Replacing All Fossil Fuels With Nuclear-Enabled Hydrogen, Cellulosic Hydrocarbon Biofuels, and Dispatchable Electricity

Abstract

We describe a roadmap using three sets of technologies to enable base-load nuclear reactors to replace all fossil fuels in a low-carbon world. The technologies integrate nuclear, wind, solar, hydroelectricity and biomass energy sources. Base-load nuclear reactors with large-scale heat storage enable dispatchable electricity to the grid. The low-cost heat storage enables buying excess wind and solar electricity to charge heat storage for later electricity production while providing assured generating capacity. Nuclear hydrogen production facilities at the scale of global oil refineries produce hydrogen to replace natural gas (gaseous fuel) as a chemical feedstock and heat source. Single sites may have tens of modular reactors produced in a local factory to lower costs by converting to a manufacturing model for reactor construction. Nuclear heat and hydrogen convert cellulosic biomass into drop-in liquid hydrocarbon biofuels to replace fossil-fuel gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and hydrocarbon feed stocks for the chemical industry. External heat and hydrogen inputs increase the quantities of biofuels that can be produced per unit of cellulosic feedstock, thus assuring sufficient biomass feed stocks to replace all crude oil without major impacts on food and fiber prices. The biofuel production system enables the removal of large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that is sequestered as carbon char in the soil while recycling plant nutrients (potassium, phosphorous, etc.) to assure agricultural and forest sustainability.