Centrica Really Can’t Lose At Sizewell
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Centrica’s £1.3 billion investment in Sizewell C guarantees substantial returns, even with cost overruns.
These two-and-a-half paragraphs explain the funding.
Now we know what Ed Miliband means by his “golden age of nuclear” — golden for the companies putting their money into Sizewell C. Yes, reactor projects have a habit of blowing up private investors. But maybe not this one. It looks more like an exercise in transferring risk to consumers and the taxpayer.
Sure, nobody builds a £38 billion nuke on a Suffolk flood plain without a frisson of danger. But the energy secretary and his Treasury chums have done their bit to make things as safe as possible for the companies putting in equity alongside the government’s 44.9 per cent stake: Canada’s La Caisse with 20 per cent, British Gas-owner Centrica (15 per cent), France’s EDF (12.5 per cent) and Amber Infrastructure (7.6 per cent).
For starters, nearly all the debt for the 3.2 gigawatt plant, three-quarters funded by loans, is coming from the state-backed National Wealth Fund. It’s bunging in up to £36.6 billion, with £5 billion more guaranteed by a French export credit agency.
It looks to me that between them the British and French governments are providing £41.5 billion of loans to build the £38 billion nuke.
These are my thoughts.
Hydrogen And Sizewell C
This page on the Sizewell C web site is entitled Hydrogen And Sizewell C.
Under a heading of Hydrogen Buses, this is said.
At Sizewell C, we are exploring how we can produce and use hydrogen in several ways. We are working with Wrightbus on a pilot scheme which, if successful, could see thousands of workers transported to and from site on hydrogen double decker buses. You can read more about the pilot scheme in our press release
Firstly, it could help lower emissions during construction of the power station. Secondly, once Sizewell C is operational, we hope to use some of the heat it generates (alongside electricity) to make hydrogen more efficiently.
This would appear to be a more general statement about hydrogen and that the following is planned.
- Hydrogen-powered buses will be used to bring workers to the site. A press release on the Sizewell C web site, talks about up to 150 buses. That would probably be enough buses for all of Suffolk.
- Hydrogen-powered construction equipment will be used in the building of the power station.
- It also talks about using the excess heat from the power station to make hydrogen more efficiently. I talk about this process in Westinghouse And Bloom Energy To Team Up For Pink Hydrogen.
This is a substantial investment in hydrogen.
Centrica And Electricity From Sizewell C
The article in The Times, also says this.
Even so, there’s a fair bit of protection for the likes of Centrica, which has also agreed a 20-year offtake deal for its share of Sizewell’s electricity. The price of that is not yet known.
Nothing is said in the article about the size of Centrica’s electricity offtake.
- If they get 15 % of Sizewell C, that would by 480 MW.
- If they get 15 % of Sizewell B + C, that would by 660 MW.
If they use their share to generate hydrogen, Suffolk would have a massive hydrogen hub.
To power the buses and construction of Sizewell C, Sizewell B could be used to provide electricity to create the hydrogen.
How Would The Hydrogen Be Produced?
Centrica, along with other companies, who include Hyundai and Kia, are backers of a company in Hull called HiiROC, who use a process called Thermal Plasma Electrolysis to generate hydrogen.
On their web site, they have this sub-heading.
A Transformational New Process For Affordable Clean Hydrogen
The web site also describes the process as scalable from small modular units up to industrial scale. It also says this about the costs of the system: As cheap as SMR without needing CCUS; a fraction of the energy/cost of water electrolysis.
If HiiROC have achieved their objective of scalability, then Centrica could grow their electrolyser to meet demand.
How Would The Hydrogen Be Distributed?
Consider.
- Currently, the Sizewell site has both road and rail access.
- I can still see in my mind from the 1960s, ICI’s specialist articulated Foden trucks lined up in the yard at Runcorn, taking on their cargoes of hydrogen for delivery all over the country.
- As that factory is still producing hydrogen and I can’t remember any accidents in the last sixty years, I am fairly sure that a range of suitable hydrogen trucks could be developed to deliver hydrogen by road.
- The road network to the Siewell site is being updated to ensure smooth delivery of workers and materials.
- The rail access to the Sizewell site is also being improved, for the delivery of bulk materials.
I believe there will be no problems delivering hydrogen from the Sizewell site.
I also believe that there could be scope for a special-purpose self-propelled hydrogen tanker train, which could both distribute and supply the hydrogen to the vehicles, locomotives and equipment that will be using it.
Where Will The Hydrogen Be Used?
I have lived a large part of my life in Suffolk and know the county well.
In my childhood, there was quite a lot of heavy industry, but now that has all gone and employment is based on agriculture, the Port of Felixstowe and service industries.
I can see hydrogen being used in the following industries.
Transport
Buses and heavy trucks would be powered by hydrogen.
The ports in the East of England support a large number of heavy trucks.
Large Construction Projects
Sizewell C is not the only large construction project in the East of England, that is aiming to use low-carbon construction involving hydrogen. In Gallagher Group Host Hydrogen Fuel Trial At Hermitage Quarry, I talked about a hydrogen fuel trial for the Lower Thames Crossing, that involved JCB and Ryse Hydrogen.
