Yes, I am aware of the difference between high and low level fuel and the stew of different half lives of the constituents of higher level fuel. There's 47 k tones of high level waste in the US alone [1].So I think it's…
"Which ones?" Cascading failures. Those are very effectively blocked by power islands connected by HVDC lines (like Texas is). A power outage like the North East in 2003 is unlikely in Europe because of your mild…
Ok, but I want numbers. How good can ICEs get? Mercedes claims their 1.5L F1 engine - designed for power, not efficiency - is over 50% thermally efficient. An EV can't match that. Not with the gas cycle efficiency and…
I'm not arguing that 3GD wasn't stupid, just that it generates an insane amount of power. Either way, no more of them will be built - there are not many more gorges like that left.
"Which is going to be a fixed amount regardless of distance" Sure, but knock off another 10% "I would expect HVDC to be a dead end already if it made a difference to my conclusion." I didn't get that. Could you…
Ok, look, I'd rather not talk about "football fields 10 meters deep". But going by that number your 80 000 metric tonnes of spent fuel has an average density of 740kg/m^3. So does your football field include the empty…
Sorry let me re-phrase "Nope. Germany averages about 6% of transmission loss" I wasn't referring to ohmic losses, or transmission losses. I was referring to consumed along the way. The power generated in Vladivostok…
That's not obvious to me. Sure, using the numbers and technology we all learned about in thermo class 20 years ago (best ICE efficiency of a car is 20% usually gets much worse), I agree. But the hybrid drivetrain throws…
It's a lot greener than little generators you'd buy at Costco. But don't dismiss neighborhood scale generation. It can approach efficiencies of large scale plants, while providing free heating/cooling. All whilst being…
" and produces 1% of China’s power." It produces 1% of the electricity used by CHINA the premier industrial and most populous country in the world and you dismiss it? Three Gorges was a mistake, but it generates power…
". I have no idea how much a multi-gigawatt HVDC line costs per kilometre," Well there's the crux, ain't it? They're bloody expensive. Also, to your 3.5% loss / 1000km line loss add in the transformation losses. Then…
" a grid that has enough capacity to distribute power across continents." That's easy to write, but very hard to envision the scale. The grid transports very small fraction of the consumed power over large distances,…
Well there are breeder reactors that significantly transform waste to less harmful products, and the Russians have basically commercialized them. But they're still a bad idea. Nuclear waste implies a strong, competent,…
Yes, I am aware of the difference between high and low level fuel and the stew of different half lives of the constituents of higher level fuel. There's 47 k tones of high level waste in the US alone [1].So I think it's…
"Which ones?" Cascading failures. Those are very effectively blocked by power islands connected by HVDC lines (like Texas is). A power outage like the North East in 2003 is unlikely in Europe because of your mild…
Ok, but I want numbers. How good can ICEs get? Mercedes claims their 1.5L F1 engine - designed for power, not efficiency - is over 50% thermally efficient. An EV can't match that. Not with the gas cycle efficiency and…
I'm not arguing that 3GD wasn't stupid, just that it generates an insane amount of power. Either way, no more of them will be built - there are not many more gorges like that left.
"Which is going to be a fixed amount regardless of distance" Sure, but knock off another 10% "I would expect HVDC to be a dead end already if it made a difference to my conclusion." I didn't get that. Could you…
Ok, look, I'd rather not talk about "football fields 10 meters deep". But going by that number your 80 000 metric tonnes of spent fuel has an average density of 740kg/m^3. So does your football field include the empty…
Sorry let me re-phrase "Nope. Germany averages about 6% of transmission loss" I wasn't referring to ohmic losses, or transmission losses. I was referring to consumed along the way. The power generated in Vladivostok…
That's not obvious to me. Sure, using the numbers and technology we all learned about in thermo class 20 years ago (best ICE efficiency of a car is 20% usually gets much worse), I agree. But the hybrid drivetrain throws…
It's a lot greener than little generators you'd buy at Costco. But don't dismiss neighborhood scale generation. It can approach efficiencies of large scale plants, while providing free heating/cooling. All whilst being…
" and produces 1% of China’s power." It produces 1% of the electricity used by CHINA the premier industrial and most populous country in the world and you dismiss it? Three Gorges was a mistake, but it generates power…
". I have no idea how much a multi-gigawatt HVDC line costs per kilometre," Well there's the crux, ain't it? They're bloody expensive. Also, to your 3.5% loss / 1000km line loss add in the transformation losses. Then…
" a grid that has enough capacity to distribute power across continents." That's easy to write, but very hard to envision the scale. The grid transports very small fraction of the consumed power over large distances,…
Well there are breeder reactors that significantly transform waste to less harmful products, and the Russians have basically commercialized them. But they're still a bad idea. Nuclear waste implies a strong, competent,…