school
home
hydrogen
supermarket
SuperSuburb
households: 300 000
electricity: 1800 MW
hydrogen: 800 MW
family car
SuperNuke
electrons and protons > 2600 MW =
nuclear plant
O2
250 km
“Diablo Canyon”
hydrogen
DNA-to-order.com
high-temperature superconductor
voltage: +/– 20 Kv
current: 45 kA
hydrogen storage: 28 GWh
hydrogen flow: 2 m s– 1 > 6. 8 kg s– 1
SuperCable
=
Superstars The figure above left depicts a light-industrial, commercial/residential complex powered by nuclear-generated “hydricity” delivered over a hydrogen-cooled
SuperCable using high-temperature superconductivity wires. The “sun” represents the presence of photovoltaic roof panels as an adjunct power source, and the “pond” by
the nuclear plant represents the processing of sewage and other organic waste. Note the hydrogen-powered truck transporting “waste” oxygen resulting from the
electrolysis of water, which can be sold for commercial purposes or used to process or combust locally produced biowaste. DNA-to-order.com represents a hypothetical
biotech firm of the future. Above right is conceptual depiction of the SuperSuburb and its baseline hydricity power supply and distribution to 300 000 end-users based on
the energy consumption of the author’s family household and provided by a “SuperNuke” of the approximate capacity of the Diablo Canyon facility located on the California
coast 250 km south of San Jose. On the opposite page is an example of a continental SuperGrid. This figure is simply illustrative, not literal. Various rearrangements can be
imagined and visualized to accommodate US regional political interests.
of carbon in the Earth’s crust.
One major harbinger of this trend is the effort currently under way globally to develop technologies to
replace hydrocarbons with hydrogen as surface vehicular transportation fuel. In 2003 I estimated, as an
example of the enormity of this challenge, that the production of sufficient quantities of hydrogen to replace
the then-current annual consumption of petroleum in
cars and trucks in the US alone, either by electrolysis
or thermal splitting of water or methane, would require additional power production equivalent to
roughly 420 GW, which is one-third of the nation’s electricity generation capacity, currently about 1. 3 TW
(Nature 424 419) . Given the massive amounts of carbon dioxide that would be need to be captured should
this hydrogen be generated either directly or indirectly
from fossil fuels, and given the enormous land areas
needed for biomass, wind or solar required in its place,
one is brought to the conclusion that only nuclear
power can feasibly enable a complete hydrogen-trans-portation economy in developed and developing
nations. An expansion of nuclear power for electricity
and hydrogen production worldwide must be accompanied by the creation of a new international organization capable of ensuring, by armed force if necessary,
that the actinide materials employed are not diverted,
from mine to enrichment through reprocessing and
breeding, for military purposes.
Only nuclear
power can
feasibly enable
a complete
hydrogen-transportation
economy in
developed and
developing
nations
The SuperCity
I have a vision of an energy society based on a symbiosis of nuclear power generation of hydrogen and electricity, dubbed hydricity, distributed via a “SuperCable”
employing high-temperature superconductors cooled
by cryogenic hydrogen. The latter would also be used
as an intrinsic power agent at the end delivery point in
addition to electricity.
An urban embodiment is suggested in the form of a
light-industrial, commercial/residential “SuperCity”.
The “boundary conditions”, or ground rules, are that
the technologies employed be carbonless and non-eco-
invasive – that is, to impress as small a footprint as
possible on the environment and ecology. This latter
requirement makes massive-scale renewables, such as
wind, solar and biomass, unnecessary, but not industrial–commercial–residential solar photovoltaics on
roofs, as one has to live and work somewhere and
the land area deployed is thus available for dual use.
Similarly, by necessity, community provision is needed
for the disposal of both sewage and discarded food,
which can subsequently be converted into methane to
generate hydricity. I estimate that perhaps 85% of the
energy requirements of SuperCity can be provided by
nuclear-generated hydricity, abetted by an additional
15% from solar power and biowaste. Finally, all the
technologies required for SuperCity already exist or
are on the immediate horizon – no new breakthroughs
or discoveries are needed.
In order to quantify the SuperCity concept, I undertook a detailed study of a “SuperSuburb” modelled
using data that describe the energy consumption of a
typical family home – mine – in a Silicon Valley residential community such as San Jose. The study takes
into account individual residential electricity requirements for appliances, lighting, air conditioning and
cooking, and hydrogen for the storage of electricity and
personal transportation ( 50 000 km per year per family). Not included are community-support services such
as shopping centres, electric rail rapid transport and
street lighting.
In 2004 and 2005, I collaborated with Chauncey
Starr from the Electric Power Research Institute and
Thomas Overbye from the University of Illinois on an
extension of the SuperCable concept to encompass an
entire continent, essentially comprising a continental
SuperGrid (2006 Scientific American July pp76–83).
The figure on the opposite page shows how this concept might apply to the “lower 48” states of the US.
However, similar scenarios can be constructed for
China, India, South America, existing East–West European energy corridors and the Middle East – in particular Saudi Arabia, as that nation moves from oil to