Hydrogen for the Lower Thames Crossing could be delivered from Sizewell by truck, down the A12.
Rail
We may not ever see hydrogen-powered passenger trains in this country, but I do believe that we could see hydrogen-powered freight locomotives.
Consider.
- The latest electro-diesel Class 99 locomotives from Stadler have a Cummins diesel engine.
- The diesel engine is used, when there is no electrification.
- Cummins have developed the technology, that allows them to convert their latest diesel engines to hydrogen or natural gas power, by changing the cylinder head and the fuel system.
- Access to the Port of Felixstowe and London Gateway needs a locomotive with a self-powered capability for the last few miles of the route.
A Class 99 locomotive converted to hydrogen would be able to run with out emitting any carbon dioxide from Felixstowe or London Gateway to Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Ports
Ports have three main uses for hydrogen.
- To power ground-handing equipment, to create a pollution-free atmosphere for port workers.
- To fuel ships of all sizes from the humblest work-boat to the largest container ships.
- There may need to be fuel for hydrogen-powered rail locomotives in the future.
There are seven ports with excellent road and/or rail connections to the Sizewell site; Felixstowe, Great Yarmouth, Harwich, Ipswich, London Gateway, Lowestoft and Tilbury.
The proposed Freeport East is also developing their own green hydrogen hub, which is described on this page on the Freeport East web site.
Airports
Airports have two main uses for hydrogen.
- To power ground-handing equipment, to create a pollution-free atmosphere for airport workers.
- In the future, there is likely to be hydrogen-powered aircraft.
There are three airports with excellent road and/or rail connections to the Sizewell site; Norwich, Southend and Stansted.
Agriculture And The Rural Economy
Agriculture and the rural economy would be difficult to decarbonise.
Consider.
- Currently, most farms would use diesel power for tractors and agricultural equipment, which is delivered by truck.
- Many rural properties are heated by propane or fuel oil, which is delivered by truck.
- Some high-energy rural businesses like blacksmiths rely on propane, which is delivered by truck.
- Electrification could be possible for some applications, but ploughing the heavy land of Suffolk, with the added weight of a battery on the tractor, would probably be a mathematical impossibility.
- JCB are developing hydrogen-powered construction equipment and already make tractors.
- Hydrogen could be delivered by truck to farms and rural properties.
- Many boilers can be converted from propoane to run on hydrogen.
I feel, that hydrogen could be the ideal fuel to decarbonise agriculture and the rural economy.
I cover this application in detail in Developing A Rural Hydrogen Network.
Exports
Consider.
- Sizewell B and Sizewell C nuclear powerstations have a combined output of 4.4 GW.
- A rough calculation shows that there is a total of 7.2 GW of wind farms planned off the Suffolk coast.
- The East Anglian Array wind farm alone is said in Wikipedia to be planned to expand to 7.2 GW.
- The Sizewell site has a high capacity connection to the National Grid.
Nuclear plus wind should keep the lights on in the East of England.
Any excess electricity could be converted into hydrogen.
This Google Map shows the location of Sizewell B in relation to Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands.
The Sizewell site is indicated by the red arrow.
The offshore oil and gas industry has used technology like single buoy moorings and coastal tankers to collect offshore natural gas for decades.
I don’t see why coastal hydrogen tankers couldn’t export excess hydrogen to places around the North Sea, who need the fuel.
It should be born in mind, that Centrica have a good reputation in doing natural gas trading. This expertise would surely be useful in hydrogen trading.
Conclusion
I believe that a hydrogen hub developed at Sizewell makes sense and I also believe that Centrica have the skills and technology to make it work.
Nigel Farage Speech: Persistent Offenders Would Face Life Sentences
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The Reform UK leader pledged more prison spaces, deportation of criminals and zero-tolerance policing as part of a six-week Lawless Britain campaign drive.
These three paragraphs give more detail about what criminals can expect and how much it will cost.
Every shoplifter would be prosecuted and stop and search powers used to “saturation point” under Nigel Farage’s pledge to make Reform UK the “toughest party on law and order this country has ever seen”.
He said that a Reform government would crack down on prolific offending by imposing life sentences on those who commit three or more offences.
The Reform leader set out plans to spend £17.4 billion to cut crime by half in the first five years if the party wins the next general election — an annual cost of £3.5 billion.
At least hanging and flogging aren’t mentioned. But he does suggest sending one of our worst child murderers to El Salvador and that Britain would leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
This paragraph says how he will pay for this law and order policy.
Farage said Reform would pay for the £17.4 billion law and order crackdown by ditching HS2 and net zero policies — money which has also been pledged for other policies.
I have just done a little calculation about how much offshore wind power should be commissioned by January 2029, which will likely be before the expected 2029 General Election.
- In October 2023, there was 15,581 MW of operational offshore wind.
- Currently there are 10,842 MW under construction, that should be commissioned by January 2029.
- There is also 2,860 MW of smaller wind farms, which have yet to be started that should be commissioned by January 2029.
- That all totals up to 29, 285 MW or 29.3 GW.
- Another 12 GW of offshore wind is scheduled to be commissioned in 2029 and 2030.
Currently, as I write this we are generating 29.3 GW from all sources.
