Proposed new nuke at Wylfa

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 05 Jun 2018, 15:17

And now Wylfa.

I reckon Â£5billion is just the start. You could build a fair capacity of solar and wind for the amount that's wasted on nuclear.

Post by **adam2** » 05 Jun 2018, 19:58

I dislike the idea of foreign powers building and having de-facto control over critical infrastructure such as power stations.

I dislike the idea of the UK government building nukes, because I suspect that the costs will balloon EVEN MORE RAPIDLY than if built by the private sector.

And whilst this proposed nuke SHOULD be able to produce electricity a bit cheaper than Hinkley, It will still be very expensive if compared to wind.

Wind power should get cheaper as more is deployed and we gain from mass production and greater familiarity with the technology.
Nuclear seems to be getting more expensive as each new generation seems to be more costly and more complicated.
I cant foresee nuclear power ever being adopted on a big enough scale to bring the price down.

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 05 Jun 2018, 21:05

I see it involves the Japanese. Donâ€™t they still have problems with Fuk u..something or other?

Post by **adam2** » 05 Jun 2018, 22:57

Indeed, yesterdays news of course but the problems remain, and are hardly an advert for new nukes

BritDownUnder · Post by **BritDownUnder** » 05 Jun 2018, 23:48

I think a diversity of power sources is useful. Foreign control would be in the design and possibly construction stage but would it extend to the operation stage as well?

From what I read somewhere the Japanese government has already leaked a cost north of 13 billion pounds.

PS. Anyone know how to correctly pronounce 'Wylfa'. I am thinking something like 'ul-VA'?

woodburner · Post by **woodburner** » 05 Jun 2018, 23:54

Sounds about right for the cost of a nuclear leak. Were they thinking of any power statiion in particular? Fuku........for example?

BritDownUnder · Post by **BritDownUnder** » 06 Jun 2018, 00:09

I believe the Fukushima Power Plant was an earlier GE-Hitachi design. This design is for an advanced boiling water reactor.

Post by **adam2** » 06 Jun 2018, 05:35

BritDownUnder wrote:I think a diversity of power sources is useful. Foreign control would be in the design and possibly construction stage but would it extend to the operation stage as well?

From what I read somewhere the Japanese government has already leaked a cost north of 13 billion pounds.

PS. Anyone know how to correctly pronounce 'Wylfa'. I am thinking something like 'ul-VA'?

I suspect that foreign control would in practice extend to operation.
I would presume that the many computerised sub-systems would have some sort of remote shut down concealed in the software.
In time of war, international tension, or dispute, I would expect that the reactor would shut down.

The place name was pronounced "will-fa" on the TV news.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 06 Jun 2018, 09:38

The Â£5billion mentioned as the UK's share presumably means Japan will indeed have to cough up at least Â£13billion. And then the contract will ensure the British taxpayer makes up the undoubted shortfall beyond â‚¬18billion.

If it were 'only' that, (!!!!) then it represents a huge missed investment opportunity in safe long-term power generation.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 06 Jun 2018, 13:24

Huw Whatsit on the BBC News is a Welsh speaker and he pronounces it as Willva, but with a Welsh accent of course, so that must be right.

My MP is forever telling me that governments shouldn't invest taxpayers money because they never get it right but here we go, proving him right again, I suppose. But he prides himself that always votes for the Tory government so I'll suppose that he'll plod through the lobby on their side again despite his reservations.

With the price per megawatt that the user will be paying it will be a very good investment for the government though!! Always assuming that the system will still be going by the time that it finally gets built and commissioned.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 12 Jan 2019, 19:26

Speculation is mounting that the Wylfa white elephant will be scrapped by Hitachi: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46833260

As per usual, Brexit gets wheeled out as an excuse.
Not the fact of cost overruns, ever further extended start dates for leccy generation, diminishing returns to the point of never seeing anything worthwhile other than an idle, concrete monstrosity - no these are not the reasons - it is ****ing Brexit's fault!

Post by **adam2** » 12 Jan 2019, 23:50

Good, for reasons already given I was opposed to this project.
I remain concerned at the possibility of a shortfall in UK generating capacity, and hope that something will be done, such as more wind power, tidal power, and demand side control.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 13 Jan 2019, 09:54

Ireland has in recent months generated over 40% of its electricity from renewables, the rest being mostly from gas - the coal-fired station in this county having been unused since September 2018; this is good news for everyone (including you Brits) due to the air coming across these isles from the west being cleaner!

Admittedly the milder weather this winter has helped but all-in-all, renewable energy companies should capitalise on such progress - in a country thatâ€™s especially vocal against turbines.

Post by **adam2** » 17 Jan 2019, 14:36

Work at Wylfa has now stopped.
Some reports refer to the "suspension" which of course implies that it will resume, whilst other reports refer to "cancellation" which is rather more final.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46900918

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 17 Jan 2019, 16:20

adam2 wrote:Work at Wylfa has now stopped.
.... whilst other reports refer to "cancellation" which is rather more final.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46900918

We can only keep our fingers crossed! And campaign for more renewables and some storage.