Wind power

[inky pete]

Thorium reactors are interesting, and arguably would have been a better technology to pursue back in the 1950's and 60's - if we hadn't also needed Uranium reactors to provide Plutonium for our nuke weapons programme. But Thorium reactors are still a nuclear fission reaction and still produce radioactive waste, whereas fusion produces none.

[asperity]

Not from what I've read about them Inky. In fact you can put conventional nuclear waste into a thorium reactor and it will be consumed.

[Davy51]

I think a general problem with power stations is the cost of replacement & every government is willing to kick the problem around for four or five years & leave the problem for its successor while at the same time using its revenue for more eye catching measures that will hopefully get the same party back in office. Maybe going back to a similar body to the CEGB could be an alternative & also making it into an all party issue because i don't think any party will relish the consequencies  of having to pick up the pieces when deaths mount because people can't afford power.

[observer]

Yet another example of your myopia Kije; what may be expensive now may not be relatively expensive in the future. EG: to be dependent on the Russians for gas or the Arabs for oil, places us in a position where they can hold us to ransom for our future energy supplies. We need to be energy self-sufficient, utilising the full range of indigenous options - it's called energy security.

[Lt Kije]

I agree Obs that's why I like nuclear, if you had bothered to read

[inky pete]

Not from what I've read about them Inky. In fact you can put conventional nuclear waste into a thorium reactor and it will be consumed.

 

Generally, isotopes of elements with odd numbered atomic weights can undergo nuclear fission reactions whereas even numbered atomic weights are more stable and cannot.

 

In a Uranium fission reactor, Uranium 238 absorbs neutrons to become Plutonium 239 which then undergoes fission to produce energy and radioactive waste products.

 

In a Thorium reactor, Thorium 232 is bombarded with neutrons causing it to absorb one and become Uranium 233, which then undergoes fission in much the same way as the Uranium 238 in a conventional reactor.

 

Some of the waste products from a Thorium reactor decay and lose their radioactivity more quickly than those from a Uranium reactor - but we're still talking hundreds if not thousands of years. And of course, substances which lose their radioactivity over a shorter period are by definition more intensely radioactive and would need active cooling over much longer periods of time in order to be stored safely.

[wolfie]

I'm a big fan of wind turbines..............

 

 

Edit ........maybe it would have been better if I had put

 

'Wind Turbines - I'm a big fan'

[inky pete]

Wind turbines are just big fans!

[wolfie]

I can see now why algy thinks we are both smart arses.

[observer]

I'm not a fan of "nuclear" Kije, much too expensive to commission and de-commission; but I'd add it to the shopping trolley to fill the coming energy gap - problem is, we won't be building our own, seems we'll be relying on the French for that.

[Dizzy]

We might not be building our own Obs but at least in the nuclear industry there certainly doesn't ever seem to be a shortage of work over here at the moment with people experienced in that line of work.  Very good hourly rates too it seems providing you are suitably qualified with a proven track record in the field.

[observer]

Just hope they don't build them too near to the shale extraction wells - we may end up in the Fukoshima!  

[Lt Kije]

I agree Obs we should be building our own, Nuclear is the only way we can be totally energy self sufficient

[observer]

Oh no it's not: there is a range of options possible, and the wisest course is not to put all our eggs in one basket, but to develope these indigenous options fully.

[Lt Kije]

Oh yes it is

[asperity]

He's behind you!!!!

[Evil Sid]

Oh no he isn..... he is isn't he?