Lakes nuclear dump?
 

[Closed] Lakes nuclear dump?

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Newsflash
Jameaters want the dump, welcome to it, t'moor would be ideal.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 2:11 pm
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Lol best argument I heard was Whitehaven and Workinton arguing over who were jameaters and if it was an insult.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 2:16 pm
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Ennerdale has significantly less agricultural clutter.

I recall Wainwright baleful tones about the industrialisation of Ennerdale when the Forestry Commission completely filled it with larch and spruce.

If you've ever stood on any of the Western summits you'll clearly see the massive Sellafield complex, including the towers of forever-toxic Windscale bomb-material-building piles.

[img] [/img]

The footprint and purpose of this facility is quite benign by comparison.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 2:47 pm
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Perhaps we could use the money to teach you what a full stop is?

Perhaps we could use some of that money to give you a personality transplant?. Ka-ching! 🙂

I used comma's, prob should have split it down into a more coherent rant using full stops but it was late and i was tired, i'll try much harder next time.

Anyway, just heard on R4 World at One that the council have turned it down.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 2:54 pm
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Has no one pointed out the obvious benifit to us?

Under trail heating 😀


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 2:58 pm
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somafunk - Member

I used comma's

Commas. You're welcome. 😉


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 2:58 pm
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Anyway, just heard on R4 World at One that the council have turned it down.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-21253673


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 3:58 pm
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"The problems of nuclear waste and where to put it is a UK problem and should not be pushed onto the people of Cumbria."

The definition of Nimby-ism?


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 4:03 pm
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Thank the Lord for that 😀


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 4:04 pm
 xcgb
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Hmmm in my experience a council rejection doesn't normally mean much as they can be bypassed


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 4:15 pm
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Not sure what you're getting at there Graham.

Simple: Its not the location of the dump that matters, its the fact we are creating the waste in the first instance. So specifically with electricity generation, the incredibly laissez faire attitude that we have to the consumption of energy and the reckless creation of inherantly dangerous and unstable systems to feed the relentless demand for it is the problem.

So port of call one = use less

Unfortunately, an out of sight hole in the ground thats not in most peoples back yard is a more politically acceptable solution than the reality and/or a sensible long term strategy.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 4:47 pm
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Simple: Its not the location of the dump that matters, its the fact we are creating the waste in the first instance.

But we've already created it - stopping using electricity tomorrow wouldn't solve the need for somewhere to keep this stuff.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 4:50 pm
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Unfortunately, an out of sight hole in the ground thats not in most peoples back yard is a more politically acceptable solution than the reality and/or a sensible long term strategy.

So telling everyone to use less would work how? What sort of incentive would you offer? And how would you ensure that future generations, or perhapse more difficultly, the next parliment cary on implimenting something that's going to be pretty unpopular, seeing as the only one I can think of is a huge rise in the price, which would require re-nationalisation of the whole system.

Alternatively dig a hole in the ground and the problems solved, especialy as others have already pointed out, this is mostly historical waste and modern reactors use far more of the fuel. Even if we didn't build any more nuclear power stations we'd still need to find somewhere for the waste.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 4:54 pm
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Even the government saying it's over doesn't mean it is. These massively long-term projects have a habit of popping up again when the government changes colour.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 4:57 pm
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But we've already created it - stopping using electricity tomorrow wouldn't solve the need for somewhere to keep this stuff.

Yup. And since we need a store, with all that implies, the impact of making it big enough for future waste as well as historic is reduced.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 4:58 pm
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Berm Bandit - Member

Unfortunately, an out of sight hole in the ground thats not in most peoples back yard is a more politically acceptable solution than the reality and/or a sensible long term strategy.

which is?


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 5:40 pm
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I find this an interesting chart:

[img] [/img]

Unfortunately, one mention of the word "nuclear" and the person in the street runs a mile. The average person simply cannot understand the risk they face. They will say "no to nuclear power" then pop inside, stick on the kettle, oven, telly, fan heater, laptop, leave 15 lights burning in the their house, enjoy a hot bath, and somehow not connect the two things. Those same people will also jump in a drive their car to work without the slightest thought as the risk involved (something like 30,000x more likely to die in a car, than as a result of nuclear power in the UK). They will drive their car past a large coal fired station, and simply not connect the hundreds of millions of tonnes of waste that produces each year.

Asked "do you support nuclear power or renewables" without even thinking they will reply "renewables" because they see those as "green". But NO power generation is Green. For example , wind turbine have such a low power density that you need 10,000 of them to even match 1 single small conventional plant. And each needs to be build (using concrete, fibre glass, metal, copper and plastics) transported, assembled, and then maintained.

Personally, i suspect we might be as little as 10years away from rolling black outs and it costing several thousand pounds a year to heat our houses. At which point, it will be too late to quickly wheel in any other option.............. (it's too late now really)

So,, imo, the government, needs to establish the best "technical" and "engineering" location for a repository, and just get on an build it.

Nimby-ism is going to be the cause of thousands of deaths and significant suffering for the average man in the street imo. A fate far worse, IMO, than the possiblity that some "radiation" MIGHT escape sometime. (the universe is already full of radiation btw)


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 5:46 pm
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Great opportunity now for any "imbys" to pen a letter to their council and beg them for a nuclear waste store under their house/childs school, good luck.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 6:46 pm
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under their house/childs school, good luck.

I thought it was in the Ennerdale valley, wow how we have been misled. Good job your here to cut through all that bullshit and give it to us straight, you know in an objective way and that.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 6:54 pm
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The beauty of modern nuke technology doesn't remove from the fact that Sellafield is an absolute mess.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 6:55 pm
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Posted : 30/01/2013 7:03 pm
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Unfortunately, an out of sight hole in the ground thats not in most peoples back yard is a more politically acceptable solution than the reality and/or a sensible long term strategy.

An out of sight hole in the ground is one hell of a lot better than this:

[img] [/img]

NEWS FLASH: Cumbria votes to leave nuclear waste above ground in temporary storage as opposed to taking the opportunity to store it safely, permanently.

It is already in Cumbria, you know.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 10:02 pm
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Who said there would be very little surface impact?

If you read the article it tells you how big the above ground compound will be... just in case you are confused by area measurements - it's not 100m x 100m

😉


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 10:48 pm
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From the BBC

"Cumbria has a unique and world-renowned landscape which needs to be cherished and protected. While Sellafield and the Lake District have co-existed side by side successfully for decades, we fear that if the area becomes known in the national conscience as the place where nuclear waste is stored underground, the Lake District's reputation may not be so resilient."

Yes, I'm sure it would 🙄


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 11:13 pm
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Given how close we live to the lakes it wont affect how often I go but if you have the choice [ and are travelling]between wales, the highlands and the place with the nuclear dump it may affect decisions. whilst you may view this as irrational you can hardly deny that folk are irrational over this.
TBH no one will choose to have it so they need to [ literally] dump it somehere


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 11:31 pm
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Cumbria County Council vetoed an advanced "stage four" search for a site for the radioactive waste facility.

The stage included detailed geological investigations and discussions over the social and economic implications.


So the bit where we check the actual suitability then.....
we fear that if the area becomes known in the national conscience as the place where nuclear waste is stored underground, the Lake District's reputation may not be so resilient.

As it's mostly been kept a secret so far.

Wonder who gets it now then, cue protests as we propose moving said waste from Cumbria.


 
Posted : 30/01/2013 11:39 pm
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if you have the choice [ and are travelling]between wales, the highlands and the place with the shut down Windscale plant and the currently operating Sellafield plant and the temporary nuke dump it may affect decisions.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 12:06 am
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Beat me to it KB


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 2:10 am
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An out of sight hole in the ground is one hell of a lot better than this:

Oh I see, didn't realise the choice was only restricted to cancer or aids 😉


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 9:57 am
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Wonder who gets it now then, cue protests as we propose moving said waste from Cumbria.

On the telly box yesterday I heard mention that there are no councils in England prepared to accept the waste site.

I doubt Toad Face would accept it in Scotland.

Wales, no idea tbh.

At a guess, I would expect a local English council decision to be over ruled and forced to accept the site. Can you think of anywhere they have been looking at? 🙄


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 10:02 am
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It is pathetic. Where would you rather have high level nuclear waste? Sitting at Sellafield or secure underground?