I asked Google AI how much solar energy we will have in January 2029 and got this answer.
In January 2029, the UK is projected to have a significant amount of solar energy capacity, with the government aiming for 45-47 GW of total solar power by 2030.
Let’s assume the sun only shine half the time and say 20 GW on average.
We’ll also have 4.4 GW from Hinckley Point C and Sizewell B, as all other nuclear will have been switched off.
I asked Google AI how much energy storage we’ll have by January 2029 and got this answer.
In January 2029, the UK is projected to have around 120 GWh of battery energy storage capacity, according to a European report. This is part of a broader goal to reach 400 GWh by 2029 for the EU-27, with the UK contributing significantly to this total.
If there’s say another Great Storm, the dozens of interconnectors between the UK and Europe should keep us all going.
It looks to me that by January 2029, we’ll be substantially on the way to being powered by renewables.
Most of the net zero money will have been spent and we’ll be almost at net zero.
Phase One of High Speed Two has a target date of 2030, and I suspect that the engineers working on the project will get trains running between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street stations before the General Election, just because if NF’s going to cancel the project, they might as well do their best to get him to lose the election.
So at best he might get a year’s savings from stopping High Speed Two, but an unfinished High Speed Two, will be a joke on NF and make him look a complete laughing stock!
25-Year-Old Danish Offshore Wind Farm Gets Approval To Operate For 25 More Years
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.
This is the sub-heading.
After approving the production permit extension for the Samsø offshore wind farm earlier this month, the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has now granted extended permits to two more of Denmark’s oldest offshore wind farms, Middelgrunden and Nysted.
These first two paragraphs add more details.
To support its decisions, the DEA has requested that the applicants for the production permit extensions deliver an impartial analysis of the remaining lifetime. After receiving the extensions, the owners are now obliged to carry out comprehensive annual service inspections.
The Middelgrunden offshore wind farm was built in 2000 and received its electricity production permit the same year, before full commissioning in March 2001. The DEA has now approved Middelgrunden to operate for 25 more years.
This must be a very good thing, if with a good well-planned maintenance regime, engineers can get a productive life of fifty years out of an offshore wind farm.
With nuclear power stations, engineers seem to be able to predict their life expectancy fairly well, so if we can do the same with wind farms, it must make the planning of future power capacity a lot easier.
I asked Google for an answer to how long do nuclear power stations last and got this AI Overview.
Nuclear power plants are typically designed to operate for 40 to 60 years, but some can be extended to 80 years or even longer with upgrades and maintenance. Early plants were often designed for 30 years, but many have been refurbished to extend their operational life, according to the World Nuclear Association. The actual lifespan can also depend on factors like financial viability, operating costs, and the need for decommissioning, according to the National Grid Group.
As I suspect that solar farms could remain productive for fifty or sixty years, a mix of nuclear, solar and wind should serve us well in the future. Especially, as every next generation of nuclear, solar and wind power should be better than the last.
As a very experienced mathematical modeller, I like it.
SNP Ban On ‘Munitions’ Funds Puts Scottish Shipbuilding On The Line
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The president of Rolls-Royce submarines says plans for a world-class welding centre on the Clyde are at risk of being cancelled within days
These three paragraphs add more details to the story.
Ambitious plans to reverse a historic decline in Scottish shipbuilding are at risk after a £2.5 million taxpayer grant was axed due to an SNP ban on “munitions” funding.
A plan to build a specialist welding centre on the banks of the Clyde is now in grave doubt after Scottish Enterprise, the national economic development agency, was accused of reneging on a pledge to fund a building for the world-class facility.
Rolls-Royce, which is ready to support the project by providing £11 million worth of specialist equipment, expressed “dismay” at the news, saying the project had been classified as a “munitions” scheme solely on the basis that it would “support the construction of naval vessels”.
Given the experience of the Scottish Government in building ferries is documented in this Wikipedia entry, which is entitled Scottish Ferry Fiasco, the SNP must know something about how not to build ships.
The comments from readers of the Times Article are scathing, with many coming from those with Scottish names.
Welding And Nuclear Power
It doesn’t mention the other big use for welding in this article and that is in the manufacture of nuclear reactors. In fact one of the members of the Rolls-Royce consortium, that will build their small modular nuclear reactors is The Welding Institute – No prizes for guessing what they do!
Does that mean that Scotland won’t have anything to do with small modular nuclear reactors? Either in their manufacture or use.
This article in New Civil Engineer is entitled UK Plans New Nuclear Plant In Scotland Despite Scottish Government Opposition.
So if the Scottish Government wants nothing to do with making expensive, quality vessels for the nuclear industry, Rolls-Royce would surely be better building the welding centre in an area of the UK that would appreciate it.
Scots In High Positions Of Power
I like Scotland and the Scots and possibly, at one time, with all the North Sea Oil and Gas, I could have thought about relocating North of the Border. But I’m very glad I didn’t!
It does seem to me though, that when some Scots get to high positions of power, that they lose all sense of reason.
I would nominate.
- Fred the Shred
- The SNP
- That half-Scot, who was lucky enough to be elected US President twice.
There must be a few others.
