Energy prices.

[jsf55]

My latest energy saving idea.
Aga still lit as weather not great here.
Kitchen is 20c - too warm for me.
Living room 16C. Can't be bothered to light the woodburner.
Tried this. Living room now 18C and nice
Hasn't fallen off - yet!

My cousin husband added some ducting in his house too pull the exceedingly hot air in the top of the conservatory which was south facing and dump it into his front room which was north facing, making it surprisingly warm and all done with a 4" fan on a thermostat !

 

[Barking Mat]

Yes exactly.
I use a quick release magnet to get most out. In fairness I only empty it about every 10 days. Very little ash and about 15kg of nails.
Swept the chimney last week. First time in 2 years. Only about a sugar bag of soot. I was astonished. I had to sweep the Rayburn chimney in the farmhouse every month or there would be a chimney fire. Usually 2 tesco bags full of soot each time. Burning the same wood!

We've a Rayburn, the more nails we have seem to slow down the burn, block the grate.

Don't remove them, just the ash which filters through.

Well maybe every couple of months.

Ceiling mounted fan, top idea, never thought of that.

Not lit the fire in six weeks.

 

[Kayos]

Moving towards not having gas and coal and standby

UK Grid Works Out How to Restart With Renewables After Blackout

The UK’s National Grid Plc has learned how to get the British network up and running after a blackout by using green power.

www.bloomberg.com

(Might ask you to subscribe, just refresh for a free trial, about 10 articles)

 

[fizzy]

Moving towards not having gas and coal and standby

UK Grid Works Out How to Restart With Renewables After Blackout

The UK’s National Grid Plc has learned how to get the British network up and running after a blackout by using green power.

www.bloomberg.com

(Might ask you to subscribe, just refresh for a free trial, about 10 articles)

So what do we use if we have a typical 2 week winter lull of wind power?

 

[Kayos]

So what do we use if we have a typical 2 week winter lull of wind power?

No idea, but it shows that the people in charge, thankfully, do not rely on the Daily Mail for information, unlike most of the green energy opponents

At a guess I'd say open cycle gas turbines, as these can be started from cold and do not need to be kept warm

 

[Maker]

At a guess I'd say open cycle gas turbines, as these can be started from cold and do not need to be kept warm

Diesel generators I believe, Hinkley C will have 12, 20MW each, for station black outs. The article wasn't saying fossil fuels won't be used, just that they don't have to be used.

 

[fizzy]

Diesel generators I believe, Hinkley C will have 12, 20MW each, for station black outs. The article wasn't saying fossil fuels won't be used, just that they don't have to be used.

I should think Hinkley will have those to power the pumps to stop another Fukishima - fortunately we don't get many tidal waves here

 

[reb78]

I should think Hinkley will have those to power the pumps to stop another Fukishima - fortunately we don't get many tidal waves here

I was going to say similar. Dungeness had similar to power the plant in the event of an emergency.

 

[fizzy]

You don’t remember the 1630s(?) tsunami that apparently left debris on exmoor or dartmoor, then?

Reports say it may have been caused by part of the Canary islands slipping into the sea, I think.

Not often but always a (very) small risk.

At Fukishina nobody actually died from the radiation. It was the tidal wave itself that killed so many.

 

[Hood]

There was one in Scotland as well but a wee bit before my time.

 

[500e]

I should think Hinkley will have those to power the pumps to stop another Fukishima - fortunately we don't get many tidal waves here

Not quite the devastation of Fukishema
https://www.burnham-on-sea.com/history/1607-flood/

In Photos: Burnham-On-Sea 1981 storm left trail of damage and flooding

www.burnham-on-sea.com

 

[merryman]

Anyone with half a brain would put steam powered pumps for feed water right next to the reactor so any power outage would only result in a steam valve needing to be opened and feed water pumped in. This was standard practice for steam boilers for factories at one time to prevent blow ups if the electric pumps failed. The fact that nuclear inspectors don't apparently insist on this, does not reflect well on their abilities to keep us safe.

 

[addjunkie]

Anyone with half a brain would put steam powered pumps for feed water right next to the reactor so any power outage would only result in a steam valve needing to be opened and feed water pumped in. This was standard practice for steam boilers for factories at one time to prevent blow ups if the electric pumps failed. The fact that nuclear inspectors don't apparently insist on this, does not reflect well on their abilities to keep us safe.

All these things are considered at the LOPA stage after the design is established. Even with steam pumps you would still need back up, and start up capability. And no boiler should blow up due to feed pump failure. There should be enough protection devices to shut it down well before any damage and the PSVs lift.

 

[fizzy]

My point was that the pumps would be overwhelmed, not the number of dead. An exploded nuclear power station in the UK might be much the same outcome as at Fukushima

They don't explode. Modern designs are fail safe anyway.

 

[merryman]

That is exactly what happened at Fucushima, no electric so no feed water to cool the reactor.

 

[Maker]

Fukushima had steam driven pumps, just like the diesel generators they stopped working after becoming flooded.

 

[m_c]

If you've ever seen the details about Fukishima, you'd quickly realise the backup generator location was a major oversight.
It really doesn't take a genius to realise putting all the backup generators in the basement on a tsunami risk coast line, isn't a good idea.

I know that Torness has 4 backup generators, one at each corner of the site, and any individual one is capable of providing the required power to ensure a safe shutdown should it lose grid connection.

It was during an attempted emergency shut down test using turbine inertia to power the cooling pumps that Chernobyl exploded. However that wasn't the main reason it went into meltdown. That was a mix of poor decisions, lack of knowledge, and a key design flaw not being disclosed to the operators.

 

[addjunkie]

Mobile and portable team engines /boilers had safety plug fuses, which melted if the temperature became too high - probably after the safety valves had already blown off, due to over-pressure, for some time.

The advantage for mobile, or portable, steam engines was any water remaining in the boiler would help to dampen down the fire.

Factories would simply need to continue after the incident. I expect electric pumps were likely not available, or quite unreliable, back when factories were steam powered? Mobile steam engines used injectors to maintain the boiler level, so why not in the case of a factory boiler?

Your describing low pressure fire tube boilers which generally generate low pressure wet steam. Anypump can be used to get water in providing it can over come the boiler pressure.

To increase efficiency water tube boilers are used operating at much higher pressures generating superheated steam. Inside these the water is inide the tubes and there are multiple drums with tubes designed and configured to protect some tubes from direct heat impact.

 

[daleyd]

They don't explode. Modern designs are fail safe anyway.

That’s a mighty bold statement.

 

[qwakers]

It was during an attempted emergency shut down test using turbine inertia to power the cooling pumps that Chernobyl exploded. However that wasn't the main reason it went into meltdown. That was a mix of poor decisions, lack of knowledge, and a key design flaw not being disclosed to the operators.

you mean having the control rod tips covered in graphite so as they where inserted they momentarily and exponentially accelerated the reaction?