Those sheep? Must have escaped from somewhere, guv. Nothing to do with me, honest.
Solar Panels
- Thread starter JamesEB
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It's loans, to support their expansion into eastern europe, from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; the latter was founded after the collapse of communism specifically to help "westernise" the former communist countries.
https://www.theguardian.com/busines...funding-supermarket-world-bank-eastern-europe
From the way it was said, it sounded more like the destination was known. But yes, probably gone into the recycling heap.
And no, I'm not in the least concerned - neither am I concerned about eating radioactive food like bananas or living in a brick house.
At work, some of our customers are in the nuclear business - but then, some are in the renewables business. One of the latter is particularly "tricky" for someone like me prepared to speak their mind - the boss is the stereotype of someone who genuinely believes that windmills are good value, that they can power to the country without any nuclear, and all nuclear must be bad because ... well nuclear is just bad.
But then, I live somewhere in between Sellafield and Heysham, and not all that far from Barrow. Not somewhere to live for someone afraid of "anything nukular"
I don't know, how many nuclear engineers dow it take to change a lightbulb ?
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Yes, the skyline had changed up there. Calder Hall cooling towers long gone, IIRC last time I was passing one stack had gone and the other was on it's way down. And the golfball is gone (or not far off).
I live in Outer London.I live somewhere in between Sellafield and Heysham, and not all that far from Barrow. Not somewhere to live for someone afraid of "anything nukular"
I believe that the French have at least one nukular power station closer to me than any of ours.
And when Chernobyl went off, didn't they find noticeable fallout in N. Wales? Not sure that being 10, 100 or 1000 miles away is necessarily going to make a difference.
I know - the Chernobyl meme again. No, I am not scared of nuclear power, and yes, I know Chernobyl was an unlikely aberration. (As was the next Level 7 incident
). I know that far more people have been killed by fossil fuels without anything going wrong than have or will ever be killed by nuclear accidents. I am less sanguine about that if you factor in trying to keep the slag heaps safe for 10's and 100's of thousands of yearsMy main concerns about nuclear power are that it isn't actually low-carbon, as many proponents would have you believe, it is eye-wateringly expensive, and we still have no idea, really, how to manage the waste.
And Cumbria - it didn't make the news, but you'd be surprised how long it was before the last of the restrictions were lifted.
But as you hint at, anyone using Chernobyl as an argument has lost before they start.
Again, figures ? It's the sort of thing detractors like to quote (about anything) - but without figures it's meaningless. Yes I know that a nuclear power station uses a heck of a lot of (eg) concrete - but then that should be getting amortised over a long lifespan (40 years ?) producing a lot of energy (GW+), so the per-unit value is probably very low.
Actually we do know exactly how to manage the waste. In part, the problem is that the anti-nuclear lobby won't allow us to manage it in a sensible way. I'll leave out certain management & cost cutting issues at Sellafield
I'll also leave out that a heck of a lot of what's costing time and money at Sellafield is a combination of some very poor (in hindsight) decisions, and a lot that is nothing at all to do with civil power generation An an example ...
For the old Magnox reactors, they had a plan which was basically to switch them off and run the cooling systems for another year or two while they cool down - when you drop the rods, the primary reaction stops fairly quickly, but there are multiple secondary reactions which take a while to die down and these can amount to something like 10% of nominal output power (that was the problem at Fukashima).
After a while everything has cooled down so you can take the fuel out - leaving a big block of radioactive graphite. AIUI the plan was that after a while they'd remove all the ancillary stuff (steam generators, turbines, etc), leaving just the core and primary containment - wrap it in a house sized block of concrete and leave it for 100 years, perhaps post some guards to stop people graffitying it as that's about as dangerous as it gets.
After 100 years, the radiactivity has gone down to the point where some basic PPE is all that's needed to allow people to walk in (cut a hole in the side), and carry the blocks out. So dangerous that people can carry them around, and they can be dropped in a hole in the ground. Some future generation might dig them up and use them like we burn radioactive coal today - OK, that's just having a bit of a joke.
But, oh, that's not good enough - we can't leave that legacy for future generations. So it has to be done while the graphite is still active - so it's expensive to handle, and instead of storing it in situ until it decays, we now have to treat is as intermediate level and find somewhere else secure to store it (bigger volume by the time it's packaged) and thus leave a bigger problem.
