Hinkley Point C
Oct. 11th, 2010 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andygatesSo, the Plans are Afoot to build a new reactor at Hinkley Point. Reactor C would be an EPR, a new design which is, apparently, "an evolution of the PWR" and there's tons of bumf at the wiki. The Finnish and French early adopters are having problems: some of these are to do with safety-control systems (which I'd say are non-negotiable!) and some to do with workmanship (is this a "big project tendering for the lowest bidder" problem, because it seems common?). Would a Westinghouse AP-1000 be any better?
I'm of the reluctant opinion that nuclear power is a necessary stopgap in our decarbonisation of energy; it's just a scale thing, really, and very much a lesser evil: I want to see the inherently-safe Generation IV designs in play until the Energy Revolution is completed (and we all have fleets of replicating windmills and space solar and fusion anna Gwendoline), and then mothballed with a "thank feck that's over," like some sort of horrid mecha we no longer need (too much Evangelion before bed) but the evolution of this kit isn't like versions of mobile phone OS. It takes time, and a gigawatt or two of nuke power is a gigawatt or two that can be not-coal power. Fundamentally I want to see the death of Drax and something clean to feed these leccy cars. Scale, see.
Given that opinion, what do the great and good think? Is Hinkley C a smart step -- safer cleaner and all that -- or just another dangerous boondoggle in a chain of boondoggles? Would a Westinghouse AP-1000 be any better?
Do I need to get a badger suit? ;)
(posts about technical sciencey stuff are fly-paper for the Dunning-Kruger effect: citations always needed)
I'm of the reluctant opinion that nuclear power is a necessary stopgap in our decarbonisation of energy; it's just a scale thing, really, and very much a lesser evil: I want to see the inherently-safe Generation IV designs in play until the Energy Revolution is completed (and we all have fleets of replicating windmills and space solar and fusion anna Gwendoline), and then mothballed with a "thank feck that's over," like some sort of horrid mecha we no longer need (too much Evangelion before bed) but the evolution of this kit isn't like versions of mobile phone OS. It takes time, and a gigawatt or two of nuke power is a gigawatt or two that can be not-coal power. Fundamentally I want to see the death of Drax and something clean to feed these leccy cars. Scale, see.
Given that opinion, what do the great and good think? Is Hinkley C a smart step -- safer cleaner and all that -- or just another dangerous boondoggle in a chain of boondoggles? Would a Westinghouse AP-1000 be any better?
Do I need to get a badger suit? ;)
(posts about technical sciencey stuff are fly-paper for the Dunning-Kruger effect: citations always needed)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-10-15 08:52 pm (UTC)In general though, I agree with you that Nuclear is required as a stop gap at the very least (or possibly a consistent backup for those cloudy, windless days for quite sometime......superconducting electricity from solar panels in the sahara?).
However I think there should be a ban on any further development until decisions have been made on a long term storage solution for the waste. I realise that this is very very difficult, but this just means every government puts off making any decision. We need something to concentrate the mind - blackouts start in 5 years and counting unless we agree on a waste storage solution and then start to build more nuclear powerplants - that sort of thing.
Secondly, it's also depressing that we now have no expertise in the construction of nuclear powerplants left in the uk. We led the world at one point and now don't have the skills set to make one if we wanted to.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-15 09:00 pm (UTC)Facebook is just twitter with pictures.
Women* gossiping and no substance.
*males make up the majority of my friends list**, but females make 90% of the facebook entries.
**Roleplaying geek.
Possibly a longer entry required to analyse that. It's something I've thought about on and off for a long time, the gender balance of my friend base.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-19 10:26 am (UTC)Big industry-politics meh to the lot of 'em.
My one worry is watching dirty coal get new build permission based on hyping the "energy gap" as a hole only they can plug -- which they're doing, and I hope gets denied.
Все прикольно сделано!
Date: 2011-07-08 09:24 pm (UTC)