Hydro-Québec

About: Hydro-Québec is a government organization based out in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Electric power system & Dielectric. The organization has 2596 authors who have published 4433 publications receiving 100878 citations.

The net carbon footprint of a newly created boreal hydroelectric reservoir

Abstract: [1] We present here the first comprehensive assessment of the carbon (C) footprint associated with the creation of a boreal hydroelectric reservoir (Eastmain-1 in northern Quebec, Canada). This is the result of a large-scale, interdisciplinary study that spanned over a 7-years period (2003–2009), where we quantified the major C gas (CO2 and CH4) sources and sinks of the terrestrial and aquatic components of the pre-flood landscape, and also for the reservoir following the impoundment in 2006. The pre-flood landscape was roughly neutral in terms of C, and the balance between pre- and post-flood C sources/sinks indicates that the reservoir was initially (first year post-flood in 2006) a large net source of CO2 (2270 mg C m−2 d−1) but a much smaller source of CH4 (0.2 mg C m−2 d−1). While net CO2 emissions declined steeply in subsequent years (down to 835 mg C m−2 d−1 in 2009), net CH4 emissions remained constant or increased slightly relative to pre-flood emissions. Our results also suggest that the reservoir will continue to emit carbon gas over the long-term at rates exceeding the carbon footprint of the pre-flood landscape, although the sources of C supporting these emissions have yet to be determined. Extrapolation of these empirical trends over the projected life span (100 years) of the reservoir yields integrated long-term net C emissions per energy generation well below the range of the natural-gas combined-cycle, which is considered the current industry standard.

Large Pore Mesostructured Organosilica-Phosphonate Hybrids as Highly Efficient and Regenerable Sorbents for Uranium Sequestration

Abstract: Potential consequences of radiological/nuclear events on the population and the environment have led the scientific community to rethink its approach toward a monitoring based on radiochemical separation. In this context, there is a great need to design radioanalytical systems for quickly evaluating environmental impacts in case of incidents and nuclear events. Phosphonate-functionalized large pore three-dimensional (3-D) cubic (KIT-6) and two-dimensional (2-D) hexagonal (SBA-15) silicas have been studied as highly efficient uranium extracting adsorbents in acidic media. In both cases, functionalization was performed by grafting (2-diethylphosphatoethyl) triethoxysilane (DPTS) on the mesopore surface of the silica supports. Particular attention was given to comparison of different pore sizes and pore structures and impact on radionuclide extraction, principally through uranium adsorption isotherms and sorption kinetics studies. All hybrid materials demonstrated very fast adsorption kinetics, reaching equi...