John Rumm wrote:
On 05/11/2011 20:33, Ghostrecon wrote:
On Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:45:40 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Tim Streater wrote:
In ,
wrote:

On 02/11/2011 09:28, harry wrote:
...
Solar PV can be only part of the plan. We need all these
renewables,
tidal, wave, geothermal etc.

+1

Our lives are going to change anyway as oil disappears and the costs
everything sky-rockets. Every little thing we can do to contribute
and protect ourselves from this is going to be vital.

What a set of fatheads.

1) geothermal. Sod all of that in this country

2) bio-fuel to replace petrol. Requires we plant an area the size of
Wales as a mono-culture.

and so on. Wave, tidal stream, wind - none can each provide more than a
few % of our needs. Each will require lots more power lines
criss-crossing the nation.

No, what we need is to replace and add to the existing fleet of nukes.

exactly.

It fits every single real requirement.
- low carbon
- cheap
- dispatchable (up to a surprising degree)
- fuel is easily stockpiled and comes from 'friendly' places.
- needs no massive grid upgrades
- compact and very low environmental impact.
- ultra low pollution.

Only the utter panic in peoples minds is the barrier.

+1

And if they get their act together with some development of large scale
liquid salt thorium reactors, you get less waste disposal problems, and
fuel for the things is laying all over the place just waiting for
someone to find a use for it!



Throium is no golden solution. It has its own waste products.

But we are about as far advanced with nuclear chemistry as cavemen were
when they first discovered wood burned..and how to light a fire. In
principle any element heavier than iron will fission and release energy
and any element lighter than iron will fusion and release energy.

Uranium juts happens to be something that does it spontaneously. So its
a good way to 'start' nuclear 'fires'. But particle accelerators and
lasers make good 'matches' as well. Huge potential there for burning up
all sorts of **** and transmuting it into something more stable, and
getting energy out.