The Return Of Nuclear Power !?!

[daleyd]

Marvel's Avengers series was actually about Thanos the hero who tried to do exactly this by getting some infinity stones and snapping his fingers to make 50% of the people in universe disappear painlessly, but got thwarted by the bad guys who undid what he had acheived. It was actually a tragic story

Soylent Green was a much more practical solution

 

[mike os]

Soylent Green was a much more practical solution

and tasty too

 

[Farside]

Surely the elephant in the room of all the world's problems is too many people? Or rather if there were less people the problems wouldn't be so great? You don't need to be carol vorderman to know that 50% less people means 50% less consumption of absolutely everything, food, water, energy, housing etc... I'm not suggesting bumping people off, but probably the biggest contribution to climate change somebody could make is not going on less holidays or cycling to work once a month but having less children.

Of course.
I've done my bit, and look forward to the day when there's a Universal Random Steriliser Virus.

 

[Farside]

Hey ! Your all wrong...
Whatever it is...She is against it....

Thunberg, Indigenous protesters block Norway energy ministry over wind farms

Environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other activists on Monday blocked entrances to Norway's energy ministry, protesting against wind turbines built on land traditionally used by Indigenous Sami reindeer herders.

www.reuters.com

There's probably more to it.

 

[Erie Fred]

There's probably more to it.

No...probably not, she'll take any little fact, twist it and brew it up to a full blown crisis.

 

[pawsnizzy]

There's probably more to it.

Which she wouldn't understand or comprehend because she's never in school

 

[CornishPete]

One of my favourites!

 

[fizzy]

Relying on battery storage and electric cars may not be such a good idea after all. The material for the batteries comes from some very dodgy areas.

A $1.5 billion hoard of copper and cobalt is piling up in Congo

By now, there are about 120,000 tons of copper and around 12,500 tons of cobalt stuck waiting to leave the country.

www.mining.com

 

[brewdexta]

Brown sold out at the very bottom. The graph is V shaped hence the term Brown Bottom. Most countries kept hold of a big part of their reserves. He also sold off £50 billion of British state assets including Westinghouse.
Economy wise Labour did well at the start. Blair said they would stick to Majors fiscal policy as it was working so well. That all changed when Brown became chancellor.
This latest shower are no better though tbh.

It is interesting how many screw ups happen and nobody resigns or gets sacked. For example, Norman Lamont and the ERM debacle back in 1992. He lost £3.3 Billion in one day and kept his job. I was working down Threadneedle Street on that day, watching the trading system infrastructure being monitored, I was working for BT at the time. The systems were teetering on the brink before the government decided that they had given enough cash to their mates and Soros and exited the ERM.

I can imagine the scene afterwards

PM - "Eh Norman, how's it going?"
Chancellor "its not been the best of days, I've just cost the taxpayer over 3 billion quid"
PM "oh, no, bad show old bean, I heard that rotter Soros trousered about a billion"
Chancellor "Don't worry, the hedge funds run by our mates made 2 billion - lashings of ginger beer all round! Are you still sorting out Eggy Edwina?"
PM "ok, keep shtum about that and you don't have to resign"

Relying on battery storage and electric cars may not be such a good idea after all. The material for the batteries comes from some very dodgy areas.

A $1.5 billion hoard of copper and cobalt is piling up in Congo

By now, there are about 120,000 tons of copper and around 12,500 tons of cobalt stuck waiting to leave the country.

www.mining.com

Is that the same stuff they make batteries for phones, mobility scooters and laptops too? Best stop using them too

 

[daleyd]

Is that the same stuff they make batteries for phones, mobility scooters and laptops too? Best stop using them too

And best shut your eyes before you look at where a good portion of the worlds oil and uranium deposits are....

 

[Erie Fred]

And best shut your eyes before you look at where a good portion of the worlds oil and uranium deposits are....

IIRC Connecticut is full of Thorium, apparently not very deep either (10' or so).
Candu reactor seems reasonable.

 

[fizzy]

And best shut your eyes before you look at where a good portion of the worlds oil and uranium deposits are....

Oil supplies are a lot more widespread than cobalt. Also Uranium can be produced in breeder reactors or extracted from sea water should it become a problem.

 

[brewdexta]

Sodium batteries don't use cobalt or copper.

 

[Ross365]

Candu reactor seems reasonable.

Ah Candu! That Canadian system has probably never got the credit or recognition it deserves. And here's a curious thing that few people may know;, back in the 1960's we Brits built a prototype reactor which had quite a lot in common with Candu. It fed power to the National Grid for over 20 years and then was closed and swept under the rug lest it distract anyone from suggested it was better than a British AGR. It was know as the Winfrith Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR), see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam-Generating_Heavy_Water_Reactor. Maybe British nuclear could have gone a very different and better path?

 

[fizzy]

Sodium batteries don't use cobalt or copper.

The electric motors do though

 

[daleyd]

Oil supplies are a lot more widespread than cobalt. Also Uranium can be produced in breeder reactors or extracted from sea water should it become a problem.

Oh undoubtedly, just pointing out that lots of other things are in "dodgy" areas too. Jumping up and down because a mine has issues and declaring "it's not a good idea" smacks a bit of hysteria TBH.

 

[fizzy]

Oh undoubtedly, just pointing out that lots of other things are in "dodgy" areas too. Jumping up and down because a mine has issues and declaring "it's not a good idea" smacks a bit of hysteria TBH.

It isn't just that though. A lot of the cobalt mining is done in a very destructive manner sometimes using child labour. Where weight isn't an issue I think lead acid batteries still have more going for them. Lead is very easy to recycle and I think it is a much greener option.

 

[Erie Fred]

The electric motors do though

Aluminum wire has been used...

 

[daleyd]

It isn't just that though. A lot of the cobalt mining is done in a very destructive manner sometimes using child labour. Where weight isn't an issue I think lead acid batteries still have more going for them. Lead is very easy to recycle and I think it is a much greener option.

You are of course correct that it shouldn't happen, but that wasn't the link you posted.

 

[brewdexta]

The electric motors do though

So do ICE starter motors and alternator

I think lead acid batteries still have more going for them. Lead is very easy to recycle and I think it is a much greener option.

Sodium is greener, you sprinkle it on your chips