Nuclear power, yey or ney?

[Return of the Silver Fox]

Could you really trust anyone in the U.K. to run a nuclear program? British industry was destroyed by polarised political thinking with Militant Trade Unions on one side and short-sighted right wing political policies on the other. There is an inability to gain the middle ground or consensus, so all we (as a nation) will ever do is dick around the edges or implement infrastructure poorly. Personally, I'd rather not have a fast breeder reactor on my doorstep managed by a bunch of strike prone militants and built by the lowest bidder - Halliburton. Although on the plus side, I'd have no need for a microwave; ever.

Anyway, we exported all the good Nuclear scientists ages ago. These were unfortunately eaten by Kim-Jong-il's piranhas or Mahmoud Ahmadinedjah's ferrets in a mountain lair in 2002.

EdF own most of the British energy sites and the reactors are likely to be a mixture of Areva (French) and Westinghouse (American). If they are Westinghouse all parts, including fuel manufacture will take place in the UK as part of their 'Buy where you Build' policy.

Not sure where you get the militant trade unions from, there has (to my knowledge) never been a strike at a nuclear power station

And we have plenty of great nuclear scientists who are all kitted out with paranhas repellent and ferret proof slacks

 

[glenn]

nuclear fusion is the future, well if someone will ever get it to work

 

[Dskize]

Nah .. Eastern Europeans on treadmills ,tis the way of the future

 

[sundance1968]

Nah .. Eastern Europeans on treadmills ,tis the way of the future

i think youve got a point there deffinatly the way forward

 

[CraigofScotland]

Made me think of this thread

 

[glenn]

a friend who works at a nuclear powerplant was telling me they designed to blow the roof off

 

[Return of the Silver Fox]

a friend who works at a nuclear powerplant was telling me they designed to blow the roof off

The reactor roof is designed to keep the elements out

 

[glenn]

i know, i thought he was joking too

but who knows what they were thinking back then

 

[jumbaleo]

Further to that, how will the result of this ongoing disaster effect them? With oil gas and coal reserves running out, and renewable sources being too limited to provide all the power we will need in the future, should we embrace nuclear power here in the UK as the answer?

coal is not running out, in fact even with a 50% increase in annual global consumption the earth has around 300 + years worth of reserves of both metallurgical and steam coal supply.

Interestingly Carbon Capture And Storage is where the major investment areas are currently within the energy industry with huge sums of money being invested in development work by companies like GE. Once they have it cracked Coal will become the new (or old, depending on what way you look at it) black gold. Unfortunately the stumbling block at the moment is the storage bit....

 

[dodge-gnome]

Here's Japan's explanation to their younger generation about what's going on:

Seems slightly comical to me, but i suppose that's the culture difference