Is nuclear power necessary?

The Island on 12 May published an article by Prof Kirthi Tennakone (KT), Say no to nuclear power and risk future energy shortages and adverse climate, supporting the establishment of nuclear power plant in Sri Lanka, and Prof. Panduaka Karunanayake (PK) replied to KT on 16 May.

Priyantha Hettige (PH) on 25 May contributed a very interesting scenario, i.e. that Thorium is found in this country and it could be used to generate power and heat.

I find that PK had not exhausted the basic reason to object to the Nuclear power plant.

In the meantime, the State body handling Atomic power had indicated that Sri Lanka can have a full-fledged Nuclear energy supply by 2032. (They do not indicate the interim period)

Let me hark back to 2015.There was a proposal to install a facility to stockpile depleted Radio Active Material at the centre of a village close to Colombo. The people in the surroundings objected to the proposal. In reply, mostly to alleviate the objection, the Atomic Energy Authority issued a press notice “that the facility will be installed according to International standards”, I was piqued. On checking via the internet, I discovered that at one particular Nuclear plant in the EU there had been 10 breakdowns. They were not major problems but were due to corroded pipes This indicate that even in the so-called hi-tech societies there are problems that are encountered. It was luck that EU did not face another Chenrobyl.

That is not the theme of this article. The theme is to challenge KT’s concept that ” Say no to nuclear power and risk future energy shortages and adverse climate”. No Prof KT you have missed the target.

In Sri Lanka the sources of power are (i) Hydro (ii) Diesel (iii) Coal (iv) Wind and (v) Solar.

Of these Hydro, Wind and Solar are based on what nature had provided us with. Coal and Nuclear power plants are not being welcomed in many parts of the world.

Our experience during 2022-2023 indicate the how beggars cannot finance any of the alternatives available –Petroleum, Coal and now even fissionable material.

My questions to KT is “Why not utilise what we have in this country to meet our needs, both for power and traction” Viz:

1. Jackfruit – Artocarpus heterophyllus. This is a plant that can be grown round the year. There are two types of plants (i) Seed propagated and the other (ii) Bud grafted. As an industrial crop the seed propagated plant provided obstacles. They are tall and has to be climbed ie harvesting is difficult. These plants last nearly 80 years. Sindbad the Sailor

describes harvesting fruits in Sri Lanka with the help of trained monkeys. Why export monkeys, why not train them to harvest Jack fruit?

The bud grafted plant is short, yields fruits within 4-5 years. One could expect a Bud Grafted plant, planted in a hectare is projected to yield 100 Tons. (Horticulture Crop Research and Development Institute (HORDI) at Gannoruwa.

The other plant of interest is the Banana plant, which itself is considered a perennial. Life span in the region of 20-30 years.

Growing these two plants is very much cheaper than growing Sugar Cane or Corn.

To this I would add water from the Coconut fruits. Based on the data provided by the Central bank, I project that a minimum of 286,926,150,000 litres of coconut water goes waste per year. Coconut water has sugars – Sucrose, Glucose and Fructose all materials for alcohol fermentation.

All the above plant material can yield fermentable sugars. These fermentable sugars can provide Alcohols on fermentation, i.e. Ethanol and Butanol.

Ethanol is used in place of Diesel in India, Europe, America and in Brazil.

Ethanol is used in Brazil as a stand-alone fuel while in the rest of the world it is used in a mix of 15:85 with petrol in cars. Internal combustion engines.

Butyl alcohol (Butanol) is used as a stand-alone fuel in Diesel powered vehicle and in petrol-based vehicles. In the production of Butyl alcohol, there are many side products, Ethanol, Acetone, Carbon Dioxide and Hydrogen.

Ethanol and Acetone can be used as extenders in the use of Butyl alcohol that is used as a mix with Butyl alcohol.

The production of Hydrogen has an interesting future. In Europe and the US Hydrogen is used in internal combustion engines – car engines. It is also used in Fuel Cells to produce electricity. I have seen some pictures of Fuel cell units. They seem to be about the size of a vehicle battery.

Today a full-fledged Ethanol distillery will cost a minimum of US $ 10 million. These distilleries I am referring to can be constructed within Rs 100 Million. I could name a group of Ex- Sugar Corporation employees who could provide the Managerial and Technical backbone to this project.

Projections I found in 2020, indicate that the EU and Americas are short of 112,446,744,595 litres of ethanol required for the 15:85 mix of petrol. (Re Fileni, Diego de Mondonca- Ethanol Programme in Developing countries, prospects for ethanol exports.).

Butranol is poisonous to man, and as such we need not cover ourselves like a virgin, when we discuss the production of fuel alcohols.

If implemented, by the year 2032 Sri Lanka could be in the export business of ethanol and Butanol, independent of nuclear based power plants.

S. P. U. S. Wickramasinghe

spupalisw@yahoo.com