The media is mainly to blame for this allowing a totally one sided, scare mongoring, panic driven reporting that has skewed the public perception of the impact of this waste.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 10:11 am
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It is pathetic. Where would you rather have high level nuclear waste? Sitting at Sellafield or secure underground? The media is mainly to blame for this allowing a totally one sided, scare mongoring, panic driven reporting that has skewed the public perception of the impact of this waste.

Or as Cumbrian residents, maybe we took the time to weigh up the pros and cons as they were presented by both camps, and then asked the county council to make a decision based on our conclusions 😕


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 10:36 am
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Two words that whip up fear and misunderstanding like no other are "nuclear" and "radiation"

We just need the Daily Mail to convince people that windmills cause radiation for the perfect NIMBY storm to engulf the countryside.

Is the waste not already there? In a huge facility at Sellafield anyway?


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:08 am
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Two words that whip up fear and misunderstanding like no other are "Chernobyl" and "Fukushima"

FTFY


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:11 am
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Two words that whip up fear and misunderstanding like no other are "nuclear" and "radiation"

If you genuinely believe that, may I suggest you show up at an enquiry into a forth coming nuclear power station, and ask this simple question.

"Given that the most wasteful part of electricity generation and distribution is transit from point of generation to point of use, and given that the generating platform itself is safe, why is it necessary to build it so far away from where the power is needed?"

I did so at the Sizewell B enquiry and was shown the door. Can't imagine why though.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:22 am
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Or as Cumbrian residents, maybe we took the time to weigh up the pros and cons as they were presented by both camps, and then asked the county council to make a decision based on our conclusions

Good choice - I can see why you prefer it stored on the surface in ageing facilities where it is much less safe.

🙄

Didn't the local council vote overwhelmingly for it, and are they now requesting to talk directly with Westminster about it? If so, basically what's happened is the people who don't live near it made a judgement to the contrary of those who do.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:26 am
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Given that the most wasteful part of electricity generation and distribution is transit from point of generation to point of use, and given that the generating platform itself is safe, why is it necessary to build it so far away from where the power is needed?

Simple - mitigating risk. No matter how small the risk of anything is happening, the risk of that affecting a lot of people becomes much smaller if you build it away from population centres.

Basic risk management and due diligence really.

I can't imagine it having anything to do with the manner in which you asked the question though 😉


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:28 am
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Two words that whip up fear and misunderstanding like no other are "Chernobyl" and "Fukushima"

It's like TJ never left

Two serious nuclear incidents in how many years?

Coal mining kills 6000 people a year in China

Up to 200 people were killed in Almaty Kazakhstan in 2010 when a hydro electric dam failed.

In 2009 a turbine hall at a hydro plant in Central Russia exploded killing 75 workers

By any sensible definition nuclear power is "safe"


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:33 am
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Didn't the local council vote overwhelmingly for it, and are they now requesting to talk directly with Westminster about it? If so, basically what's happened is the people who don't live near it made a judgement to the contrary of those who do.

The council whose members represent Cumbria as a whole, including Copeland, voted against it. At what point does local democracy become too local?

Ennerdale and Kinniside Parish Council voted against it, so they could have made exactly the same 'people who don't live near it' point if stage 4 had gone ahead.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:35 am
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Given that the most wasteful part of electricity generation and distribution is transit from point of generation to point of use, and given that the generating platform itself is safe, why is it necessary to build it so far away from where the power is needed?"

Because you build power plants where the land is cheap and people need the jobs

I used to live 6 miles as the crow flies from a nuclear power station.

It didn't bother me in the slightest.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:42 am
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t's like TJ never left

Why thank you, I am honoured

However, the point was actually. People aren't scared of the words Nuclear etc etc.

They are scared of what would happen if a reactor goes KABOOOOOM

Additionally, if you dig through my posts on this thread you will see a reference to coal dust being really rather unpleasant.

Best to not to jump to conclusions


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:54 am
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Because you build power plants where the land is cheap and people need the jobs

Oh I see, so how come they're not building them all in sub-Saharan Africa then?

Simple - mitigating risk. No matter how small the risk of anything is happening, the risk of that affecting a lot of people becomes much smaller if you build it away from population centres

Absolutely right. the reason is two fold, one the obivous as stated and the other the also obvious, which is there are less people to vote against you when you impose it upon them.

