Romney B. Duffey

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited

Chalk River Laboratories, Stn. 99, Chalk River, ON K0J 1J0
Tel: (+1) 613-584-8811 + 46272
E-mail: duffeyr@aecl.ca

Presentation Title:

Ensuring Sustainable Energy Security and Supply: The Role of Nuclear Energy in Canada

Abstract:

It is clear that global economic and environmental issues are coupled, and recognized that excessive reliance on any one energy source is unsustainable. We review the role of nuclear energy in synergistically assuring reduced greenhouse emissions with increased energy independence, support to economic growth while providing reduced waste. This is achieved with safe, sustainable and secure supply using present designs and advanced concepts for both nuclear plants and their fuel cycles, well into the 22nd century. The ideas and strategic directions are described, illustrating the promise of the major contributions by Canada to: North American energy security; virtually emissions-free energy supply; stable electricity prices; reduced emissions; global stability; and major international market potential.

Biographical Sketch:

Dr. Romney Duffey is an internationally recognised scientist, manager, speaker, poet and author. He has written and published over 200 papers and articles, plus three books, and has extensive technical and professional contacts worldwide.

Educated in England, Dr. Duffey has over 30 years of unique experience in the UK, USA and Canada on nuclear technology development, risk assessment, nuclear system design and safety. He is a leading expert in commercial nuclear reactor studies and advanced concepts, and has recently developed and helped to bring new competitive plant designs to the international markets of Asia, North America and Europe. His technical analyses and ideas on the role of nuclear-produced hydrogen and its positive impacts have been widely circulated, and the results quoted by leading authorities.

After a distinguished career working with the US utility industry, leadership roles in government laboratories and programs, and directing a not-for-profit Foundation, Romney is presently the Principal Scientist for AECL (Canada). He is responsible for advanced and future concepts, and strategic development of new products, and overall R&D directions.

Romney has been active in the 10 Nation Generation IV International Forum on advanced nuclear systems, where he is a designated Expert. He is a co-author of the original texts on errors in technology (“Know the Risk” and “Managing Risk”), dealing with the influence and prediction of human error on safety and the discovery of the Universal Learning Curve.

A physicist by inclination, Romney is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Past Chair of the Nuclear Engineering Division, an active Member of the American and Canadian Nuclear Societies, and a Past Chair of the American Nuclear Society Thermal Hydraulics Division. He has helped organize and chaired numerous international conferences and meetings.

An experienced speaker, Romney is dedicated to global environmental and energy studies, and leading work on advanced energy systems and their synergisms in competitive power markets. He is making contributions in the international energy scene for Canada, with major presentations and in research planning and decision-making.

See also: www.google.com

2008: “Managing Risk: The Human Element”, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., West Sussex, UK.
2007: “Heat Transfer and Hydraulic Resistance at Supercritical Pressures in Power Engineering Applications”, ASME Press, ISBN 0-7918-0252-3, New York, NY, 328 pages.
2006: “The Value of Non-Carbon Power and Emissions Avoidance”, Proc. 2006 IEEE Power Engineering Society General Meeting, Montreal, Canada, June.
2006: “Advanced High Temperature Concepts for Pressure-Tube Reactors, including Co-Generation and Sustainability”, Proceedings 3rd International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR2006), Paper #F00000167, Johannesburg, South Africa, October 1-4.
2005: “Co-Generation of Hydrogen from Nuclear and Wind: The Effect on Costs of Realistic Variations in Wind Capacity and Power Prices”, Proc. 13th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE 13) Paper # 50449, Beijing, China, May 2005.
2005: “Sustainable Futures Using Nuclear Energy”, Published by Elsevier Ltd., Progress in Nuclear Energy, Vol. 47, No. 1-4, pp.535-543, 2005.
2005: “Green Atoms”, Power & Energy, supplement to Mechanical Engineering Magazine, Power & Energy, Vol. 2, No.2, pp 8-12, June 2005. (http://www.memagazine.org/pejune05/greenatom/greenatom.html)
2005: “Contribution to Energy and Environmental Sustainability of Nuclear Energy, Windpower and Hydrogen”, WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Modelling Issue 1, Vol. 1, pp 41-49, ISSN 1790-5079, October 2005.
2004: The Evolutionary CANDU Reactor – Past, Present and Future, Physics in Canada, Special Mini-Theme Issue on the ACR-700, Nov./Dec. 2004.
2004: “Innovation in technology for the Least Product Price and Cost – a new minimum cost relation for reductions during technological learning”, Int. J. Energy Technology and Policy, Volume 2, Nos. 1/2 2004.
2004: “Nuclear Energy and the Future: Security, Supply and Sustainability”, Invited paper presented at The World Engineers’ Convention 2004 (WEC2004), Shanghai, China, November 2004.
2002: “Know the Risk”, Butterworth-Heinemann, MA, USA, 2002. (www.amazon.com)