AI Forecast To Fuel Doubling In Data Centre Electricity Demand By 2030
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
International Energy Agency predicts that artificial intelligence could help reduce total greenhouse gas emissions
These are the first two paragraphs.
Data centres will use more than twice as much electricity by 2030 than they do today as artificial intelligence drives demand, the International Energy Agency predicts.
The agency forecast that all data centres globally will use about 945 terawatt-hours of electricity each year by 2030, roughly three times as much as the UK’s total annual demand of 317 terawatt-hours in 2023.
I am very much an optimist, that here in the UK, we will be able to satisfy demand for the generation and distribution of electricity.
- Our seas can accommodate enough wind turbines to provide the baseload of electricity we will need.
- Roofs and fields will be covered in solar panels.
- SSE seem to be getting their act together with pumped storage hydro in Scotland.
- I am confident, that new energy storage technologies like Highview Power with the packing of companies like Centrica, Goldman Sachs, Rio Tinto and others will come good, in providing power, when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.
- Hopefully, Hinckley Point C and Sizewell C will be online and soon to be joined by the first of the new small modular nuclear reactors.
- Hopefully, Mersey Tidal Power will be operating.
- There will be innovative ideas like heata from Centrica’s research. The economical water heater even made BBC’s One Show last week.
The only problem will be the Nimbies.
Ministers Will Relax Rules To Build Small Nuclear Reactors
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Britain’s five nuclear power stations, which generate about 6GW in total, powering 13 million homes, are all nearing the end of their lives
These first three paragraphs indicate the reasons why, the government wants to relax the rules.
Ministers are preparing to relax planning rules to make it easier to build mini nuclear power plants in more parts of the country in order to hit green energy targets and boost the industry.
They are also examining whether it is possible to streamline the process for approving the safety of new nuclear power plants as a way to reduce construction delays.
At present rules state that only the government may designate sites for potential nuclear power stations, of which there are eight, severely limiting where they can be built.
The article includes a vote and surprisingly to me, the vote embedded in the article, shows 92 % in favour of relaxing the rules and only 8 % against.
I must admit these figures surprise me, as I’d have thought more would have been against.
Certain Words Frighten The Public
It is because nuclear is one of those words, that I felt that the vote in favour would have been much lower.
Regular readers of this blog will know, that in the 1960s,, I worked for ICI doing itinerant computing and instrumentation tasks, in my first job after leaving Liverpool University with a degree in Control Engineering.
I can now classify the experience as a superb apprenticeship, where I learned a lot that has been useful to me in later life.
For a time, I was working on nuclear magnefic resonance or NMR scans. ICI Mond Division in Runcorn had one of the best installations for analysing chemicals using this technique, which is described in this Wikipedia entry, which starts with these sentences.
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are disturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field (in the near field) and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a frequency characteristic of the magnetic field at the nucleus. This process occurs near resonance, when the oscillation frequency matches the intrinsic frequency of the nuclei, which depends on the strength of the static magnetic field, the chemical environment, and the magnetic properties of the isotope involved; in practical applications with static magnetic fields up to ca. 20 tesla, the frequency is similar to VHF and UHF television broadcasts (60–1000 MHz).
One day, the Senior Scientist, who ran the machine came in to work and announced that the property of nuclear magnetic resonance would be replacing X-rays, as the technology had just been used to give a three-dimensional image of something like the tail of a mouse.
Now fifty-five years later, many if not most of us have had MRi scans.
The Wikipedia entry for Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRi, explains, what happened to the dreaded N-word.
MRI was originally called NMRI (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging), but “nuclear” was dropped to avoid negative associations.
Perhaps, it would be easier to build nuclear power stations, if the level of science teaching in the UK was better.
The Three Paragraphs In Detail
Earlier, I copied three paragraphs from The Times, into this post.
I shall now look at each in detail.
Paragraph 1
Ministers are preparing to relax planning rules to make it easier to build mini nuclear power plants in more parts of the country in order to hit green energy targets and boost the industry.
I was in Suffolk, when the planning of Sizewell B was undertaken.
There appeared to be little strong opposition, but the general feeling was what there was from second home owners, who were worried that the value of their holiday home would decline.
Employment and commerce created by Sizewell B was certainly good for the area in lots of ways.
At the time, my late wife; C was practicing as a family barrister in chambers in Ipswich. She believed that the building of Sizewell B had had a good effect on the area, as it had injected work and money, which had created the finance to allow a couple to end a marriage, that had long since died. She stated a couple of times, that Sizewell B was good for her practice.
Paragraph 2
They are also examining whether it is possible to streamline the process for approving the safety of new nuclear power plants as a way to reduce construction delays.
My worry about streamlining the process for approving safety, is that we approve nuclear power stations so rarely, do we have the qualified personnel to replace elapsed time with people. I would suggest that we don’t.
But we could have.
- We have some excellent universities, where Nuclear Engineering can be studied.
- How many personnel leave the Royal Navy each year, who could be trained as nuclear safety inspectors?
- If say Rolls-Royce and/or Hitachi are building several small modular nuclear reactors a year in the UK, then nuclear engineering will become fashionable, as electronics was for my generation of engineers and it will attract the brightest students.