Sadly, the truth is that the majority of people don't want a nuclear facility of any description in their back yard. Therefore as a democracy we should not be building them. The other unfortunate reality is that politicians don't have the balls to actually confront the issue, which is a set of very straightforward choices. So instead they pretend its all cushty, and just go ahead and impose it whereever they can get away with it.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 12:15 pm
 grum
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By any sensible definition nuclear power is "safe"

Lets build some power stations and waste storage facilities in the home counties then.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 12:19 pm
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Berm Bandit - Member

Sadly, the truth is that the majority of people don't want a nuclear facility of any description in their back yard. Therefore as a democracy we should not be building them.

ok, fine.

what do we do with the waste we've already got? - and it's not even really 'our' waste, it's our grandparents waste.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 12:19 pm
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Sadly, the truth is that the majority of people don't want a [s]nuclear facility[/s] wind farm of any description in their back yard. Therefore as a democracy we should not be building them.

FTFY

Also feel free to replace the words 'nuclear facility' with prison, motorway, railway line, pig farm, bus depot, tesco, mobile phone mast, mountain bike trail, paedophile etc.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 12:24 pm
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Sadly, the truth is that the majority of people don't want a [s]nuclear facility[/s] power station of any description in their back yard. Therefore as a democracy we should not be building them.

The majority of people do, however, wish to continue using electricity.

The majority of people are unable to reconcile these two points


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 12:26 pm
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They are scared of what would happen if a reactor goes KABOOOOOM

What would happen in this scenario?


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 12:35 pm
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What would happen in this scenario?

Well, by current records (Windscale, TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima), far fewer people would be killed than in one year of just the Chinese mining coal.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 1:21 pm
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Fukushima was a ringing endorsement of nuclear power. A very old station built in the wrong place got hit by an earthquake of a magnitude it wasn't designed to withstand, and a wave of a size it wasn't designed to withstand, and ... Nothing happened! No godzilla rising from the waves dripping green goo, absolutely no health issues attributable to radiation. (Though I recall there were health issues related to being crushed to death by a falling crane.)

Nevertheless, the media eagerly leapt on every rumour that a gieger counter somewhere might have clicked, and some mouth breathers thought the cladding blown off by a hydrogen explosion was "a nuclear explosion".


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 1:38 pm
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I was hoping to imply that with my question. 😀

I wonder if piemonster might be able to tell us what would happen if a petrochemical, a petrol processing plant or some methane in a coal mine went

KABOOOOOM
? I'm not quite sure myself


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 1:39 pm
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Good choice - I can see why you prefer it stored on the surface in ageing facilities where it is much less safe.

Perhaps we'd prefer not to have an expansion of the current facilities on our doorsteps. Basic risk management and due diligence really.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 1:48 pm
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The majority of people are unable to reconcile these two points
I'm not sure how this is at odds with this
The other unfortunate reality is that politicians don't have the balls to actually confront the issue, which is a set of very straightforward choices. So instead they pretend its all cushty, and just go ahead and impose it whereever they can get away with it.
or anything else I've said in this thread. i.e. lets not piss about here, we're going to build it where its needed, or we're going to use less power. you can't have it both ways, as the reality is if it goes tits up you can run but you cannot hide.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 1:52 pm
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Perhaps we'd prefer not to have an expansion of the current facilities on our doorsteps. Basic risk management and due diligence really.

Due diligence failure. Do something to mitigate risk (bury it in a deep controlled environment, whilst minimising the need to move it very far), or leave it where it is, where its far more likely to cause a problem.

As has been said, the vast majority of all there ever will be is already there. It exists, and something does need doing about it in the long term. Much of the worst of the waste is from the very early days anyway. Where was it produced? yep: cumbria. Why should anywhere else take your waste?

as an aside, Any future stations will be far more efficient, producing much less waste


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 2:04 pm
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Do something to mitigate risk (bury it in a deep controlled environment, whilst minimising the need to move it very far),

If you live locally it is safer for it to be somewhere else

PS sellafield stores 20,000 cubic meteres of waste currently [2010 figures]

its is estimated there will be over 4 million cubic metres of waste which will last for 4 million years all at the new site

As for controlled environment you mean we have never done this before but we think it will be ok for the next 4 million years to just put it in a big hoile in the ground. I mean if we cannot predict the next 4 million years and what will happen then Pfftt...wish us luck as we are doing it in your back yard now stop objecting ITS SAFE

It is pointless to debate I can see why some think it is safe and some think it is unsafe


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 2:24 pm
 grum
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Where was it produced? yep: cumbria. Why should anywhere else take your waste?

