West Burton to be site for Nuclear Fusion Reactor

[julianf]

Well I think it's diabolical I cant go to the local seaside without looking at godforsaken wind turbines. And for this privilege they charge you more for electricity. Can't see a fn thing going down the road with these new streetlamps. Low wattage ceiling rose leds. Price goes up. Tv only consume what now 30w? Price goes up. It's all backwards

Isn't offshore wind about the cheapest way of generating electricity now?

If there's issues with where the money is going, maybe a significant number of people should express their displeasure at government.

I mean, surely it's not the fault of the technology, but how the country has been managed?

 

[maroon]

Isn't offshore wind about the cheapest way of generating electricity now?

If there's issues with where the money is going, maybe a significant number of people should express their displeasure at government.

I mean, surely it's not the fault of the technology, but how the country has been managed?

Well they've been up a few years, made the streets dimmer, and electricity got up twofold. If that's the cheapest way there's something amiss.

 

[daleyd]

Imagine if pure fusion bombs had been developed without the fision component.

MAD would probably not have worked but humanity would have probably survived.

The world would be somewhat different, that's for sure.

I don’t think there’s any way they could have done it without fission…certainly not as a weapon anyhow, even today they can only do it for short periods at the scale of a huge laboratory along with all the stuff that goes with it, so without fission doing the donkey work then it would never work as something you could stick on top of a rocket.

 

[julianf]

I don’t think there’s any way they could have done it without fission…certainly not as a weapon anyhow, even today they can only do it for short periods at the scale of a huge laboratory along with all the stuff that goes with it, so without fission doing the donkey work then it would never work as something you could stick on top of a rocket.

Sure, I'm not saying it happend... But just considering it all the same!

The spectre of nuclear winters have haunted the world for the bulk of the period since the second world war, excluding a small window from the fall of the USSR until now.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Isn't offshore wind about the cheapest way of generating electricity now?

Well it might be the cheapest way to generate electricity...but don't they basically just charge us the same as the other sources for said electricity so really nobody notices the difference?

"nobody" referring to consumers of course.

 

[brightspark]

Well it might be the cheapest way to generate electricity...but don't they basically just charge us the same as the other sources for said electricity so really nobody notices the difference?

"nobody" referring to consumers of course.

its not just electric our gas and oil is sold for the same international price we dont benefit

 

[daleyd]

Well it might be the cheapest way to generate electricity...but don't they basically just charge us the same as the other sources for said electricity so really nobody notices the difference?

"nobody" referring to consumers of course.

It’s a quirk of the way the energy market works, all generators get the price of the energy source that is used to balance the grid, which is almost always gas. So wind, nuclear, solar all get paid higher prices when gas price goes up, despite their costs remaining broadly the same. This is what people mean when they talk about electricity price being linked to gas prices, amd it’s not just a British thing it’s the same all over Europe.

It really shouldn’t be that way but it is, and there seems to be no easy way to change it. For years hardly anyone even knew about it as gas prices were low, it’s only really become apparent since gas prices sky rocketed I’m the last 12 months or so.

 

[8ob]

its not just electric our gas and oil is sold for the same international price we dont benefit

Its not "ours" BS and never will be, it belongs to the E&P companies. "Our" bit is the relatively small bit the government claws back in revenue.

Bob

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

It really shouldn’t be that way but it is, and there seems to be no easy way to change it.

I guess one way to look at it is that the higher profits act as an incentive for investors to put money into renewables....so maybe it's not all bad.

I've often thought there should be a minimum price for oil/gas...as that would remove the undercutting risk for renewables.

 

[premmington]

Its not "ours" BS and never will be, it belongs to the E&P companies. "Our" bit is the relatively small bit the government claws back in revenue.

Bob

I had to think about the above a bit @8ob - but you are right - it is not ours - it does belong to the exploration and production companies.

 

[500e]

Remember your pension is part of those payouts

 

[toddy]

i am now here...
this was released to us last night as well.
STEP is going to be a small fusion reactor with a proposed 2-300MW output.
it is being funded by the UK government and involves alot of local suppliers.
and so far we(the world) have ran a reactor for nearly 17 min's (the Chinese one), the uk ones have been investigating how to stablise the plasma.

yes i can see it going over budget, as the ITER project is France is massively over budget and running late, but some of that is due to all the different country's involved with building it and such

 

[Hood]

Its not "ours" BS and never will be, it belongs to the E&P companies. "Our" bit is the relatively small bit the government claws back in revenue.

Bob

It was or at least the majority of it was until Nigel sold it off

 

[Shox Dr]

They were on about building that here [Goole]. Where it is to be built has been on the cards for a long while.

 

[fizzy]

Wind farms and nuclear plants - but I guess you are ok with nuclear plants doing it?

Of course I am not. But barely worth a mention as we have so little left

 

[fizzy]

Anyone see the documentary about Drax last night?
Makes my blood boil as I knew it would. Along with all this renewable subsidised stuff.

 

[Fastdruid]

i am now here...
this was released to us last night as well.
STEP is going to be a small fusion reactor with a proposed 2-300MW output.
it is being funded by the UK government and involves alot of local suppliers.
and so far we(the world) have ran a reactor for nearly 17 min's (the Chinese one), the uk ones have been investigating how to stablise the plasma.

yes i can see it going over budget, as the ITER project is France is massively over budget and running late, but some of that is due to all the different country's involved with building it and such

AIUI partly due to the funding methodology as well. For example with some made up numbers they'll go "here's 100M over 10y so every month you get 800k". Except they need to spend 20M on ordering big ticket stuff "now" but they don't have the money yet so everyone sits round burning cash for three years before they can order the stuff they needed from the start!

 

[Screwdriver]

One of the many problems facing the development of nuclear fusion is the sheer amount of power required to initiate and sustain it. Never mind the deep and I suggest insurmountable technical problems; with energy prices the way they are, I wonder if we could even afford to switch the thing on. Yes, once it's going you stuff the output back up its own input but you got to get the thing runnning first and with net positive energy greater than a dozen kettles (!).

Ergo, the amount of power required to kick start these fantastic creations is not far short of the entire output of - a nuclear power station!

 

[piman]

Hello all,

as I understand West Burton is due to close next April, however it would make more sense. in the current situation of gas shortage, to keep it running, if it is still operationally viable, as is true of all coal staions scheduled to close soon.
It was a mistake to plan their closure leaving us with gas as the only source of reliable power that does all of the grid's load balancing. (It is not just back up as the media keep saying but the backbone of the grid)
While nuclear fusion being pioneered this way is good, why not choose a site that is already closed?, Trawsfynydd comes to mind, having worked there in the past, or Wylfa Head, both nuclear sites.
Our governments, of all colours have consistently failed to consider the essential matter of energy security highly enough, and their lack of foresight is showing itself now.

Alec

PS to those asking if wind isn't the cheapest source of electricity, no it isn't, when all costs are included, and it won't get any cheaper either. Apart from other points, consider that however much renewable generation capacity is grid connected you must also have an equivalent amount of reliable capacity available. i.e. double the assets. You could simply not have built the renewables in the first place and still have enough power.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

That said the construction will probably end up massively over budget,take many years more than expected and be unfit for purpose by the time its built.

What, you mean like the Western Isles ferries fiasco up here?