From: jcliu@four-lab4.Berkeley.EDU (James C. Liu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: Chinese Sulfur Dissolving Kyushu
Date: 15 Nov 1992 22:39:28 GMT
Organization: UC Berkeley Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
NNTP-Posting-Host: four-lab4.berkeley.edu

In article <1e4ro3INNp3r@agate.berkeley.edu> 

>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>5. Japan Links Increasing Acid Rain to Distant Coal Plants in China .... 99
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Forwarded by: Joe Huang
>Source: Christian Science Monitor 11/9/92
>By: Clayton Jones
>
>Now they see a new danger on the horizon: acid rain. It is starting to
>appear in the prevailing winds from China, where coal-burning power plants
>are spewing out harmful sulfur compounds.  The most ominous threat lies in
>China's plans to double its coal-burning plants within a decade.  "The air
>currents [with Chinese pollution] have reached Japan," says Hiromasa Ueda, a
>Kyushu University professor.  "Plants, marshes, rivers, and lakes are seeing
>the effects of acidification."

Another reason why the world should issue carbon and sulfur credits to
each under developed nation and allow them to exchange those for modern
technology.

>Early next year, Japan plans to install "desulfurization" technology on an
>operating 210-megawatt, coal-burning power plant on China's Shandong
>peninsula in the Yellow Sea. [stuff deleted....]
>The equipment will be a test of whether Japanese technology can work under
>Chinese conditions. It also will serve as a showcase to help convince China
>to either buy or make similar equipment. [stuff deleted...]
>Average cost for desulfurization equipment is about $400 million per power
>plant, says Saburo Kato, director for global environment in Japan's
>Environment Agency. With China planning 200 new power plants in this decade,
>the potential bill for such equipment is $80 billion.

Still $400 million per plant doesn't rid the problem of massive CO2
emmissions.  Also, if the cost is $400 million per 210 MWe plant, the
cost for sulfur scrubbing technology is too high per installed watt of
power.  A 1300 MWe advanced light water reactor is estimated to cost 
only on the order of $2 billion a piece in large quantities (> 2 units).
No SOx or CO2 emissions to worry about or large amounts of fly ash to
get rid of, or large scale improvements to railways to allow for the
shipping of the massive amount of coal needed.  If construction time per unit
can be cut down to under three years and the interest rate on capital
low, then potentially we could have reliable, and abundant electricity
for only around 4 cents per kWh.

It just goes to show once again, that...until fusion energy comes on line
in a century or so, the only safe, environmental, and economic electric
power source is fission energy.  Because so many developing nations are
in the position to threaten the environment in a catastrophic way due to
their growing energy requirements, it becomes the responsibility of
those nations that have the resources and technology for nuclear fission
power, to share it with those that don't have it or can't afford it in
large scale.  The public just has to become educated enough about all
available energy sources so that mass hysteria and paranoia over nuclear
energy doesn't create the fear and gridlock over its use (which BTW is
evident on this net over the recent Pu shipment...I would figure at
least the folks on the net would be a bit more technically literate to
understand issues of nuclear fission and breeding without the hype that
moronic journalists put into their circulation dependent newspapers.)

Jaa, James
=======================================================================
James C. Liu |    KARAOKE Addict!     Karaoke: You're the STAR!!!!    |
             |    Wanna go? Need someone who sings worse than you do? |
             |    Know about a cool karaoke bar? send e-mail          |
=======================================================================
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan