UK Wind Record

[Moxi]

There were always a series of design changes between pairs of stations as they sought to overcome / improve on the previous pairs of stations, another interesting fact about Hartlepool and HYS stg 1 was that the nuclear island and the turbine hall were close coupled. This was done to reduce the site footprint and improve thermal efficiency by having a short steam run.

Another great idea, however belatedly and post commissioning (IIRC), it was realised that if the main sea water condenser circuit failed and flooded the basement of the turbine hall it would also flood the coolant circulation fan level of the reactor and therefore there had to be considerable work done to build a baffle wall and seal around a multitude of pipes and cable runs to ensure this couldn't occur.

This idea was therefore not present in the latter designed AGR's.

Over the years the UK has done a lot of excellent work with reactor's of various designs for various reasons and we have an excellent cohort of theoretical and practical technical academics, but nuclear was and remains very very expensive and it has a waste stream that hangs around almost as long as the CO2 that we are desperate to remove from the atmosphere so its application for power generation needs to be considered within those limitations and applied accordingly - a decision which I believe should not be made by short term political needs lest we end up with the same mess that Mrs Thatcher and her colleagues (on each side of the house) got us into through the 70's and 80's.

In short build, if they must, for the right reasons ie build for power production and longevity and make it a sovereign funded national investment and run it on a not for profit but for replacement basis when pricing the power for sale.

Moxi

[dan_b]

Goodness me.

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

[Adokforme]

Just been on -
https://grid.iamkate.com/
It's showing wind at 20.75 GW, Solar 2.3, emissions 71g/MWh and a price of £0.00/MWh!

A good time to be on Octopus Agile I assume!

[nowty]

Goodness me.

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

The remaining reactor at Sizewell B was scheduled to be shutdown today.

Heysham 1 reactor 2 is now ramping back up, otherwise we would be under 2GW. Interestingly, no coal is being burnt and the wind is blowing at near record levels.

[Moxi]

Depending when it went back on line the Heysham reactor will need to hold at 50% for between 18 and 48 hours to scrub the Zenon gas from the coolant before they can power up to full load.

Moxi

[Moxi]

Xenon 135 sorry for the naff spelling

Moxi

[nowty]

Depending when it went back on line the Heysham reactor will need to hold at 50% for between 18 and 48 hours to scrub the Zenon gas from the coolant before they can power up to full load.

Xenon 135 sorry for the naff spelling

Don't you just love nuclear power.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenon-135

"If sufficient reactivity control authority is available, the reactor can be restarted, but the xenon burn-out transient must be carefully managed. As the control rods are extracted and criticality is reached, neutron flux increases many orders of magnitude and the 135Xe begins to absorb neutrons and be transmuted to 136Xe. The reactor burns off the nuclear poison. As this happens, the reactivity and neutron flux increases, and the control rods must be gradually reinserted to counter the loss of neutron absorption by the 135Xe.

Otherwise, the reactor neutron flux will continue to increase, burning off even more xenon poison, on a path to runaway criticality."

[Moxi]

Honestly yes I do love the physics of it but this is another example of why nuclear power doesn't lend itself to a private investor / operator type of model because the pressure to cut the ESSENTIAL safety measures in pursuit of profit is an added risk we just cannot make with a nuclear reactor.

The men and women who run out reactors and deal with the waste arising's are to be applauded for the diligent work they do and the fact that over the decades our nuclear incidents have been modest in their impact on the environment and humans.

But there are recorded instances where just this sort of thing has occurred, Davis Besse and Chernobyl being two excellent examples of where people have subverted Reactor safety measures in pursuit of profit and increased output.

Nuclear can work but not in the way its currently deployed and it does need joined up thinking to limit the waste stream., again we know how to do that but we "cant afford to do it because of the costs".

All the waste produced over the last 50 years in the uk could be safely transmuted to inert material by "burning" it up in a fast breeder reactor but that reactor needs to be built and operated at a loss to achieve the correct outcome and is a cost no one is willing to pick up.

As applied at present its an imperfect application of appropriate technology.

Moxi

[Moxi]

By the way, if any of you ever fancied "driving" a nuclear reactor then I can thoroughly recommend the following web site and FREE simulation package:

https://acmenuclearservices.com/

Its an excellent warts and all simulation package that brings home the possibilities and limitations of a reactor and turbine set - I have run this package for over a decade and still have routine scrams and learning events.

Moxi

[nowty]

Nuke is even lower now.
2.07 GW

EDIT - Looking back through the gridwatch data it hit a low of 2.061 GW just before 2pm today.