with nuclear waste. The EIA has shown that a typical nuclear reactor produces 20-30 tons or waste per year that can’t be disposed of with Plutonium 239 remaining dangerous for as much as 10,000 years and radioactive for 240,000 years. Most countries reuse nuclear waste to create energy but this just creates more waste while others utilize the waste through their national defense departments.
Even though, there are major drawbacks some success stories do exist. The European countries of France and Luthuania get three quarters of their energy from nuclear means and countries such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovakia, South Korea, and Switzerland get one third of their power by having incorporated nuclear as an alternative to their energy policies. Nonetheless no one can deny that Saudi Arabia does have other alternatives that many Asian and European countries can not consider — the pollution- free power of the sun which would make the need for nuclear energy and the headaches that go with it completely avoidable.
According to Christian Comes, Solar Sales Division, SANYO Component Europe GmbH, Saudi Arabia is missing out on a great opportunity to not only use solar energy as a primary energy source but to profit worldwide from the renewable energy, as well.
“Saudi Arabia has enough sun and space to produce solar electricity to sell. However, due to the previously thought high investment, it has been ignored,” he said, adding that currently this factor is beginning to change. The fact is Saudi Arabia can generate enough power form the sun to take care of its and others’ energy needs. Some of Europe’s biggest corporations such as ABB of Switzerland, Munich Re, Deutsche Bank and Siemens, as well as others have launched a $570 billion solar development program or Desertec, with initial installations to be in Egypt, and North Africa followed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Another power project headed by France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Mediterranean Solar Plan, will produce 20GW of power by 2020. These plans are based on the idea that the Middle East and Saudi Arabia can export solar power to Europe. The power is expected to be transported via 20 cables lying beneath the Mediterranean Sea at a cost of $1 billion each.
Last year, Minister of Petroleum, Ali Al-Naimi, said: “Saudi Arabia aspires to export as much solar energy in the future as it exports oil now.”
Speaking to Arab News regarding the realistic possibilities of using solar energy, a representative of Siemens, said: “We expect that the market for solar thermal power plants is growing in many regions of the world. Key regional markets for solar thermal power are within the Sun Belt. There is currently significant demand in Spain, we are anticipating high growth rates in the US, north Africa, and the Middle East. Solar power will be profitable first of all in North Africa and the Middle East.”
With wind and solar and power being disregarded in the past due to their high costs, Siemens says that the costs are falling and expected to decrease further in the future. “The question of cost efficiency depends on various factors, including geographical conditions. For example, the cost for one megawatt of wind power onshore has dropped from 3 million euros to one million euros during the last 20 years with this development not having ended yet. We are currently working on the wind power business and expect the same effects for solar power, too,” he said.
