Re: power shortages

On 9/03/2024 2:01 am, John Larkin wrote:

On Fri, 08 Mar 2024 10:40:26 +0000, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
wrote:
 

On Fri, 8 Mar 2024 10:22:29 +0100, Jeroen Belleman
<jeroen@nospam.please> wrote:
>

On 3/8/24 07:40, Jan Panteltje wrote:

On a sunny day (Thu, 07 Mar 2024 07:13:56 -0800) it happened John Larkin
<jl@997PotHill.com> wrote in <h8mjui5kf50de3tkplpf1e12k12r8dgl58@4ax.com>:
>

>
 https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/amid-explosive-demand-america-is-running-out-of-power/ar-BB1jtM69
>
Increasing demand and declining reliable supply could put people in
the dark.

>
Yesterday I was reading Netherlands gov has decided to build 4 new nuclear power plants.
They still have to find locations for 3, what if next doors?? ??

>
These are planned to be the --now old-fashioned-- Westinghouse
design? Big installations that need ten years to build?
>
I wonder if it wouldn't be better to start an industry of
small modular reactors. Tens of megawatts rather than hundreds,
Something that could fit on a barge, or a train, transported
where it's needed, and up and running in months rather than
years.

>
Already in development!
>
https://www.rolls-royce.com/innovation/small-modular-reactors.aspx#/

 It's really not a technical problem. The public has an irrational fear
of radiation.
 Nukes work fine in France. Actually, they work fine most everywhere
else.

But nobody has found a good long term solution for storing nuclear waste for the 100,000 odd years it takes before it stops being dangerous

 SMRs sound cool, but need to be hardened against greenie saboteurs.

Non-existent greenie saboteurs. We've had nuclear reactors since the late 1940's but no greenie has ever sabotaged one, or shown any desire to do so.

They should be supported by a good fuel recycling/disposal
infrastructure, which, again, is not really a technical problem.

We've had 70 years to solve that particular problem, and nobody has yet come up with a solution that they can sell to the public. The technical problems may not be insoluble, but solutions that have been found so far don't seem to be socially acceptable.
And why should they be? Nuclear power isn't cheaper that renewable power.
--
Bill Sloman, Sydney