UK Nuclear Fleet

[openspaceman]

Dan, having worked in the industry for many a year I would not count of the "two weeks early" statement until it actually happens

So is that where your moniker derives from?

Sadly my brother is no longer with us to explain the degradation of the graphite core over time.

[Moxi]

Ha ha no its not from magnox or mix oxide, TBH I suspect theres a few of us on here who could bore everyone with neutron and thermal decomposition of graphite and discuss the quarter scale graphite core that is held up in Warrington on its very own diagrid and is used for seismic and other studies to support AGR moderator safety cases.

Over the years I've worked on active stations, decommissioning stations and over in reprocessing as well as some over seas stuff.

Presently though I am having a break from the industry and working on water work which is a refreshing change of pace - not WW tho OGB

Moxi

[Swwils]

I wonder what EDF are leveraging against the government for consideration of keeping the two plants running longer?

Probably the nerve-wracking situation in the EU and lesser on the UK grid (connected by not syncho). Noone really likes our energy prices and more specifically generation capabilities being at the mercy of a giant pinball machine called whats-the-weather-like.



Just look at Germany. They have 146GW of RE installed and the last 30 days have produced **** all. (65% of total installed capacity in Dec so far returned 23% of total required electricity.) This is so laughably unsafe. Can't wait for them to have the 14TWh of chemical storage they need by 2035.





I don't understand why we are so confident in the UK nuclear fleet when we are doing so little to make it "younger" eventually it will be so old its gone.

[Oldgreybeard]

Presently though I am having a break from the industry and working on water work which is a refreshing change of pace - not WW tho OGB

Glad to hear that - they are not my favourite company right now (and I've still not heard a peep out of them, neither has our neighbour).

[Moxi]

Swwils, the uk fleet is basically at the end of its life anyone of the reactors still in service could irrevocably break between now and it’s official end of service date this is least likely for sizewell B which is a pwr but highly probable for the rest of the agr fleet.

The moderators aren’t in anything like the condition they hoped for the ages of the stations and added to that there’s the problems with heat shield corrosion, ratcheting fuel pins, boiler leaks and a hundred other items that when they fail will be hard for the reactors to continue.

We have been lucky so far that the people who conjure up remote operations and fixes have been able to address most issues but skill and expertise can only get us so far and the odds are stacking up against reactors most especially heysham stage 1 and Hartlepool as I said before it’s really fingers crossed that we get energy generator capacity transition and regional geo political stability achieved in time.

Moxi

Moxi

[Swwils]

Exactly! I don't understand why so many people are confident in what we got!

We need more pronto!

[nowty]

This is not going to help either,

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fw ... ndfalls%2F

Nuclear plants face shutdown over tax on windfalls. EDF warns it may be forced to shut two nuclear power stations, which supply 4pc of the UK's energy, early.

[Moxi]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/de ... f84824aace

Hmmm sounds suspiciously like a government trying to back track and recreate something their predecessors so carelessly dismantled not so many decades ago when it was no longer necessary because "the private sector shall provide for free"

When will they finally understand that nothing is free - everything done has effects/results, in the case of privatised industry we get the widget for price X which includes profit margin, the profit is what used to be termed re-investment in the old nationalised industries.

Agreed, in the old nationalised industries the re-investment funds where often swallowed up in bureaucracy but changing to private industry simply exchanged one investment drain for an investment syphon. Better to tackle the inefficiencies than dismantle the entire industry surely ? If not then what chance for the NHS?

Maybe they (Government) should consider the hybrid model with a of base nationalisation of essential infrastructure with a normalised market place where private investment can contribute? And maybe.....just maybe government should also consider being open honest and accountable to the nation otherwise people will become apathetic to voting and the system might break.

Moxi

[Swwils]

Eventually they will realise they can't load follow the wind and solar generation and it will be very too late to do anything about it.

It's already too late but it's only going to slide further.

It's the same silly reasoning as plowing ahead with the magnox despite the American designs.

[dan_b]

Great British Nuclear is ultimately all about Rolls Royce wanting to get its fingers in the "Small Modular Reactor" pie and not much else.
And I have serious concerns about SMRs as a concept.