New nuclear Power from Dounreay

[donss]

See headline on caithness.org today: Is Dounreay A Pawn In Labour Plans To Oust MP John Thurso & MSP Jamie Stone?

more importantly: what about the dismissal of the idea by Duncan McLaren, the chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, who described the idea of siting a new nuclear station at Dounreay as the "the height of environmental and political stupidity".

He said: “The idea smacks of a London-centric politics we’d all hopedhad long been confined to the history books. We would hope that Scotland's political elite treats the idea with the contempt it deserves."

I take it he lives in a part of the country, remote from Caithness, who hasn't had to rely on something like Dounreay to support the majority of his local population for 50 years.... Yes, It would generate massive debate, but it makes sense in that we have lived with this on our doorstep for this period of time and have a huge amount of experience and specialist workers now living in the area.

Better to pump money into having a cutting edge Power Station here again, than to pump money into shutting it all down. With soaring populations in the future, where does everyone expect our energy to come from?

[MagicalTrevor]

Admittedly my knowledge of the subject is less than zero, but at face value it seems like a good idea ;)

Nuclear power has never done us any harm ;)

[Green_not_greed]

I agree - much better than a rundown in the area and far more reliable than hundreds of windfarms.

[davem]

Has no one noticed that even with the new safety culture, things aren't going just great for UKAEA. Personally I'd rather they just did their best to clear up past messes and do it properly. One of the arguements against windfarms is that they expensive, not as expensive as centuries of decomissioning. I think either insulation or tidal power could be more sustainable; I'd far rather have that as a near neighbour.

[captain chaos]

Has no one noticed that even with the new safety culture, things aren't going just great for UKAEA

Yes ,but it would not be UKAEA who would run a new power plant.

[kas]

It seems the whole thing was a joke.
See front page of todays P & J.

[Bobinovich]

It's a real shame 'cos the idea is far more sound than filling our landscape with turbines. Maybe someone will look past the 'joke' and see that it's not such a bad idea after all!

At the end of the day I don't think it would gain Labour the seat anyway.

[Lavenderblue2]

It seems the whole thing was a joke.
See front page of todays P & J.

Kas - how often have you heard somebody say something which they wish they hadn't. And then say, 'it was only a joke'..........?

There's no smoke without fire.

I think it is one of the most sensible ideas I have heard in a long time.

Bobinovich wrote:


the idea is far more sound than filling our landscape with turbines.
At the end of the day I don't think it would gain Labour the seat anyway.

I agree with you there Bob.

LB

[jacktar]

I can remember 26years ago the land being surveyed for a rail line coming from ,a station they were going to have in halkirk,out by janetstown,where you can't fail to notice "dounreay" buildings, crossing over 7 roads and finishing at dounreay.now was there word not that long ago about a halkirk station?and i suppose it takes a 20 /30 years to plan the building of nuclear stations,so watch this space it won't be long before it will be announced that they are building another one.

[webmannie]

Tullochs grandiose £20 million 'investment' in the Dounreay area has been bugging me. Maybe some inside info has been made available to them on what the future holds for the area. Coz for the life of me I can't understand why they should do it on the back of Dounreays decommissioning.

[Rhubarb]

I have to say had it not been for Dounreay, there would be very little north of Inverness. Although it has had its ups and downs, thousands of people have made a very comfortable living from working there, as have the various company’s that have grown up within the shadow of "The Dome", J.G.C. Engineering and Technical Services Ltd, Orion D Gow & Son Ltd etc.
I for one am very grateful for the UKAEA, had it not been or the fact that my father was able to afford a family of five from 35yrs employment at Dounreay, I being the fourth may not be sitting here writing this message.

I myself have worked at Dounreay, my brother went through his apprenticeship there. There is no one in Caithness that has not, directly or indirectly benefited in one way or another from Dounreay.

I now live in Morayshire in the shadow of another power source, the "Cairn Uish Wind Farm". Although there is a great many people out there that think that this or wave generated electricity is the way forward (maybe it is), thousands of these wind turbines are required to produce anything like what modern SAFE reactors can produce.

