Uk full steam ahead for Nuclear power

[doodab]

I randomly thought the other day that if you can build a rigid structure up to space or near it, you would have a constant wind of several hundred mph because the atmosphere high up isn't rotating as fast as the Earth.

Dunno how high you have to go to reach the jet stream though. But we're going to have buildings 1 mile high in our lifetimes.

23,000-39,000 feet or so. Jet stream - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't think a rigid structure would work because it moves around. A big kite might be a better bet.

Edit: We are too late.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_altitude_wind_power

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_wind_turbine

[d000hg]

23,000-39,000 feet or so. Jet stream - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I don't think a rigid structure would work because it moves around. A big kite might be a better bet.

Yeah maybe. Same principle though - locked to rotate with the Earth's spin so it is ripped through the atmosphere.

[d000hg]

"Lunar Solar" power could be good too Space-based solar power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is a shame we can't just run a big cable up to the moon.

Here's an idea, why don't we just put the windmills on the moon?


Yes, I know.

[TimberWolf]

In was reading about wind power the other day. According to David MacKay the UK receives 40kW of wave power per metre of Atlantic coastline (that's the choppy Western side). Which sounds quite a lot - a 40 Watt light bulb's worth per millimetre of coastline! Enough to heat up the coastline significantly were this energy dumped into a small enough volume I mused, but no that can't be right I also thought. It turns out that 70% of that energy is lost going from 100m to 15m depth, and the last 15m encompasses a lot of sea volume. The wave energy we receive also turns out not to be a great amount when compared to the UK's staggering requirements.

Some other factoids about waves:

The waves you see on the beach are typically created by the wind in deep ocean, not by tides.

The wave crest speed of deep ocean waves is approximately equal to the wind speed, for a "fully developed" ocean wave, which might take 10 hours or more to fully develop. A wave's energy is proportional to the square of the amplitude (height) of the wave, so as the wind blows longer, waves get higher, though they can't get steeper than about 7 in 1 before breaking. So a wave created by ocean wind typically begins life with small wavelength ripples that develop into waves with wavelengths proportional to the wind speed, and height dependent on how much wind energy is collected. Energy collection obviously decreases as waves become fully developed, because at that point they have approached the wind speed.
e.g. a 60 knot wind for 10 hours in deep water creates 15m waves with periods 17s.

Their wavelength (distance between wave crests) is also proportional to the wind speed (and hence also to wave crest speed). So faster winds create longer wavelength waves.

The "base" of a deep ocean wave (below which nothing much is going on) is approximately equal to the wavelength/2 and has little relationship to the height (and hence energy) of a wave.

When waves enter shallow water they slow down, their wavelengths decrease (waves get closer together) and their amplitudes increase (waves get higher). Their period (and thus frequency) stay constant though. So as they come to shore just as many waves pass a fixed point per unit time, but they are slowing down, becoming closer together and getting higher. Most of their energy is lost when they break.
e.g. An ocean swell with a 12 second period (time between crests) travels at 20 m/s and has a wavelength of 250m. When it enters 10m shallow water, its speed will be 10 m/s and the wavelength 120m.

Long wavelengths travel faster and more efficiently than short wavelengths (ripples die out pretty quickly, ocean swell can travel thousands of miles), so beware of innocuous looking long waves approaching a beach (the worst ones might be invisible), as it's approaching and rising fast. Try not to be around when it dumps its energy too (i.e. breaks).

Waves typically come in complex packs however, travelling in groups and at different speeds (long wavelengths overtaking shorter wavelengths and perhaps arriving first), and with a group velocity. About 1 in seven waves might be double the average wave height, but this isn't the same thing as every seventh wave being bigger, as with the old wives tale.

[Ruprect]

Excellent news on the nuclear power. We need more of it, and as soon as possible. Well done to all involved.

[TykeMerc]

Excellent news on the nuclear power. We need more of it, and as soon as possible. Well done to all involved.

I wonder how long (in years) the public enquiries, objections and nimbyism will take to overcome for the building of even 1 reactor to be started let alone the time to commissioning.

[thunderlizard]

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.

On our school trip to Heysham power station, the chap told us that the huge rapidly-spinning dynamo had been deliberately oriented in a certain direction, so that if it broke free from its moorings it would fly out into the sea instead of bouncing through the town centre.

[Fred Bloggs]

I wonder how long (in years) the public enquiries, objections and nimbyism will take to overcome for the building of even 1 reactor to be started let alone the time to commissioning.

And that is what really worries me. The projected start up date has already slipped from 2017 to 2018 and there's rumours of further delays being announced shortly. To be honest, when not even a hole in the ground has yet been dug, I'd be totally amazed if any new nuclear power station started up in the UK before 2025.

[OwlHoot]

And that is what really worries me. The projected start up date has already slipped from 2017 to 2018 and there's rumours of further delays being announced shortly. To be honest, when not even a hole in the ground has yet been dug, I'd be totally amazed if any new nuclear power station started up in the UK before 2025.

WHS, and most nuclear inspectors in the UK are on the verge of retirement as it is (*)

(*) mentioned in an article in today's Times, although that is behind Rupert Murdoch's absurd pay wall

[Doggy Styles]

I think you might find that the dynamo was in fact an alternator.

Which means it would be OK after all if it went bouncing down the high street.

Phew.