Didcot Powerstation Fire - Looks bad :(

[Rude-boy]

McWigglebum4th said:

Not going to happen

I know this

Why do i know this?

The generator has been serviced and is waiting in the garden shed with fresh petrol and a spare can


Every time i do this = no powercuts

If i use the petrol in something else and use the genny so the tank is empty = 100% chance of powercut within 6 months

I can back this up as I have a generator sitting a few miles from home just waiting for me to pick it up and so I would suggest that thee will be no further power cuts in the UK until either I can't get to pick it up (unlikely) or it has broken down.

[turbobloke]

Rude-boy said:

McWigglebum4th said:

Not going to happen

I know this

Why do i know this?

The generator has been serviced and is waiting in the garden shed with fresh petrol and a spare can


Every time i do this = no powercuts

If i use the petrol in something else and use the genny so the tank is empty = 100% chance of powercut within 6 months

I can back this up as I have a generator sitting a few miles from home just waiting for me to pick it up and so I would suggest that thee will be no further power cuts in the UK until either I can't get to pick it up (unlikely) or it has broken down.

As your words are your bond, I'll hold off servicing my gennies as they won't be needed, that's for sure now

[McWigglebum4th]

turbobloke said:

Rude-boy said:

McWigglebum4th said:

Not going to happen

I know this

Why do i know this?

The generator has been serviced and is waiting in the garden shed with fresh petrol and a spare can


Every time i do this = no powercuts

If i use the petrol in something else and use the genny so the tank is empty = 100% chance of powercut within 6 months

I can back this up as I have a generator sitting a few miles from home just waiting for me to pick it up and so I would suggest that thee will be no further power cuts in the UK until either I can't get to pick it up (unlikely) or it has broken down.

As your words are your bond, I'll hold off servicing my gennies as they won't be needed, that's for sure now

Now there is a question

Does you non working generator cancel out my working generator?

[Snoggledog]

Drove past the power station this morning (as I do every day) and was slightly disappointed that there was only a light haze and whiff in the air and very little sign of anything untoward.

[turbobloke]

McWigglebum4th said:

turbobloke said:

Rude-boy said:

McWigglebum4th said:

Not going to happen

I know this

Why do i know this?

The generator has been serviced and is waiting in the garden shed with fresh petrol and a spare can


Every time i do this = no powercuts

If i use the petrol in something else and use the genny so the tank is empty = 100% chance of powercut within 6 months

I can back this up as I have a generator sitting a few miles from home just waiting for me to pick it up and so I would suggest that thee will be no further power cuts in the UK until either I can't get to pick it up (unlikely) or it has broken down.

As your words are your bond, I'll hold off servicing my gennies as they won't be needed, that's for sure now

Now there is a question

Does you non working generator cancel out my working generator?

We should be ok as only one of the two needs a fettle and this covers all bases.

[hidetheelephants]

hidetheelephants said:

There's no large scale CCS in the UK, nor any planned soon. Looking at the pictures I'll be interested to see how this pans out as the cooling system looks quite modular; depending on whether there's damage to the wider cooling system it might be possible to run the unit at part-load if some cooling modules are undamaged.

The Wail has quite a few photos of the cooling system, only 3 out of 15 coolers in the one affected appear badly damaged, so if they can be bypassed it's not likely to have much effect on output once the sweeping up is done.

[Oldred_V8S]

Weren't these due to be knocked down at some time in the near future?

[gruffalo]

turbobloke said:

McWigglebum4th said:

turbobloke said:

Rude-boy said:

McWigglebum4th said:

Not going to happen

I know this

Why do i know this?

The generator has been serviced and is waiting in the garden shed with fresh petrol and a spare can


Every time i do this = no powercuts

If i use the petrol in something else and use the genny so the tank is empty = 100% chance of powercut within 6 months

I can back this up as I have a generator sitting a few miles from home just waiting for me to pick it up and so I would suggest that thee will be no further power cuts in the UK until either I can't get to pick it up (unlikely) or it has broken down.

As your words are your bond, I'll hold off servicing my gennies as they won't be needed, that's for sure now

Now there is a question

Does you non working generator cancel out my working generator?

We should be ok as only one of the two needs a fettle and this covers all bases.

Mine won't start, can I add that into the mix as well.

[traxx]

tbh RWE must be over the moon to get rid of one of their old gas units to an insurance claim like this

[hidetheelephants]

Oldred_V8S said:

Weren't these due to be knocked down at some time in the near future?

That was the old station, Didcot A; bits of it were blown up a while back.

[turbobloke]

Demand from the grid is up towards 45GW with wind at 9% which is disappointing given the cost and the prevailing weather.

[Magog]

traxx said:

tbh RWE must be over the moon to get rid of one of their old gas units to an insurance claim like this

Has it pushed up the price of the other electricity they are producing as well?

