stewartb
We, our children, grandchildren and beyond will be living – and paying – for the legacy of past and. present nuclear power generation for a long time to come.
Source: National Audit Office (16 October 2024) Decommissioning Sellafield: managing risks from the nuclear legacy – Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/decommissioning-sellafield-managing-risks-from-the-nuclear-legacy.pdf )
In the words of the NAO on Sellafield: ‘.. the NDA expects full site remediation will take until 2125.’ So 100 years!
We learn that Sellafield spend in 2023-24 = £2.7 billion. And from Para 3.16 of the NAO report: ‘Sellafield spends the majority of its current funding on meeting legal obligations and reducing the highest hazards …….. It spends relatively little on decommissioning and demolishing buildings: just £107 million in 2023‑24.’ (my emphasis) So spending billions just to mark time?
NAO report summary Para 11: ‘There is no overall measurement of progress towards full decommissioning’.
Para 13: ‘Sellafield has to empty waste from ageing facilities which pose an ‘intolerable’ risk, and store it in buildings which meet modern standards. The risk these facilities pose is illustrated by the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, which is leaking 2,100 litres of contaminated water each day. … (Sellafield and its regulators believe that current leakage rates pose a low risk to workers and the public).’
And more on the latter, from Para 2.16: ‘… MSSS (Magnox Swarf Storage Silo) has been leaking contaminated water into the ground since 2019; the rate is currently estimated at around 2,100 litres per day. Sellafield is unable to fix the leak, meaning it may continue until this part of the silo is emptied in the late 2040s or early 2050s.’
And still no solution for final storage of the most toxic waste.
So wind turbines or more nuclear generation? No contest!
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
”Yes , but apart from the constant dangerous radiation leaks , the increasing instances of cancers in the local population , the problematic security of our nuclear sites to terrorists , the ever increasing astronomical cost of disposal of radioactive material , …. what objections can you possibly have to Labour’s policy of building small nuclear reactors in a community near you ? ” Anas Sarwar .
LikeLiked by 2 people
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22530053-800-shocking-state-of-worlds-riskiest-nuclear-waste-site/
from 2015 or thereabouts but still very much relevant.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Many thanks
Shared
John
LikeLike
For all my understanding why nuclear is still considered for power generation in some quarters, I sincerely struggle to see the need for it in Scotland given the wealth of renewables – Top up generators such as gas turbine would make much greater sense – Despite ‘climate’ concerns, they should only be needed in exceptional circumstances without a thousand year legacy.
On a recent BBC piece on the Spain/Portugal blackouts where the ‘could it happen in the uk?’ was asked, they flashed up on set a map of the UK with generation export and import in green and red respectively, presumably from the national grid – You had to go all the way down to north wales before a red figure appeared in the sub thousand bracket, the further south and nearer london you got the red thousands became more prevalent and obvious.
Go hell for leather on energy conservation and Scotland will be well provisioned for energy…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed Bob, I would also like to add in some more of Scotland’s own “big batteries” into the mix. Namely the hydro schemes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are all sorts of variations on ‘batteries’ – Pumped storage being one falling under the heading of hydro for fast start energy release, and it will also be interesting to see how ‘liquid air’ works out at Hunterston (and Aberdeen ?).
Despite the bullshit flying over renewables needing nuclear as backup, you can’t just switch nuclear on and off – Strictly speaking gas turbine top ups can’t either, they have to be run up to speed ready to generate, which is why England quite specifically needs it an tilts everybody’s power bills.. When it comes down to ‘either the lights go off or you pay us’, it is S.E. England quite specifically the “WE” in ‘sharing’ the burden with everybody else….
Once Orkney gets it’s interconnect upgraded next year we can get a better grasp on reality as Orbital’s tidal array breaks through the baseload bullshit argument for nuclear.
LikeLike
Can anyone help? I saw recently in John’s blog, or it could have been in a comment, a picture of a map of the British Isles with a big electric heater shown in the south of England, colored pink to show warm, which was plugged into a socket in Scotland, colored blue to show cold.
I thought it demonstrated the current energy situation brilliantly and wanted to share it, but cannot find it again. If anyone can help, I’d be really grateful as it was a fantastic graphic.
Thanks in advance.
LikeLike
Is this the graphic you’re looking for? Came across it attached to a tweet. No idea of its originator.
https://t.co/Rm9UJDYC6F
LikeLike