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Science/nature/environment

Nuclear Plant Powered by 'Spent' Fuel

(8 Posts)
jeni Wed 14-Nov-12 16:59:11

jendaccording to the article they appear to be self cooling and no chance of meltdown.

Jendurham Wed 14-Nov-12 16:51:01

That's okay. I can see some from my sitting room window.
I have wondered if everyone hates Pylons so much, can pylons be replaced with wind turbines.
You can get some wind turbines that are like corkscrews instead of windmills.
People always say that the problem with turbines is the infrastructure. The infrastructure for pylons is already there, or is that too simplistic?

Ana Wed 14-Nov-12 14:29:41

You won't be able to see anything but wind turbines if the EU target is to be even halfway met by 2020...

Jendurham Wed 14-Nov-12 14:19:11

Sellafield does not have a power plant. All it does is reprocess spent fuel and store it for thousands of years.
If the article is true, then it would be an improvement on what's happening at the moment. It might mean that there would be no reason to transport spent fuel to Sellafield on trains all over the country.
If they could use the stored spent reprocessed fuel at Sellafield so it was only radioactive for 300 years instead of millennia, that would be an improvement, but I still would not want it.
One of the things said in the article was that it would mean small nuclear power stations all over. I'd rather be able to see wind turbines than a nuclear power station.
I presume they would still have to be built at the coast, for the water cooling. Don't fancy half a dozen nuclear power stations along the Northumbrian coastline.

jO5 Wed 14-Nov-12 13:36:42

Do they already do something like this at Sellafield?

I don't know anything at all about what I am talking about btw

soop Wed 14-Nov-12 12:44:03

Makes perfect sense.

Nelliemoser Wed 14-Nov-12 12:38:39

Oh Bags this post interested me but your thread in "last day" wouldn't open at all a while ago.
(My post was interupted by DS trying to Skype me a smile from 7 week DGS.)

I searched Gransnet and found your previous thread about this in October and read the article. It was very interesting and quite comprehensible for the general public.

(When I came back from searching, your thread was visible dont know what happened there!

I hope someone starts making progress with this development soon. It could solve a whole lot of the conerns about nuclear power.

Bags Wed 14-Nov-12 08:39:32

NUCLEAR PLANT POWERED BY SPENT FUEL.
Reactors could use existing stockpiles of nuclear waste to produce electricity for the world through 2083.

Hopeful.