World Economic Forum
RENEWABLES vs NUCLEAR ENERGY
From the Internet:
The Russian Rosatom chief, Mr. Kirill Komerov, told an investigator on the ‘Ian King Live’ show, posted to internet on 8th. March 2022, that the world cannot achieve de-carbonization of our energy industries without using nuclear power.
He also says that it is not completely true that Wind and Solar are cheaper than nuclear energy. If you add up all the backup facilities required to connect to the power grid, the total cost soars sky high. He adds that we have to be careful with figures. We must include all the equipment costs (e.g., Batteries are needed PLUS convertors to AC., PLUS switching equipment, etc..)
He says that as a result, Russian nuclear (energy) is twice cheaper (half) the cost of wind and three times cheaper (one third) the cost of solar.
He says all new nuclear designs are tested and proven at home, in Russia, before starting installation work in foreign countries. Russian power projects are designed to last 60 years. He has an order book of 33 billion dollars to fulfill over the next decade.
Russia is also investing in renewables, and that is how he knows all the relative costs. As a result, Mr. Komerov is more interested in power from nuclear energy due to it being cheaper than the rest.
In November last year, the Russian ambassador to Sri Lanka, the good Yuri Materiy, gave a message to this government to diversify and not rely on renewables alone. (Daily Mirror, November 18, 2021) The Russians are offering assistance to Sri Lanka on the matter of reliable, low cost power generation from Thorium, to be used in addition to renewables such as wind and solar power.
From the Internet:
In the US, it costs 80 dollars to prepare a Kilogram of pure Thorium. (One kilo of Thorium is equivalent to 4.8 trillion Kw hrs. of energy). One ton of Thorium is equivalent of 3 million, 500 tons of coal.* (*Unverified quotes from clips on the internet.)
CONCLUSIONS:
We need to train and prepare our own Sri Lankan specialists having greater knowledge of this subject. At present Sri Lanka is “flying blind,” so to speak, and can easily take an expensive ‘wrong turn.’ P.H. 14/3/2022