Climate Change

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Originally Posted by Stuntmonkey

Site C is rife with corruption and cronyism. The site selection itself was a total clusterfuck and it should've been veto'd at the first reading. There were and are better locations. Furthermore, BC Hydro is a shell of the solid company it once was, and is now a union breaking piece of shit that cares more about profits than doing what's its original mandate was.

I'm a strong believer in Canada's CANDU reactors, and having worked in depth with both Westinghouse and OPG I can whole heartedly say we are shitting the bed on not building more (expansion at bruce doesn't count). We could be building enough to power the entire country and become a export powerhouse, but unfortunately the boomer generation seems to still be scared of their shadows when it comes to nukes. We have some of the most optimal spent fuel storage locations in the world, and our governing agency is actually staffed with competent engineering faculty that support advancement.

It's not a Liberal thing, it's not a Cons thing, it's a stupid-fucking-uneducated-loud-mouth-dumbfuck generational thing.

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Are these storage places for spent fuel rods operating?
How old are you?
Producing a waste that just might outlast humans is short sided.
I like the idea of small portable reactors for remote places.
We have a giant fusion reactor in the sky we can harness.
Spinning a rotor inside an stator, like all nuke plants do, is antiquated, but it's what we use.
Go watch Metldon on Netflix. I had no idea we came that close or so much radiation escaped.
It's not just "the olds" it's many scientists and geologists that know we can't always contain it, accidents happen

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It's not just "the olds" it's many scientists and geologists that know we can't always contain it, accidents happen

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History has proven this time and again.

Maybe reactor technology is getting there. Current waste management has not.

As uniformed as general energy gapers go I am a fan of nuclear. Irrational fear halted significant investment and development for 50+ years. Is nuclear waste an issue? Sure, but is it worse than all the CO2 waste we are storing in the atmosphere? Even with a few nuclear accidents would the planet be worse off than what we have now and where we are headed?

Anyways, smart people at the threat of being guiltined if they are found to be corrupt, need to make a decision fast and we need to get behind it. Buldoze anything that's in the way and get it done. A few hippies and some migratory birds are insignificant in face of global warming.

France got it right. They can slowly decommission nukes with solar/wind.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...325af7b5dd.jpg

Japan defends neutrality of IAEA report on Fukushima water release plan as minister visits plant

https://apnews.com/article/japan-fuk...41de6fdc06d2ea

It's so damned hot outside that we're actually feeling nice and cool with the indoor temp set around 80ish..

Building enough nuclear plants to replace half of current fossil fuel electricity generation will require 100 or so plants, at a cost of 6-9B each (not including the standard huge cost overruns). The cost of the electricity is estimated at $7000/KWH. Wind power costs about 2 cents/kwh.

China has brought dozens of new nuclear plants online in the last 15 yrs or so. Nobody wants anything in their backyard but with all the nimbys these days it’s prob not that much more push back than the wind farms are getting in some areas

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Originally Posted by old goat

Building enough nuclear plants to replace half of current fossil fuel electricity generation will require 100 or so plants, at a cost of 6-9B each (not including the standard huge cost overruns). The cost of the electricity is estimated at $7000/KWH. Wind power costs about 2 cents/kwh.

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That $7k looks like capital cost for capacity. By that metric solar is around $1300.

Actual cost for the electricity provided depends a lot on what assumptions go into the calculation, but:

In 2019 the US EIA revised the levelized cost of electricity from new advanced nuclear power plants going online in 2023 to be $0.0775/kWh before government subsidies, using a regulated industry 4.3% cost of capital (WACC - pre-tax 6.6%) over a 30-year cost recovery period.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

That $7k looks like capital cost for capacity. By that metric solar is around $1300.

Actual cost for the electricity provided depends a lot on what assumptions go into the calculation, but:

In 2019 the US EIA revised the levelized cost of electricity from new advanced nuclear power plants going online in 2023 to be $0.0775/kWh before government subsidies, using a regulated industry 4.3% cost of capital (WACC - pre-tax 6.6%) over a 30-year cost recovery period.

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Seems to me the real comparison would be for solar plus battery storage cost per kWh vs nuclear.

^^^ A quick search sez utility scale storage (capital cost) runs about $3000/kw for 8-10 hr duration

https://atb.nrel.gov/electricity/202...attery_storage

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Originally Posted by TBS

^^^ A quick search sez utility scale storage (capital cost) runs about $3000/kw for 8-10 hr duration

https://atb.nrel.gov/electricity/202...attery_storage

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I’m sure contract prices vary, and cost will depend on storage capacity, but an example of contract price to purchase energy from a solar+storage plant:

The final version of the project delivered will in fact be a 300 MW / 1.2 GWh energy storage installation – with an aggregate pricing of 3.962¢/kWh

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2019/09/...ge-in-the-usa/

Shirley we can come up with a way to expand the grid world-wide such that it's always being charged.

Or set up orbiting solar collection stations that can microwave power down to the surface ..... and in a pinch fry undesirables.

