The Moon can provide electric power sufficient for 1000 years [Says Russian scientist]

Pravda ^ | 01/24/2004 | Translated by: Andrey Nesterov

[aculeus]

According to Academician and member of Council on Space of Russian Academy of Science Eric Galimov, the Moon can provide the mankind with electric power sufficient for 1000 years of use.

"Scientists think that the Earth supplies of oil, gas and uranium will be exhausted in the 2150s, therefore currently the mankind is required to look for alternative sources of energy", he said in an interview to ITAR-TASS information agency.

"Helium-3 is the most promising source of energy, its supplies in the upper layers of the Moon surface are about 500 million tons", the Academician said. There is no this isotope on the Earth, except for several kilograms of it in the depths of our planet. According to Galimov, Helium-3 is "an ideal ecologically safe fuel for nuclear fusion".

"Its use produces no radiation, therefore the global problem of nuclear waste burial will cease to exist", - the Academician said. He explained that Helium-3 has been brought to the Moon by solar wind. Scientists discovered this element on the Moon after analyzing its soil samples delivered by Soviet space stations and American astronauts.

"To provide the mankind with power sufficient for one year, two or three flights of a spaceship having 10 ton carrying capacity are required", he said.

"The expenses on delivering the energy source from the Moon will be ten times less than the cost of the power currently produced by atomic stations", Galimov said.

According to Galimov, delivering Helium-3 from the Moon can become a reality in 30-40 years, but people should start working on it right now". Developing the project "will cost 25-30 million dollars".

The Russian scientist offers to etract Helium-3 from the depths of the Moon by means of special "lunar bulldozers", which will warm the soil and then will shovel up the isotope from the surface.

"Lunar projects are economically sound and cheap, and Russia is capable of implementing them", said Galimov.

Source: http://www.newsru.com/

[aculeus]

Is true?

[templar]

Perhaps we should get a few operating power plants running before loking to the moon as a fuel source.

[evolved_rage]

Developing the project "will cost 25-30 million dollars".

Billion??? Trillion??? Darn those misplaced decimals.

[demlosers]

Is true?

That's what I hear. Helium 3 is plentiful on the moon and scarce on Earth.

[gnarledmaw]

"..."lunar bulldozers", which will warm the soil and then will shovel up the isotope from the surface..."

Im not familiar with the properties of Helium-3 but this doesnt sound right. Is he actually saying that clumps will form on the warmed beds or is that just the 25 cent explanation for non-scientists?

[gnarledmaw]

ping

[Pontiac]

According to Galimov, Helium-3 is "an ideal ecologically safe fuel for nuclear fusion".

"Its use produces no radiation, therefore the global problem of nuclear waste burial will cease to exist",

I am fairly certain that this is not true.

Any nuclear reaction I have ever read about would produce radiation of one kind or another.

On the other hand I believe it would be much cheaper to produce Hydrogen 3 in conventional fission reactors for use in fusion reactors. They do this today for fuel for Hydrogen bombs.

[Pontiac]

What they are saying is that the Solar Wind imbeds the He3 in the lunar soil. Helium (of any kind) is a noble gas it does not chemically bind with any other element. So the bulldozer warming the Lunar soil will drive it out of the soil and there would be a system to vacuum the Helium up and capture it in tanks.

[Dundee]

"Scientists think that the Earth supplies of oil, gas and uranium will be exhausted in the 2150s

Uh... Australia has massive Uranium reserves (about 40% of the world's known Uranium) that haven't hardly been touched PLUS enough coal for the next 300 years even at twice the consumption rate.

[DuncanWaring]

I'm guessing the "Hydrogen 3" you refer to is also known as Tritium.

This article refers to "Helium 3".

Not that I've ever heard of Helium 3 before or have any idea why it would be usable as a nuclear fuel. ;-)

[FreedomFlynnie]

Isn't the bigger problem that we can't yet make a working fusion reactor that generates more energy than it consumes?

[Bubba_Leroy]

Scientists discovered this element on the Moon after analyzing its soil samples delivered by Soviet space stations and American astronauts.

Strange, I don't recall any Soviet space stations making a trip to the moon to pick up soil samples.

[Polycarp IV]

Any nuclear reaction I have ever read about would produce radiation of one kind or another.

Good article here: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/helium3_000630.html

In contrast, helium 3 fusion would produce little residual radioactivity. Helium 3, an isotope of the familiar helium used to inflate balloons and blimps, has a nucleus with two protons and one neutron. A nuclear reactor based on the fusion of helium 3 and deuterium, which has a single nuclear proton and neutron, would produce very few neutrons -- about 1 percent of the number generated by the deuterium-tritium reaction. "You could safely build a helium 3 plant in the middle of a big city," Kulcinski said.

[Pontiac]

Tritium: a radioactive isotope of hydrogen with atoms of three times the mass of ordinary light hydrogen atoms. In the nucleus is one Proton and two nuetrons.

[isthisnickcool]

If the moons surface has been pounded by radiation for a gazillion years would the surface hold such radiation? Making all this stuff kind toxic to humans?

[New Horizon]

I'm really just concerned about the next 40 years or so here on good old planet Earth.

Any updates for the nearly deceased?

[Crazieman]

Don't worry, just enviro-science claims. We were supposed to run out of energy sources in the 70s, remember?

[gnarledmaw]

Ah, so not lunar bulldozers but giant lunar vacuum cleaners. That actually makes much more sense for catching a gas which was the state I assumed it would be in. I thought he might be inferring that there was something special about the properties of He-3 and/or the conditions of the moon that would cause it to change to a solid state wich didnt make sense to this HS chemistry mind.

[TLI]

Tritium illuminated compasses will glow for about 10 years, tritium illuminated signs about the same or perhaps a little longer. What would be the effective half-life of the "moon-tritium?"

[aomagrat]

Wouldn't the power lines get wrapped around the Earth?