Perhaps an established university, with access to the needed skills should be funded to set up a Nuclear Safety Institute
Paragraph 3
At present rules state that only the government may designate sites for potential nuclear power stations, of which there are eight, severely limiting where they can be built.
I can envisage new small modular nuclear reactors being built in the UK, where there is a need for lots of electricity to support developments like.
- Offshore wind farms
- Data centres
- Green steelmaking
- Metal refining
- Hydrogen production.
Rolls-Royce have said that their small reactors will be around 470 MW, so I could imagine power stations of this size being placed on disused coal-fired power station sites to boost power in an area. I have already suggested building some on Drax in The Future Of Drax Power Station.
In some locations, the choice could be between a small modular nuclear reactor and some form of energy storage.
Powering Germany
But there is one controversial area, where we can take advantage.
- The Germans are very short of electricity because of their reliance on coal and Russian gas that needs to be replaced.
- The 1.4 GW NeuConnect interconnector is being built by European and Japanese money between the Isle of Grain and Wilhelmshaven.
- The AquaVentus hydrogen system could be extended to Humberside to link with UK hydrogen production and storage.
- A couple of small modular nuclear reactors could be built on Humberside to back up hydrogen production, when the wind isn’t blowing.
But Rolls-Royce and other companies have been putting small nuclear reactors close to the sea bed safely for decades, so why no design an offshore reactor that can be placed at a safe distance offshore?
We would need to solve the Putin and friends problem first, but I can see the UK exporting a lot of electricity and hydrogen produced by nuclear energy.
Could Liverpool Develop A Massive Zero-Carbon Data Centre?
There is an article in The Sunday Times today, which is entitled Google Signs Nuclear Deal To Power AI Data Centres.
These are the first three paragraphs of the article.
Google has struck a deal with a nuclear power start-up to provide low-carbon energy for its data centres and AI operations, marking a world-first in the tech industry.
The California-based company said the agreement to buy energy from multiple small modular reactors developed by Kairos Power could help spur a nuclear revival in America.
The first reactor is scheduled to come online in America by 2030, followed by additional deployments through 2035.
I am not against nuclear-powered data centres, but could Liverpool build a massive zero-carbon data centre?
This Google Map shows Liverpool Bay, which is a vast expanse of water that stretches along the North Wales coast to Anglesey and all the way to the Isle of Man.
Note.
- The Isle of Man in the North-West corner.
- Liverpool, Birkenhead and the River Mersey in the South-East corner.
- Anglesey in the South-West corner.
- Blackpool with Morecambe Bay to its North in the North-East corner.
Liverpool Bay could be one of Europe’s zero-carbon energy powerhouses.
Wind Farms In Liverpool Bay
At the present time, these wind farms are producing electricity or planned in Liverpool Bay.
- Barrow – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2006
- Burbo Bank – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2007
- Burbo Bank Extension – 258 MW – Commissioned in 2017
- Gwynt y Môr – 576 MW – Commissioned in 2015
- North Hoyle – 60 MW – Commissioned in 2003
- Ormonde – 150 MW – Commissioned in 2012
- Rhyl Flats – 90 MW – Commissioned in 2009
- Walney – 367 MW – Commissioned in 2010
- Walney Extension – 659 MW – Commissioned in 2018
- West if Duddon Sands – 389 MW – Commissioned in 2014
- Awel y Môr – 500 MW – Planned
- Morecambe – 480 MW – Planned
- Mona – 1500 MW – Planned
- Morgan – 1500 MW – Planned
Note.
- 2509 MW has been commissioned.
- 3980 MW is being planned.
- That is a total of 6489 MW
I suspect more space in Liverpool Bay could be developed with wind farms.
Mersey Tidal Power
The Mersey Tidal Power project has a web site.
If it is built, it will probably be built by the South Korean company; K-Water and use some of the design principles of the Sihwa Lake Tidal Power Station.
It will likely have an output of around 1 GW and take ten years to build.
In the 1970s, I did some project management consultancy for Frederick Snow and Partners, and they showed me their plans for a Severn Barrage.
Their futuristic vision for the Severn Estuary was never built, as the Prime Minister of the time; Harold Wilson, felt coal was the future. See Last Of The Many!
I suspect that the Mersey Tidal Power project will be another variation on a proven theme.
Morecambe Bay Bridge And Tidal Barrage Proposal
In the Wikipedia entry for Morecambe Bay, there is a proposal for a bridge and tidal barrage across the bay, where this is said.
In 2004, a proposal was made to build a bridge across the bay flanked by wind turbines and using tidal power. Proposals from Northern Tidal Power Gateways in 2019 outlined a tidal barrage with a road running along on top.
If the Mersey Tidal Power project is a success, then why wouldn’t one across Morecambe Bay, be one too?
500 MW of zero-carbon tidal power would do nicely!
Nuclear Sites At Calder Hall, Heysham And Wylfa
These three nuclear stations have supplied electricity to the North-West of England.
- Calder Hall was the original Magnox site, which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 240 MW and was decommissioned in 2003, after running for 47 years.
- Heysham is a powerful site which the Wikipedia entry says has a nameplate capacity of 2452 MW and will be decommissioned in 2028.
- Wylfa is an older, smaller Magnox site which the Wikipedia entry says had a nameplate capacity of 1190MW and was decommissioned in 2015.