That's really a very, very poor argument, for obvious reasons.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 2:28 pm
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Nothing happened!

Shunichi Yamashita one of the leading experts on the effects of radiation in Japan said when asked by Der Spigel; People want clear answers. Where is it safe? And where is it not?

Yamashita: We don't have those answers. When people ask me: "Are doses below 100 millisievert 100 percent safe?" Then I have to answer as a scientist: "I don't know."

The fact is that the "nothing happened" statement is fatuous, it clearly did and to what extent it happened will potentially continue to unfold for generations.

The problem with this nuclear argument is that you cannot possibly make statements such as x or y is safe, or measurement a or b is a safe limit, much less that nothing happened. Professor Yamashita, when asked made a completely sound scientific answer, which is that we don't know. The truth is much of the learning about human interaction with this recent technology is being done at the expense of the current generations. The big problem is that the risk attached to that are exponetionally greater than the risks associated with precisely the same process with earlier technologies.

So rather than pointing at nasty coal power stations and comparing nuclear risks with that, wouldn't it be more sensible to acknowledge that it took many generations for the combined wit and wisdom of mankind to appreciate the risks inherant in coal, and that quite possibly it will be the same before we fully understand what we are playing with in nuclear technology???


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 2:31 pm
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So rather than pointing at nasty coal power stations and comparing nuclear risks with that, wouldn't it be more sensible to acknowledge that it took many generations for the combined wit and wisdom of mankind to appreciate the risks inherant in coal, and that quite possibly it will be the same before we fully understand what we are playing with in nuclear technology???

So we should stop using nuclear because we don't understand all the risks, but yet we must make electricity from something. Or use a lot, and I mean a lot, less

So if we stop using nuclear, what will happen? Well, firstly, all the waste produced to date will still need dealing with

Secondly, we'll still need to make electricity from something else. Right now, the only two options on a similar scale to nuclear are coal and gas. And we're fast running out if gas.

So then we're back to coal again. An energy source that we do understand the risks of. Far more deaths per kwh than any form of generation by a country mile. And then some. And that's before we even start to think about the environmental damage and potential for not millions, but billions of deaths attributed to failed harvests, famine, disease, flooding and extreme weather as a result of global warming. And we do know what causes that (unless you're sponsored by shell). Burning fossil fuels.

In an ideal world there would be neither fossil nor nuclear generation. But the world is not ideal. And unless we all want the lights to go out we do need to replace some power stations rather soon. There is no rational argument weighing up the environmental and human costs of coal and nuclear that puts coal in a favourable light.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 2:52 pm
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Given that it's nasty stuff, some of it, and that the whole "geology has to be suitable" argument implies that the containment is not envisaged to be adequate long term, the last place I'd want to put this stuff is underground. Out of sight, G4S screwup, would be the natural conclusion.

Find a spot that doesn't flood, lay lots of concrete, put some racking and fences up and store it where it can be watched. Put public webcams on it 24/7 so there is accountability on the watchers too. Given that there is no harm unless it leaks or I walk up very close to it, I don't care that much where it is. Most towns and cities have industrial or former industrial sites of hundreds of acres, loads of disused WW2 and cold war airfields too, pick one and get on with it.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 2:56 pm
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So we should stop using nuclear because we don't understand all the risks, but yet we must make electricity from something. Or use a lot, and I mean a lot, less

Well yes actually, thats precisely what I mean. We are completely profligate with energy use currently. Why? Because we/our politicians are pawning the future of the planet so that we have access to cheap subsidised energy, (subsidised by ignoring future cost). i.e. we are not coming even close to paying the real price for it, and that is precisely the debate we should be having BEFORE we jump irrevocably into a cess pool of our own making. There are a good deal of unpalateable things that need addressing while we're at it, unrestricted population being pretty near the top of the list.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 3:16 pm
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Given that the most wasteful part of electricity generation and distribution is transit from point of generation to point of use,

Total transmission losses in the UK grid are estimate at around 7.7% making it 92.3% efficient. I challenge you to find a form of electrical generation that is that efficient.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 3:25 pm
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Put public webcams on it 24/7 so there is accountability on the watchers too

So if something happens it's the people that should have been watching the webcams on their laptops in their homes fault?


