Energy in Washington and Oregon

Kathleen M. Saul

gCORE

November 16, 2010

Revisiting past questions

http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_power/reactor-map/reactors/columbia-generating-station.html

Aerial view of Columbia Generating Station

Nuclear Waste

• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) oversees on-site storage of nuclear waste at U.S. reactors.

• Most spent nuclear fuel is stored in specially designed pools at individual reactor sites.– Fuel rods are stored in water at least 20 feet deep.– The NRC periodically inspects the design, fabrication,

and use of dry cask storage systems by sending inspectors to licensee and cask vendor facilities.

Dry Cask StorageOnce the spent fuel has cooled, it is loaded into special canisters. Each canister is designed to hold approximately 2-6 dozen spent fuel assemblies, depending on the type of assembly. Water and air are removed. The canister is filled with inert gas, and sealed (welded or bolted shut).

http://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/diagram-typical-dry-cask-system.html

The Russian Nuclear Program

• The first Russian reactor, and the first in the world to produce electricity, was the 5Mwe Obninsk reactor, in 1954.

• The first commercial scale reactors came on line in 1963-64.

• By the mid 1980s Russia had 25 commercial power reactors in operation; the program stalled after the accident at Chernobyl.

• In 2000, reactor construction revived with reactors starting up in 2001, 2004, and 2010.

• Russia also exports reactors to Iran, China, and India.•http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf45.html

World Uranium Supplies

• Per the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the world has about 200 years supply of uranium, at current rates of consumption– Current suppliers to the U.S. include Canada,

Australia, and Kazakhstan– If the price of uranium goes high enough, new

technologies could be introduced to capture the uranium from seawater

– http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=finding-fissile-fuel&page=4

Clarification

• Electrical plant capacity can be stated in terms of annual production or the installed capacity of the equipment.– Ex: 1150 Mw (installed) is the maximum amount that

can be produced at any given time.– Ex: 21 billion Kwh is the amount of electricity

generated over a given year.

Energy in Washington and Oregon

Electricity Generation in WA

Natural Gas

Coal

Nuclear

Hydro

Other

Nuclear, 7.5%

Based on: http://www.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=WA

Coal, 8.5%

Natural Gas, 9.5%

Hydro, 69.2%

Electrical Generation in OR

Natural Gas

Coal

Hydro

Other

25.8%

55.2% 8.3%

Based on http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=OR

“Where Coal Was King”

The History• 1833: Coal discovered near Fort Nisqually.• 1853: First mine opened near Bellingham.

– Much of the exploitation of coal resources in WA had to wait until railroads were built across the Cascades.

• 1870: Mines near Renton and Newcastle shipped by rail to the ports.– Finds near Issaquah were described as “a bed of coal

unsurpassed by anything of the kind in any part of the world.”

• 1873: Construction of a railroad across the mts

began. (http://www.issaquahhistory.org/bagley/coal/coal.htm)

• 1880s: Mines opened along the Cedar River (Black Diamond), in Roslyn and elsewhere.– Unfortunately, ownership of the mines passed to

outsiders, taking the coal and the profits with it (unlike the timber industry, which reinvested in the state).

• 1920s and 30s: Coal in WA suffered with completion of large scale hydro projects.

• 1972-73: Construction of the Centralia Coal Plant revitalized the industry.

• 1975: the last underground coal mine in WA closed (http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5158)

• 2006: Deteriorating conditions at the open pit Centralia mine led TransAlta to close it. (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Washington_(state)_and_coal)

– WA currently imports over 6 million short tons of coal

from Wyoming and Montana each year. (http://www.statemaster.com/graph/ene_coa_con-energy-coal-consumption)

• Note: There is no history of coal mining in OR; OR import 250, 000 short tons per year to feed its one coal fired plant at Boardman, on the Columbia River.

Coal no longer is king in WA

• Why might Washington State look like had hydro not replaced most of the coal?

Hydro—Grand Coulee Dam

• 1920s: Feasibility studies initiated for a dam to provide irrigation to the desert of eastern WA.

• 1933: Work began on a low height dam.• 1935: The height of the dam was raised to

generate more electrical power. • 1941: The main dam was completed.• WW II: Production of electricity became the

overriding factor for the dam.• 1951: The irrigation pumping plant was

completed. http://users.owt.com/chubbard/gcdam/html/history.html

• 1974: A third powerplant came on line.• Dam statistics:

– Capacity: 6809 Mw.– Height: 550 ft.– Length: 5223 ft.– Contains almost 12 million cubic yards of concrete,

enough to build a sidewalk four ft. wide and four inches thick and wrap it twice around the equator. (http://www.usbr.gov/pn/grandcoulee/pubs/factsheet.pdf)

Natural Gas—Western Region Pipeline Network

Gas Transmission Northwest Pipeline from B.C.

