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Where do you stand on nuclear power (fission)?

Steve,

My invention is even more revolutionary. The magnet pulls the vehicle. You can alter the speed by where you place the magnet. Closer = faster, farther = slower.

Joe
 
There's no reason why it should look like that. A ventilated wooden cover would be fine, and they work just as well turned by 90 degrees and parked under the window. Or higher up, above a bay, or indeed in the back garden.
Those big fans presumably generate a lot of noise. Wouldn’t want that under a window, or anywhere near the property, to be honest.
 
Well, there was a chap on here a few months ago who thought that you could have a battery powered car that would generate electricity from the non driven wheels by means of a dynamo, which would then recharge the battery.
I invented something very similar with lego at the age of 12, I reasoned that you could link the front and back axles of a car with a lossy elastic band and hey presto almost perpetual motion.The fact that it stopped dead after an inch of running was of great consternation to me :)
Rgds
Stuart
 
I've been working on something that could be the solution. It may seem simplistic, perhaps as though I've missed something essential, but hear me out...

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Brilliant, Joe. Your idea and most others are poles apart !

There's a t'away near Sizewell in Suffolk that goes one better; it sells nuclear fission chips.
 
Old units were a lot noisier but the new ones are much quieter, so hopefully a new install would not be a problem.

Bigger fans are more obvious but they can run quieter as they can turn slower creating a smaller pressure drop over a bigger area.

More to the point 38% of our power is coming from gas today on a windy and sunny afternoon with unseasonably high temperatures; does anyone actually believe it's greener to burn gas, convert it into electricity, send it through the grid and use it to feed a heat pump to heat a house than it would be to simply burn the gas at home releasing all the energy where it's needed? Oops, down to 30.9% gas now, varies all the time.
 
At the moment, no, but when all electricity is from renewables / nuclear, then it makes sense.

First thing though should be to enable everyone to beef up their insulation.
 
The high efficiency air source heat pumps are most efficient when the water is heated to a fairly low temperature, this means it can't be used with normal radiators or in uninsulated draughty properties. It requires the best levels of insulation under the floor and a decent quality screed to act as the heat store, well insulated walls, double glazing and loft insulation. So totally impracticable for the majority of existing housing and a massive drain on the already understating power networks unless these will also be upgraded.
 
Maybe already covered upthread, but if we are to ramp up nuclear fission reactors as an energy resource, where is the additional Uranium going to come from? The current mines can’t meet the demand from existing reactors.
 
Maybe already covered upthread, but if we are to ramp up nuclear fission reactors as an energy resource, where is the additional Uranium going to come from? The current mines can’t meet the demand from existing reactors.

Supply and demand is projected to equalise in the longer term (2030 and beyond), but currently there is a mining shortfall compared to demand which is being met by an active secondary market (traders and holders selling from inventory, including reprocessed warheads). The reason for this is that the market price for U3O8 since Fukushima is much less than the enterprise mining cost for many miners who have ramped down production capability (also Covid has had a big impact in last 2 years). So the price needs to (roughly) double for it to be economic to open up mines again. This is well within the affordability of nuclear utilities as fuel cost is a very small factor of ongoing costs for them.

There is a fascinating dynamic being created at the moment, where public funds are being set up to buy the secondary material and take it off the market. This will eventually dry up secondary supply so the spot price for U3O8 will then go up. That, in turn, will force up the long term contract prices and more miners will start opening up their mines again (this takes between 18 months to several years), and new mines will be developed. I am following this sector very closely as I am hugely invested in it as those following the stock market thread will know!
 
Interesting comments. I am curious to know if there are enough discovered and prospective raw materials to drastically ramp up nuclear fission energy to displace fossil fuel energy if the world wanted to go down this path. I would estimate the timeframe to discover and develop new Uranium mines would be around 20 years.

Someone has probably already done the calculations how much we would need to ramp up nuclear energy to meet climate goals. I suspect it would be at least 10x current levels?

Has anyone considered the feasibility of using nuclear power for the worlds shipping fleet?
 
There are 300 new reactors under consideration, of which over 50 are in construction (mostly in China and India). Ideally (well in my mind, but my employer does not agree) nuclear provides reliable baseload cover when intermittency strikes renewables, so we will not need to cover all current fossil requirements. U3O8 mines are inexpensive to discover compared to big oil (small companies usually do this and have started to employ big data analysis techniques to accelerate processing) and newer surface mining and chemical extraction technology (ISR) need very little capex and time compared to previous methods. Biggest hurdle is usually getting government permits.
Yes, nuclear as a long term non-military shipping vector is under consideration especially with forthcoming SMR technology which is expected to be a step change in costs and safety, and Russia already have an arctic ice clearance vessel.
 
Those big fans presumably generate a lot of noise. Wouldn’t want that under a window, or anywhere near the property, to be honest.
As others have said, it's just domestic AC. The fan is no noisier than the one in my office. The compressor is AC running with the hot end indoors and the cold end outdoors.
 


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