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 3:41 pm
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There is definitely an irrational fear that many people have with regard to "radiation" and "nuclear/atomic", partially caused by the media and reckless rhetoric by politicians and partially by humans fearing things that they don't understand.
Chernobyl and Fukishima are as bad as civil nuclear accidents can get, but relatively few people died (compared with coal mining/oil drilling/gas production etc.). Both of these accidents were chemical explosions causing a release of radioactive material - not nuclear explosions. It is also important to point out that Nuclear power stations cannot possibly explode in a "nuclear explosion" (e.g. Hiroshima) as it's actually very difficult to make a nuclear device happen.
In my opinion we should be working hard to develop and improve nuclear power stations and fuel/waste processing within our country and in collaboration with other countries. Instead we keep "doing the hokey-cokey" (in-out-in-out) which really is dangerous as we don't keep people with expertise in the in nuclear industry. Civil Nuclear Power is a fairly young technology and we should be able to continually improve safety and eliminate accidents like Fukishima.

Had many of the posters been around at the time of the Aberfan disaster, would you have been calling for a complete ban on coal mining?

The decision on where to store nuclear waste should be taken on purely technical grounds by Central Government. It will be much safer in a secure underground site than above ground anywhere.

All IMHU 😉


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 4:01 pm
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I wonder if piemonster

Yes, things like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

And http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_industrial_disasters#Energy_industry


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 4:06 pm
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As for controlled environment you mean we have never done this before but we think it will be ok for the next 4 million years to just put it in a big hoile in the ground. I mean if we cannot predict the next 4 million years and what will happen then Pfftt...wish us luck as we are doing it in your back yard now stop objecting ITS SAFE

To be fair Junky, the chances of it being a human concern are minimal. Gotta feel for whichever species has to deal with our mess though.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 4:11 pm
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Total transmission losses in the UK grid are estimate at around 7.7% making it 92.3% efficient. I challenge you to find a form of electrical generation that is that efficient

WTF?

What I said was is that distribution is wasteful and thanks for confirming it, but no need as I already knew it.....that why I said it. The point being why build them so far way from the point of demand in that case? Trust me, any business, and I mean absolutely anyone who could improve their profitability by 7.7% by simple relocating to a point nearer the demand would do it without a second thought unless of course there was a bloody good reason not to.

Oh yeah, we've already covered that


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 4:29 pm
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wherever the powerstations are, there'll still be loads of people who don't live near the station, there will always be transmission losses...


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 4:31 pm
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I thought this was about long term waste storage rather than production. Plenty of power plants closer to population centers than Sellafield.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 4:34 pm
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Chernobyl and Fukishima are as bad as civil nuclear accidents can get,

They are the worst e have had not the worst we could have

but relatively few people died

Really depends what you measure and whose fugure you believe. iirc the chernobyl estimate range from less than 50 to over 400,000.

It is also important to point out that Nuclear power stations cannot possibly explode in a "nuclear explosion"

WTF are they not in london and remind me when exactly chernobyl will be safe to move back to

I get your point but the possible consequences of nukes going bad are far in excess of what would happen if anything else went wrong.
The issue is whether you want to live with this risk not how likely it is [ very unlikely] to occur.
Like a plane unlikely to go wrong if it does very likely to be very bad.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 7:31 pm
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Berm Bandit - Member

Total transmission losses in the UK grid are estimate at around 7.7% making it 92.3% efficient. I challenge you to find a form of electrical generation that is that efficient

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 9:10 pm
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the debate we should be having BEFORE we jump irrevocably into a cess pool of our own making.

We are in a cess pool of our own making. 1) All that waste at Sellafield is already there. 2) I would suggest global warming knocks storage of HLW into a crocked hat in terms of problems to fix.

