New battery tech to keep an eye on

[Irrelevant]

The U.S. made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China

Taxpayers spent $15 million on research to build a breakthrough battery. Then the U.S. government gave it to China.

www.npr.org

This would be an interesting because vanadium is more evenly distributed across the globe than lithium is. But the overall story is quite depressing.

 

[BigHornRam]

Never heard of vanadium so had to look it up.

No surprise where the bulk of it is produced.

"Vanadium: The metal we can’t do without and don’t produce - MINING.COM" https://www.mining.com/web/vanadium-metal-cant-without-dont-produce/

 

[Ben Lamb]

I read that story yesterday. Very depressing indeed.

This is why we should invest heavily in R&D as a nation and not leave it up to those whose first duty is to a profit margin.

 

[Irrelevant]

seems crazy to me, that 100's a millions of US citizens claim to be fervent Made In America supporters, yet one of the best technologies (it appears) that our Gov't developed (since tang) was allowed to go overseas without so much as an second thought. I'm sure we spend millions upon millions in espionage in China and they here, yet we just let this one walk away...

Along that same vein, it also supports the complete ineptitude of gov't regulations and administration.

 

[Irrelevant]

This is why we should invest heavily in R&D as a nation and not leave it up to those whose first duty is to a profit margin.

But we did, that's the part of the story we succeeded at. But once it needed to be mass produced we simply failed to enforce our own regulations.

 

[Ben Lamb]

But we did, that's the part of the story we succeeded at. But once it needed to be mass produced we simply failed to enforce our own regulations.

 

[PrairieHunter]

There was also a new modular nuclear reactor was approved this week, I believe only 7 have been approved in the entire country.

This Tiny Modular Nuclear Reactor Just Got the Green Light From U.S. Regulators

Eleven countries are already interested in setting up NuScale power plants.

www.popularmechanics.com

 

[rwc101]

I heard the story on the radio yesterday. Sat in the parking lot in disbelief until the story was over.

 

[BigHornRam]

The problem with this technology is it relies on an expensive element that is mostly available in countries that are not in our best interest to enrich at this point in time.

 

[44hunter45]

Some really smart folks at PNNL. I suspect the Washington HTers know this, but for those not familiar...
The original PNNL charter was to study the impacts and mitigation of the waste from the adjacent Hanford Nuclear Reactors. Which is still their primary mission.

All that government research money keeps the Tri-Cities economy alive.
I serviced everything from Laptops and Unix Clusters (supercomputers), to Mainframes there and in the local support industries when I was in the field every day.

The upside for me was the company paid my gas to crawl for powder and primers (and to fish) for all that time. A perk I now truly miss.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Some really smart folks at PNNL. I suspect the Washington HTers know this, but for those not familiar...
The original PNNL charter was to study the impacts and mitigation of the waste from the adjacent Hanford Nuclear Reactors. Which is still their primary mission.

All that government research money keeps the Tri-Cities economy alive.
I serviced everything from Laptops and Unix Clusters (supercomputers), to Mainframes there and in the local support industries when I was in the field every day.

The upside for me was the company paid my gas to crawl for powder and primers (and to fish) for all that time. A perk I now truly miss.

A buddy of mine used to work there. PNNL really does have smart people.

 

[Irrelevant]

https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/u/pp1802u.pdf

 

[Ben Lamb]

https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1802/u/pp1802u.pdf

View attachment 232647

There is no free lunch.

Vanadium Fever, the New 'Green Gold' | OpenMind

What makes vanadium so special? The renewable energy industry may find a great ally on this mineral. Find out more with OpenMind about the vanadium promise

www.bbvaopenmind.com

 

[Irrelevant]

There is no free lunch.

Vanadium Fever, the New 'Green Gold' | OpenMind

What makes vanadium so special? The renewable energy industry may find a great ally on this mineral. Find out more with OpenMind about the vanadium promise

www.bbvaopenmind.com

I didn't read anything that diminished the potential.

 

[Ben Lamb]

View attachment 232651
I didn't read anything that diminished the potential.

Me either, and in fact, if there are ways to bio-engineer development of the material, then that's clearly where we should be putting R&D instead of simply reverting to digging a hole in the ground.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

Me either, and in fact, if there are ways to bio-engineer development of the material, then that's clearly where we should be putting R&D instead of simply reverting to digging a hole in the ground.

It can be found as a trace element in coal ash. I already got the hole dug.

 

[Ben Lamb]

It can be found as a trace element in coal ash. I already got the hole dug.

 

[Irrelevant]

It can be found as a trace element in coal ash. I already got the hole dug.

In line with the quote above, that 70% of that which has already be extracted hasn't been used.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

In line with the quote above, that 70% of that which has already be extracted hasn't been used.

Interestingly enough, I had a meeting this week with a person from the Department of Energy regarding alternative uses of coal ash. V never came up.

 

[F250]

Sold/given to China ... 10% to the Big Guy.