As the sites are cleared, I am sure that we’ll see more nuclear power stations built on the sites.
How Much Electricity Does A Data Centre Use?
I found this paragraph in an NESO document.
Regardless of this, if we were to use existing market data and modelling projections, this could point to annual data centre electricity consumptions of between 3.6 TWh in 2020 to as much as 35 TWh by 2050.
Dividing by the hours in a year, indicates that an individual data centre could use between 0.4 and 4 GW of electricity.
Using my rough figures here from wind, tidal and nuclear, I suspect that the power on the Mersey will generate enough power for at least one data centre.
Liverpool Is On The Right Side Of The Country For Cables To North America
Cables will go straight out of Liverpool Bay, pass to the North of Ireland and across the Atlantic to somewhere like Puget Sound.
Liverpool has a superb location for a Transatlantic data centre, that connects to networks on both sides of the pond.
Could Underwater Data Centres Be Developed In Liverpool Bay?
This page on the Microsoft web site is entitled Microsoft Finds Underwater Datacenters Are Reliable, Practical And Use Energy Sustainably
These three paragraphs detail the research.
Earlier this summer, marine specialists reeled up a shipping-container-size datacenter coated in algae, barnacles and sea anemones from the seafloor off Scotland’s Orkney Islands.
The retrieval launched the final phase of a years-long effort that proved the concept of underwater datacenters is feasible, as well as logistically, environmentally and economically practical.
Microsoft’s Project Natick team deployed the Northern Isles datacenter 117 feet deep to the seafloor in spring 2018. For the next two years, team members tested and monitored the performance and reliability of the datacenter’s servers.
I would assume that Microsoft have continued the research, as with something like this you can’t be too careful.
But it would appear, that data centres and their servers could be submerged under the waters of Liverpool Bay.
London And Liverpool Will Be Under Two Hours By Train Within A Year
New Class 807 trains, which will be delivered within a year, will improve the train service between the two cities.
- Train times will be brought to around or even below two hours.
- , The extra trains will allow a second hourly service to be added.
- The extra service will additionally stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, for the airport.
- High Speed Two is claiming one hour and fifty minutes, between London and Liverpool.
Liverpool already has one of the best rail terminals in the North of England, as these pictures show.
With these service improvements, it will have a service to London and the South, that will be second to no other Northern station.
Liverpool Has A Refurbished Partly-Underground Suburban Railway With New Trains
Liverpool’s Metro is one of the best in Europe for a medium-sized city.
The Metro is also expanding with new routes and stations.
These pictures show the new Headbolt Lane station, which is swerved by the UK’s first battery-electric trains.
Liverpool Has Easy Access To Two International Airports
There are two international airports close by; Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester International.
- For Liverpool Airport, it’s a bus from Liverpool South Parkway station or an express bus from Liverpool city centre.
- For Manchester Airport, it’s a train from Lime Street station.
I am fairly sure, that a hydrofoil could connect Liverpool’s Waterfront and the Tidal Barrier to the airport.
North-West England Has A Rich University Tradition
Liverpool, Manchester and the surrounding area has several world-class universities and research establishments.
Some like The Pandemic Institute would be able to find uses for all the computing power and artificial intelligence on offer at a powerful data centre.
Liverpool Is A World City
Liverpool is a World City, where there is plenty of sport, entertainment and things to do.
Conclusion
Liverpool is installing the power infrastructure for a very large data centre, that will be able to handle the world’s largest and most difficult problems.
Hinkley Point C Fish Protection Plans Attacked By Environmental Organisations
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on New Civil Engineer.
This is the sub-heading.
Revised plans to protect fish from water intake tubes for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant on the Severn Estuary have come under fresh criticism from environmental organisations.
These three paragraphs outline the story.
EDF recenrly proposed plans to create a saltmarsh at the Somerset nuclear plant site as an alternative to an acoustic fish deterrent. This followed the Environment Secretary having ruled in 2021, in line with Environment Agency recommendations, that the plant should install an acoustic fish deterrent.
The plant is scheduled to circulate 120,000l of water per second from the Bristol Channel to the nuclear power station through 8km underground tunnels to provide cooling for the power station’s systems.
A group of environmental non-governmental organisations (eNGOs) issued a statement coordinated by Somerset Wildlife Trust saying Hinkley Point C “will have a significant impact on marine and migratory fish including already vulnerable Atlantic salmon, twaite shad and European eel over its lifetime”.
This Google Map shows Lake Michigan, which was where I came across another tale of fish and nuclear power.
Note the red arrow, which marks the DC Cook Nuclear Power Plant.
This second Google Map shows a close-up of the plant.
The power plant sits on the shores of Lake Michigan, from which it gets its cooling water.
In the early 1980s, after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, I was given a tour of two nuclear power stations of which this plant was one and Shippingport or Beaver Valley was the other. Both were Artemis customers and one of the projects they were using the software on, was to plan and document all the Three Mile Island modifications or TMIs.
But it’s the Cook power plant that I remember.
- I’d turned up at Benton Harbor Airport on a very cold, snowy evening and I remember that the Hertz representation had got all the cars running so customers could drive away in the warm.
