Nuclear
2022-06-18 Nuclear Insecurities
This is a three-page re-cast of 2016-08-09 Nuclear Insecurities (below).
It includes 16 criteria under the original 10 headings, supported by 21 references.
It includes 16 criteria under the original 10 headings, supported by 21 references.
2021-06-09 The Futility of Fusion - A Dream Too Far
For the Presentation, Conclusions and a document with references, click on Read More.
Nuclear fusion power on earth poses extreme technical challenges.
One is the attainment of at least 100 million degrees C for long enough to produce net energy.
Another is that any power plant fuelled with Deuterium and Tritium must 'breed' enough Tritium to sustain itself.
Yet fusion power is futile because it cannot be deployed at a meaningful scale before 2050.
This is the target date for Zero Carbon - hopefully limiting Global Warming to less than 2 C.
So by this date all energy must be supplied from proven renewable sources such as Solar Photovoltaics, Wind Power, Hydro Power, sustainable Biomass and Solar and Deep Geothermal Heat.
2021-03-10 Fukushima at 10 Presentation - What Happened and the Real Lessons for Energy Policy
The Fukushima disaster was aggravated by the personnel being responsible for multiple reactors under emergency conditions.
There had been no testing or drills of Station Blackouts and Loss of Cooling Accidents in the 40 years since the reactors were built.
Once reactor meltdowns and radioactive releases had occurred, they had no means of mapping the fallout to guide evacuation.
The later Abe government coerced ‘voluntary’ evacuees to return by stopping their housing subsidies after only six years. Many still resist returning, despite the hardships.
The Abe government also sought to restart the 39 remaining operable nuclear power plants, but succeeded with only a few. Nuclear power is still strongly resisted by most Japanese.
2016-08-09 Nuclear Insecurities
A short document 'Nuclear Insecurities' outlining ten that would result from new nuclear plants such as Hinkley Point C.
2014-01-16 NHK Fukushima 'Meltdown' Documentaries
There have been many official enquiries into the Fukushima disaster (2011-03-11). However NHK, the leading Japanese broadcaster, waited a year or more until people were ready to talk, interviewed over 300, later 400, of those directly involved and outside experts, and collected huge amounts of data. This has enabled realistic re-enactments of the sequence of events. So among many other programmes on the Fukushima disaster, NHK has produced three 'Meltdown' documentaries in English, first broadcast on 2012-01, 2012-08-18, and 2013-03-05. This last was about 24 months after the disaster
2013-11-01 Nuclear Power's Fatal Flaws
I had produced a 73-page study 'The Real Lessons of Fukushima', dated 2012-04-11, based on the evidence from over 230 references. This showed the crucial importance of 'decay heat' – an inherent characteristic of nuclear fission – in the event of a 'Loss of Cooling Accident' (LOCA). It also showed that the probability of a LOCA was unknowable, as the chains of events number billions, each requiring data on reliability, and failures could lead to catastrophic radioactive releases to air, land and sea. So nuclear disasters are inevitable, as the record shows.
2013-06-07 The Consequences of Major Nuclear Releases
The consequences of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear releases are horrendous. Yet the 'worst-case' nuclear releases are 100 times greater, with far worse consequences.
2012-04-11 The Real Lessons of Fukushima
This study is based on evidence on the Fukushima disaster and it's consequences, almost all from the internet. Many quantitative studies have been found, but no proper studies from the IAEA or the UK ONR. The fast-moving and highly dangerous events of such a disaster require decision support. Thermal models of the reactors and spent fuel pools are essential to predict their behaviour under Station Blackout and to evaluate possible counter-measures. Also plume (dispersion) models of possible radioactive releases are essential to inform decisions on the magnitude and direction of evacuations. The Japanese have such a plume model, but it was ignored until later. Also they had no instrument for airborne radioactivity measurements at hand and had to rely initially on aerial surveys carried out by the Japan-based US Emergency Response Centers. These deficiencies were omitted or downplayed in the reports of the IAEA Fact Finding Mission, but most were included in the report of the Hatamura Panel.
