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Directed Reading 15-2 to 15-4
(Pages 378-385)
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CASE STUDY: Heavy Oil from Tar Sand
1. Where are about three-quarters of the world’s oil sand reserves located?
2. If you include the tar sand heavy oil, Canada has the second largest oil reserves (20%) after which country?
3. What is the thick, sticky, tarlike heavy oil with a high sulfur content called that is found in tar sand?
4. Producing oil from tar sands takes a great deal of energy (2nd Law of Thermodynamics) to get useful energy.
What kinds of energy are wasted and for what reason?
5. What are the negative impacts of producing heavy oil from tar sand? EXPLAIN!!!
6. What is one of the advantages of producing heavy oil from tar sand?
7. Oil from tar sand has a (high or low) net energy yield.
8. Oil shales are rocks that are a potential supply of heavy oil. What is the solid combustible mixture of
hydrocarbons called that is found in oil shale?
9. About 72% of the oil shale reserves are buried deep in what areas of the world?
10. It takes considerable energy and money to convert the material to shale oil; therefore shale oil has a
(high or low) net energy yield.
15-3 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Natural Gas?
11. How is most natural gas WASTED when drilling for oil?
12. Natural gas is frequently found with what other energy source?
13.
Which country has about 25% of the world’s supply of natural gas reserves?
14.
What are 3 advantages of natural gas AND explain why they are advantages.
15.
What are 3 disadvantages of natural gas AND explain why they are disadvantages?
16.
About how long should our known reserves of natural gas last?
17.
What does the textbook mean by “unconventional” energy sources?
18.
Why is collecting coal bed methane gas in the United States and Canada a problem?
19.
Why is collecting methane hydrate deposits, another source of unconventional natural gas found in the
arctic permafrost and deep beneath the ocean bottom, a problem?
15-4 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Coal?
20.
From what is coal formed?
21.
Coal is nonrenewable because it takes about __________________ years to form.
22.
Coal is the main energy source to produce ____________________ and _____________________.
23.
Which country has the greatest coal reserves?
24.
What are 3 advantages of coal AND explain why they are advantages.
25.
What are 3 disadvantages of coal AND explain why they are disadvantages?
26.
Coal burning plants are among the largest emitters of carbon dioxide. About what percentage of all carbon
dioxide emissions are from coal-burning plants?
27.
What is one advantage and one disadvantage of bituminous coal?
28.
What are two advantages of anthracite coal?
CASE STUDY: Burning coal and removing pollutants from the resulting emissions produces an ash that contains
toxic chemicals. In the United States 57% of this waste is buried or made into slurry to be stored in holding ponds.
Toxic metals in coal ash waste ponds contaminate ground water.
15-5 What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Nuclear Energy?
29.
Nuclear power is complex and costly, relying on a controlled nuclear fission reaction that takes place in a
reactor. Light water reactors produce 85% of the world’s nuclear generated electricity.
1. LWR’s lose about 75% of energy as waste heat.
2. The entire fuel cycle has a low to negative net energy yield when accounting for mining and upgrading
uranium fuel as well as storing wastes and dismantling old plants.
3. Enriched uranium 235 is processed into small pellets which are packed into fuel rods and grouped into
fuel assemblies.
4. Control rods are moved in and out of the reactor core to absorb neutrons and regulate the amount of
energy produced.
5. A coolant, usually water, cycles through the core to remove heat.
6. A containment shell surrounds the reactor core.
A. Proponents of nuclear power tend to focus on low emissions. However, the entire nuclear fuel cycle
includes the mining and enrichment of uranium, and the safe storage of wastes.
B. 436 nuclear reactors in 31 countries produce 6% of the world’s commercial energy, and 14% of its
electricity.
C. The government has provided subsidies, tax breaks and loan guarantees to the nuclear power industry.
D. An obstacle to nuclear power development has been safety concerns. Built-in safety features make the risk
of exposure to radioactivity in more developed countries extremely low.
CASE STUDY: The world’s worst nuclear power plant accident occurred in 1986 in Ukraine. On April 26,
1986, a series of explosions at the Chernobyl nuclear plant blew the roof off a reactor building, the reactor
partially melted down, and its graphite moderator caught fire and burned for 10 days. The disaster was caused
by poor reactor design and human error. After the accident, 350,000 people had to abandon their homes
because of contamination.
E. Spent fuel rods are removed and stored outside the reactor in water-filled pools. After years of cooling,
they can be transferred to dry casks where they need to be stored safely for thousands of years.
CASE STUDY: In 1987, the DOE announced plans to store nuclear wastes in the Yucca Mountain desert
region. After spending more than $10 billion, concerns about the safety of storing wastes in the earthquake
prone region led to a presidential request that Congress cut funding to the project.
F. There are three ways to retire worn out nuclear power plants.
1. Dismantle and store the radioactive parts in a secure place.
2. Install a physical barrier and monitor it securely for 30-100 years.
3. Entomb the plant in concrete.
G. Nuclear power may not be able to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, as only 2% of our electricity
comes from oil burning plants.
1. 95% of uranium used in US power plants is imported, primarily from Russia.
H. Nuclear fusion involves nuclear change in which two isotopes of a light element are forced together until
they fuse, releasing energy in the process. This technology is still in the laboratory stage.