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Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen

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Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen is a consultant in chemistry and energy systems with more than thirty years experience in technology assessment.

Storm van Leeuwen received his Masters in Science, physical chemistry, at the Technical University Eindhoven. He is a senior scientist at Ceedata Consultants. He also develops courses for chemistry teachers for the Open University at Heerlen. He is the secretary of the Dutch Association of the Club of Rome. His two fields of expertise are technology assessment and life cycle analyses of energy systems, focussed on sustainability aspects. He published numerous reports and articles on various topics related to energy and environment.[1]

Nuclear energy study

He is best known for the comprehensive, yet controversial paper Nuclear power the energy balance that he wrote with Philip Smith, where they analyzed the energy payback from the entire nuclear power system. The energy inputs were calculated based on various assumptions and guesses about the technologies used in uranium production, rather than actually measuring them. They concluded that the major parameter determining the energy balance was the grade of the uranium ore, and ore grades lower than 180 ppm do not yield an energy gain when used in the nuclear fuel cycle.[2]

This study has been criticised. For example, using assumptions from this study, the Rössing Uranium Mine, processing 125 ppm ore, would require 69 PJ/year to operate - seven times more than total electricity consumption and 1.1 times more than total energy consumption of Namibia. The measured energy usage at this mine is 1 PJ/year. Similar gross overestimations occur when applying the study's methodology for other low grade mines, like Olympic Dam, South Australia.[3] Other less severe overestimations of energy usage and CO2 emissions are also found in the study.[4]

Despite this the paper has been used by anti-nuclear organizations to claim that nuclear power is not clean enough to be concidered a part of a clean energy mix.[5]

Other papers

Storm van Leeuwen also presented this work as part of another controversial paper "Secure Energy? Civil Nuclear Power, Security and Global Warming", published by the Oxford Research Group, claiming that nuclear power is not a long-term reducer of greenhouse gas emissions.[6][7]

Storm van Leeuwen is recognized by Open Democracy as one of their notable authors.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ "About the authors (Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Bartlett Smith)" (PDF). 2005-08-03. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  2. ^ Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen (30 July 2005). ""Nuclear Energy: the Energy Balance"" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-01-18. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Energy Analysis of Power Systems". World Nuclear Association. 2006-03. Retrieved 2008-04-30. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Martin Sevior (2006-06-02). "Response from Martin Sevior to rebuttal 2 from Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen". Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  5. ^ David Fleming (2006-04). "Why Nuclear Power Cannot be a Major Energy Source". Retrieved 2009-12-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Frank Barnaby, Keith Barnham, James Kemp, Paul Rogers, Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen (2007-03). Secure Energy? Civil Nuclear Power, Security and Global Warming. Oxford Research Group (ORG), UK. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-9552846-1-8. Retrieved 2008-04-26. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Moira Herbst (2007-03-26). "New Debate Over Nuclear Option". Business Week. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
  8. ^ "Author Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen". OpenDemocracy. Retrieved 2008-04-26.

External references



 

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