Nuclear heat advances oil shale refining in situ

Unconventional oil is thought to be the coming thing but logistic substitution analysis suggests that the coming dominance of gas in world markets makes this doubtful. Nuclear energy has been considered for producing oil sands in Alberta and rejected. A new paradigm for where to look for light oil may be emerging - shales and fractured granite basements.

Senior Associate Editor Judy R. Clark reported in the August 11 issue of the Oil & Gas Journal that technological advances in the use of high temperature heat to produce heavy crude oil may resolve major problems. Both dependence on politically unstable sources of foreign oil and generation of greenhouse emissions could be drastically reduced by using the heat from a nuclear reactor to refine...