Really depends what you measure and whose fugure you believe. iirc the chernobyl estimate range from less than 50 to over 400,000.

The official figure is about 3000 directly attributed to Chernobyl, IIRC.

They are the worst e have had not the worst we could have

Well, one was the direct result of someone breaking soviet safety rules (such as they were) 😯 😯 😯

The other was an old station that resisted both an earthquake it was never designed for, and a tsunami much larger than one it was designed to withstand. Add to that, how many were killed by said tsunami? Makes the nuclear disaster pale into insignificance.

Just how much worse a cause could you envisage?


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 10:25 pm
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The official figure is about 3000 directly attributed to Chernobyl, IIRC.

IIRC, thats a projection that approximately 3000 of the liquidators will die earlier than they otherwise would - mainly from late life cancers, out of a background mortality of 100k cancer deaths from the 500k liquidators, so about a 0.5% increase in cancer mortality,

The actual number of people that have [i]actually[/i] died from sources attributable to radiation exposure from chernobyl is around 70 - 50 odd workers/liquidators and about fifteen children with thyroid cancer.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 10:57 pm
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So geologists amongst us...

What would be the likely result of dropping it into a tectonic plate subduction zone for it to be consumed in molten magma and a firey hell... ?

Seriously ?


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:02 pm
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What I said was is that distribution is wasteful and thanks for confirming it, but no need as I already knew it.....that why I said it. The point being why build them so far way from the point of demand in that case? Trust me, any business, and I mean absolutely anyone who could improve their profitability by 7.7% by simple relocating to a point nearer the demand would do it without a second thought unless of course there was a bloody good reason not to.

There is, the bulk of those losses are at the low voltage, local level. Oh and if you think you can have a system that is 100% efficient you really are clueless when it comes to science and technology. 92.8% is a staggeringly high efficiency, for reference a power generation plant will be about 60% ish and a petrol car engine about 25%.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:47 pm
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Then there's the fact that Coal Fired power stations release more radiation into the atmosphere every year than any other type of power station nuclear included.


 
Posted : 31/01/2013 11:47 pm
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rickmeister - Member

So geologists amongst us...

What would be the likely result of dropping it into a tectonic plate subduction zone for it to be consumed in molten magma and a firey hell... ?

Seriously ?

Bed time reading 😉
[url= http://www.nda.gov.uk/documents/upload/The-scientific-foundations-of-deep-geological-disposal-Nirex-Report-N-016-2001.pdf ]http://www.ndaThe-scientific-foundations-of-deep-geological-disposal-Nirex-Report[/url]

182 Stewart, I.S. and Hancock, P.L., Neotectonics, in Hancock, P.L. (Ed.), Continental
Deformation, Pergamon, 1994.

Hancock, PL. & North, CP. (1989). 'Geology of Reskajeage Farm quarry (NIREX research site on Cornish slate)'. vol. NSS/R184, NIREX Safety Studies Report, Harwell, UK.

BTW P.L Hancock was my father & did a fair bit of research for Nirex but was slightly uncomfortable about it, more from a political point rather than a safety standpoint


 
Posted : 01/02/2013 12:08 am
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Then there's the fact that Coal Fired power stations release more radiation into the atmosphere every year than any other type of power station nuclear included.

But that's not the bad radiation, mmmkay


 
Posted : 01/02/2013 12:09 am
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discussing on question time now

dellingpole (spit) managed to drag wind turbines into it, natch


 
Posted : 01/02/2013 12:10 am
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Then there's the fact that Coal Fired power stations release more radiation into the atmosphere every year than any other type of power station nuclear included.

GENUINE QUESTION ALERT
Is that true even if we look at the half life etc of the waste product or just if we look at yearly outputs?
I assume it has some spin is this correct?


 
Posted : 01/02/2013 12:13 am
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zokes - Member

The other was an old station that resisted both an earthquake it was never designed for, and a tsunami much larger than one it was designed to withstand.

But built in an area where both earthquakes and tsunami were a risk. And that's the problem in a nutshell. Nuclear power is potentially fine, but humans are kind of dicks.


 
Posted : 01/02/2013 1:31 am
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