[NukeNet] Next: Nuclear-powered ethanol plants?

[Mike Ewall]

      Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minnesota: Business news
      Monday, March 19, 2007
      http://www.twincities.com/business/ci_5474727

ENNGINEER  TOUTS  NUCLEAR-ETHANOL TAG  TEAM

Making ethanol requires a lot of heat. Nuclear power plants generate a lot
of heat. So why not combine them to produce both electricity and renewable
fuel?

That unusual idea has surfaced in the nuclear industry, and some analysts
think it makes sense, especially given the scale of today's large ethanol
plants.

"The conversion of corn to ethanol primarily requires low-quality, low-cost
steam - something nuclear power plants are very good at producing," Sam
Rosenbloom, a nuclear engineer in Maryland, wrote in the March edition of
Nuclear News.

Energy costs are an ethanol plant's second-largest expense, after corn, and
the climbing price of natural gas has the industry searching for
alternatives. Last month, a North Dakota ethanol plant began operations,
using waste heat from a coal-burning power plant owned by Elk River-based
Great River Energy.

But ethanol and nuclear power? No U.S. operator has tried that, and a
spokeswoman for Xcel Energy explains one reason why not. "Due to federal
security regulations, locating at a nuclear plant would just be very, very
difficult," said company spokeswoman Patti Nystuen.

Still, Rosenbloom thinks erecting an ethanol plant nearby - beyond the
security perimeter, and near a supply of corn - would be cost-efficient and
energy-wise. There hasn't been much demand for a nuclear plant's
low-temperature steam, he said.

Then ethanol came along.

- Tom Webb

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