Sizewell C Nuclear Plant Campaigners Challenge Approval
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
Campaigners against the Sizewell C nuclear power station have written to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to legally challenge his decision to give the scheme the go-ahead.
The £20bn project for the Suffolk coast was given government approval in July.
However, the decision was against the advice of the Planning Inspectorate and those against the scheme said the consent was therefore “unlawful”.
I summed up my attitude to nuclear power in Sizewell C: Nuclear Power Station Plans For Suffolk Submitted, where I said this.
As a well-read and experienced engineer, I am not against the technologies of nuclear power.
But I do think, by the time it is completed , other technologies like wind and energy storage will be much better value. They will also be more flexible and easier to expand, should we get our energy forecasts wrong.
I wrote that in May 2020, which was before Vlad the Mad started his war in Ukraine. So our energy forecasts are totally wrong! Thanks for nothing, Vlad!
In Plan To Build £150m Green Hydrogen Plant At Felixstowe Port, I talked about ScottishPower’s plan to build a large electrolyser at Felixstowe.
The Port of Felixstowe has in the past talked of using electricity from Sizewell C to create hydrogen.
So is the port backing another horse or just playing safe?
Have We Enough LNG Carriers To Distribute The Natural Gas We Need?
I recently, asked this question of myself, as liquefied natural gas (LNG), now seems to be being moved all over the world.
Note, that the we in the title of this post, is a global we!
I stated by reading the Wikipedia entry for LNG Carrier.
This paragraph outlines the history of LNG carriers.
The first LNG carrier Methane Pioneer (5,034 DWT), classed by Bureau Veritas, left the Calcasieu River on the Louisiana Gulf coast on 25 January 1959. Carrying the world’s first ocean cargo of LNG, it sailed to the UK where the cargo was delivered. Subsequent expansion of that trade has brought on a large expansion of the fleet to today where giant LNG ships carrying up to 266,000 m3 (9,400,000 cu ft) are sailing worldwide.
The Methane Pioneer carried only 27,000 m3 of LNG.
Things have come a long way since the Methane Pioneer.
This is said in the Wikipedia entry for LNG Carrier.
According to SIGTTO data, in 2019 there were 154 LNG carriers on order, and 584 operating LNG carriers.
I don’t think capacity is a problem.
The Wikipedia entry also talks in detail about Cargo Handling and a Typical Cargo Cycle.
It is a very worthwhile read.
Wide Platforms On The Piccadilly Line Extension
As a child, I used to live on the Northern reaches of the Piccadilly Line.
- My family lived near Oakwood station.
- I used to have my hair cut in the barbers at Cockfosters station.
- My school was at Southgate station.
- My father’s print works was close to Wood Green station.
- I regularly brought shopping home from Marks & Spencer in Wood Green, by using Turnpike Lane station.
- I saw Eric Clapton, John Mayall and others at the Manor House pub by Manor House station.
Incidentally, I’ve never had much to do with Arnos Grove or Bounds Green stations.
Perhaps because in those days of the 1950s, I rarely used other lines, I didn’t notice the wider platforms of the extension, which opened in 1933.
The Wikipedia entry for the Piccadilly Line, says this.
Platforms 400 ft (120 m) long were originally planned for each station to fit 8-car trains, but were cut short to 385 ft (117 m) when built. Some stations were also built with wider platform tunnels to cater to expected high patronage.
Perhaps, that explains the wider platforms at Turnpike Lane and Manor House stations.
I suspect that Transport for London wish that the Victoria Line had been built to the same standards of the Piccadilly Line Extension of the 1930s.
The Anonymous Widower 