On 13/05/10 22:34, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

whats holding them back is the possibilty that some green government of
bearded mumpties will come along in 10 years time just as they are
commissioning them and produce a totally unrealistic set of rules and
regulations they have to abide by, so they wont be able to use them,
without spending the same amount all over again, at which point the
bearded mumpty can say 'look, I told you they weren't safe or they were
too expensive' and go back to picking the toe jam out of his feet and
dreaming of sex with angels.


To be honest, a few more major grid incidents like 2008, but slightly
more severe to actually result in forced domestic load shedding (ie
power cuts without warning) would change a few people's minds about
nuclear power. Even the beardy tree shaggers, possibly.

2008 was close enough with emergency DCI (Demand Control Imminent)
alerts being sent to the network operators. Wouldn't take a lot more to
get to major power cuts.

Sadly, National Grid seem to have hidden the system alerts webpage that
used to be publically readable, so it's hard to know how much they are
panicking in the future.

If you want some good reading, google for National Grid Blackstart. At
least they're prepared, But it's not an easy process to restart the grid
if it all fell over which isn't entirely improbable.

--
Tim Watts

Hung parliament? Rather have a hanged parliament.