OT: Electric cars actually burn fossil fuels

[Commander Kinsey]

Since we can buy and sell electricity to other countries, presumably it's always windy somewhere. Or we need a lot of pumped storage dams, or batteries (although those are very expensive).

[Commander Kinsey]

Indeed, although if we were 100% nuclear, how would they adjust for load throughout the day? I don't think you can switch those on and off quickly.

[Commander Kinsey]

Voting should require an IQ test.

[Commander Kinsey]

Carbon maybe. Lithium though....

[rbowman]

There are challenges; do they outweigh those presented by solar/thermal/wind ?

[rbowman]

While that would help eliminate the ones sitting on the stoop with a can of Colt 45 some of the most destructive people in the world are quite intelligent.

[invalid unparseable]

Around here, the same politicians that are telling us the seas are rising are allowing construction closer to the water.

[Ralph Mowery]

I would likt to see a W2 form or a social security payment for those over 62 to let them vote. Also ID with a picture on it. Just like the requirements for some allegery medicine.

[SteveW]

Not only can you adjust the output of a reactor to an extent, but you can also dump power into Hydrogen production, desalination and the like, whenever there is too much capacity.

Charging cars at night, electric central heating, electric hot water cylinders, can all absorb power at night, levelling out demand - France have done that for decades, with their chaufe eau.

[charles]

and, in the UK, pumped storage. The pumped storage site at Glen Cruachan was built to work with Hunterston.

[SteveW]

Yes, but I deliberately excluded pumped storage, because while great for smoothing out sudden loads (half-time in a world-cup match for instance), the capacity is relatively small and there are only a limited number of places where it could be built, without huge social and environmental costs.

Desalination plants could run only at times of low demand and store the water in existing reservoirs, to preserves aquifers (especially in the south), while Hydrogen could be produced at similar times and stored for use in vehicles, home heating, etc. where the alternatives are too costly or too disruptive at the moment.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Well, that would let me out. We're currently getting by on his SSDI payments and our cash savings. At some point I'll file for SSI, and we've got $1 million in our retirement savings, but I'm currently without visible means of support.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Nuclear can be ramped up and down between about 30% and full power at about 15% an hour.

However: i) this isn't fast enough for some peaks, so you still need a bit of hydro in there. ii) it gets less effective the older the fuel is, so the French typically only do it to reasonably recently refuelled reactors. iii) the Natrium project expects to use large quantities of molten salt both as a heat exchanger and as a heat bank, to cover diurnal demand fluctuations. This makes a very flexible reactor that can be to some extent modulated both above and below its nominal output. With a few of these in the grid you wouldn't even need the hydro.

Note renewables can't do any of this. All you can to is switch them off, and since their business model depends on selling everything they can produce, you have to pay them just as much to switch them off. Another reason why renewables are so f****ng expensive and useless.

[The Natural Philosopher]

If you actually analyse the flows you find that Dinorwig and Ffestiniog and Cruachan allow one less Nuke than would otherwise be the case.

What is needed is around 45GW of baseload nuclear, much of which would be undergoing maintenance and refuelling in te summer. Then short term peaks are catered for by hydro and probably molten slat heat banks on natrium style reactors

You would probably still keep some gas for e.g. a cold winter week or two. ® borrow Norways hydro.

The only sure thing is that intermittent renewables have no purpose whatsoever on a nuclear grid.

[Paul]

"The reactor Mitsubishi is developing will be mid-size with output ranging from 600 megawatts to a gigawatt.

It will employ a new drive system for its control rods, enabling the reactor to cut output by half in just 17 minutes -- a quarter of the time at present. Smaller adjustments can be made in less time."

Many mistakes have been made with the design of control rods and delivery systems, so fiddling with stuff like this (on established reactors) doesn't always end well. One reactor has a positive void coefficient at a certain position of the control rod.

It's not exactly all fun and games. Some reactors are a bitch to manage, and the operators are physically exhausted at the end of the day, from the strain (of not making mistakes). You have to watch the balance across the reactor core, watch for hot spots or anomalies, and adjust for them. One reason the reactor has a "personality" is the refueling pattern and the difference between the fuel fill on one rod and the one next to it. They never change out all the rods at the same time... on continuously-refueling reactors.

This means the operator who was running it yesterday, is the best person to run it today.

Paul

[rbowman]

Just bring your annual SSI statement. +1 on the ID. It is very easy to register in this state but they even have PSA's on the radio telling you exactly what you'll need to bring to do so. That includes anything from a DL to a Tribal ID but it will have your puss on it.

[rbowman]

Gonna be a hell of a long time before Montana has beachfront property on salt water. Even Lake Missoula went downstream about 13,000 years ago.

[invalid unparseable]

Delaware is the lowest state with a mean elevation of sixty feet. I live on the high end but near the shore they keep cramming in more and more housing. One of these days a hurricane will make a left turn up the Delaware river and wreck havoc.

[Scott Lurndal]

Climate change even affects Montana.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Interesting. Our high point in Florida is 105 feet less than Delaware but the mean is higher.