- DC Cook was impressive and very well run, and it was a very good customer visit.
- The fishy tale, I heard there was that the warm water from the power station attracted the fish and that some locals in the winter took to fishing through the ice of Lake Michigan. Occasionally, they fell through the ice.
- I was told, that some locals felt that the plant should be shut because of this, but it’s still running forty years after my visit.
- Lunch was interesting, as we went to a Michigan version of the famous Rook restaurant in the Two Ronnies. Except that every dish on the menu had something to do with beans, as that is the area of the US, where navy (baked) beans are grown. They even had a bean savoury for afters!
This article from the Huron Daily Tribune is entitled Fish Force Michigan Nuke Plant Shut Down, where these are the first two paragraphs.
Officials shut down a nuclear power plant on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan on Thursday after a large number of fish swam into the plant’s cooling-water system.
The two reactors at Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant were idled as workers removed the fish and monitored the cooling system. It wasn’t clear when the reactor would be restarted, owner and operator American Electric Power Co. Inc. said in a statement.
It does appear that Cook was suffering from fish in the system.
I hope this doesn’t predict more delays for Hinckley Point C.
Wylfa: UK Government In Talks To Buy Nuclear Site – Report
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
The UK government is reportedly in talks to take control of a site in north Wales where a planned nuclear project was scrapped in 2019.
These paragraphs outline the story.
State-owned Great British Nuclear is “in early discussions” with Hitachi, which owns the land at Wylfa, on Anglesey, the Financial Times reported.
A government spokesman said Wylfa was one of many “potential sites” that could host nuclear projects.
Hitachi abandoned its plans there in January 2019.
An unnamed minister told the FT that “tentative negotiations” with Hitachi had already begun, but said a deal might not be reached until after a general election expected later this year.
Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association and Virginia Crosbie, MP for Ynys Môn both welcomed the talks.
These are my thoughts.
Where Is Wylfa?
This Google Map shows Anglesey.
Wylfa power station is near Wylfa Head at the top of the map, where they are indicated by the cluster of red arrows.
This Google Map shows the power station to a larger scale.
Note.
- The red arrow named Magnox marks the decommissioned Magnox power station.
- The topmost red arrow marks Wylfa Head.
- The rightmost red arrow marks Porth y Wylfa, which looks like a small harbour.
- On some maps the square building to the East of the power station is marked as Wylfa sub-station.
- There certainly appears to be an overhead transmission line leading South from the power station complex.
Virginia Crosbie, MP for Ynys Môn, also said this according to the BBC article.
The nuclear industry is unanimous that Wylfa is the best site in Europe for large-scale nuclear,” she said, adding that it would be “the largest inward investment” in Welsh history and “transformational” for the people of north-west Wales.
But I do wonder, if when you have cleared the Wylfa site leaving the sub-station, that it could be a site where renewables could come ashore and be fed into the grid.
Why Is Wylfa The Best Site In Europe For Large-Scale Nuclear?
Given the protests about putting new power transmission lines across Norfolk and Suffolk, I feel that Wylfa’s largest asset could be its high capacity connection to the UK’s grid.
According to the Wikipedia entry for Wylfa power station, this is said about Wylfa B.
Horizon Nuclear Power, originally an E.ON and RWE joint venture, bought by Hitachi in 2012, announced in 2009 intentions to install about 3,000 MWe of new nuclear plant at Wylfa. Horizon planned to build two advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs) at a site to the south of the existing Wylfa station.
It would seem that the high capacity connection to the UK’s grid, is capable of handling a 3 GW power station at Wylfa, which could be very useful in the grand scheme of things.
This is also said in the Wikipedia entry for Wylfa power station.
On 4 April 2017, Horizon submitted a Site Licence Application to the Office for Nuclear Regulation. The scheme was extended to include a tunnel under the Menai Strait to carry the power cables to protect the conservation worth of the Strait and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Horizon certainly seemed to try hard to get Wylfa B under construction.
As I said earlier, the Wylfa site could be an ideal site to connect offshore renewables to the grid.
Teesside Private SMR Nuclear Power Station To Be Built
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
An agreement has been reached to build a privately financed nuclear power station in Teesside.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Community Nuclear Power (CNP) has announced plans to install four small modular reactors (SMRs) in North Tees.
CNP said it aims to be up and running in ten years’ time and will supply “roughly a gigawatt of energy”.
With other similar power stations planned, hundreds of jobs are expected to be created in the north-east of England.
A CNP spokesperson said the four North Tees reactors will generate clean, always-on energy which will be used to help develop a green energy and chemical hub, also within the North Tees Group Estate, on the north bank of the River Tees near Stockton.
These are my thoughts.
The Westinghouse AP300™ SMR
This SMR has its own web page.
This is the sub-heading.
Only SMR based on Licensed, Operating & Advanced Reactor Technology
These paragraphs introduce the reactor.
The Westinghouse AP300™ Small Modular Reactor is the most advanced, proven and readily deployable SMR solution. Westinghouse proudly brings 70+ years of experience developing and implementing new nuclear technologies that enable reliable, clean, safe and economical sources of energy for generations to come.
