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Over at IEEE Spectrum is a story on a series of Nuclear reactor shutdowns threatening power supply in the UK and Belgium.
In Belgium, rolling blackouts are already part of this winter's forecast because three of the country's largest reactors—reactors that normally provide one-quarter of Belgian electricity—are shut down.
This follows an ultrasound inspection in 2012 into possible cracks in the reactor pressure vessel at the Doel Nuclear reactor.
This has led to the shutdown of two reactors, however a third reactor appears to have been deliberately sabotaged. In losing these three reactors Belgium's generating capacity has been halved, and the country is looking at the possibility of blackouts.
The larger danger is that the possible flaws in the pressure vessel indicate a more fundamental design problem, which could affect the generation capacity of other countries using a similar design, and which are heavily dependent on Nuclear sources for baseline power generation. At the same time:
The U.K., meanwhile, is experiencing the same sort of "series defect" that started Belgium's troubles.
The real danger is highlighted at the end of the IEEE article, where the experience of blackout may lead to running these plants for longer than expected, and at a higher risk, yet:
The majority of people will accept the life extension because they place supply reliability at the top of their preferences.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hoochiecoochieman on Wednesday September 24 2014, @10:59AM
I wish I had a simplistic and naive knowledge of the world and black-and-white glasses like you. I'd be a lot happier.