D. Yogi Goswami, Ph.D., P.E.

John and Naida Ramil Professor, and Co-Director, Clean Energy Research Ctr.
University of South Florida
Clean Energy Research Center
University of South Florida
4202 East Fowler Ave., ENB 118
Tampa, FL 33620-5350 USA
Tel: (+1) 813/974-0956; 8840;   Fax - 2050
E-mail: goswami@eng.usf.edu

Presentation Title:

T.B.A.

Abstract:

T.B.A.

Biographical Sketch:

Dr. Goswami is the John and Naida Ramil Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department and Co-Director of the Clean Energy Research Center at the University of South Florida. He conducts fundamental and applied research on Solar Thermal Energy, Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, HVAC, Photovoltaics, Hydrogen, and Fuel Cells. Dr. Goswami has served as an advisor and given testimonies on energy policy and the transition to renewable energy to the US Congress and the Government of India, as well as providing consultant expertise to the US Department of Energy, USAID, World Bank, NIST, among others. Professor Goswami is the Editor-in-Chief of the Solar Energy journal, and Advances in Solar Energy: Annual Review of Research and Development. Within the field of Renewable Energy he has published as an author or editor 14 books, 13 book chapters, 6 conference proceedings and more than 200 refereed technical papers. He has delivered 35 Keynote and Plenary lectures at major international conferences. He also holds 9 US patents. A recognized leader in professional scientific and technical societies, Prof. Goswami has served as a Governor of ASME-International (2003-2006), President of the International Solar Energy Society (2004-2005), Senior Vice President of ASME (2000-2003), Vice President of ISES and President of the International Association for Solar Energy Education (IASEE, 2000-2002). Dr. Goswami is a Fellow of the ASME International, and the American Solar Energy Society. He is a recipient of the Farrington Daniels Award from ISES, John Yellott Award for Solar Energy from ASME and the Charles Greely Abbott award of the ASES, and more than 50 awards and certificates from major engineering and scientific societies for his work in renewable energy.

David Sanborn Scott, Ph.D. D.Sc. (hon.)

Vice-President (for the Americas) International Association for Hydrogen Energy
Founding Director, Institute for Integrated Energy Systems, University of Victoria.
2911 Mt. Baker View Road
Victoria, BC V8N 1Z6  Canada
T-250-598-7755; F-250-598-7799
davidsanbornscott@scottpoint.ca
www.smellingland.com

Presentation Title:

We Don’t Have an Energy Crisis—We Have an Energy Currency Crisis

Abstract:

Contrary to what almost everyone believes, we do not need to find new, non‐carbon energy sources. We have plenty, including hydraulic, wind, solar, geothermal, tidal sources—and, most important, nuclear power. The latter holds the most promise for a substantial positive impact world‐wide—but it’s held back by the deeply imbedded, flawed mythology that nuclear power is dangerous and unsustainable. So to deploy non‐carbon sources at the level they are needed globally, we must build new nuclear plants and refurbish old ones. At the same time we must, whenever reasonable, install other non‐carbon sources, typically renewables like hydraulic and wind, whose attractiveness depends on venue.

We’ll use the graphic of the energy system’s architecture, shown above, as a platform to explain why our critical need is for:

A universal non‐carbon energy currency that can allow non‐carbon sources to escape the electricity ghetto and move into transportation fuels and chemical commodities.

Today’s proposals for deflecting climate disruption are not solutions. At best they are band‐aids. Any comprehensive solution must lead to zero CO2 emissions from our energy system—not just reduced emissions. This requires not only non‐carbon sources but also non‐carbon currencies.

