[OT] "Blackout prevention system activated as electricity demand set to spike" (14th Oct 2024)

Perfect timing with Sizewell B being down for maintenance.

It's only a matter of time before we get rolling blackouts and Ed Miliband telling us that 'we need more wind farms and solar panels'

And retiring most of our nuclear capacity by about 2028... juts in time to romp home toward "nett zero" by 2030 just as planned.

Of course the bit that everyone missed was the nett zero was not referring to carbon, but "days with adequate generation"!

And he will say: "I've been saying this for years"!

By the way, how much CO2 is generated when one of those huge rockets takes off from, and lands back at, Cape Canaveral?

And how much by missiles, drones, bombs and other means of warfare?

Not nearly as much as when a Russian ammo dump blows up and minuscule compared with a farting volcano.

Hartlepool and Heysham 1 are scheduled to cease production by 2026, and Heysham 2 and Torness in 2028. 3 AGR's have already ceased.

Doesn't that just leave Sizewell B ?, while the two new ones at Hinckley wont be providing power until into the 2030's, and that means not until

Start insulating NOW !.

Not quite. Hinkley should be on stream any year now, and its BIG.

"In January 2024, EDF presented three scenarios for the works, including when Unit 1 would become operational; with planned installation productivity a 2029 start costing £31 billion (2015 prices, £41.6 billion in 2024 prices), with less favourable installation productivity a 2030 start costing £34 billion (2015 prices, £46.5 billion in 2024 prices) or an unfavourable scenario with 2031 start costing £35 billion (2015 prices, £47.9 billion in 2024 prices)"

And Rolls Royce is targeting 2030 starts for it's SMRs.

What is changing and is likely to change even faster is that politicians have simply ignored nuclear because they had been advised with a green envelopes that 'renewables can do the job'

Its now clear that renewables cannot do the job, and that if we dont have nuclear or gas or coal we are simply f***ed,

Despite government already having had to provide additional funding of £10.7 billion, there remains a strong likelihood that more taxpayers’ money will be required to meet the costs of decommissioning the seven Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor nuclear power stations. The Nuclear Liabilities Fund, which was set up to meet the decommissioning costs of these stations, has not kept up with the increased costs of decommissioning or met its investment targets. In response, government has chosen to top up the Fund with taxpayers’ money, providing an injection of capital of £5.1 billion in 2020–21 with a further £5.6 billion expected in 2021–22. HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy have opted to maintain an investment strategy for the Fund whereby around 80% of its assets are invested in the National Loans Fund currently earning minimal returns. Estimated decommissioning costs on the other hand have almost doubled since March 2004, estimated at £23.5 billion in March 2021, and there remains a significant risk that the costs could rise further putting strain on the Fund. The Department has recently reached agreement with EDF Energy (EDFE) that after EDFE defuels the AGR stations the ownership of the stations will be transferred from the company to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to complete decommissioning. As part of the agreement the Department has introduced financial incentives to encourage cost-efficient defueling and station transfer: with EDFE potentially earning or paying out up to £100 million depending on its performance. The pace at which the stations can be defueled could have a big impact on the costs borne by the Fund, with the cost estimated to be between £3.1 billion and £8.0 billion depending on the time taken. However, the incentive on EDFE to potentially earn or lose £100 million does not appear sufficiently strong to fully incentivise cost efficiency and ensure a smooth transfer of defueled stations to the NDA. The NDA has a substantial amount of work to do in advance of taking ownership of the stations. We have previously commented on the scale of existing activities the NDA is undertaking, and are concerned about the organisation’s workload now that it is being asked to take on the seven AGR stations in addition to the decommissioning of the Magnox reactors, the treatment of radioactive material at Sellafield and the procurement of a deep underground nuclear storage facility. The Department will need to pay close attention to the NDA’s performance across the full span of its wide responsibilities to ensure it has the capacity and capability in place to deliver in the best interests of the taxpayer.

Oy, can't your News client soft-wrap text? This is 2024 and you're not using a typewriter.