Charlie StrossMay 16, 2024

UK government planning nuclear site in Scotland

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9eze1dzy5no

This is pointless: Scotland is already self-sufficient on renewables. What we need is a new grid interconnect between Scotland and England so we can export our surplus energy to the south!

It's all about the lobbyists, of course:

"Its ambitions for up to a quarter of all electricity to come from nuclear power by 2050 are being led by government-backed body Great British Nuclear." (Who?)

UK government planning nuclear site in Scotland - Alister Jack

The SNP government has effectively banned new nuclear developments north of the border.

BBC News
Show threadInsertUserMay 16, 2024
@cstross At least they're planning on building one _somewhere_. Beats the usual plan to try to shut down polluting stuff and replace it with something intermittent.
Show threadCharlie StrossMay 16, 2024
@InsertUser What we are sorely lacking (and by "we" I mean "our species") is grid-scale storage batteries. (Pumped hydro is limited by geology.) If we had bigger batteries we'd be fine with renewables except for air/sea transport. The electrochemistry is well understood and we don't need lithium for it: iron isn't exactly in short supply. So it's to some extent a political problem (which the politicians blame on economics).
Show threadDianora (Diane Bruce)
@cstross @InsertUser The Edison battery lasts for a very long time. But rather heavy and as you said, not good for mobile applications.
May 16, 2024 at 5:08pmWeb