That, in part, is why it's so f***ing expensive - because people pander to the "don't do it the sensible way, our irrational fears mean you've got to do it the expensive way that further reinforced our irrational fears".
Don't forget all the processes involved in creating the fuel for it.
See how keen governments are to spend money on nuclear power research where the technology won't be any good for also making weapons.I'll also leave out that a heck of a lot of what's costing time and money at Sellafield is a combination of some very poor (in hindsight) decisions, and a lot that is nothing at all to do with civil power generation
But how much came from small-scale PV panels on people's roofs?
Also, where did you get that 40% figure? The Govt count the burning of biofuels and waste as renewable, but burning is burning. Wood pellets (such as those being used at Drax) still give off CO2 when burned, but are classed as renewable because trees grow back. (They are also officially classed as zero-carbon because when the trees grow back they absorb the CO2.)
Coal, oil and gas are "renewable" - they just take a bit of a while to renew. Sometimes the Govt add "renewable" and nuclear numbers, and announce a figure for "clean" electricity generation.
The proportion coming from coal dropped because UK gov't whim (policy is not the right word) has resulted in coal-fired stations being closed down.
Take a look at "Yearly... Coal" (the black line, bottom, middle).
the pic is not very clear, but it has been going down for some years.
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
Red is combined gas, and is fairly high, and rising (you'll remember oil and gas prices dropped once US shale produced so much they are now a net exporter, not an importer any more)
If you look at the Monthly chart, you can see how much demand dropped over the Christmas shutdown.
Solar does not show, because it is not traded, and just causes a reduction in local demand. If you looked at the Daily charts, you might spot a difference in demand between sunny and cloudy days. but it will be confounded by e.g. cold weather putting the heating on.
Take a look at "Yearly... Coal" (the black line, bottom, middle).
the pic is not very clear, but it has been going down for some years.
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
Red is combined gas, and is fairly high, and rising (you'll remember oil and gas prices dropped once US shale produced so much they are now a net exporter, not an importer any more)
If you look at the Monthly chart, you can see how much demand dropped over the Christmas shutdown.
Solar does not show, because it is not traded, and just causes a reduction in local demand. If you looked at the Daily charts, you might spot a difference in demand between sunny and cloudy days. but it will be confounded by e.g. cold weather putting the heating on.
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Wasn't that at least as much the choice/wish of the generating companies?
Kind Regards, John
Anyway - if you think about it, almost everything is "solar power"
The generators do whatever they are allowed to do that makes them the most money.
Both these factors are controlled by governments, including rules agreed between multiple governments when the UK govt is one of them.
If the govt does not have a clear and long-term policy, then the generating co's will not invest in 50-year plant.
The gov't does not have a clear and long-term policy, and has not had one for at least 20 years.
About 20 years ago I was at an energy company that bought a bunch of end-of-life Coal stations for next to nothing, in the hope that before they closed down, they would earn enough to pay the clean-up costs, with a profit left over. Govt policy flip-flopped, and the stations were allowed to run on for years more, increasing profits vastly for their lucky owners.
UK is in an energy crisis and, in a panic, the UK gov't is trying to wheelbarrow vast amounts of money into the French nationalised power company to build us some overpriced nukes, sweetening the deal by offering to overpay for the stations, and to pay above the market price for the energy they produce.
If you've ever seen a really big project rolling down the hill towards certain disaster (NHS changes, for example) you'll recognise the signs.
EDF Energy
EDF finance chief quits over decision to push on with Hinkley Point
https://www.ft.com/content/ef9d4de8-e3e9-11e5-ac45-5c039e797d1c
Theresa May accused of avoiding security and cost issues of Hinkley
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...may-accused-backing-down-hinkley-point-c-deal
Theresa May delays Hinkley nuclear decision amid concerns over Chinese involvement
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...inkley-nuclear-decision-amid-concerns-over-c/
China will own part of new U.K. nuclear power plant
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/15/news/china-uk-nuclear-power-plant-hinkley-point/
Nuclear espionage charge for China firm with one-third stake in UK's Hinkley Point
The Chinese company with a major stake in the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station has been charged by the US government over nuclear espionage, according to the US justice department.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...na-firm-with-one-third-stake-in-hinkley-point
New blow for Hinkley Point contractor EDF after French safety checks
Safety issues force many reactors offline with warnings of power cuts across France, higher energy prices and a rise in emissions
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ew-crisis-safety-checks-french-nuclear-plants
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