Dear all,
The consequences of an LEN reactor based global energy infrastructure have of course been analysed before in one or the other way in this forum.
Still, as far as I know, there is no thread in which a thorough and coherent analysis has been made but there is rather a large number of "rags" of analysis spread everywhere.
I would like to start this thread with the purpose of letting all forum members form an analysis of the socioeconomical consequences of a working LERN devices-based global energy infrastructure.
This thread shall not be used to discuss, whether LENR are real or not. So please use the dozens of already existing threads for all discussions of such kind.
Real, [lexicon]low energy nuclear reactions[/lexicon] shall be the working hypothesis of this analysis.
If external source, quotations, longer calculations or other material is quoted please use the spoiler function to reduce the length of posts, This way, the quoted information you want to refer to can be displayed by the reader upon demand.
I start now with a calculation to compare the cost for energy at the current state (fossils, fission nuclear, renewables as sources) with a hypthetical global energy infrastructure based on devices that harness the Ni-LiAlH4-reactions.
There was 1 g of Nickel / LiAlH4 inside the reactor. The binding energy of nucleons in the Ni-Isotopes is approximately 8 MeV.
The binding energy of a nucleon in 7Li is approximately 5 MeV.
This means per reaction approximately 8 MeV - 5 MeV = 3 MeV are set free.
1 g of Nickel corresponds to 0.68*0.001kg/(58*1.66*10-27kg) = 7.3x1021 58Ni nuclei and 0.26*0.001kg/(60*1.66*10-27kg) = 2.7x1021 60Ni nuclei.
(The rarer isotopes 61 and 64 shall be neglected here)
Therefore the energy which is set free by 1 g should be Etotal = 7.3x1021 * 4 * 3 * 106 * 1.6*10-19 +2.7 x 1021 * 2 * 3 * 106 * 1.6 * 10-19 = 1.56 x 1010 Joule
Now the total primary energy demand of the world (data from 2010) is 505 Exajoule or Eworld2010 = 5.05 x 1020 J. Therefore, approximately a mass of Nickel of (5.05 x 1020 J) / (1.56 x 1010) x 0.000001 t = 33000 tons of Nickel are needed together with approximately 3300 tons of Lithium to cover the energy demand of the world for one year. ( 1.284.000 tons of natural Nickel are mined every year thus only 3 % of this amount is needed. Furthermore, the Nickel is not consumed it is just transformed into one isotope. For engineering applications this does not matter in any way and they could just as well use 62Ni for their high-temperature alloys... So the Nickel that was used in the reactor could be sold in return, reducing the cost of energy further) Keep in mind that primary energy demand includes everything. Every factory, every car and every house.
Now the price for one ton of Nickel is 14.500 US $ at the stock exchange and the price für Lithium appr. 5000 US $.This means we COULD in principle cover the energy demand of the world for one year for appr. 33000 * 14.500 $ + 3300 * 5000 $ = 500.000.000 US $