Closer to home: cacti checking out - https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/27/us/ph...ses/index.html

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Originally Posted by PB

Shirley we can come up with a way to expand the grid world-wide such that it's always being charged.

Or set up orbiting solar collection stations that can microwave power down to the surface ..... and in a pinch fry undesirables.

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That also provide additional shade to help cool the planet as needed

So Fukt.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...o-hold-carbon/

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Originally Posted by rideit

So Fukt.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...o-hold-carbon/

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This


More aggressive forest management can help by cutting down a small portion of aging forests to make ways for younger trees that absorb more carbon

Save the planet by cutting down trees?

We are fucked.

It's almost like we were warned of this 25 years ago when the discussion about altering 'Global Warming' to 'Climate Change' was needed as Europe could likely end up in a little ice age when the ocean currents slow or collapse.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...cts-180982605/

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Originally Posted by Peruvian

It's almost like we were warned of this 25 years ago when the discussion about altering 'Global Warming' to 'Climate Change' was needed as Europe could likely end up in a little ice age when the ocean currents slow or collapse.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...cts-180982605/

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Likely? Hardly. This was discussed here a couple of days ago, but there is a lot of skepticism about the collapse even occuring, let alone make a new ice age. Still possible but hardly likely. And be careful what you wish for. The Little Ice Age was hardly little. Among other things it led to the collapse of the feudal system in Europe and eventually to the Industrial Revolution. "Nature's Mutiny" is a good book on the subject.

Huh, I must have missed that short period that feudalism collapsed. Feudalism and current capitalism are same - same.

^^^the peasants all “quiet quit”

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It's almost like we were warned of this 25 years ago

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Except that Al Gore flies in a jet.

IMO the real issue with nuclear at this point is the build duration and related costs. Due to the heavy opposition that nuclear energy faced we're coming out of ~30+ year hiatus from when the bulk of our reactors were constructed and commissioned. The people who were in charge of those projects are now retired and there's a huge lack of experience in this field, which accounts of a fraction of a percent of the construction industry as a whole.

Just look at reactors 3 and 4 at Vogtle. They're only a cool 7ish years behind schedule and $17B over budget. It's been an absolute shit show.

Next let me direct your attention to the SFHP at the NRF. That project is just a fucking storage facility and it will be years behind schedule and over budget as well. I believe the initial completion date was slated for 2024 and it's been adjusted to 2027.

"Construction costs on the Naval Spent Fuel Handling facility in 2023 alone will total more than $500 million. In 2017, the facility was expected to cost $1.65 billion, according to a Naval Nuclear Laboratory news release."

https://www.postregister.com/news/in...580f850b7.html


The real saving grace for the nuclear industry will be the (hopeful) success of SMRs. Anything we can do to streamline and simplify the process while keeping safety and quality at the forefront is a good thing.

https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/n...idaho-national

Carbon capture….What could go wrong if there’s an accidental massive release.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos_disaster
Although this is a natural occurrence we could be creating a potential catastrophe. In the meantime plant lots of trees. There needs to be a concerted effort to plant trees in an urban environment to reduce temperatures. Win , win with no potential dangers.

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Originally Posted by AirheadD8

Carbon capture….What could go wrong if there’s an accidental massive release.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos_disaster
Although this is a natural occurrence we could be creating a potential catastrophe. In the meantime plant lots of trees. There needs to be a concerted effort to plant trees in an urban environment to reduce temperatures. Win , win with no potential dangers.

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Too many trees in the urban environment has unintended consequences. At the top of the list is they require significant maintenance, and most communities are not willing to spend much, if anything, on maintenance. Plant more tree, yes, but someplace where lack of maintenance doesn't become a liability and safety hazard. Summer is the season of Sudden Bough Drop and it's scary how many widow makers are falling after our wet winter.

I’ve shot interviews with a lot of leading scientists around the world about this very topic. Pretty much everyone agrees carbon capture is a necessity. We also need to plant a shit load of trees along with transitioning everything possible to zero carbon. Carbon capture facilities need to be built at massive scales but the plan is to build them in areas where trees can’t grow. Deserts and the artic. I’ve been to the test facility in Squamish. I’ve been driven by the Icelandic facility (here they have the advantage of powering it via geothermal). These are all ready to go. As always we just need the political and societal will to make it happen. Vote for people who care about this stuff. In Canada we continue to give subsidies to fossil fuel companies which is totally asinine (we did just stop that for foreign companies so a small step in the right direction). All of those subsidies should be going to renewables and things like carbon capture.

I also really have to say that I’ve been traveling all over the globe this year shooting a doc on a different subject (I know my carbon footprint is huge) and if you currently don’t believe in climate change I don’t know what to tell you besides for you have to be totally ignoring the obvious. Literally every place I’ve been too the locals are saying this type of stuff. “Most amount of weeks without rain ever in history here.” Then a different country. “Hottest month ever in our history.” “Most precip in a month ever here.” And on and on and on in every single place. The planet is literally slapping everyone in the face with this reality everywhere. Absolutely everywhere.


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