General Electric and Hitachi have partnered to develop the PRISM small modular reactor which will generate 311 megawatts (MW) of electric power, or 840 MW of thermal power.

It would take between 45 and 120 PRISM reactors to completely eliminate all the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by the 3.1 billion cu. ft/day of natural gas that are currently burned for process heat and for co-gen electric power in oil sands operations - depending on the proportion of process heat to electric power.

However, depending on who is doing the calculation, the GHG emissions from the oil sands on a well-to-wheel basis are only about 15-20 percent higher than the average crude oil refined in the U.S.

That means only about 7 -9 PRISM reactors could displace enough of the natural gas currently being burned in the oil sands to reduce oil sands crude GHG emissions to the average of all crudes refined in the U.S. - assuming the reactors displace natural gas used for process heat.

The following is taken and adapted from an article by Maxx Chatsko:

Small modular nuclear reactors like the PRISM design could be built in a factory off-site, then shipped to the construction site for final installation - resulting in construction costs and timelines that are a fraction of traditional nuclear reactors.

The PRISM design uses metallic fuel cooled by sodium salts at atmospheric pressure which results in an efficient cooling system. In the event of an accident, the metallic fuel expands, reducing its density and slowing the fission reaction, thereby shutting down the reactor without any input from humans or electronic controls.

The PRISM reactor's design allows it to extract more energy from traditional nuclear fuel, consume non-traditional fuels such as plutonium, and consume growing stockpiles of existing nuclear wastes.

For example, the United Kingdom's stockpile of 140 metric tons of plutonium could power the entire nation for 100 years if fed to PRISM reactors. Most of the energy would come from the plutonium itself, while a significant amount of energy would come from cycling spent fuel back into the reactors.

In fact, PRISM reactors could reduce the volume of nuclear wastes by 98% compared to traditional reactor designs by more fully consuming the longest-lived materials 

Mike Priaro, P.Eng.

Calgary

403-281-2156

840 megawatts (MW) per PRISM reactor  = 2.868 billion BTU/hr per PRISM reactor            

1 cu. ft natural gas is equivalent to about 1000 BTU

1 thousand cu. ft. (mcf) natural gas is equivalent to one million BTU

The oil sands burn 3.1 billion cu. ft/day of natural gas. 

3.1 billion cu. ft/day is equivalent to 3.1 million mcf/day

3.1 million mcf/d is equivalent to  3.1 trillion BTU/day

3.1 trillion BTU/day is 129 billion BTU/hr

129 billion BTU/hr is equivalent to forty-five 840 MW PRISM reactors.