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Nuclear power stations
I am generally in favor of using nuclear power to meet energy demand while transitioning to sustainable energy sources. The news of Her Majesty's Government stalling on the Hinkley Point C project reminds me that I share George Monbiot's view in being disappointed that we weren't aiming for a fourth-generation reactor design that would produce rather less waste and offer more passive safety. There was a report done a few years ago by the Alvin Weinberg Foundation on the prospects for using a stable salt reactor and one could perhaps even aim for a sodium-cooled fast reactor or somesuch.
I was also disappointed at the extent of foreign involvement in the project; I am perhaps a little Iranian in my strategic thinking there. The UK already depends overmuch on the Americans for Trident D5s and suchlike, can we not manage to design and build our own nuclear power station? It may be more expensive if we need to do some research, development, knowledge acquisition along the way, but would that experience not stand us in good stead moving forward? That is, if we are not able to build these power stations ourselves, would it not be good to change that? Goodness knows we have good research universities and our economy sees underemployment at present. The planned work on Hinkley Point C may be cunningly designed to include a large pinch of sharing and training but, if so, it would be in the context of a rather old reactor design.
On pondering these questions I wondered to what extent globalized private industry makes a nonsense of the idea of fostering a domestic capacity for high-technology engineering. I would guess, it largely doesn't, but I have no compelling support to offer for that view.
Incidentally, while I see that we may wish to eventually transition away from nuclear power on Earth, I can imagine that nuclear technology may remain very enabling for space travel; I believe also that we are insufficiently aggressive in pursuing that.
I was also disappointed at the extent of foreign involvement in the project; I am perhaps a little Iranian in my strategic thinking there. The UK already depends overmuch on the Americans for Trident D5s and suchlike, can we not manage to design and build our own nuclear power station? It may be more expensive if we need to do some research, development, knowledge acquisition along the way, but would that experience not stand us in good stead moving forward? That is, if we are not able to build these power stations ourselves, would it not be good to change that? Goodness knows we have good research universities and our economy sees underemployment at present. The planned work on Hinkley Point C may be cunningly designed to include a large pinch of sharing and training but, if so, it would be in the context of a rather old reactor design.
On pondering these questions I wondered to what extent globalized private industry makes a nonsense of the idea of fostering a domestic capacity for high-technology engineering. I would guess, it largely doesn't, but I have no compelling support to offer for that view.
Incidentally, while I see that we may wish to eventually transition away from nuclear power on Earth, I can imagine that nuclear technology may remain very enabling for space travel; I believe also that we are insufficiently aggressive in pursuing that.
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Political considerations aside, various nuclear-thermal rocket designs looked promising, too... although these days in space it might be better to bring a reactor and use it to run an ion drive, now that ion drives are getting quite good.
Oh er space aside, I agree, nukes please but not this nuke. A modern design would be an excellent national infrastructure research-and-construction project.