“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 »
Posts Tagged ‘energy’…
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 »
©2010 Alistair Robinson