One thing I hear all the time from the pro-nuke club, is that the original licensing period of nuclear plants, 40 years, was not supposed to be their design life.
AND that the design life is actually 80 years. Typical lying nukists.
As plants get older, there are more and more expensive problems to fix, more down time. At 40 to 45 years, economics closes these plants.
Good riddance, Wylfa 1
Dec 30 Britain closed its oldest nuclear reactor, Wylfa 1, after nearly 45 years of operation on Wednesday, operator Magnox Ltd said.
"Wylfa Nuclear Power Station closed down, marking the conclusion of Magnox reactor generation in the UK," it said in a statement.
The nuclear reactor in Wales was scheduled to shut down at the end of September 2014, but operations were extended until this week.
The 490-megawatt nuclear reactor started operating in 1971 next to its twin Wylfa 2 reactor which was permanently shut down in April 2012.
http://www.reuters.com/article/britain-nuclear-idUSZYN2KMP0020151230
There is no engineering magic wrt 40 years. It was based on amortization tables. Engineered structures properly cared for can last indefinitely as long as the materials can hold up. Look at the GG Bridge. Classic example. Google its 50th anniversary and tell me loading it with 350k pedestrians didn't give someone concern.
ReplyDeleteYou as a materials engineer understand the issues. Entitlement is really a canard. Reactors can be run at lower power extending plant life. Another issue is just tech itself. Nuclear plants are mostly analog machines because regulators just dont trust digital and computer vulnerability. Yet modern tech usually makes these machines more efficient. And that's what people usually squawk about, the economics.
Imagine modern nuclear operating as an inherently safe, self correcting machine that recycles its actinides in an optimal manner.
Both waste and safety issues dealt with by design.
It was called the IFR and Clinton killed it. For political reasons.
But the story doesnt end there.
Many reasonable people believe as I do that the technology is doable. Its not the hubris of man.
Man was meant to have dominion of all plants, animals, and minerals. The Bible tells us that.
That includes all elements of tge earth, including actinides.
Look if man weren't to be trusted with the materials of the earth, then start with the right proportions ofsulfur, nitrogen, potassium or what we know as gunpowder.
But leave hops, barley, malt alone.
For that matter what about water?
There is no engineering magic wrt 40 years. It was based on amortization tables. Engineered structures properly cared for can last indefinitely as long as the materials can hold up. Look at the GG Bridge. Classic example. Google its 50th anniversary and tell me loading it with 350k pedestrians didn't give someone concern.
ReplyDeleteYou as a materials engineer understand the issues. Entitlement is really a canard. Reactors can be run at lower power extending plant life. Another issue is just tech itself. Nuclear plants are mostly analog machines because regulators just dont trust digital and computer vulnerability. Yet modern tech usually makes these machines more efficient. And that's what people usually squawk about, the economics.
Imagine modern nuclear operating as an inherently safe, self correcting machine that recycles its actinides in an optimal manner.
Both waste and safety issues dealt with by design.
It was called the IFR and Clinton killed it. For political reasons.
But the story doesnt end there.
Many reasonable people believe as I do that the technology is doable. Its not the hubris of man.
Man was meant to have dominion of all plants, animals, and minerals. The Bible tells us that.
That includes all elements of tge earth, including actinides.
Look if man weren't to be trusted with the materials of the earth, then start with the right proportions ofsulfur, nitrogen, potassium or what we know as gunpowder.
But leave hops, barley, malt alone.
For that matter what about water?
The technology is doable, the problem comes when you mix humans and nuclear on the same planet.
DeleteLook at the Beatty dump, look how many rules were broken, thousands of radioactive tools sold for profit....humans cannot be trusted.
Dominion over the animals doesn't mean we can throw them to a painful slow death, yet we are.