[Fizpop]

turbobloke said:

Demand from the grid is up towards 45GW with wind at 9% which is disappointing given the cost and the prevailing weather.

43% of installed capacity in the UK including both on and offshore running at 100% at once (or whatever the ratio in-between)?

I don't think that's bad at all.

[226bhp]

phumy said:

226bhp said:

phumy said:

These cooling towers are constructed from around 10-15% (Concrete Foundation), around 60-70% Timber (main structure) and 15-20% Plastic (Internal tray elements)

That isn't correct, the actual flue is constructed from 100% concrete and steel. You wouldn't build a structure like that from wood!
The older ones have the ducting inside which carries the water made from wood, it will have been that burning, not the tower itself.

Not correct eh! Where is your qualification for this not being correct, mine is that i have constructed, commissioned and operated 6 of these new CCGT power plants, 3 of them with timber cooling towers, now tell me i am wrong.

Edited by phumy on Monday 20th October 09:13

That's not a cooling tower you Southern poof, these are cooling towers:



Yes I know you're right.

[Talksteer]

phumy said:

PRTVR said:

On the north east news last night, they reported that Hartlepool Nuclear power station should be back in service by Christmas, they explained that it will only run at reduced rates, as this reduces the heat to the turbine thus reducing the chance of cracks forming, no expert here but I thought the risk of cracking would occur in a change of temperature.

I have read a little on this and think that these cracks are caused by long term radiation bombardment, not thermal stress, so possibly no relation to temperature.

The cracks with issues are in the pod boilers (in the main structural spine) they are part of the primary circuit but they are not irradiated or in the reactor. They are with complications man accessible.

The cracks you may be thinking of are in the carbon blocks. Those can't be repaired they are more of a case of monitoring.

Running the reactor at a lower temperature will reduce corrosion and may reduce vibration and maximum thermally induced stresses.

[BooHoo]

226bhp said:

That's not a cooling tower you Southern poof, these are cooling towers:



Yes I know you're right.

Didcot has those as well, there were six but three of them were demolished in July. The fire took place at the other Didcot power station, which is gas fired and has much smaller cooling towers.

[turbobloke]

Fizpop said:

turbobloke said:

Demand from the grid is up towards 45GW with wind at 9% which is disappointing given the cost and the prevailing weather.

43% of installed capacity in the UK including both on and offshore running at 100% at once (or whatever the ratio in-between)?

I don't think that's bad at all.

That would appear to focus on the benefits while not looking too closely at the costs, or the fact that from your numbers more than 50% of the resource has cost a lot and is costing a lot but doing nothing. It's very poor. Then we wait for a freezing and calm winter snap and see how many pensioners' lives are lost or saved by wind.

[226bhp]

BooHoo said:

Didcot has those as well, there were six but three of them were demolished in July. The fire took place at the other Didcot power station, which is gas fired and has much smaller cooling towers.

Funny I was just watching it on the news and it showed them - known as Plant A and B, it says the concrete ones were being decommissioned. It seems very strange to make such structures from wood in this day and age, not very durable, but environmentally sound I guess.

[Fizpop]

turbobloke said:

That would appear to focus on the benefits while not looking too closely at the costs, or the fact that from your numbers more than 50% of the resource has cost a lot and is costing a lot but doing nothing. It's very poor. Then we wait for a freezing and calm winter snap and see how many pensioners' lives are lost or saved by wind.

Do you think that any sector of the UK generation fleet runs at full capacity at all times? Our make up is hugely diverse and at the moment wind is contributing 17% of that generation from around 45% of installed capacity whilst the base load is coming from around 32% of the coal fired fleet. That wind is creating non-polluting, fuel-less generation - how on earth can that be 'very poor'?

It's pretty alarmist to think that wind power will kill pensioners. There is adequate CCG and other quickly dispatchable generation types to cover the eventuality you describe, not to mention base load coal and nuclear generators and the interconnectors.

[phumy]

Fizpop said:

turbobloke said:

That would appear to focus on the benefits while not looking too closely at the costs, or the fact that from your numbers more than 50% of the resource has cost a lot and is costing a lot but doing nothing. It's very poor. Then we wait for a freezing and calm winter snap and see how many pensioners' lives are lost or saved by wind.

Do you think that any sector of the UK generation fleet runs at full capacity at all times? Our make up is hugely diverse and at the moment wind is contributing 17% of that generation from around 45% of installed capacity whilst the base load is coming from around 32% of the coal fired fleet. That wind is creating non-polluting, fuel-less generation - how on earth can that be 'very poor'?

Yes the nuclear sector runs at base load, always has and always will, these big lumbering machines cannot sit at 50 or 75% load and do a rapid load ups when required by grid, so once they synchronise to the grid they come up to base load or their maximum capacity and just sit there, sometimes for months.