2011-06-08 The Case Against Nuclear Power
The critical issue for nuclear power is the consequences of a major radioactive release. These were predicted in the Sandia CRAC-2 study as 42,000 to 100,000 early deaths. They were confirmed empirically by Chernobyl, which contaminated huge areas of the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia as well as 40% of Europe, with an eventual death toll put variously at 10,000 up to 1.8 million. Due to the high population density, Fukushima has been predicted to cause up to 210,000 excess cancer deaths. The probability of any size of radioactive release is not just unknown but unknowable, so must be taken as 1 - i.e. inevitable. This was understood by the worldwide insurance industry from the start and by some involved in the Reactor Safety Studies as well as by independent analysts. If insurance was fully paid, the cost of nuclear power would increase by e.g. 45 to 348 p/kWh. Other countries are adopting safer, sustainable and infinitely cheaper solutions for supplying electrical and other energy services so there is no need to add to our already huge nuclear risks and debts. Moreover the consequences of a major radioactive release are completely unacceptable, so all existing nuclear plants should be phased out forthwith.
2011-03-11 Fukushima - My Documents
On 2011-03-11, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan was damaged by a major earthquake and tsunami. The three operating reactors overheated, leading to hydrogen explosions and radioactive releases, which necessitated progressively wider evacuations of the populace. In the weeks that followed, it became clear that Reactors 1 to 3 and the spent fuel pools of Reactors 1 to 4 had the potential for far greater radioactive releases.
2007-10-09 Response to the Nuclear Consultation
'The Government published a nuclear Consultation Document, THE ROLE OF NUCLEAR POWER IN A LOW CARBON UK ECONOMY, May 2007.
2006-09-19 The Risks of Nuclear Power
As an engineer I became concerned that nuclear power posed unacceptable risks.
Recent articles
2022-06-14 Energy Transition Technologies
This is prompted by the Energy Hierarchy of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. (See: The Energy Hierarchy: a powerful tool for sustainability, https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/the-energy-hierarchy-a-powerful-tool-for-sustainability ).From the most to the least sustainable, Tier 1 is Energy Demand Reduction, Tier 2 is Energy Efficiency, Tier 3 is Utilisation of Renewable, Sustainable Resources, Tier 4 is Utilisation of Other, Low-GHG-Emitting Resources, and Tier 5 is Utilisation of Conventional Resources as we do now.2022-06-18 Nuclear Insecurities
This is a three-page re-cast of 2016-08-09 Nuclear Insecurities (below).It includes 16 criteria under the original 10 headings, supported by 21 references.2021-06-09 The Futility of Fusion - A Dream Too Far
For the Presentation, Conclusions and a document with references, click on Read More. Nuclear fusion power on earth poses extreme technical challenges. One is the attainment of at least 100 million degrees C for long enough to produce net energy. Another is that any power plant fuelled with Deuterium and Tritium must 'breed' enough Tritium to sustain itself. Yet fusion power is futile because it cannot be deployed at a meaningful scale before 2050. This is the target date for Zero Carbon - hopefully limiting Global Warming to less than 2 C. So by this date all energy must be supplied from proven renewable sources such as Solar Photovoltaics, Wind Power, Hydro Power, sustainable Biomass and Solar and Deep Geothermal Heat.2021-03-26 District Heating for the UK
This is a proposal for District Heating for carbon reduction in the UK.It follows the passing of enabling legislation in Scotland, with help from Denmark.2016-12-01 Energy Solutions for Sustainability
This note reflects Danish and German precedents on energy solutions, from which I have learnt the underlying principles.Humankind requires not energy but energy services such as illumination, movement and thermal comfort. Germany realisesthat it is not enough to set targets for reducing carbon emissions; policies, plans and actions are also required. It has adoptedthe ‘Energiewende’ energy transition plan for 80 to 95% carbon reduction by 2050. 1 Solutions for sustainable energy servicescan be determined by following a few fundamental principles and metrics, enumerated in this document.2016-12-19 Limiting Global Climate Change
Global climate change is the most urgent problem faced by humankind. Professor Will Steffen of the Australian National University and co-authors have shown that the earth is liable to many tipping points, several subject to positive feedbacks.Unless there is a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy, humankind will lose control of climate change, with the planet entering the Anthropocene era. Severe global warming of 4 - 8 C would disrupt world food supplies, leading to mass starvations, migrations and war.2010-09 Saving Electricity
This short presentation on Saving Electricity in Industry and Homes was given to an engineering society. The data was valid at the time, but there have been considerable changes in some end-uses, especially lighting.2019-10-07 Changing from GLS to LEDs
This table shows the overall effect on power consumption of changing most of my lights from General Lighting Service (GLS incandescent) to Light Emitting Diode (LEDs). This was 87%.2018-11-20 Renewable Synthetic Fuels for Transport
This is a short summary document referring to documents by myself and by others.2020-07-15 Low Carbon Aviation Fuel Projects
This is a table of such projects found by this date.
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