We already have the non‐carbon currency electricity. But electricity can’t fly airplanes, or push ships, and is a poor currency for road or rail. For these services we’ll need the non‐carbon—and renewable—currency, hydrogen. Only hydrogen can allow the energy from non‐carbon sources like hydraulic, nuclear, sunlight or wind, to fly airplanes—further, safer, with larger payloads and without (in principle) the system emitting a drop of CO2. In short, hydrogen is the single non‐carbon fuel that can substitute for today’s gasoline, diesel and jet‐A.

On the way to the Hydrogen Age, “tether” hydrogen must play a vital role in harvesting Canada’s heavy oil reserves while minimizing collateral CO2 emissions. Later, “neat” hydrogen systems will bring a brilliant future dominated by the twin currencies, hydrogen and electricity.

The 20th century bequeathed us the wonders of the Electricity Age. The 21st century is filled with opportunities for established energy industries to collaborate with emerging industries—the offspring of which will be to make money, position businesses for the future and clean the place up.

Biographical Sketch:

Dr. Scott is Vice-President (for the Americas) of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy. He earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering and astronautical sciences from Northwestern University.

David spent 22 years at the University of Toronto where he served as chair of Mechanical Engineering and founded the university’s Institute for Hydrogen Systems. He chaired the Canadian Advisory Group on Hydrogen Opportunities that produced the seminal report, Hydrogen: National Mission for Canada. In 1989 he joined the University of Victoria where he established the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems. IESVic strongly continues today with more than 60 faculty, staff and graduate students.

In 2006, he received the internationally prestigious Jules Verne award, for “outstanding contributions to hydrogen physics, hydrogen energy, sociology and philosophy.”

In 2007, David was given several more honours. The University of Ontario Institute of Technology awarded him an honorary doctor of science, the Canadian Hydrogen Association made him their inaugural honorary life-time member, and when Albert College created its Alumni Wall of Honour, David was among the first persons so recognized.

David is the author of Smelling Land: The Hydrogen Defense Against Climate Catastrophe (2007). The book’s enhanced edition was released in 2008.

David and his wife, the nautical writer Marianne Scott, enjoy living near the ocean in Victoria. They sailed their sailboat Starkindred to the Tahitian Islands and back – to learn the
Pacific is a big ocean. More recently, they voyaged in their new sailboat, Beyond the Stars, round the Baltic and North Seas. They report the South Pacific had more palm trees and better swimming, but the Baltic offered more interesting history.

T. Nejat Veziroglu

Professor and Director
Clean Energy Research Institute
University of Miami
EB 219 McArthur Engineering Building
Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA
Tel: 305-284-4666
Fax: 305-284-2580
Email:veziroglu@miami.edu

Presentation Title:

21st Century’s Energy: Hydrogen Energy System

Abstract:

Fossil fuels (i.e., petroleum, natural gas and coal), which meet most of the world’s energy demand today, are being depleted fast. Also, their combustion products are causing the global problems, such as the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, acid rains and pollution, which are posing great danger for our environment and eventually for the life in our planet. Many engineers and scientists agree that the solution to these global problems would be to replace the existing fossil fuel system by the hydrogen energy system. Hydrogen is a very efficient and clean fuel. Its combustion will produce no greenhouse gases, no ozone layer depleting chemicals, little or no acid rain ingredients and pollution. Hydrogen, produced from renewable energy (e.g., solar) sources, would result in a permanent energy system, which we would never have to change.
However, there are other energy systems proposed for the post-petroleum era, such as a synthetic fossil fuel system. In this system, synthetic gasoline and synthetic natural gas will be produced using abundant deposits of coal. In a way, this will ensure the continuation
of the present fossil fuel system.

The two possible energy systems for the post-fossil fuel era (i.e., the solar-hydrogen energy system and the synthetic fossil fuel system) are compared with the present fossil fuel system by taking into consideration production costs, environmental damages and utilization efficiencies. The results indicate that the solar-hydrogen energy system is the best energy system to ascertain a sustainable future, and it should replace the fossil fuel system before the end of the 21st century.