Our AP1000® reactor is already proving itself every day around the globe. Currently, four units utilizing AP1000 technology are operating in China, setting performance records. Six more are under construction in China and one AP1000 reactor is operating at Plant Vogtle in Georgia while a second nears completion.
Our AP300 SMR leverages that operating experience, as well as tens of millions of hours on AP1000 reactor development.
Gain the benefits of the record-setting Westinghouse AP1000 PWR technology in a smaller power output to augment the backbone of your community energy system.
The AP300 SMR complements the AP1000 reactor for a cleaner energy mix, energy security, and grid flexibility and stabilization.
Westinghouse seem to have taken a very professional and scientifically correct approach and downsized something that works well.
Where Will The Reactors Be Built?
This is a paragraph from the BBC article.
Small reactors, built in a factory by the American power giant Westinghouse, will be transported to Seal Sands near Billingham, coming on stream in the early 2030s and going some way to providing part of the big rise in nuclear capacity the UK government wants to see by 2050.
This Google Map shows the mouth of the River Tees.
Note.
- The red arrow at the bottom of the map indicates the location of North Tees Group Estate.
- Follow the river to the North and a capitalised label indicating the position of Seal Sands can be seen.
This second Google Map shows the Seal Sands area in a larger scale.
There seems to be several spaces, where the reactors could be located.
Would It Be Safe To Locate A Nuclear Reactor Or Reactors In a Cluster Of Oil Refineries And/Or Chemical Plants?
Consider.
- In the 1970s, when I worked at ICI, there were companies like Westinghouse advocating nuclear steelmaking.
- We did discuss the concept a couple of times over coffee but no one, I worked with, ever looked at it officially or seriously, as far as I know.
- In addition to requiring large amounts of electricity, oil refineries and chemical plants often use a lot of steam.
- Nuclear reactors generate steam to produce electricity, so some could be diverted to oil refineries or chemical plants
- To decarbonise some processes might switch to hydrogen.
- In Westinghouse And Bloom Energy To Team Up For Pink Hydrogen, I talk about how to use a nuclear reactor to efficiently produce pink hydrogen.
It looks like for efficiency, building the various plant close together could be a good thing.
But is it safe?
I suspect the level of safety will be that of the least safe plant.
So provided all plants are designed to the highest standards, it should be OK, as nuclear plants, oil refineries and chemical plant don’t regularly explode.
The Donald C Cook Nuclear Plant
The Donald C Cook Nuclear Plant in Michigan is a 2.2 GW nuclear plant, that was built by Westinghouse and commissioned in the mid-1970s.
They were clients for Artemis, the project management system that I wrote.
Soon after the Three Mile Island accident on March 28th, 1979, I visited the Donald C Cook Nuclear Plant to see how they were coping with the aftermath of the accident.
I remember being told by the operators of the plant, who were American Electric Power, that as it was their only nuclear plant, they were going to do everything by the book and Artemis was helping them to do that.
Reading about the plant, which is now licenced to operate until 2034 for one reactor and 2037 for the other, it seems to have performed impeccably so far for nearly fifty years.
It is a credit to both Westinghouse, who built it and American Electric Power who own it.
Now that is what I call high-class engineering and I’d be happy to have a cluster of SMRs to the same standard in my back yard.
Sizewell B
I used to live a few miles from Sizewell B, which is another Westinghouse reactor.
- This is the Wikipedia entry for the power station.
- Sizewell B was based on a proven Westinghouse design.
- It seems to have performed well since it was commissioned in 1995.
It looks like it will be operating until 2055, which will make its working life similar to those of the reactors at the Donald C Cook Nuclear Plant.
Westinghouse And Hinckley Point C Compared
Consider.
- Sizewell B was built in approximately seven years.
- This compares well with the two units at the Donald C Cook Nuclear Plant, which took six and nine years respectively
- It looks like Hinckley Point C will take between twelve and fourteen years to build.
- Sizewell B and the two units at Donald C Cook Nuclear Plant seem to be looking at a sixty year operating lifetime.
- Sizewell has a rail connection and Hinckley Point does not.
- Sizewell B seems to have been signed off, when John Major was Prime Minister.
- Hinckley Pont C seems to have resulted from a government white paper when Gordon Brown was Prime Minister.
Westinghouse seem to design nuclear power stations, that can operate for a long period and can be built within a decade.
Westinghouse And Rolls-Royce
Consider.
- Rolls-Royce also have an SMR design.
- Rolls-Royce and Westinghouse are both world-class companies.
- Rolls-Royce have the advantage they are British.
- I also suspect, that both Westinghouse and Rolls-Royce will use the same subcontractors and sub-assembly manufacturers.
- The Rolls-Royce SMR has a power output of 470 MW.
- The Westinghouse SMR has a power output of 300 MW.
I suspect the choice between the two, will be like choosing between top-of-the-range British and American products.
Conclusion
I wonder why we ended up with an unproven new French design at Hinckley Point, when sitting in Suffolk was a traditional Westinghouse design, that was performing to its design specification?
But for the SMR, we need to buy the reactors, which are financially best for Britain. If Westinghouse choose to manufacture large sections in the UK, they could be the better bet, as I suspect, if SMRs are successful, we’ll be seeing exports from the UK.
The Anonymous Widower 