Nuke power in the usa

[EverCurious]

*grumbles* Why can't they find something cheap/clean that works in cold weather?

U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Weather the Polar Vortex U.S. NRC Blog

That's interesting. I'm sure any water cooled power plants, regardless of fuel would implement similiar procedures during cold weather operation.

Water cooled might be worse, it would require a massive heater to function else the lake would freeze up, unless we could pull sea water? Apparently they have troubles in hot weather as well; Fairbanks be hosed I think (they range from 80 below in the winter to almost 100 in the summer, plus their full interior) ~How Climate Change May Affect Nuclear Power Plants The Energy Collective

We use mostly natural gas in Alaska, but we have a couple hydro electrics, and a couple of operational wind farms. Our power plants are small though cause we're not powering a network or anything, just a few towns/villages, I think the bigge. Thing is it has to be reliable because there's no other source to pull from if said power plant goes down. Most of our electric companies are customer owned so we have a bit more flexibility to innovate and experiment though. Fiddling with solar atm, but snow and cloud. Wind/solar are mostly supplemental because of the unreliability.

But yea, there's times of the year, where you seriously cannot turn off your car cause it'll freeze and not start up again. Of course we're drilling oil up north year round so we know how to deal with cold on that machinery. Cost would likely be a major issue with nuclear up here, because it's not like we have a state grid nor could we really put one in either, and I don't think we need that much power even to run the big city.

Thanks for the insight on generating power on a smaller scale up in Alaska.

I don't know much of anything about the nuts & bolts of power generation.

I don't either honestly, I just did a quick read on the nuclear option. I think it's too big a scale at too high a cost for Alaska honestly, but I'm still going to have to ask my buddy about the cooling lake stuff because curiosity killed the cat heh One of the biggest problems we have up here with any kind of alternative power is battery life; the cold just saps them. For a power plant though, we could bury it under the permafrost line and I believe it'd be alright. We have the reverse system already; a heat pipe setup so the permafrost doesn't melt and tork building foundations. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to go 10-12' down for a steady 22F-ish, if a battery could hold charge for days/weeks at that temp...

Electric cars and stuff won't work though, even if we're garage parking to keep the battery warm, the range is also too limited; we'd need I think at least 300miles per charge. 600 or so if we want to /really/ get serious about Alaska travel (that'd be from the big city to the other big city one way, but could charge up over night there if it's plug n play) Thing is we can't even get electrical grid lines down between Anchorage and Fairbanks, much less set up charge stations lol 100miles is my /typical/ commute from my suburb to Anchortown, it'd be uncomfortable for me cause I wander around town shopping and what not; 250 on a charge I could hang with, I think but 300 would make me feel a lot better... If they can figure out how to hold battery charge in arctic temps, there's a lot of folks up here interested in electric cars; I hear we've even got a couple Tesla's already. But I've digressed heh

 

[pwjohn]

*grumbles* Why can't they find something cheap/clean that works in cold weather?

U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Weather the Polar Vortex U.S. NRC Blog

That's interesting. I'm sure any water cooled power plants, regardless of fuel would implement similiar procedures during cold weather operation.

Water cooled might be worse, it would require a massive heater to function else the lake would freeze up, unless we could pull sea water? Apparently they have troubles in hot weather as well; Fairbanks be hosed I think (they range from 80 below in the winter to almost 100 in the summer, plus their full interior) ~How Climate Change May Affect Nuclear Power Plants The Energy Collective

We use mostly natural gas in Alaska, but we have a couple hydro electrics, and a couple of operational wind farms. Our power plants are small though cause we're not powering a network or anything, just a few towns/villages, I think the bigge. Thing is it has to be reliable because there's no other source to pull from if said power plant goes down. Most of our electric companies are customer owned so we have a bit more flexibility to innovate and experiment though. Fiddling with solar atm, but snow and cloud. Wind/solar are mostly supplemental because of the unreliability.

But yea, there's times of the year, where you seriously cannot turn off your car cause it'll freeze and not start up again. Of course we're drilling oil up north year round so we know how to deal with cold on that machinery. Cost would likely be a major issue with nuclear up here, because it's not like we have a state grid nor could we really put one in either, and I don't think we need that much power even to run the big city.

Thanks for the insight on generating power on a smaller scale up in Alaska.

I don't know much of anything about the nuts & bolts of power generation.

I don't either honestly, I just did a quick read on the nuclear option. I think it's too big a scale at too high a cost for Alaska honestly, but I'm still going to have to ask my buddy about the cooling lake stuff because curiosity killed the cat heh One of the biggest problems we have up here with any kind of alternative power is battery life; the cold just saps them. For a power plant though, we could bury it under the permafrost line and I believe it'd be alright. We have the reverse system already; a heat pipe setup so the permafrost doesn't melt and tork building foundations. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to go 10-12' down for a steady 22F-ish, if a battery could hold charge for days/weeks at that temp...

Electric cars and stuff won't work though, even if we're garage parking to keep the battery warm, the range is also too limited; we'd need I think at least 300miles per charge. 600 or so if we want to /really/ get serious about Alaska travel (that'd be from the big city to the other big city one way, but could charge up over night there if it's plug n play) Thing is we can't even get electrical grid lines down between Anchorage and Fairbanks, much less set up charge stations lol 100miles is my /typical/ commute from my suburb to Anchortown, it'd be uncomfortable for me cause I wander around town shopping and what not; 250 on a charge I could hang with, I think but 300 would make me feel a lot better... If they can figure out how to hold battery charge in arctic temps, there's a lot of folks up here interested in electric cars; I hear we've even got a couple Tesla's already. But I've digressed heh

Yeah, I even stayed at a Ramada Inn, and I still don't know shit about it.

 

[pwjohn]

And the crazy part is, the nuke industry has five power plants under construction and not a word about it.

 

[HenryBHough]

Several years ago a Jap company, I think it was Hitachi, came up with a suitcase-sized nuclear powered generator that would have been perfect for each of a hundred or more remote Alaskan villages.

Several of the villages wanted to try it but outside environmentalists shot that down. I guess they'd rather those villages keep bringing in diesel fuel by barges being pushed up "pristine" rivers.

 

[pwjohn]

Several years ago a Jap company, I think it was Hitachi, came up with a suitcase-sized nuclear powered generator that would have been perfect for each of a hundred or more remote Alaskan villages.

Several of the villages wanted to try it but outside environmentalists shot that down. I guess they'd rather those villages keep bringing in diesel fuel by barges being pushed up "pristine" rivers.

Yeah those jerks are no better then the Taliban. It's their way or they strap the bomb belt on. No in between.

 

[Mike Bredsbey]

While Americans create and improve the nuke, Russians are preparing ... TROLL ARMY.
Salutin Putin inside a Russian troll house World news The Guardian
The question: What will be more efficient in a possible future conflict?