[deepinthewoods]

so, hitachi are to build at least 2 nuclear power plants here in good old blighty. one in gloucestershire and one somewhere i cant remember.  japan, following fukushima have turned off all of theirs and are pursuing some amazing alternative energy plans, whilst increasing the use of coal and carbon capture.
 
i wonder if all the nimbys saying no to those horrible wind turbines will now be happy, im sure the view of a nuclear plant will be soooo much better.
the estimated cost of the clear up of all our already produced nuclear waste is over 70 billion pounds. we still have no method of getting rid of it. so who was the bright spark who said lets build some more of them?
fulkushima is a crisis thats still happening. america has 5 plants in trouble thanks to sandy. why on earth are we going to build some more here??

[plumseverywhere]

Eww, that Gloucestershire one is a bit local    Scary stuff.  (not that distance has any bearing on nuclear power but just seeing the proximity made me think ouch)

[Ina]

i wonder if all the nimbys saying no to those horrible wind turbines will now be happy, im sure the view of a nuclear plant will be soooo much better.

I fear that those nimbys will be happier with this - I always find it amazing how many people say that nuclear is the "green" option...

Unfortunately, even in Germany (which is officially getting out of nuclear now) a lot of folk are turning against renewables - because it seems a little bit more expensive! But then, of course, the long term clean-up costs for nuclear rarely get mentioned.

[deepinthewoods]

thay also forget to mention that each nuclear plant is also a target. thats why germany and japan have pulled out.  funny that they were both the most ;'controlled'; nations after ww2. theyre reducing their vulnerability.

[doganjo]

I think they are all deaf to our warnings.  I just spoke to a lassie on FB and she was enthusing about these two new plants and downing wind turbines like it was going out of style. Nothing I said would convince her that they would kill us all eventually and that there were other ways of producing and saving energy than building these monsters.

[in the hills]

So, what do people think of wind turbines?
I shudder at the very thought of nuclear but having found out quite a lot about wind power/turbines, I don't think they are without many problems themselves. Big issue here in Mid-Wales and not popular with many. A lot of very knowledgable people do not think they are the way to go.

[doganjo]

I personally would like them a  lot better if they merged with their surroundings, but apparently it is a planning demand that they are grey - supposedly to blend in against the sky 

They could be painted any colour I was told.  I was also told that there is little to go wrong with them that can't easily be replaced and that they don't have the limited 25 year lifespan that some people put about.  They also needn't be noisy - teh chap I spoke to at an Energy display at teh Glasgow Science Centre said he'd stood under one and hadn't been overwhelmed at all.

So they could be made to look nice, they could last for ever, and they needn't make a lot of noise.  That said I think the Corre Glas hydro scheme probably is a better bet even though it has it's opposition too.  Maybe we all need to do our own little bit - conserve power where possible, have personal wind turbines, stop moaning about renewable sources in our own areas?

[deepinthewoods]

theyre not 'the way to go' but they are, easily removable, with not toxic residue and are recyclable. there are other forms of energy that are realistic but have not been released cos there is no profit in them. the byproduct of nuclear energy is nuclear weapons. thats why they use them,.
spend 10 billion on wave energy. not trident etc. then see what can be achieved. germany has already supplied its entire energy needs for a weekend with solar alone!!

[in the hills]

The turbines themselves maybe removable but I believe that the huge concrete pads that they stand on are left in situ. There are concerns here about habitat/peat loss on the uplands and the possible effect of flooding as a result of the concrete needed.
I don't think the turbines are going to merge with their surroundings ..... the ones planned for Powys are huge and numerous. 
 

[jaykay]

That's the issue, if we invested the sorts of amounts of money in green energy that we do in nuclear, maybe there'd be ones discovered we don't even know about yet.

I can't believe we're pursuing nuclear energy when we've no idea what to do with the waste nor the problems it may cause future generations.

[northfifeduckling]

I can't believe how short-sighted mankind is and how shortlived memory is.....
Isn't the weather a bit volatile for any more of these? Likely to calm down, is it? 

[deepinthewoods]

  the huge concrete pads 

crikey, not huge concrete pads!
hardly radioactive for 100 000 years tho eh?

[hughesy]

6000 construction jobs is what has swung public opinion here on Anglesey. Personally I'd rather see acres of wind turbines.

[in the hills]

I suppose we have to keep the lights on Jaykay, one way or another.
The technology doesn't seem to be with us yet to use renewables effectively. The wind turbines maybe more use if we can find a way of storing the power produced when they are actually working but at the moment that's not possible.
But the turbines are making a few even wealthier than they already are.

[bangbang]

Yup! I agree get rid of nuclear!

They should invest in space....a few big solar panels orbiting...several extention cables, and some sockets! It's only about 3 miles away.

This concept is not new, it's just we have not mastered the tech. yet.