UK considering building new nuclear power station. Your thoughts?

Alaric

Mine is that we need power and this is the most efficient way we have of generating it at the moment. it is inevitable.

I attended a talk recently on the subject and a phrase used by the speaker was (something like) "when the lights start to go out and the houses are cold the risks of nuclear power will become increasingly acceptable to the public"

Biggles

Is it a pebble bed reactor?

Alaric

don't yet know what the specifics are. there was an item on the tv news just now about how Blair is already pushing for it to happen and the news article gave lots of examples of where things have gone wrong.

Let me google.....

Alaric

seems to be a bit light on details but "next generation" is used

ShadowDancer

that speaker summed it up quite nicely i think.

i am for nuclear power, but on one condition: that they fund/staff/manage it properly etc this time.:rolleyes:

Alaric

The ironic thing is the talk was primarily about building a tidal power generator between the islands here (there's a very large tidal range here) but though the speaker was in favour, he seemed to be of the opinion that it wasn't the solution the politicians want it to be.

Biggles

If it's pebble bed, then that's good. They produce much less waste and can't melt down.

Alaric

[url]http://www.edwardgoldsmith.com/page81.html[/url]

be nice if the replaced this one, it's a bit close....

croxis

The problem with wave power is that the components corrode fast in the seawater. Otherwise Oregon would have use it as we are 2nd in the world for total incoming wave energy on our coast.

Biggles

Yes, that is the major problem. Hopefully new materials will fix that.

Eclecticonaut

Yay for nuclear power! Finland would be lost without it, because we don't get enough sunlight (or more precisely, energy per square unit) and constant wind between 5 and 25 m/s. Fossil fuels ain't a sensible option anymore to satisfy the increased power consumption and biomass/gas based fuels aren't efficient enough, yet.

ShadowDancer

tidal power is promising, but there is the problem with corrosion;

wind is not bad here, but as soon as a wind farm is planned everyone complains they're an eyesore;

solar wouldnt generate enough power to be viable for large scale use

only really leaves nuclear. do it properly and there isnt a problem!

Biggles

I doubt that most people who complain about wind farms being an eyesore have ever actually seen one in person. I came across a couple of large ones in Japan, and both times I didn't even notice them until I was past them.

The Cabl3 Guy

I've seen alot of wind turbines in Nevada and Arizona which is mostly desert...Never spotted any in California.

croxis

One of the best windserfing spots in the world is just an hour drive east of me and sadly wind turbines would hinder the beuty of the natural landscape.

Anla'Shok Douglas Nicol

Despite what the environmental lobby say, I don't think wind powers the answer in the UK. We don't really have enough space to put up a sufficient number of turbines and instead we have quite a lot of smaller wind farms.

Of course, a lot of these groups go mad when they hear the word 'nuclear'.

Alaric

I've seen a few windfarms dotted around Wales and Cornwall.

Part of me says "wow, look at that. it's impressive"
but the other part says"wow, what a clutter and pretty noisy too"

and given the unpredictable nature of the wind it seems unlikely to be useful on the scale that is needed.
On the other hand presumably it is taking energy out of the atmosphere. Does that mean that windfarms cool the atmosphere albeit by a tiny percentage?

Biggles

Yes, wind farms do affect the local climate. How much exactly isn't known, but it's fair to say that with enough wind farms all over the world the climate would be pretty different.

Wind energy isn't [i]the[/i] answer, nothing is. The answer is a good, balanced mix of generation methods suitable for each location. That includes nuclear pebble bed reactors (which would be replaced with fusion once that gets going).

Anla'Shok Douglas Nicol

Well I remember seeing a map on the news recently saying there were approximately 96 windfarms in the UK. Since one near me wasn't included on the map I guess they were only including 'major' windfarms and they said they only produced 0.08% of the energy needed.

Alaric

The maintenance on those things must be a nightmare.
a bit like the spinning-plates-on-sticks trick with the guy running around keeping the plates spinning.


hamster power, that's the answer.

PSI-KILLER

I think the UK can and should develope its own power sources to free itself from foreign oil. They should just have a standard EU power Plant design that all nations can use with the same parts and training.

If it is not done wisly it turns out to be a waste of money. Here on Long Island they built a Nuclear power plant at Shoreham. An original, unique design never tested. On a trial run they had to shut down due to a design fault. After 4 billion dollars and about 5 years they just dismantled it and it never produced power. Talk about a waste of money and feeding corrupt politicians like pigs at the trough, oink oink

Alaric

thats a good idea.
consequently it stands no chance of being implemented. :(

JohnD

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by croxis [/i]
[B]The problem with wave power is that the components corrode fast in the seawater. Otherwise Oregon would have use it as we are 2nd in the world for total incoming wave energy on our coast. [/B][/QUOTE]

It depends on the metals used for those components.