LENR Ignored -as Nuclear Goes on Life-support & E-cat Patent Granted

The big elephant about to trample unprepared nations is the unheralded impact of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions


Along the upper reaches of one of the world’s longest fresh-water system is one of the world’s largest and oldest nuclear electricity generating plants. The complex is located on the limestone eastern shore of Lake Huron just north Kincardine, Ontario. The first of its eight plants was constructed in the 1970s and the last one came online in 1987. Now they face expensive refurbishments to extend their operating lives by a quarter century.

The Province of Ontario is sending mixed signals. In December 2013, the then minority Liberal government introduced its Long Term Energy Plan calling for an immediate halt to coal-fueled electricity generation, a halt to planning of new nuclear plants and refurbishment of all eight Bruce reactors. Still, with the end of nuclear plants in sight, our regulatory authorities agreed to a nuclear waste Deep Geologic Repository near Bruce Power’s reactors.

Now, Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Charles Sousa, who just announced the release of an automated tool for inspecting and maintaining ageing reactors says, “Ontario’s nuclear facilities provide reliable and clean electricity. Improving affordability and competiveness is also key and that is why our government is committed to the refurbishment of the Bruce Power and Darlington units as part of Ontario’s Long Term Energy Plan.”

The Province counts on Bruce Power’s ageing units to supply electricity until 2043. This partnership hopes to keep the reactors safe and running for decades to come. All this, while the Fukushima meltdown continues to contaminate the Pacific Ocean, and while Germany sets a sane example by closing its fleet of vintage nuclear reactors by 2022, -and while a 12-month run of a pre-production LENR 1MW heating plant enters its final phase of testing.

Even with robotic assist in monitoring safety of old nuclear plants, we in the 519 region live immediately down-wind and down-stream of old Candu time-bombs waiting to lay waste our cities and farmlands.

The WW2 fission process made effective atomic bombs, but its energy applications are flawed due to accidents, waste disposal and decommissioning problems. Big Nuclear does not want to hear the truth about their “so-called” clean energy, or the emerging (radioactive free) LENR alternative. None-the-less, it seems to be successful in keeping provincial support flowing its way.

With the shake-down of a LENR heating plant in a customer’s factory purring along in SSM (self-sustain mode), Industrial Heat LLC of North Carolina is now able to give attention to designing a Hot Cat model. Apparently it has potential for generating electricity directly without the usual cycle of steam and turbine –and without either CO2 or radiation. If so, distributed generation of electricity and heat in factories, institutions and households could be available much sooner than expected.

The results of the operational E-cat test could be known by Fegruary 2016 –just after the December Paris summit on climate change. Paris-bound diplomats, trudge along behind their parliamentary bosses who seldom lead except in cases of catastrophe and war. At best, the elected stall in making critical decisions while awaiting voter consensus.

So far, voters are being kept in the dark. They are blissfully unaware of (1), the real risks in rubber-stamping refurbishment of old nuclear reactors, (2) the imminence of a market-ready, inexpensive and safe LENR alternative and (3), the prospect of a LENR process to greatly reduce long-term radiation of nuclear wastes.

Most industrialized nations cling to their centralized fossil-fueled and nuclear plants, while a few push for early LENR adoption. Of the oil-producers, Norway, with its billions in sovereign funds, divests of coal and prepares for the inevitable end of bloated oil revenues.

For progressive countries, LENR research, engineering and deployment are matters of public safety, industrial competiveness and jobs. Atmospheric pollution and escalating costs of extracting and transporting oil, together with the intermittency of solar/wind and the nuclear risks and escalating electricity rates, make LENR the clear winner –abundant, affordable and safe. Every consumer, every employer and every organization will soon be impacted by LENR; it’s just questions of whether Canada reacts quickly -and whether industrialized countries react in unison to avoid climate disruption and more Chernobyl and Fukushima type disasters.

Because of their forms of government and unique problems, China, Japan and Russia will likely be among the first nations to capitalize on LENR. Their leaders (and the UN) have to address environmental and safety issues with breakthrough energy.

Consultants, academic think tanks –and of course, industry lobbyists advise Western governments. Until the maturity of the Internet, we consumer/tax payers had no effective vehicle for influencing policy-makers. Today, alert citizens inform themselves. Acting together, CEOs and union leaders, as well as farmers, investors and retirees are capable of forming their own regional “think & do” tanks.

Canada has lost most of its domestic manufacturing capability because of high energy costs. Its export markets for natural resources have also slipped. The Asians have had the lowest labour costs and now they are positioning themselves for lowest clean energy costs. It's crunch time.

In 2016 our Federal Government will hold a judicial review of a Provincial panel’s approval of Ontario Power Generation’s plan to bury nuclear wastes; such delay presents a window of opportunity for voters. Indeed, we have the means to reverse ever-increasing electricity rates as we group to hold both mayors’ and parliamentarians’ feet to the “new fire.”

Of course, individual stakeholders and municipalities can continue to relax in la-la land and ignore disruptive reality. But then, we and our Great Lakes neighbours, may well suffer the consequences of apathy.

Conclusion:
"Whether the reader is a believer or denier of man-made adverse climate change, it behoves all (for children everywhere) to push for early deployment of LENR heating and electricity generation. Let's do our part in advocating the clean and affordable solution to cleaning up the air we breathe and in eliminating the risk of more nuclear disasters."
Excerpt from blog post of November 11, 2014.


PS

It looks like I'll have to remind readers of a note put on the marginallia of this blog when it opened in 2005:
----------Comment if you have clarifications or corrections. ----------Commentators own their own words and as such sign their own names. Off-topic and/or anonymous comments will be deleted.

PPS
To keep up to speed on LENR, visit E-CatWorld's Knowledge Base;
http://kb.e-catworld.com/index.php?title=E-Cat_World_LENR_Knowledge_Base

Update # 1 July 31, 2015

Be assured, industries, institutions, electricity generators and utilities have been monitoring LENR developments. They are assessing credibility of such items as the following in their strategizing. It's John Q Public, hesitant politicians and university research deans we have to worry about.
http://www.e-catworld.com/2015/07/30/rossi-leonardo-and-licensees-preparing-for-massive-attack-in-the-marketplace/
and
http://www.e-catworld.com/2015/07/30/robot-replace-human-program-in-china-shows-the-impact-of-robotics-on-manufacturing-jobs/
and a plausable future:
http://www.e-catworld.com/2015/06/23/the-history-of-things-to-come-axil-axil/

Update Aug 10, 2015

Electricity-starved Japan brings 31yr-old nuclear reactor back on line.
http://www.dw.com/en/japan-to-restart-nuclear-reactor/a-18637854

Update Aug 25, 2015
Whereas the Rossi's patent does not mention LENR, it deals with his E-cat as a Fluid Heater involving an exothermal reaction between lithium and hydrogen, catalyzed by nickel or any other of Group 10 elements in the Perodic Table.
With the important event of August 25, the title of this post is amended:
LENR Ignored -as Nuclear Goes on Life-support & E-cat Patent Granted


Update September 27, 2015
Fortune Magazine interviews Tom Darden, CEO of Industrial Heat LLC
about it's sponsorship of E-Cat engineering and operational test:
http://fortune.com/2015/09/27/ceo-cherokee-investment-partners-low-energy-nuclear-reaction/