"Cairn Uish Wind Farm" in now producing electricity for the national grid, it employs one security guard, he visits the site on a rotational basis. All other employment is in Norway where Fred Olsen Renewables Ltd monitors the wind farm.

We could of course just sit back and see how things pan out. If we go the renewables way and run the risk of suffering blackouts due to as donss pointed out "With soaring populations in the future, where does everyone expect our energy to come from? I can answer that one. Our present import capability is largely due to the 2000 MW interconnector in place between the UK and France. If operating at full capacity, this is equivalent to the output of two modern nuclear stations. The bulk of any imported electricity would be generated from nuclear power, since around 75% of France's electricity is produced in this way. No offence to the French but why should they get all the employment and our money?

[Bobinovich]

Ching ching! The penny has dropped. Well done Webmannie, you may not be too far of the mark there...

[DrSzin]

It seems the whole thing was a joke.
See front page of todays P & J.

The original Sunday Herald article is here (http://www.sundayherald.com/52110) and the article from Monday's P&J is here (http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=149475&command=displayContent&sourceNode=149205&contentPK=13255156). The latter includes the paragraph:

The reports of Mr McTernan's remarks held some credence because a fast reactor was built at Dounreay in the 1970s by the then Labour government, next to experimental atomic facilities as a boost for the economy of the north. It supplied power to the doomed Invergordon aluminum smelter.

Do I spy an unstated insinuation that the Invergordon aluminium smelter was "doomed" because it ran on electricity generated by PFR? Could it be that radioactive electrons and electromagnetic fields from PFR reduced the quality of aluminium produced at Invergordon?

Perhaps the P&J was just joking too?

So, who thinks Mr McTernan was just joking? And who thinks he was deadly serious -- a Blairite puppet doing his master's London-centric dirty work for him?

[98elite]

I for one would welcome a new reactor at Dounreay with open arms, what future do the children of Caithness have without Dounreay?

No future

[daviddd]

I have to agree with most other posters - a nuclear power station at Dounreay is a sound idea. many people just do not understand that we will need an alternative source of electricity in about 20 years or so, everything is geared to the political calendar of 4 years and there's little planning for future generations. of course we should also be looking to use less electricity, but there will always be a demand even so. Fusion derived power is a very attractive proposition - splitting the water molecule - but it is still a very long way off being commercially viable AFAIAA......

[hereboy]

It supplied power to the doomed Invergordon aluminum smelter

I'll tell you why the smelter was doomed. It was not competitive with other Aluminium producing companies in other countries. Why was it not competive you might ask? Well because it could not keep its costs under control. Why could it not keep its costs under control?

Thats a toughie - might have to ask the employees (tradesmen etc) who used to turn up for shifts, sleep for 8 hours take the money and go home and build hooses on the fly. Maybe they have an answer. Bet there was a lot of them sorry to see the smelter closed once it was too late.

Taking the Michael +Taking the Michael Some More = No Job.

Wait a minute, Dounreay was doomed too, hmmm...

Even the Golden Goose can only lay so may eggs before someone has to feed it as well as all the other geese in the community.

I am etc.

[Whitewater]

A 'Commercial Fast Reactor' was designed and the models built at Risley in the eary 90s, but unfortunately the Tory government of the time were off the opinion that Nuclear Energy was not fashionable, they were under pressure from a very strong anti nuclear lobby which resulted in the closure of PFR in 1994. At that time, had permission been given for the Commercial Reactor I doubt very much if it would have come to Caithness.

What many people forget about Dounreay is the fact that Nuclear power was in its infancy when the 1st Fast Reactor was built, the designers etc. complied with the regulations which were in place at the time. Over the years regulations have changed, acceptable limits at that time have all been lowered and at the present time Dounreay seems to be in a mess, but it was built to comply with the regulations and limits which were in place at the time.

If a Nuclear Power Station were to be built under current regulations the standards would be completely changed and remember that I have said if one were to be built, there should not be an 'if'. It will be built. It is the only way forward and once the love affair with Windmills has collapsed, once everone realises how useless they are it will be seen as the only sensible way forward. A Fast Breeder Reactor in this period of global warming and ever decreasing fossil fuel supplies is the only option as it is the only thing that can generate its own fuel and will not add to global warming.