Abstract

The nuclear and petroleum industries have a lot in common including that detractors have often prematurely predicted the funerals of both as early as the 1990’s. But in fact they will both be required for the US economy to recover and grow in the next 100 years and beyond.

The Permian Basin has the potential to remain as the premier energy technology center of the United States and world for the next 100 years! However, for this to happen, the Permian Basin must exert its leadership now for the US to once again lead the energy industry to successfully fuel our local and national economies in the 21^st century.

The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB), through our Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), are leading national technological advances to help the Permian Basin maintain its leadership in energy production. Further, the Permian Basin is the ideal location for the development of these technologies because of the sophistication of our citizens that is continually shown in how they accept and support our complex industries.

The O&G industry will continue to prosper given new sources of CO₂ extracted from the atmosphere (with no carbon penalty!) and methods of enhanced oil recovery will be further refined. A new $15 million Pilot Plant for this atmospheric extraction process is planned to be constructed near the UTPB campus after the $1.5 million test for the scrubber is completed at the UTPB CEED facility.

The skilled trades workforce developed by the oil and gas industry will also be utilized and trained to support the new nuclear industry. New fuel cycles will be developed for the next generation of nuclear reactors at a new national “fuel qualification” facility that is currently planned to be jointly operated by UTPB and LANL - the $450 million HT³R - in Andrews County.

Steps will be taken to make West Texas the home of a new Nuclear Fuel Cycle Reprocessing Plant (first of its kind in the US) that will recover up to 95% of so-called “spent reactor fuel” and place the “actual” waste into the Salado Salt Formation in a new facility near the DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.

Yes, the future is very bright for the energy industry in the Permian Basin.