Biographical Sketch:

In 1962 –after serving in some Turkish government agencies and heading a private company – Dr. Veziroglu joined the University of Miami Engineering Faculty. In 1965, he became the Director of Graduate Studies and initiated the first Ph.D. Program in the School of Engineering and Architecture. He served as Chairman of the Department of Mechanical Engineering 1971 through 1975, and was the Associate Dean for Research 1975 through 1979. He took a three years Leave of Absence (2004 through 2007) and founded UNIDO-ICHET (United Nations Industrial Development Organization – International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies) in Istanbul, Turkey. At present, he is the Director of the Clean Energy Research Institute at the University of Miami.

Dr. Veziroglu organized the first major conference on Hydrogen Energy: The Hydrogen Economy Miami Energy (THEME) Conference, Miami Beach, 18-20 March 1974.  At the opening of this conference, Dr. Veziroglu proposed the Hydrogen Energy System as a permanent solution for the depletion of the fossil fuels and the environmental problems caused by their utilization. Soon after, the International Association for Hydrogen Energy (IAHE) was established, and Dr. Veziroglu was elected president. As President of IAHE, in 1976 he initiated the biennial World Hydrogen Energy Conferences (WHECs), and in 2005 the biennial World Hydrogen Technologies Conventions (WHTCs).

In 1976, Dr. Veziroglu started publication of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (IJHE) as its Editor-in-Chief, in order to publish and disseminate Hydrogen Energy related research and development results from around the world. IJHE has continuously grew; now it publishes twenty-four issues a year. He has published some 350 papers and scientific reports, edited 160 volumes of books and proceedings, and has co-authored the book “Solar Hydrogen Energy: The Power to Save the Earth”.

Dr. Veziroglu has memberships in eighteen scientific organizations, has been elected to the Grade of Fellow in the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is the Founding President of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy.

Dr. Veziroglu has been the recipient of several international awards. He was presented the Turkish Presidential Science Award in 1974, made an Honorary Professor in Xian Jiaotong University of China in 1981, awarded the I. V. Kurchatov Medal by the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy of U.S.S.R. in 1982, the Energy for Mankind Award by the Global Energy Society in 1986, and elected to the Argentinean Academy of Sciences in 1988. In 2000, he was nominated for Nobel Prize in Economics, for conceiving the Hydrogen Economy and striving towards its establishment.

Robert Therrien

Portfolio Manager
Research Partnerships Programs
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
350 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1A 1H5
Tel: (613) 996-5924
Fax: (613) 992-5337
Email: robert.therrien@nserc-crsng.gc.ca.

Presentation Title:

NSERC’s Research And Industrial Community: A Growing Force of Discovery, People And Innovation Shaping Tomorrow’s Hydrogen Economy

Abstract:

As Canada’s largest university research-funding agency, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) supports the training of some 26,500 university students and postdoctoral fellows, funds the research efforts of more than 11,800 university and college professors and stimulates academic-industry research and development (R&D) partnerships involving over 1,400 companies each year.

In the hydrogen and fuel cell arena, NSERC has sponsored cutting edge research for over two decades. During that time, the level of activity has intensified significantly – from a mere handful of projects in the early 1980s and 1990s, to more than 150 grants and scholarships in 2008. 

Since 2002, NSERC’s annual support has tripled from about $2.9 million to over $9 million. More than half of that investment is earmarked for university-industry projects involving over 40 fuel cell and hydrogen business interests.

NSERC supports hydrogen advances through its Discovery Grants for basic research, Research Partnerships Programs’ grants for research and knowledge transfer  involving companies, and scholarships and fellowships for skills development. All of these initiatives provide advanced training for students at the post-graduate level, resulting in job-ready professionals who will help shape tomorrow’s hydrogen economy.

In 2007, NSERC doubled its funding for strategic research partnerships in the area of  sustainable energy systems, including hydrogen-related R&D. These public-private partnerships permit companies to capitalize, at minimal cost, on university innovations and training. In addition to supporting project-specific partnerships, the new funds enabled the creation of several national networks that unite industrial and research interests engaged in fuel cell advancement on the one hand, and in hydrogen technologies on the other.

The partnership opportunities that exist at NSERC will be briefly described and examples of successful university-industry collaborations will be presented.

Biographical Sketch: