UK nuclear plants must go ahead, says EDF

[Park Life 71]

UK nuclear plants must go ahead, says EDF

Nuclear power plant EDF said its UK plants had demonstrated "good and robust safety"

Continue reading the main story

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The nuclear crisis unfolding in Japan will not affect the plans of French power giant EDF to build new reactors in the UK, the company's boss has told the BBC.

 

Vincent de Rivaz said lessons had to be learned but, following years of debate, the new reactors "have to go ahead".

 

He said the company had already reviewed back-up systems and emergency plans at its existing UK plants.

 

Some countries are reviewing nuclear strategy in light of events in Japan.

 

Last week, China said it had suspended approval for new nuclear power stations following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in north east Japan.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also announced a "measured exit" from nuclear power after shutting down seven of the country's oldest reactors.

'Robust safety'

 

The UK government has commissioned a report into the lessons of the Japanese disaster, the initital findings of which will be published in May.

 

Some campaigners have called on the government to go further, with Greenpeace arguing that the approval process for new nuclear sites should be suspended until the report is published.

 

But Mr de Rivaz, speaking on the BBC's The Andrew Marr show, praised what he called the "clear-headed and calm reaction" of the government, regulators and local communities in the UK to the Japan nuclear crisis.

 

He said the lessons from Japan had to be put into practice in the new plants in the UK, but said the circumstances in the two countries were very different.

 

He said that it was very important to be sure that nuclear plants were safe, and that EDF's existing UK plants had demonstrated "good, robust safety".

 

"Nuclear is not a single solution [to the UK's energy needs], but there is no solution without nuclear," he concluded.

 

 

 

Madness.

 

The French love to spread the nukes innit.

 

See the genocide in French Polynesia

 

and all the mox fuel in the jap reactors....

 

France the new danger.

Edited March 20, 2011 by Park Life

[McFaul 35]

Who cares what a bunch of racists think.

[ewerk 30713]

The only thing that could go wrong with nuclear power in the UK is manual error, and even then the chance of it is remote.

 

More nuclear power stations please.

[Park Life 71]

The only thing that could go wrong with nuclear power in the UK is manual error, and even then the chance of it is remote.

 

More nuclear power stations please.

 

Ideally next to your house.

 

 

 

 

Satellite image of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant View larger picture Nuclear power plant accidents: Number three reactor of the Fukushima nuclear plant is seen burning after a blast following an earthquake and tsunami Photograph: Ho/DigitalGlobe

 

How often do nuclear power plants go wrong? How many accidents and incidents are there?

 

The explosions and nuclear fuel rods melting at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant, following the Sendai earthquake and tsunami last week, have caused fears of what will happen next. Today Japan's nuclear safety agency has raised the nuclear alert level for Japan from four to five - making it two levels lower than the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

 

So far, the Japanese authorities have maintained that there is "no cause to fear a major nuclear accident".

 

We have identified 33 serious incidents and accidents at nuclear power stations since the first recorded one in 1952 at Chalk River in Ontario, Canada.

 

The information is partially from the International Atomic Energy Authority - which, astonishingly, fails to keep a complete historical database - and partially from reports. Of those we have identified, six happened in the US and five in Japan. The UK and Russia have had three apiece.

 

Using Google Fusion tables, we've put these on a map, so you can see how they're spread around the globe:

Get the fullscreen version

 

But how serious are they? The International Atomic Energy Authority ranks them using a special International Nuclear Events Scale (INES) - ranging from 'anomaly' to 'major accident', numbered from 1 to 7.

 

The events at Fukushima are level 5, so far and there has only been one 7 in history: Chernobyl in 1986. You can see the full ranking system below and on the attached spreadsheet

 

 

Country

 

IAEA description

2011 Fukushima 5 Japan Reactor shutdown after the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami; failure of emergency cooling caused an explosion

2011 Onagawa Japan Reactor shutdown after the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami caused a fire

2006 Fleurus 4 Belgium Severe health effects for a worker at a commercial irradiation facility as a result of high doses of radiation

2006 Forsmark 2 Sweden Degraded safety functions for common cause failure in the emergency power supply system at nuclear power plant

2006 Erwin US Thirty-five litres of a highly enriched uranium solution leaked during transfer

2005 Sellafield 3 UK Release of large quantity of radioactive material, contained within the installation

2005 Atucha 2 Argentina Overexposure of a worker at a power reactor exceeding the annual limit

2005 Braidwood US Nuclear material leak

2003 Paks 3 Hungary Partially spent fuel rods undergoing cleaning in a tank of heavy water ruptured and spilled fuel pellets

1999 Tokaimura 4 Japan Fatal overexposures of workers following a criticality event at a nuclear facility

1999 Yanangio 3 Peru Incident with radiography source resulting in severe radiation burns

1999 Ikitelli 3 Turkey Loss of a highly radioactive Co-60 source

1999 Ishikawa 2 Japan Control rod malfunction

1993 Tomsk 4 Russia Pressure buildup led to an explosive mechanical failure

1993 Cadarache 2 France Spread of contamination to an area not expected by design

1989 Vandellos 3 Spain Near accident caused by fire resulting in loss of safety systems at the nuclear power station

1989 Greifswald Germany Excessive heating which damaged ten fuel rods

1986 Chernobyl 7 Ukraine (USSR) Widespread health and environmental effects. External release of a significant fraction of reactor core inventory

1986 Hamm-Uentrop Germany Spherical fuel pebble became lodged in the pipe used to deliver fuel elements to the reactor

1981 Tsuraga 2 Japan More than 100 workers were exposed to doses of up to 155 millirem per day radiation

1980 Saint Laurent des Eaux 4 France Melting of one channel of fuel in the reactor with no release outside the site

1979 Three Mile Island 5 US Severe damage to the reactor core

1977 Jaslovské Bohunice 4 Czechoslovakia Damaged fuel integrity, extensive corrosion damage of fuel cladding and release of radioactivity

1969 Lucens Switzerland Total loss of coolant led to a power excursion and explosion of experimental reactor

1967 Chapelcross UK Graphite debris partially blocked a fuel channel causing a fuel element to melt and catch fire

1966 Monroe US Sodium cooling system malfunction

1964 Charlestown US Error by a worker at a United Nuclear Corporation fuel facility led to an accidental criticality

1959 Santa Susana Field Laboratory US Partial core meltdown

1958 Chalk River Canada Due to inadequate cooling a damaged uranium fuel rod caught fire and was torn in two

1958 Vinča Yugoslavia During a subcritical counting experiment a power buildup went undetected - six scientists received high doses

1957 Kyshtym 6 Russia Significant release of radioactive material to the environment from explosion of a high activity waste tank.

1957 Windscale Pile 5 UK Release of radioactive material to the environment following a fire in a reactor core

1952 Chalk River 5 Canada A reactor shutoff rod failure, combined with several operator errors, led to a major power excursion of more than double the reactor's rated output at AECL's NRX reactor

 

International Nuclear Events Scale (INES)

 

Click heading to sort table. Download this data

Level

 

Definition

 

People and environment

 

Radiological barriers & control

 

Defence in depth

 

Example

 

SOURCE: IAEA

7 Major accident Major release of radio active material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures Chernobyl, Ukraine, 1986

6 Serious accident Significant release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of planned countermeasures. Kyshtym, Russia, 1957

5 Accident with wider consequences Limited release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of • Severe damage to reactor core. Windscale, UK, 1957; Three Mile Island, 1979

some planned countermeasures • Several deaths from radiation • Release of large quantities of radioactive material within an installation

with a high probability of

significant public exposure. This

could arise from a major criticality accident or fire

4 Accident with local consequences • Minor release of radioactive material unlikely to result in implementation of planned countermeasures other than • Fuel melt or damage to fuel resulting in more than 0.1% release of core inventory. FUKUSHIMA 1, 2011

local food controls. • Release of significant quantities of radioactive

• At least one death from radiation. material within an installation with a high probability of significant

public exposure.

3 Serious incident • Exposure in excess of ten times the statutory annual limit for workers. • Exposure rates of more than 1 Sv/h in an operating area. • Near accident at a nuclear power plant Sellafield, UK, 2005

• Non-lethal deterministic health effect (e.g., burns) from radiation. • Severe contamination in an area not expected by design, with a with no safety provisions remaining.

Edited March 20, 2011 by Park Life

[The Fish 10877]

Who cares what a bunch of racists think.

 

Wahey!

 

The only thing that could go wrong with nuclear power in the UK is manual error, and even then the chance of it is remote.

 

More nuclear power stations please.

 

Que

[Tooj 17]

Shit craic.

[ChezGiven 0]

Shit craic.

Parky means well.

[ewerk 30713]

He worries too a bit too much.

[Meenzer 15584]

Shit craic.

Sitter-downer or stander-upper?

[AgentAxeman 184]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didnt the jap reactors only go kaput because of a 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tidal wave?

 

When was the last time we had those conditions in the UK Parky?

 

More Nuclear power please. Gotta be better than those fuckin stupid windmills popping up all over the place.

 

 

Edit: Wave power is a good call aswell.

Edited March 21, 2011 by AgentAxeman

[AgentAxeman 184]

Heres an alternative.................

 

How to heat your home for free ... with boiling water from a mile underground

 

Britain’s latest energy revolution doesn’t look like much. Twenty-four acres of windswept, gravelly wasteland, a handful of muddy portable buildings, and a small drilling rig rocking gently in the bright sunshine.

 

But this workaday scene belies the fact that here, a mile, maybe two, under Newcastle upon Tyne lies what some experts believe is the solution to our energy crisis. Because deep in the Earth’s crust, thousands of feet under the city, lurk tens of cubic miles of scaldingly hot rocks. And if all goes well, the people and businesses of Newcastle will, within a couple of years, receive their heating and hot water almost gratis, and carbon-free, courtesy of this ancient heat source.

 

It is easy to be sceptical. Free energy deep in the Earth’s crust sounds too good to be true. People have been talking about ‘geothermal energy’ since I was a child. In the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, the government investigated several potential sites, but this came to nothing because of the initial expense, and interest dwindled as fossil fuel prices fell.

 

But now the cheap gas is running out and oil prices are soaring. We’ve abandoned our coalfields and everyone thinks coal is too dirty to burn and turn into electricity. That leaves nuclear power (hardly flavour of the month, given events in Japan), various forms of renewable energy — and geothermal energy. So has its day come at last?

 

The Newcastle project is on the site of the old Scottish and Newcastle Brewery, now demolished, in the city centre, right in the shadow of the St James’ Park football ground. Last month, drilling started on an exploratory borehole. It’s a project that was embarked upon by the universities of Newcastle and Durham, and is being helmed by a new British company called Cluff Geothermal — formed by Algy Cluff, 70, a former Grenadier Guard who made his fortune in North Sea oil exploration, and George Percy, 26, a friend of Kate Middleton and young member of the aristocratic Northumberland family which owns much of the land around the area.

 

The site has none of the aesthetic grandeur of a large wind turbine, or the James Bond high-techery of a nuclear project; just a small, thrumming drilling rig 50ft tall, pounding through the sandstones and mudstones at a steady rate of 20ft an hour.

 

They’re already nearly 500ft down and plan to go to nearly 7,000ft, where, all being well, the borehole will tap into a hot ocean of brine locked within the deep rocks. The first hot water could be pumped by this May.

 

To understand where this heat comes from, we need a history lesson. More than 400 million years ago, what is now North-East England lay under an ancient ocean. The land on either side of this ocean drifted together, closing the gap and displacing most of the water to other oceans — but a quantity was forced underground.

 

These upheavals meant deep, hot rocks were thrust close to the surface — close enough for their heat to be tapped today.

 

Generally, as you drill down anywhere into the Earth it gets warmer, by one or two degrees Celsius every 300ft. But here the ‘thermal gradient’ is a far more useful three to four degrees every 300ft. That means that if you dig down a mile, you hit rocks that are as hot as a scalding bath. Two miles and you’re above boiling point.

 

What’s more, the upheavals left fault lines throughout the strata of the hot rocks, which are saturated with water from the ancient ocean, like a prehistoric plumbing system.

 

Countless trillions of gallons of brine deep underground have been heated by the hot granite, like the electric element in a kettle. So, what the geologists will be pumping up to the surface is hot sea water that last saw the light of day more than 100 million years before the first dinosaur hatched out of its egg.

 

Where does the heat itself come from? ‘It’s actually generated by the low-level radioactive decay of elements like uranium and thorium in the rocks,’ says Professor Paul Younger, the geologist in charge of the Newcastle project. ‘That big mass of granite acts like a huge natural reactor.’

 

And unlike wind power, this heat is constant 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Geologists have estimated that a single borehole could provide useful heat for 40 years, after which it would need to be left alone to replenish its natural warmth — while production would simply switch to a replacement borehole nearby. Overall, the geothermal heat under North-East England is good for 300 million years. So, unlike gas or oil, it will never run out.

If the geothermal water is hot enough, it can even be used to generate electricity, using water vapour to drive electric turbines

 

The plan is to pump up the hot brine through machines that will pass on the warmth to domestic heating and hot-water systems (the actual brine will be too salty to use directly, although if it is non-toxic some of it might be pumped into a natural mineral spa).

 

Initially, this will provide heat and domestic hot water for a new science park, possibly thousands of flats, offices and shops, as well as the nearby shopping malls of Newcastle city centre. In time, it could be used to heat all kinds of building.

 

A single borehole could generate enough energy to heat a thousand homes and in theory there is no reason why ten or 20 boreholes could not be drilled, providing as much energy as a small conventional power station.

 

Once the initial investment from the Government, universities and the local council has been made, running costs would be almost zero and, of course, there are no carbon emissions. If the geothermal water is hot enough, it can even be used to generate electricity, using water vapour to drive electric turbines. Best of all, there would be no ugly power plant, as geothermal power stations are mostly underground.

 

There have been safety concerns. A scheme in Hawaii ran into trouble when the drill hit a pocket of molten lava. And in 2007 a team of geologists had an even bigger scare when they sank a borehole into an active fault zone in Switzerland, setting off a small earthquake. But, as Professor Younger points out, ‘our geological fault has not moved for 280 million years, so that won’t happen here’.

 

The British project is not without its problems. The rocks under Newcastle are riddled with old mine-workings, antique shafts and buried machinery dating back centuries — the risk of hitting one of these means a very specialised team is being used for the exploratory drilling.

 

So far £900,000 has been spent on the Newcastle project. If the exploratory borehole is a success and hits ‘hot gold’ — and we should know by July — private companies will be invited to move in.

 

Britain’s wealth was founded on two things: wool in the Middle Ages and, later, our extraordinary geological heritage, which kick-started the industrial revolution in the 18th century.

 

We had coal, iron and later oil and gas. For many reasons their day has passed, or is passing. What is now being exploited is the almost inexhaustible source of energy that lies deep beneath the earth of our ancient land.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/art...l#ixzz1HFIVkgVC

[Park Life 71]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didnt the jap reactors only go kaput because of a 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tidal wave?

 

When was the last time we had those conditions in the UK Parky?

 

More Nuclear power please. Gotta be better than those fuckin stupid windmills popping up all over the place.

 

 

Edit: Wave power is a good call aswell.

 

Just the fact that storing or dealing with the waste alone regardless of accidents is risky and expensive.

 

Nuke power has never been efficent it is only possible because of huge amounts of grants and subsidies from goverments around the world.

 

It is categorically the most risky form of energy on earth.

[Park Life 71]

Heres an alternative.................

 

How to heat your home for free ... with boiling water from a mile underground

 

Britain’s latest energy revolution doesn’t look like much. Twenty-four acres of windswept, gravelly wasteland, a handful of muddy portable buildings, and a small drilling rig rocking gently in the bright sunshine.

 

But this workaday scene belies the fact that here, a mile, maybe two, under Newcastle upon Tyne lies what some experts believe is the solution to our energy crisis. Because deep in the Earth’s crust, thousands of feet under the city, lurk tens of cubic miles of scaldingly hot rocks. And if all goes well, the people and businesses of Newcastle will, within a couple of years, receive their heating and hot water almost gratis, and carbon-free, courtesy of this ancient heat source.

 

It is easy to be sceptical. Free energy deep in the Earth’s crust sounds too good to be true. People have been talking about ‘geothermal energy’ since I was a child. In the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, the government investigated several potential sites, but this came to nothing because of the initial expense, and interest dwindled as fossil fuel prices fell.

 

But now the cheap gas is running out and oil prices are soaring. We’ve abandoned our coalfields and everyone thinks coal is too dirty to burn and turn into electricity. That leaves nuclear power (hardly flavour of the month, given events in Japan), various forms of renewable energy — and geothermal energy. So has its day come at last?

 

The Newcastle project is on the site of the old Scottish and Newcastle Brewery, now demolished, in the city centre, right in the shadow of the St James’ Park football ground. Last month, drilling started on an exploratory borehole. It’s a project that was embarked upon by the universities of Newcastle and Durham, and is being helmed by a new British company called Cluff Geothermal — formed by Algy Cluff, 70, a former Grenadier Guard who made his fortune in North Sea oil exploration, and George Percy, 26, a friend of Kate Middleton and young member of the aristocratic Northumberland family which owns much of the land around the area.

 

The site has none of the aesthetic grandeur of a large wind turbine, or the James Bond high-techery of a nuclear project; just a small, thrumming drilling rig 50ft tall, pounding through the sandstones and mudstones at a steady rate of 20ft an hour.

 

They’re already nearly 500ft down and plan to go to nearly 7,000ft, where, all being well, the borehole will tap into a hot ocean of brine locked within the deep rocks. The first hot water could be pumped by this May.

 

To understand where this heat comes from, we need a history lesson. More than 400 million years ago, what is now North-East England lay under an ancient ocean. The land on either side of this ocean drifted together, closing the gap and displacing most of the water to other oceans — but a quantity was forced underground.

 

These upheavals meant deep, hot rocks were thrust close to the surface — close enough for their heat to be tapped today.

 

Generally, as you drill down anywhere into the Earth it gets warmer, by one or two degrees Celsius every 300ft. But here the ‘thermal gradient’ is a far more useful three to four degrees every 300ft. That means that if you dig down a mile, you hit rocks that are as hot as a scalding bath. Two miles and you’re above boiling point.

 

What’s more, the upheavals left fault lines throughout the strata of the hot rocks, which are saturated with water from the ancient ocean, like a prehistoric plumbing system.

 

Countless trillions of gallons of brine deep underground have been heated by the hot granite, like the electric element in a kettle. So, what the geologists will be pumping up to the surface is hot sea water that last saw the light of day more than 100 million years before the first dinosaur hatched out of its egg.

 

Where does the heat itself come from? ‘It’s actually generated by the low-level radioactive decay of elements like uranium and thorium in the rocks,’ says Professor Paul Younger, the geologist in charge of the Newcastle project. ‘That big mass of granite acts like a huge natural reactor.’

 

And unlike wind power, this heat is constant 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Geologists have estimated that a single borehole could provide useful heat for 40 years, after which it would need to be left alone to replenish its natural warmth — while production would simply switch to a replacement borehole nearby. Overall, the geothermal heat under North-East England is good for 300 million years. So, unlike gas or oil, it will never run out.

If the geothermal water is hot enough, it can even be used to generate electricity, using water vapour to drive electric turbines

 

The plan is to pump up the hot brine through machines that will pass on the warmth to domestic heating and hot-water systems (the actual brine will be too salty to use directly, although if it is non-toxic some of it might be pumped into a natural mineral spa).

 

Initially, this will provide heat and domestic hot water for a new science park, possibly thousands of flats, offices and shops, as well as the nearby shopping malls of Newcastle city centre. In time, it could be used to heat all kinds of building.

 

A single borehole could generate enough energy to heat a thousand homes and in theory there is no reason why ten or 20 boreholes could not be drilled, providing as much energy as a small conventional power station.

 

Once the initial investment from the Government, universities and the local council has been made, running costs would be almost zero and, of course, there are no carbon emissions. If the geothermal water is hot enough, it can even be used to generate electricity, using water vapour to drive electric turbines. Best of all, there would be no ugly power plant, as geothermal power stations are mostly underground.

 

There have been safety concerns. A scheme in Hawaii ran into trouble when the drill hit a pocket of molten lava. And in 2007 a team of geologists had an even bigger scare when they sank a borehole into an active fault zone in Switzerland, setting off a small earthquake. But, as Professor Younger points out, ‘our geological fault has not moved for 280 million years, so that won’t happen here’.

 

The British project is not without its problems. The rocks under Newcastle are riddled with old mine-workings, antique shafts and buried machinery dating back centuries — the risk of hitting one of these means a very specialised team is being used for the exploratory drilling.

 

So far £900,000 has been spent on the Newcastle project. If the exploratory borehole is a success and hits ‘hot gold’ — and we should know by July — private companies will be invited to move in.

 

Britain’s wealth was founded on two things: wool in the Middle Ages and, later, our extraordinary geological heritage, which kick-started the industrial revolution in the 18th century.

 

We had coal, iron and later oil and gas. For many reasons their day has passed, or is passing. What is now being exploited is the almost inexhaustible source of energy that lies deep beneath the earth of our ancient land.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/art...l#ixzz1HFIVkgVC

 

Think Norway and Iceland use geothermal. It's clean and fairly cheap.

[NJS 4391]

Sounds good but free?

[Renton 21685]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didnt the jap reactors only go kaput because of a 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tidal wave?

 

When was the last time we had those conditions in the UK Parky?

 

More Nuclear power please. Gotta be better than those fuckin stupid windmills popping up all over the place.

 

 

Edit: Wave power is a good call aswell.

 

Just the fact that storing or dealing with the waste alone regardless of accidents is risky and expensive.

 

Nuke power has never been efficent it is only possible because of huge amounts of grants and subsidies from goverments around the world.

 

It is categorically the most risky form of energy on earth.

 

That depends on whether you believe in climate change or not, which I know you don't because you like to be fashionably contrary.

[Renton 21685]

Sounds good but free?

 

Nothing's free. Geothermal energy only works in places with suitable geology, just like wind power it's not a panacea for the UK's energy shortage.

[Park Life 71]

Sounds good but free?

 

Nothing's free. Geothermal energy only works in places with suitable geology, just like wind power it's not a panacea for the UK's energy shortage.

 

How bad is the shortage?

 

There is talk in Germany that they will decomission all stations over the next decade and Merkel was even talking 2016.

 

Germany acutally exports energy now even though it relies on gas from russia.

[Park Life 71]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didnt the jap reactors only go kaput because of a 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tidal wave?

 

When was the last time we had those conditions in the UK Parky?

 

More Nuclear power please. Gotta be better than those fuckin stupid windmills popping up all over the place.

 

 

Edit: Wave power is a good call aswell.

 

Just the fact that storing or dealing with the waste alone regardless of accidents is risky and expensive.

 

Nuke power has never been efficent it is only possible because of huge amounts of grants and subsidies from goverments around the world.

 

It is categorically the most risky form of energy on earth.

 

That depends on whether you believe in climate change or not, which I know you don't because you like to be fashionably contrary.

 

My beliefs are immaterial we need to plan for a nuke free future. Or we're going to end up with more and more deadspots on this planet and end up killing more and more sealife and the biosphere.

 

Nuke energy is a con.

[Renton 21685]

Sounds good but free?

 

Nothing's free. Geothermal energy only works in places with suitable geology, just like wind power it's not a panacea for the UK's energy shortage.

 

How bad is the shortage?

 

There is talk in Germany that they will decomission all stations over the next decade and Merkel was even talking 2016.

 

Germany acutally exports energy now even though it relies on gas from russia.

 

The UK is heading for a huge energy crisis, and we're becoming ever more dependent on Russian gas. We need nuclear power desperately, that's the fact of the matter. It may be completely different in Germany, but then I wouldn't trust them with nuclear anyway.

[Renton 21685]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didnt the jap reactors only go kaput because of a 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tidal wave?

 

When was the last time we had those conditions in the UK Parky?

 

More Nuclear power please. Gotta be better than those fuckin stupid windmills popping up all over the place.

 

 

Edit: Wave power is a good call aswell.

 

Just the fact that storing or dealing with the waste alone regardless of accidents is risky and expensive.

 

Nuke power has never been efficent it is only possible because of huge amounts of grants and subsidies from goverments around the world.

 

It is categorically the most risky form of energy on earth.

 

That depends on whether you believe in climate change or not, which I know you don't because you like to be fashionably contrary.

 

My beliefs are immaterial we need to plan for a nuke free future. Or we're going to end up with more and more deadspots on this planet and end up killing more and more sealife and the biosphere.

 

Nuke energy is a con.

 

Did you know coal power stations release more radioactivity than nuclear? And then there's the millions of carcinogens they churn out into the environment. The dangers of nuclear power are massively exaggerated imo.

[ChezGiven 0]

What's the alternative?

[Dr. Richard Kimble 0]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didnt the jap reactors only go kaput because of a 8.9 earthquake and subsequent tidal wave?

 

When was the last time we had those conditions in the UK Parky?

 

More Nuclear power please. Gotta be better than those fuckin stupid windmills popping up all over the place.

 

 

Edit: Wave power is a good call aswell.

 

Just the fact that storing or dealing with the waste alone regardless of accidents is risky and expensive.

 

Nuke power has never been efficent it is only possible because of huge amounts of grants and subsidies from goverments around the world.

 

It is categorically the most risky form of energy on earth.

 

That depends on whether you believe in climate change or not, which I know you don't because you like to be fashionably contrary.

 

My beliefs are immaterial we need to plan for a nuke free future. Or we're going to end up with more and more deadspots on this planet and end up killing more and more sealife and the biosphere.

 

Nuke energy is a con.

 

Did you know coal power stations release more radioactivity than nuclear? And then there's the millions of carcinogens they churn out into the environment. The dangers of nuclear power are massively exaggerated imo.

 

lol didn't we talk about this last summer?

 

The question is - why when someone with an authoritative voice and fancy position tells us that nuclear power is safe, clean and cost-effective do people believe them? Do they crave for someone to just take over and solve all their problems?

 

I remember some economic experts saying in 2007 that the economy had never been stronger, somebody else said house prices would double in the next 5 years - point being that industry stool pigeons will tell you any crap as long as the money is good.

[Craig 6682]

The only thing that could go wrong with nuclear power in the UK is manual error, and even then the chance of it is remote.

 

More nuclear power stations please.

 

Indeed. And fossil fuels are fucked and renewable resourcing just doesn't have the infrastructure or means to power the entire UK so nuclear is the only viable consideration.

 

Lot of hot air about it recently for obvious reasons but in respect of the Fukishima plant, it's 40 years old and was built to standards that are a fraction of what is allowed these days.

[Park Life 71]

The only thing that could go wrong with nuclear power in the UK is manual error, and even then the chance of it is remote.

 

More nuclear power stations please.

 

Indeed. And fossil fuels are fucked and renewable resourcing just doesn't have the infrastructure or means to power the entire UK so nuclear is the only viable consideration.

 

Lot of hot air about it recently for obvious reasons but in respect of the Fukishima plant, it's 40 years old and was built to standards that are a fraction of what is allowed these days.

 

It's the most expensive, uneconomical, dangerous and madly subsidised way of boiling water ever devised by man or sparrow. Why you have to ask yourself has it become seemingly the only answer?

[Craig 6682]

The only thing that could go wrong with nuclear power in the UK is manual error, and even then the chance of it is remote.

 

More nuclear power stations please.

 

Indeed. And fossil fuels are fucked and renewable resourcing just doesn't have the infrastructure or means to power the entire UK so nuclear is the only viable consideration.

 

Lot of hot air about it recently for obvious reasons but in respect of the Fukishima plant, it's 40 years old and was built to standards that are a fraction of what is allowed these days.

 

It's the most expensive, uneconomical, dangerous and madly subsidised way of boiling water ever devised by man or sparrow. Why you have to ask yourself has it become seemingly the only answer?

 

Come on then Parky, what's the alternative?