The goal of this Science/Engineering visualization is to show how gigawatt quantities of renewable energy can be generated at former nuclear processing sites as they are repurposed into industrial scale electrical power generation stations. The breakthrough product of this research is the design of an integrated terrestrial solar/space energy receiving station that will produce “baseload” electricity 24 hours a day.
This research focuses attention on a Cold War-era uranium enrichment facility located on 3,700 acres of land in a rural area of SE Ohio. This site is judged to be suitable for research leading to the first-ever combination ground-based and space-based solar energy production facility. Were this research to be successful in designing, constructing and testing a space solar power receiving antenna (rectenna) mated to the operational structures of a terrestrial photovoltaic farm, this facility (and others like it) could be transformed from an environmental hazard to a societal benefit.
In the case of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS), it is projected that the site has the capability to produce as much renewable energy as it once consumed in the form of coal-produced electricity, when two plants were installed on the Ohio River to sustain its operation.
Faculty Mentors Don Flournoy and Kyle Perkin
