Integration of nuclear power with oil sands extraction projects in Canada

Abstract

One of the largest oil reserves in the world is not in the Middle East or in Alaska, but in Canada. This fuel exists in the form of bitumen in Alberta's oil sands. While it takes a tremendous amount of energy to recover this bitumen and refine it into petroleum products, with oil prices nearing all time highs, it is profitable to do so. Oil sands recovery involves either strip mining the sands and extracting the oil, or pumping large quantities of steam into the ground in order to free the bitumen from the sand. Traditionally, the energy to produce the steam and hot water used in this process has come from natural gas. The use of natural gas for oil sands recovery presents a number of problems, among which are the environmental impact of the greenhouse gases and the price volatility of the natural gas market. This thesis explores the possibility of using nuclear energy to power oil sands recovery. Once operational, nuclear reactors produce no greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide and offer relatively low and stable fuel and operation and maintenance costs. Uranium is not subject to the same market volatility as natural gas. There are, however, several trade-offs as well. This thesis compares the benefits and the drawbacks, and puts forth several complete scenarios for the introduction of nuclear technology into the oil sands recovery process. Nuclear energy used for steam production is found to be competitive with natural gas prices as low as $3.75/MMBtu (CAD).

(cont.) For electricity production, nuclear becomes competitive at natural gas prices of $8.50/MMBtu (CAD). The greenhouse gas impact of nuclear is to reduce emissions in the oil sands region, as much as 3.3 million metric tons per year avoided for a 100k barrel per day (bpd) bitumen production Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) facility, or 2.7 million metric tons per year for the replacement of 700MWe of grid electricity with nuclear power. For a steam supply scenario, the PBMR reactor is found to be well-sized to supply a 50,000 bpd SAGD plant, whereas the CANDU and ACR reactors considered are found to be too large, with too low pressure steam to be practical in that application. All of the reactors have potential for supplying heat and electricity for direct mining operations, however. In summary, nuclear energy applications appear to be well suited for long term oil sands production in an economically competitive, CO2 emission free way which would greatly help Canada in meeting its Kyoto greenhouse gas emission commitments and to continue responsible development of its rich oil sands resources. Chapter One lays out the background information regarding the basic methods of production used in the oil sands today and the technologies that are being studied for possible future use.

(cont.) Chapter Two describes the challenges that face the oil sands industry in the current development environment, while Chapter Three details the energy requirements of the oil sands industry and surveys the energy generation options available in the region. Chapter Four provides a description of the reactors that have been suggested for this application, and sets out their steam capacities for the SAGD application. Chapter Five proposes a set of possible scenarios for integrating nuclear energy into oil sands projects and sets forth the steps that need to be taken to accomplish that integration, as well as the requisite benefits and economic implications of doing so. Finally, Chapter 6 concludes with a discussion of the results and makes recommendations for future work.