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Subject: Fusion


Author:
Dave (UK)
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Date Posted: 17:48:58 12/02/04 Thu
In reply to: Ed Harris (Venezia) 's message, "Tidal power" on 16:46:05 12/02/04 Thu

Fusion power is perfectly safe. After all, the Sun has been functioning perfectly for 5 Billion years.

There is a current international project under way to build the world’s largest fusion research reactor. The project has been delayed due to political wrangling over where the site should be.

The current contenders are Japan and France. As you can imagine, the Americans have been weighing in heavily towards the Japanese, but the EU have threatened to undermine the project if France does not win, by developing their own reactor. Either way, it looks as though one will be built in France, so if it does blow up, it might not be such a bad thing.

www.iter.org

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: If you get a chance...


Author:
Dave (UK)
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Date Posted: 18:14:03 12/02/04 Thu

...and indeed, if you are interested, go and visit the Hydro-electric scheme at Ben Cruachan, near Loch Awe.

Here, they have hollowed out the mountain Dr. Evil style, and built the power station inside in an enormous cavern.

It is very impressive, and does look like something from a bond film, with a long tunnel ride followed by lots of people running around in boiler suits.

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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Scotland's hydro


Author:
Paddy (Scotland)
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Date Posted: 18:58:26 12/02/04 Thu

I agree that the dams are very impressive although their generators are now ageing somewhat.

I think that hydro is clearly the nicest kind of energy followed by nuclear.

There are a lot of nutters who think that coal and other fossil fuels should be banned, but nuclear cannot cope with surges to the grid, such as peak time demand. New coal-burning technology actually releases laughably low emmissions into the atmosphere (the rest is kept and used to create useful, non-harmful products). This and improvements to the grid system will substantially reduce pollution.

British skills in building nuclear reactors are actually far in advance of those of France. However this information is kept as a guarded secret in the MOD and will not be released to the Atomic Power chaps since they are not civil servants and Foreigners might be able to buy the company and somehow get the technology. We are therefore in the ironic situation whereby our submarines run like a dream and each of our nuclear power stations is a one-off design, increasing costs. The French nuclear power stations have been built following evolutionary steps with substantial cross-referencing with military experiences and are far more efficient than their British counterparts even though their military nuclear generators, being modified civilian jobs, are dreadful even compared with Russia's.

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