Clean, efficient, unlimited

Gonz

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
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Is that supposed to be a nuclear power plant? The steam from the cooling towers is awfully dark.
 
Yes Inky....I saw the photo & liked it & thought it may be a conversation starter in here.
 
Nuclear power seems like an excellent solution until you think about Chernyobil. You'd like to think it couldn't happen here, but it very nearly did. Nothing like that could be perfectly safe, but if the construction and safety parameters were followed correctly, I think it's safe enough. I always thought the worst thing that happened at Three Mile Island was their refusal to acknowledge the problem.
 
The russian reactors are inherently dangerous, since the use graphite as a medium. The insanely safe CANDU reactors use heavy water. The chinese can't get them built fast enough.
 
Well, anyone preaching that tons of radioavtive waste is a clean alternative to a few birds killed by windfarms is insane in my book.
 
I don't have much trouble with the dead birds, but haven't they proven it takes a large number of them things to even start powering stuff? Like too large a number to make it possible?
 
Yep...and any birds that happen to meet a cruel fate can go right with a side of mashed potatoes and some salad. :grinyes:
 
If you can get 1 million dead birds to come back to life as hamsters and give them all wheels to run in for the rest of their life, you could generate enough power from that to heat a cup of coffee in 3 hours. :tardbang:
 
Professur said:
A small generator on everyone's house would lift about 50% of the burden off the grid.
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Used to know a guy who had three in AZ. Not sure the wind blows enough here to make it worthwhile, although it isn't very hard or expensive to build something that works. I do know that the Electric Cooperative I belong to buts electricity back if you generate more than you use (like that'll ever happen at my house). I'm not sure, but I think they have to. I solar heat my pool.

Oh, and Gato, I am not eating any pigeons or starlings.
 
Yeah, I've heard of people that have windmills for themselves actually selling electricity back to the company, but I think it just evens out eventually, you may produce a little extra in the spring, but come the middle of summer, you start using it up...
 
PuterTutor said:
Yeah, I've heard of people that have windmills for themselves actually selling electricity back to the company, but I think it just evens out eventually, you may produce a little extra in the spring, but come the middle of summer, you start using it up...
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Yeah, but it still defrays some of the cost. I've never really tried to figure out how long it woud take to pay for itself.
 
chcr said:
Nuclear power seems like an excellent solution until you think about Chernyobil. You'd like to think it couldn't happen here, but it very nearly did. Nothing like that could be perfectly safe, but if the construction and safety parameters were followed correctly, I think it's safe enough. I always thought the worst thing that happened at Three Mile Island was their refusal to acknowledge the problem.
Click to expand...
Not exactly. Chernobyl was a disaster caused by a series of events which have little to no chance of happening here in the US.

AFAIK, they were doing routine maintenence (changing fuel rods) and decided to do a little test. Lets see how slow we can get the reaction to happen without actually stopping it. The safety systems saw the reactor slowing down and automatically adjusted to increase power output. Looks like something is preventing the test, so what do they do? Reach behind the control panels and disconnect the safety system altogether.

When they noticed the core heating up, it was too late. Engaging the emergency shutoff systems was to drop the rods into the core to stop all reactions, but the core had already heated much too fast and expanded enough to prevent the rods from going all the way in. Coolant was supposed to flood the core as another precaution but the extreme pressure kept it from coming in at all. Runaway reaction, hydrogen explosion, and ultimately the venting of the core.

Its Soviet Russia we're talking about here. Far from the king of safety. Chernobyl had walls a fraction the size of today's standard plant. Bet you can't get near, much less disconnect the safety systems in a nuclear power plant today either. ;)

I don't endorse this "organization" at all, but there are some pretty sobering pictures here: http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/nukes/chernob/cherfoto.html

As for wind power, it requires an average windspeed to be profitable/economical. An average windspeed that even we don't have here in KS. :p There's another thread around here from just a few months ago with more info on it.
 
Beyond all the dead birds, wind-power has a few downsides to it.
First of all, it does take an awful lot of them to give a reasoneable amount of power.
The area they take up cannot be used for anything else, not farming, not parks etc...
In order to increase output, the fans have to be very large, and generally spin fairly close to the earth. They require wind-access...that is, you have to clear-cut everything from around them in order to maintain a good wind.
They are surprisingly maintenance-heavy...despite their simplicity.
Their output doesn't match their size...physically...they're not even 1/20th as efficient as nuclear power-plants.
BEcause of clear-cutting, there is an upset in the natural surroundings around them...soil-errosion, displacement of animals etc..

Good points.
no waste-products
80% retention of energy (minimal loss of power because of a lack of cooling necessary to run them)
 
Natural gas
Ocean-wave power generators
Hydro-electric
Fusion/fission generators

There are numerous alternatives... all aiming to replace oil and coal as the next energy power.
 
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