Uk full steam ahead for Nuclear power

[DimPrawn]

North of Scotland, I expect.

If it's safe, why not put it in Oxfordshire?

Wandsworth would get my vote.

[Fred Bloggs]

We desperately need new build nuclear but I'll believe it when I see it happen. At the moment it's all hot air and procrastination.

[scooterscot]

We desperately need new build nuclear but I'll believe it when I see it happen. At the moment it's all hot air and procrastination.

Something that rattles my brain.

Nuclear power generation is massively expensive, even long after decommissioning. It's a burden that needs to be managed by future generations who did not ask for it.

The concept is massively simple. We produce heat, turn water to steam, pressure operates the turbine. Is this the best we can do in the 21st century? I bet James Watt never thought his steam engine concept would go the distance.

I'm off the belief if we spent the same amount of cash on R&D we'd move away from this dynamite on paper approach to producing electricity and give the world ideas to follow.

[MrMark]

We need to import our electricity from Iceland.

[BlasterBates]

Perhaps we can produce energy from earthquakes. Just put dashpots all over the earth's crust.

[Fred Bloggs]

Something that rattles my brain.

Nuclear power generation is massively expensive, even long after decommissioning. It's a burden that needs to be managed by future generations who did not ask for it.

The concept is massively simple. We produce heat, turn water to steam, pressure operates the turbine. Is this the best we can do in the 21st century? I bet James Watt never thought his steam engine concept would go the distance.

I'm off the belief if we spent the same amount of cash on R&D we'd move away from this dynamite on paper approach to producing electricity and give the world ideas to follow.

But it's what we have now, and now is when we need the power plants getting built. For example, nuclear fission power plants have always been 25 year away. They were 25 years away in the 1960's and they're still 25 years away in 2011.
we need to build what works right now. BTW, Charles Parson patented the steam turbine in 1884. In principle, todays steam turbines are no different to those he designed.

[d000hg]

No.1 lesson learnt from Yukafukup: Situate the site where the wind will blow fallout offshore. They still have huge problems in Japan, but they were lucky with the wind direction. So for us that would be the East Coast I expect.

In England that's pretty tricky, we don't have a prevailing wind you can rely on; and with so much coast we get a lot on on-shore wind along the coasts in summer which can dominate those prevailing winds anyway.

Can't we build them in the Hebrides or something?

[BlasterBates]

But it's what we have now, and now is when we need the power plants getting built. For example, nuclear fission power plants have always been 25 year away. They were 25 years away in the 1960's and they're still 25 years away in 2011.
we need to build what works right now. BTW, Charles Parson patented the steam turbine in 1884. In principle, todays steam turbines are no different to those he designed.

Glad to hear you mention old Charley. I used to work for him, well his grandkids or was it his great grandkids. There were magnificent photographs of him and his turbines hanging up.

In those days I had ambitions of becoming a Generator designer. Nothing like those 900 MW generators. Fabulous machines.

[DimPrawn]

I prefer this approach

How Africa's desert sun can bring Europe power | Science | The Observer

No ugly wind turbines blighting our landscape, no dangerous radiation, no emissions. Poor nations get an income.

Electricity costs 2x that of coal power, but with inflation as it is, we are used to prices doubling anyway.

[Fred Bloggs]

For "fission" read "fusion".

Indeed, apologies.