Nuke power for NZ?

[Blakamin]

The first thing that sprung to mind was the chernobal disaster.
If (and that's a big if) NZ ever went down the nucleur path I would leave NZ.

50's technology with a hell of a lot of human error...

my laptop could run 5 chernobyls with a "blue screen of death"!!!
my watch could probably run chernobyl... and its analogue....

would you let 20 year olds run a nightshift in a nuclear powerplant????


shit, they didnt even tell each other what they were doing!!!! (guy removing rods, another removing water)

sorry Gen, but I have a fascination with energy and the digging of big holes... if we were to rely on 1 disaster to stop people doing what they do, we'd have no brigdes, tunnels or coal and hydro power plants....

ps... I dunno where you'd move to??????

[Krusti]

I would much rather see NZ try to lead the world in clean power supply. Prob more expensive in the short term. I for one would be put up with paying a little extra for power if it were greener.

We need to protect, build on, our clean image. Money needs to be put aside for research etc into alternatives. Prob wont happen tho.

I like the idea of NZ being a little different to the rest of the world. Surely with our Kiwi know how we can think of something.

And here we are about to scar our landscape with huge 70m pylons!

We can be such dorks sometimes.

In the end we need to foster a clean image if not only to have an edge in marketing our products overseas.

My 5 cents anyway.

[James Deuce]

I thought that had been debunked. As in not ever possible except in theory? :spudwhat:

Nothing is impossible. A particular line of research has been debunked. You know what I mean!

[Timber020]

Maybe some sort of government sponsership of solar systems for house roofs would be a good place to start. Or getting houses better insulated. (our house is so badly insulated I reckon I could cool a nuke station using it)

[marty]

leave NZ and go where? Fiji?

auckland has 2 huge harbours on the west coast. what happened to the tidal generator push? i saw something on discovery a couple of years ago but nothing since. that HAS to be the cleanest, most perpetually renewable source of energy, even more reliable than a solar/wind combination.

[jazbug5]

Well: here's my tuppence.

Not being a boffin, I have no facts and figures to quote: but I do second what has been said about the expense and stupidity of creating radioactive waste products. It's very easy to come up with reassuring statistics about 'likelihoods' and 'small amounts involved', but the fact remains that we are (by definition) dealing with something very potent on the atomic level.
I am from the North East of Scotland. We had a plant further North we called 'DoomRay'. Now, I used to go to the Orthopaedic hospital for treatment on a regular basis, and very often my visits coincided with a visit from the 'special bus' from Dounray- with about twenty deformed kids, all about the same age. The bus was paid for by British Nuclear Power.
Hmmmmm.
Always been a bit sus of nuclear power since then, funnily enough...

On a different note, wouldn't it be nice if we all just learned to be a bit less bloody selfish in the way we use power? I've always thought it's be great if you could set up a pedal powered generator for stuff like TVs etc...!

[Blakamin]

I've always thought it's be great if you could set up a pedal powered generator for stuff like TVs etc...!

Mine would have to be motorcycle powered... I'm a lazy bar-stard

[moko]

The reason why is that the UK is now getting more and more of its power from renewable energy sources such as wind and sea (especially sea).

Still very,very little though.Wave-power is talked about but only a few experimental sites,though a new design is looking very promising.Wind turbines are a source of controversy.Many hate them as they tend to get placed on hill-sides in the country-side and once the novelty`s worn off they`re just an eye-sore.
We still have coal-fired power-stations here but since the civil-war,sorry Miner`s strike,almost all of our coal comes from Poland and Rumania.Luckily none of the expensive safety at work regs like there are in our few remaining mines and they`re on very low wages so it`s nice and cheap,financial imperialism.

[Biff]

No, no, no, no, no!!!!!

You have strong tides, strong currents, lots of waves, tall mountains for wind farms etc.

Contrary to common belief, nuclear energy is very dirty in addition to being dangerous. Mankind made the stupid mistake of heralding nuclear power as a great form of energy before they even thought about ways in which to dispose of spent nuclear fuel. So we bury it in the ground, store it above ground, dump it in the sea etc (seen the news lately? Hundreds of tons of nuclear waste being washed up on the shore lines of Somalia.). How bloody stupid is that?!

Man kind needs to grow a conscience and New Zealand needs to lead by example. Invest in renewable energy sources.

[Lou Girardin]

So it comes down to a choice between:
Damming all our rivers, burning all our coal and gas, covering what's left of the countryside, after Shania Twain and co had a spend up, with wind turbines,
tidal generators in our harbours.
Or nukiller power.
Gee, tough choice.
It just shows the power of political manipulation though. Lange and co made us nuclear free so as to distract us while they raped the working class. And we still think it's a great idea.

[BM-GS]

Lots of views being put forward, which is always good - full & frank debate, etc, etc.

Some good words on lightening the load in the first place, which is also good. Why the f*%k aren't solar water-heaters compulsory on all new buildings? Isn't domestic hot water one of the biggest power-drains in the country?

As for using tin sheet as a roofing material - it makes the rooms inside hot, and then people think "well, I'll have to install air-con cos it's so hot inside.".... How about a nice, light-coloured, insulating material for roofing? Then you don't need extra fibreglass insulation as well.

The trouble, I think, is that most people take a short-term view of expense, not a long term one; sticker price, rather than total cost. If we reduce our power requirements, everything gets easier.

This one will run & run, but some kind of objective presentation of the facts is always a better thing than the skewed, agenda-ridden stuff we seem to end up with.

Personally, I'm leaning away from nuke power, but I'm open to persuasion with facts rather than opinions. Telling the difference is the hard bit..

[TwoSeven]

One of the other things about nuke power, is that I really wouldnt have a problem with it if it only buggered things up for a short period of time, like a coal station or gas station would do.

But to be honest, I cant really justify messing up the country permanently, for what really is about allowing a couple of companies to make a profit for a short time - which is really what its all about at the end of the day.

[Blakamin]

But to be honest, I cant really justify messing up the country permanently, for what really is about allowing a couple of companies to make a profit for a short time - which is really what its all about at the end of the day.

but ya dont... any nuclear material bought from aussie has to go back to aussie... they made that rule years ago...

[pete376403]

(conspiracy rant mode on) I often think that the current "power crisis" talk in the media is the power companies laying the groundwork to ease us into accepting that there is no alternative left but to go nuke.
Contact recently admitted to screwing up billing for some 17,000 consumers. Is this the sort of company that should be trusted to run a nuke? (conspiracy rant mode off)

Cutting energy waste as mentioned by other would be far more efficient

[ktulu]

I am no expert at all on this (I'm a fencer for fucks sake) but whenever I drive over that little bridge on the motorway between takanini and papakura and see that water flowing under it hard out from the tidal basin on the east I am sure that we could harness that enegy.
I mentioned this to my girlfriend and my brother but the both laughed, does anyone know anything about this or maybe creating power from waves and stuff?