Quote:
Originally Posted by AstralTraveller
The production of cement from limestone is CaCO3 + heat -> CaO + CO2. So for every 56g of cement there is 44g of CO2 plus whatever is generated by the heating process. I haven't looked at the figures but someone I trust told me that, compared to a coal-fired power station, it takes a nuclear plant 15 years to pay off the CO2 'debt' from construction.
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I am not a fan of Nuclear power generation (for other reasons) but that is complete baloney, consider this...
1 kWh of electricity produced from a coal powered station emits 0.97kg of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Nuclear power produces close to zero
So for a 150MW station run for 15 years coal will produce appox 150 tonnes of CO2 per hour, 24hrs per day, 365 days per year.
Total 19,710,000 Tonnes of CO2
Thus your statement if true means a nuclear station must use (56/44)*19,710,000 tonnes of additional cement. (Note most of the construction would not be pur cement either).
Use of the 2/3 (area to cubic volume) rule means the nuclear power plant would have an area of 85,692 times that of the coal fired plant....
Another apporach is here:
http://timjervis.blogspot.com/2007/0...struction.html
