Canadian Oil Sands Going Nuclear
Petroleum companies are eyeing nuclear power to
feed burgeoning oil production in Canada’s oil patch.
That is a big backhoe!
While crude is pumped from the ground, oil sands must be mined and bitumen separated from the sand and water, then upgraded and refined. Petroleum companies are eyeing nuclear power to feed burgeoning oil production in Canada’s oil patch.
At an estimated 173 billion barrels, Canada’s oil sands rank second behind Saudi Arabia in petroleum reserves. However, due to high extraction costs, the deposits were long neglected, except by local companies.
Extraction from oil sands not only requires heat, the typical use of natural gas adds to the carbon burden of the process.
But with wide fluctuations in natural gas prices and pressure from the government and environmentalists to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, some petroleum companies are contemplating switching to cleaner and stable nuclear energy to fuel the oil sands boom.
Of note, neighboring Saskatchewan province is one of the top producers of uranium in the world.
Armand Laferrere, president of Areva Canada, said, “The most likely scenario is that several oil companies each needing a few hundred megawatts join together - tapping into one nuclear plant”.
You could end up with low-emissions production from the oil sands - using nuclear power generated nearby to lower the cost of production.
Posted: Wed - June 27, 2007 at 07:19 AM