Reply To: would nuclear energy really be accessible to all?

[emmetb]

Two questions:
– How would the plasma torch separate the oil from the sand?
– Isn’t the excavation of contaminated soil going to do a lot of damage?

According to wikipedia separating bitumen from soil is usually done by injecting steam. A process which requires a lot of energy in its own right:
“Approximately 1.0 – 1.25 gigajoule of energy is needed to extract a barrel of bitumen and upgrade it to synthetic crude.”

There is research on breaking down crude oil using bacteria. The main problem there seems to be to supply the bacteria with the minerals they need to break down the oil. I saw one research suggesting lipophilic fertilizers (uric acid and lecithin) for this. Even if the latter issue is solved there is still the Eutrophication of the affected area to deal with. So perhaps relocating this mix of lipophilic fertilizer, bacteria and contaminated soil to some desert for agriculture might do the trick?