Open Letter About Japan

Hello,

This is an open personal letter from me, Craig Hesser, to those who read this blog.

The news media these days are full of the horrors of what has happened and what is still happening in Japan. I have the greatest sympathy for the Japanese people and I hope that their nightmare will soon end. Rebuilding – both psychologically and materially – will take years, and in some cases, generations.

The ultimate story of what will happen to the nuclear reactors at Fukushima is still untold. We can only hope for the best and support the owners, the technical people, the people of the surrounding areas, and the country as best we all can.

GEOCOGEN is an alternative to nuclear power. We believe that GEOCOGEN is the only viable base-load, large scale, sustainable power generation system available today, and that it is safe for the local population and the rest of the world as well.

We at GEOCOGEN are not out to stop nuclear power, and we do not have the resources to take on the nuclear power industry. We do believe that nuclear power will die a natural economic death in the next 2 to 4 decades. These beliefs are based on increasing costs of uranium production as the “low hanging fruit” ores are depleted, and on the additional construction requirements that will be required to obtain the measure of safety that individual governments believe will protect them from a Fukushima-style disaster.

I read that the conditions of the mechanical design at Fukushima were for a force 8,3 earthquake, and a 5-meter (17-foot) tsunami wave. This report indicated that TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company, the owner) had determined that both of these conditions were exceeded in the earthquake (9,0) and the tsunami (23 meters = 78 feet). I cannot blame the engineers or the designers for this apparent oversight. There had been no 9,0 earthquake in the recorded history of Japan. The tsunami wave design could have been for a greater height, but no one would have suggested a 20-meter design criteria. I read in the same article that the highest recorded tsunami in Japan was 35 meters in the late 19th century.

There were apparently other problems at Fukushima that should not have been allowed to continue, but that seems to be the case at many nuclear power plants, in Japan, in Russia, in North America, in the European Union, and even in our own Switzerland.

I have worked with a number of technical people in Japan. I have felt small earthquakes in Japan. It may sound strange to say this, but in my mind, the World is lucky that the accidents that were provoked at Fukushima were in Japan, and not some other, less regimented and less responsibly organised country. I am convinced that, in most other countries, what happened at Fukushima would have gone totally out of control and Fukushima 1 and Fukushima 2 both would have been completely destroyed, with the result that radioactive dust and aerosols would have circled the globe for years, and maybe even for decades or centuries.

I personally do not like nuclear power – not for what it is, but for what it has the potential to do to the world in general. The dangers from nuclear power take the form of a disaster similar to Chernobyl (regardless of the cause), and also in terms of the safe disposal of radioactive wastes. In Japan, there are very few options available for ways to produce electricity (relatively) inexpensively – Japan has essentially no fuel resources. Hydropower is used to the extent possible, but there are potential problems with earthquakes there as well. Wind, wave, OTEC, solar, biogas, geothermal, and other technologies are not capable of producing the amount of power that the crowded Island Nation needs. Nuclear power seemed to be a good fit, but now, there are many questions and afterthoughts. It is ironic that the only country to suffer from the use of atomic weapons during wartime now apparently will suffer from the peaceful use of nuclear energy as well.

Again, my heartfelt sympathy goes out to the Japanese people and particularly to the technical people who are working so hard to try to prevent the situation from becoming even worse.

Craig Hesser

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A Recent Meebo Chat

This is the un-edited transcript from a recent chat on our Meebo ChatBox

Meebo Chat Discussion on 9 March 2011
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Participants:
meeboguest161895 – an interested surfer
Craighesser – Craig Hesser, CEO, GEOCOGEN AG

[20:04] meeboguest161895: what is the minimum investment for a set up?
[20:05] craighesser: Remember, we are talking about a 1 GW (1’000 MW) power plant. The talking price – depending on where and other details – is around US$ 4’000 million.
[20:06] craighesser: (US$ 4 billion if you are American)
[20:07] craighesser: These days, that’s almost chicken feed! :D
[21:32] meeboguest161895: Incredible ! So if someone has to take it up say in India, how does one go about it. Say we get the govt interested to fund it, would you take up the project? Of course we are talking of a time scale of a decade I guess. What is the intellectual property transfer modus operandi?
[21:35] craighesser: The basic premise is that “you” would sign a non-disclosure agreement and we would work out exactly what the best configuration would be and also find an optimal location. Then there is a license and we would do the project management together with the owner. Expected time is around 7-8 years, depending on when you start the clock.
[21:39] craighesser: Would you mind if we publish this chat on our website? You would only be identified as a “Meebo Guest” which is all I know about you in any case.
[21:50] meeboguest161895: Sure with pleasure. I will get back to you after getting some information from the other side. Also, if you could give a reference where all you have installed recently, it would help to follow up and study a bit further. Many thanks for your time. Best regards
[21:55] craighesser: We don’t have any references we can publish, but the first geothermal facility in North America was built 50 years ago by a colleague of ours (office about 200m from us) in the Rocky Mountains outside Denver. Also, one of the founders of our parent company was the Swiss process engineer Kurt Brunnschweiller who invented the basic process and spent millions of Swiss Francs of his own money to do it.
[21:56] craighesser: Since you have seen the website, you have our contact coordinates – feel free to contact us when you are ready.

You can chat with Craig also! Just catch him when he’s online, or leave a message. If you leave a message, it will be difficult to respond on Meebo – just leave an email address or Skype name or phone number.

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The Hannover Fair 2011 – Are You Going?

The Hannover Fair 2011 _ Creative Technologies

An unusual offer for our members and associates:

The Hannover Fair, running from 4-8 April, 2011, is the world’s number one networking platform. With its 13 leading trade fairs:

• Industrial Automation,
• MDA (Motion, Drive & Automation),
• Energy,
• Power Plant Technology,
• Wind,
• MobiliTec,
• Digital Factory,
• ComVac,
• Industrial Supply,
• CoilTechnica,
• Surface Technology,
• MicroNanoTec, and
• Research & Technology,

it is the world’s leading industrial fair.

Furthermore, this year – for the first time – the Hannover Fair has opened a new exhibition area, Metropolitan Solutions. Sustainable infrastructure solutions for cities and urban centers in the strategic sectors of energy, water and wastewater, mobility and buildings will be presented. Additional information can be found at: http://www.hannovermesse.de/en/metropolitan_solutions

The following impressive figures attest to the fair’s importance:

• Over 600 exhibitors from 61 countries will present themselves on an area of 225,000 square meters.
• 1000 presentation platforms and forums offer the opportunity to engage in conversations and to do business.
• 4.9 million business contacts speak for themselves.

Hannover Fair is the gateway to international markets. Decision-makers from politics and business from around the world will be on hand. You should be as well! The Partner Country for Hannover Fair 2011 is France. You can find more information about the Hannover Fair 2011 at: http://www.hannovermesse.de/

We are offering our members and associates a number of e-tickets for free admission to Hannover Fair. These include free use of Hannover’s public transport, free access to the Visitor Lounges, a city tour of Hannover, and an information package with interesting tips for leisure activities, culture and dining.

If you are interested in a visit to Hannover Fair, please contact Webmaster Craig Hesser via this email link. We will send you a link for registration and downloading the free e-tickets in PDF format for you to print out individually.

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