Northwest Pipeline Corp. Pipeline from B.C.

Pipeline from the Rockies

History• As early as the 1870s, natural gas was used for

lighting in homes and on public streets. After WW II, new welding and steel pipe-making techniques made it attractive to carry natural gas long distances to places where it could be used for heating and cooking. (http://fossil.energy.gov/education/energylessons/gas/gas_history.html),

(http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Washington-Natural-Gas-Company-Company-History.html)

• 1954, Federal Power Commission granted Pacific Northwest Pipeline Co. the right to construct a pipeline to bring natural gas to the PNW from Colorado and New Mexico.

• 1955: Pipeline design was changed to accommodate natural gas imports from Canada. (http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-UUjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=beYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1025,5545111&dq=history+of+natural+gas+in+the+pnw&hl=en)

• 60% of natural gas used in WA comes from Canada.

• Roughly 1/3 of homes in WA and in OR use natural gas as the primary source for home heating.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=WA

• Methane is the cleanest burning of the fossil fuels.

http://www.naturalgas.org/environment/naturalgas.asp#greenhouse

Pounds per billion BTUs of energy input

  Natural Gas Oil Coal

Carbon Dioxide 117,000 164,000 208,000

Sulfur Dioxide 1 1122 2591

• But natural gas releases methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Based on: http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads10/US-GHG-Inventory-2010_Chapter3-Energy.pdf

Gg Methane from Energy Production in the U.S.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2000 2005 2006 2007 2008

Other

Petroleum Systems

Coal Mining

Natural Gas Systems

Issues Related to Natural Gas

• Access to supplies: An estimated 40% of untapped natural gas lies under land owned by the U.S. government, some of it in areas of restricted access. Another 59% those resources are on federal lands and offshore waters.

• Pipeline Infrastructure: Existing lines provide a cap on the amount of natural gas that can be transported at any given time. Aging pipelines require maintenance, new pipelines may face land use and environmental restrictions and resistance. (http://www.naturalgas.org/business/analysis.asp)

• Costs

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5468

1999 Olympic Pipeline Explosion and Fire, Bellingham, WA

Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved an LNG import facility and pipelines near Astoria, OR. seattletimes.nwsource.com/.../2008189311_lngterminal19m.html

– Would receive superchilled (-260 F) gas from tankers, warm it and send it to a pipeline.

Other Renewable Sources

• November 2006: WA adopted a renewable portfolio standard requiring all utilities serving at least 25,000 people to produce 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=WA

• In June 2007, Oregon adopted a renewable portfolio standard requiring the state’s largest utilities to meet 25% of their electric load with renewables by 2025.(http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=OR)

Can we learn from past mistakes?

• One example: In 2009 Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife issued revised Wind Power guidelines– Can serve as protocol for all renewable energy

projects– Topics include siting on already disturbed land,

avoiding sensitive fish and wildlife habitat areas (conducting habitat studies in advance), minimizing the use of overhead power lines, mitigation for impacts

End Users of Energy In Washington State

Residential

Commercial

Industrial

Transportation

24.7%

19.2%25.8%

30.3%

Based on http://www.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=WA and OR

End Users, OR

Residential

Commercial

Transportation

Industrial

25%

19.4%30%

25.6%

Additional Sources

• http://daily.sightline.org/daily_score/archive/2009/12/15/a-lump-of-coal-in-your-outlet

• http://www.pse.com/energyEnvironment/energysupply/pages/EnergySupply_ElectricityWind.aspx?tab=3&chapter=1

• http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ncwportal.com/media/jpg/photo/2005/showcase/2005_bor_grand_coulee_dam_aerial_view&imgrefurl=http://ncwportal.com/community/grand_coulee_dam_aerial&h=488&w=650&sz=110&tbnid=w3GFHOMOoBkEeM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGrand%2BCoulee&zoom=1&q=Grand+Coulee&usg=__Rd9hf6ozhJIuKPFQBEbPf8HCmRg=&sa=X&ei=hBDfTJL2AZDmsQO91Yi1Cg&ved=0CDoQ9QEwCQ

• http://www.tsocorp.com/tsocorp/ProductsandServices/Refining/Anacorteswashingtonrefinery/AnacortesWashRefinery