UK Wind Record

[Tinbum]

Lord this is looking very grim. 3 out of 9 at full load!!

https://www.edfenergy.com/energy/power- ... y-statuses

[nowty]

Even grimmer when Sizewell B Reactor 1 goes offline on Friday, although Heysham 1 Reactor 2 might come back by then.

[nowty]

Jeez, I've just noticed Hartlepool Reactor 1 is also now shutting down to address a steam leak.

If Heysham 1 does not come back we will be under 2GW by the end of the week.

[dan_b]

Crikey - that doesn't look good

[Moxi]

Bear in mind Heysham 1 and Hartlepool are sister stations of the same design and equipment so what ails one usually ails the other so there's every chance that if the steam leak is large and in an unusual spot they may be forced to check the pod boilers at Heysham one and the other Hartlepool reactor.

Must be quite a leak for them to be scramming to address it - Pod boilers are not easy boilers to work on either !

Clearly we are in need of plenty of baked beans ................Pharrp!

Moxi

[dan_b]

What's a Pod boiler?

[Mr Gus]

What's a Pod boiler?

https://appliedphotonics.co.uk/images/P ... 015%29.pdf

Might help, ..just googled it.

& in brief a clipping for a book from elsewhere..

"Abstract
From international nuclear industries fair; Basel, Switzerland (16 Oct 1972). Progress in the design and construction of the Hartlepool and Heysham prestressed concrete pressure vessels is described. Future applications of the multi-cavity vessel are analyzed"

[Moxi]

Pod boilers were the "answer" to boiler leaks in nuclear stations, the original design concept was withdrawable boilers that could be craned out and laid down to work on or replaced.

The design required complex spiral wound boiler tubes mounted around a strong back spine that carried the load, the full assembly was then lowered into the concrete bio shield in to its residence position and a sealing flange bolted over to maintain coolant seal and pressure.

Sadly at a later inspection the cast in anchor bolts were found to be corroded and the whole assemble was welded into place to prevent an accidental depressurisation and coolant leak - not to mention the fact that the pod boiler (hundreds of tonnes) could have been ejected from its position to fall somewhere on or close to the reactor building. Thus ended what was a conceptually good idea for addressing a life limiting factor for reactors at that time.

https://thermopedia.com/content/638/

Modern advances in remote access means that the embedded boilers in the other AGRs which are more typical of the U style boiler tube assembly are easier to access inspect and repair (internally) without anyone needing to venture inside the bio shield.

In those reactor types the boilers are part of the Neutron shield thickness meaning less concrete is cast but those boilers are activated by neutron bombardment and do become brittle so at the point of decommissioning you have multiple hundreds of tonnes of boiler steel that has to wait tens of years for the daughter products to decay away the most prolific in mass of course being Iron 55 with a half life of 2.7 years.

Its easy to manage while it decays but it does add time.

Moxi

[dan_b]

Fascinating stuff Moxi thank you!

[Tinbum]

Nuclear at 2.17 !!!!!!!!!