Will Brits Freeze in the Dark?

[HankB]

. . . and are we headed down the same path with cap-and-tax?

An article at a Brit website asserts that Britain is facing a power shortfall in the not-too-distant future, thanks to the closure of coal power plants (EU climate change directive) and the impending shut-down of nuke plants that are approaching the presumed end of their useful life.

The admission that Britain will face power-cuts is contained in a document that accompanied the Government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan, which was launched in July.

Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, outlined the plan amid much fanfare.

Under the plan, 40 per cent of the UK’s electricity will need to come from low-carbon energy sources including clean coal, nuclear and renewables.

So . . . will the greenies hang tough and force power cuts, or will the Brits choose to keep the lights on instead? Stay tuned . . .

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/6118113/Britain-facing-blackouts-for-first-time-since-1970s.html

[Fly320s]

There is some talk (no link handy) that Scotland released the PanAm bomber in part to gain future access to oil from the mid-east.

Tinfoil theory?  Maybe.

[AZRedhawk44]

Shutdown of old nuke reactors just means you can rebuild a newer, higher efficiency one.

Unless... you can't tear down and build over a reactor due to fallout of the debris.

Anyone know?

The Brits can always buy juice from the French, too.  The French love their nuke reactors.

I also don't think the Brits get much oil from the middle east.  I bet most of their crude comes from the Baltic Sea platforms, and the rest from Russia.  I think most middle east oil goes to Africa, Australia and Asia.

We get most of our foreign oil from Canada, Mexico and South America.  Dragging it all the way from the middle east is an energy-expensive proposition.

[MillCreek]

I thought that the UK got a great deal of hydrocarbon products from the North Sea off the coast of Scotland.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Shutdown of old nuke reactors just means you can rebuild a newer, higher efficiency one.

Unless... you can't tear down and build over a reactor due to fallout of the debris.

Anyone know?

It is technologically possible to "tear down" a nuclear power plant.  The procedure isn't the usual wrecking ball job, it's more of a piece-by-piece dismantling, but the end result is the same either way.

That's not to say it is politically or legally possible to tear down and rebuild a nuke plant in Britain.  I don't know enough about local politics in Britain to know whether their greenies can prevent work on nuke plants in Britain the way greenies here in the US routinely do.

[vaskidmark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzlFaY0s_QI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fbayourenaissanceman%2Eblogspot%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded

Dame Vera Lynn has a few words on the subject.  Listen.

stay safe.

skidmark

[Firethorn]

That's not to say it is politically or legally possible to tear down and rebuild a nuke plant in Britain.  I don't know enough about local politics in Britain to know whether their greenies can prevent work on nuke plants in Britain the way greenies here in the US routinely do.

I'm willing to bet that if you double or quintuple the price of electricity the greens will start getting shouted down.  I view this as a problem because then you get rushed building of nuke plants, but even then you can have them up safely in 3-5 years.

[MicroBalrog]

Welcome to my world.

[Standing Wolf]

What's the problem? The U.K. has been living in the dark for decades.

[xsquidgator]

Shutdown of old nuke reactors just means you can rebuild a newer, higher efficiency one.

Unless... you can't tear down and build over a reactor due to fallout of the debris.

Anyone know?

The Brits can always buy juice from the French, too.  The French love their nuke reactors.

I also don't think the Brits get much oil from the middle east.  I bet most of their crude comes from the Baltic Sea platforms, and the rest from Russia.  I think most middle east oil goes to Africa, Australia and Asia.

We get most of our foreign oil from Canada, Mexico and South America.  Dragging it all the way from the middle east is an energy-expensive proposition.

It is a piece by piece dismantling and cleanup process (ex-Navy nuc here, and went through one submarine decommissioning).  If the plant is shut down for good, the nuclear fuel has to be removed and taken away, and any high-level spent fuel waste has to be taken away too if there was some on site.  In the US this is either/or kept in a swimming pool (blue glowing metal boxes in the water) and/or a concrete armored "dry cask".
Then, the low-level radioactive waste is taken apart and buried somewhere, that's stuff like piping and valves that carried radioactive materials, and a whole bunch of other stuff that doesn't have much radioactivity in it.

There's no technical reason why you couldn't put another nuclear power plant up on the same site, but I'm not aware of that ever being done anywhere.  If nothing else the useful life of civilian power reactors is on the order of 30-40 years+, and the technology has improved so much since the retiring ones were built that it doesn't make much sense to keep re-using the same old equipment (I'm guessing) even if you could put another brand new reactor in the containment building where the old one used to be.

[drewtam]

If the plant is shut down for good, the nuclear fuel has to be removed and taken away, and any high-level spent fuel waste has to be taken away too if there was some on site.  In the US this is either/or kept in a swimming pool (blue glowing metal boxes in the water) and/or a concrete armored "dry cask".

France reprocesses its spent fuel. My guess is that Uk could do the same or leverage France's facilities.

[Monkeyleg]

I recall reading some years back that there's enough oil off the costs of Britain for the country to be completely energy self-sufficient, but the environmentalists were blocking any drilling.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I recall reading some years back that there's enough oil off the costs of Britain for the country to be completely energy self-sufficient, but the environmentalists were blocking any drilling.

Doesn't that sound familiar?