Didcot B Fire

[Mean Mr Mustard]

Blaze engulfs Didcot B power station in Oxfordshire


Twelve fire engines attend fire at gas-fired power station, as residents are warned to keep windows and doors closed

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014 ... xfordshire

[snow hope]

Was just about to post about this.... what will be the impact on the UK electricity network with the current nuclear limitations and old coal stations going off-line? Are things getting very close to the brink for this winter?

[adam2]

Certainly cause for concern though we will probably muddle through as we usually do.
It seems that only half of the capacity is affected, say about 650MW, that represents less than 1.5% of UK maximum demand and would normally be of little concern.
Rather more concerning with the number of nuclear plants that are out of use, a lot depends on how many are running again before winter.
Despite efforts at long term forecasting we still do not reliably know what the coming winter will be like.

Delays in restarting several nuclear plants combined with a severe winter could be interesting.
And of course we don't yet know what else will catch fire, blow up, trip or be otherwise unavailable.

[PS_RalphW]

4 cooling towers have been trashed.

I cannot find a schematic showing how many towers are at the station. Google earth hopelessly out of date.

They are much smaller units than the old coal ones, so hopefully not a major rebuild.

[3rdRock]

Warmed river water from the condenser passes to 31 low-level cooling towers.

The river water passes through side radiators, cascades through plastic packing and is cooled by a stream of cold air.

The air is drawn in by low-noise fans, which are set in the top of the cooling tower.

http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/mediablob/en ... l-leaf.pdf

Page 12.

[PS_RalphW]

SO 4 down out of 31, about 12% of cooling function.

Very unlikely to impact on output by much then, assuming that the affected towers can be bypassed. Not a major event.

[kenneal - lagger]

There's a town less than a mile away. Why aren't they pumping all the cooling water over there? Because they don't have too. Because it's less hassle and because polluting the air doesn't cost anything.

[biffvernon]

There's a town less than a mile away. Why aren't they pumping all the cooling water over there? Because they don't have too. Because it's less hassle and because polluting the air doesn't cost anything.

That's the neo-liberal, capitalist, market economy for you.

[kenneal - lagger]

No reason why we shouldn't have a regulated, capitalist economy apart from the corporations and their paid lackeys, the politicians, who do their every bid. The post capitalist, corporatist economy that we have now does no one any good, not even the corporations who think that it's for their benefit. If/when the whole world goes to pot due to climate change and/or resource depletion no one wins, even in the short term!

[adam2]

SO 4 down out of 31, about 12% of cooling function.

Very unlikely to impact on output by much then, assuming that the affected towers can be bypassed. Not a major event.

Possibly true, but do not count on it.
The plant MIGHT be able to run at slightly reduced capacity with only 88% of cooling available, or possibly even at full capacity in cool weather.
Alternatively it may need full cooling before ANY power can be produced from the affected half of the power station.

[PS_RalphW]

Apparently when Didcot when down last night, wind's share of the electricity supply rose to a record 24% of demand.

[Mean Mr Mustard]

Didcot B power plant blaze stokes blackout fears


http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... e-blackout

[adam2]

BBC news at shortly after 22-00 tonight, stated that the affected half of the power station would be out of use "for the foreseeable future", in contrast to the reports in the 18-00 news when they simply stressed that no power cuts would result.

[Mean Mr Mustard]

Energy secretary reassures households after power station fires

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... k-didcot-b