“Nuclear power? To most people, it’s witchcraft” (Chris Patten)
To describe nuclear power as clean might seem perverse, given that some of the waste produced is so dangerous that there is no containment material that won’t be destroyed by it, and that it remains dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years.
But last week the government finally said yes to the construction of up to ten nuclear power stations, at least some of which might be up-and-running by 2020. They’ve put off the decision for a long time. New Labour, motivated for so long by the desire to be liked, refused to face the impending energy crisis. Now that the closure of many of our existing nuclear power stations is fast approaching … read on »
Archive for the ‘technology’ category…
Clean Energy 1: A Milestone in The Glendoe Hydro-electric Scheme
On January 7th the 200-metre-long tunnel boring machine called Eliza Jane broke through the side of a mountain in Scotland after sixteen months of grinding. The resulting five mile tunnel will take water from a reservoir up on the Monadhliath plateau down to Loch Ness, via an underground cavern housing a hydro-electric power station. It’s the biggest civil engineering project in Scotland, and the first major hydro scheme in Britain since the fifties I think. As such, it’s tremendously exciting: as I’ve mentioned before, hydro power sets me all a-trembling with fascination and a smidgin of dread. So indulge me.
The water head – the vertical distance from the turbine to the intake at the reservoir, is 600 metres, the highest … read on »
The Great Man-Made River Project and Libyan Democracy
I listened to a Radio 4 programme on the Great Man-Made River project in Libya. For the moment at least, you can listen to it here. It’s the mother of all water engineering projects, and as I’ve said before in this blog, I have an odd fascination with this kind of thing. Apart from anything else the project is beautifully simple, audacious and progressive. According to Unesco it’s the largest engineering scheme currently being carried out in the world, and it has also been described as the eighth wonder of the world. From where I sit in mean little Britain, which made such a cynical fuss about the Channel Tunnel and the Scottish Parliament building, it’s very inspiring.
In the sixties, … read on »
Latest GM Crops Forecast Model
There’s an interesting report on Reuters:
UK scientists downplay GMO threat to biodiversity.
Before reading this it had never really occurred to me before that one of the main reasons people object to GM crops is because they are too efficient. Herbicide-tolerant crops mean that most weeds can be killed, and this is seen as bad because no weeds means no spiders and insects which means no birds. But where do you draw the line? Obviously all agricultural advances of the past have affected biodiversity in certain areas. If you object to GM crops on this basis I think that the logical conclusion of your argument is that all agriculture is bad.
But, to be fair, I imagine what they want is a … read on »
©2010 Alistair Robinson