Anyone live near a windfarm?

[KennyG]

The Duane Arnold plant in Iowa has been closed for quite a while for economic reasons. There is talk of restarting it. The news media got all excited about the flooding, but it was being monitored and plans were in place to protect the safety systems. A high wind event damaged the cooling towers and the cost of that repair plus the low natural gas prices led to the shutdown.

 

[ruffdog]

The Duane Arnold plant in Iowa has been closed for quite a while for economic reasons. There is talk of restarting it. The news media got all excited about the flooding, but it was being monitored and plans were in place to protect the safety systems. A high wind event damaged the cooling towers and the cost of that repair plus the low natural gas prices led to the shutdown.

With all that wind there, it would be ideal to have wind turbines!

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Newer HVAC systems require a fresh air intake.
Elec cook tops .....nope..... give me the gas for cooking. Instant heat control.
O'Keefe & Merritt? Fantastic! Don't buy an economy exhaust hood. Spend the
bucks, get a good vent system (exhausting to outside air). Enjoy that
O&M range, it's a beast.

We had our hearts set on a gas stove on our renovation after years of using a cheapie electric stove, had the gas run and everything. But after reading some of the data on gas stoves we decided to go with a induction stove. It is indeed instant heat, it is a pretty good substitute for gas. You have to be careful though, sometimes it works too well. The only thing I use high for is to boil water. I preheat pans on 5 or 6 depending what I will be cooking.

 

[ponytug]

So Peter, is the answer to not build nuke plants?
I agree building anything that close to a flood zone is ill-advised.
But we have to keep progressing towards modernization of our power grid and windmills/solar panels ain’t going to cut it.

Natural gas and nukes will.

I'm advocating not putting nuclear plants in harms way. I personally think that Fukushima is a lesson in what happens when that is ignored. Japan has several Fukushima clones on the edge of the sea. Diablo Canyon is on deck to be another.

To me the primary issue with nuclear is what to do with both the waste fuel, and the irradiated structural materials (e.g. containment vessels) after use. In the US, we don't seem to have a working long term solution yet.

I have solar on the house. It was installed for economic reasons, and has turned into a solid grid alternative as our local grid has become increasingly unstable. I've never lived next to a wind farm, though there is a fair amount of wind power installed nearby. The wind installations around here tend to be in areas that don't have anyone living nearby, due in part to high winds, but also steep slopes and lack of water. I think that nothing is zero impact, and that it is usually fruitful to discuss the pros and cons of individual cases.

To me solar farms are a pretty benign neighbor in the grand scheme of things. I worry more about soil washed off of farms through subpar agricultural practices as that is a permanent loss of land. Not perhaps a widely shared view, but the dust bowl might be another teaching about agricultural practices, or the pumping of irrigation water from old aquifers. A solar farm can go back to farmland, or continue to be farmland below the panels.

All the best,

Peter

 

[KennyG]

Diablo Canyon is almost 100 feet above sea level, while Fukushima is less than 50 feet, plus the diesel generators were in underground compartments. Fukushima could have been built higher, but ironically it was lowered to provide more resistance to earthquakes. A best laid plans situation, I guess.

I don't have a problem with wind and solar, but it bothers me that we don't acknowledge the need for underutilized fossil fuel plants to make up for the intermittent supply from the renewables. This is a real cost not assessed against the renewables and the reason that renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels yet result in increased electric rates.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

We had our hearts set on a gas stove on our renovation after years of using a cheapie electric stove, had the gas run and everything. But after reading some of the data on gas stoves we decided to go with a induction stove. It is indeed instant heat, it is a pretty good substitute for gas. You have to be careful though, sometimes it works too well. The only thing I use high for is to boil water. I preheat pans on 5 or 6 depending what I will be cooking.

When we had solar, we had an induction range. I found it superior to gas in everyway.

 

[Chewwy]

That's a tsunami warning stone from Japan. They generally have a warning on them to the effect of not to build downhill from the marker. Some of the markers are five hundred years old in the Fukushima area.

The reactor was build way below the existing markers. Way below. So nobody at TEPCO can claim ignorance of the risk.

In my opinion, Fukushima was 100% preventable. 100%.

In my book, any engineer or architect who designs a backup power system where it can be flooded deserves to have their license revoked. Permanently. There is a nuclear plant in Iowa that has come with inches of the backup generators flooding several times. Last I knew the generators had not been raised... grrrrr!

All the best,

Peter

Last time I looked there are NO nuclear power plants in Iowa.

 

[KennyG]

Last time I looked there are NO nuclear power plants in Iowa.

Because Duane Arnold is shut down ( permanently unless a restart project is approved).

 

[ponytug]

Last time I looked there are NO nuclear power plants in Iowa.

My bad. You are right, I was wrong. The plant is in Nebraska;

Today in History - Sept. 6: Report lists Nebraska nuclear plant as least safe

This day 14 years ago marked the release of a devastating report concerning one of Nebraska’s nuclear power plants.

www.wowt.com

Still, the issue stands about locating nuclear plants in flood plains without adequate flood protection and elevated backup generators.

All the best, Peter

 

[Hay Dude]

My bad. You are right, I was wrong. The plant is in Nebraska;

Today in History - Sept. 6: Report lists Nebraska nuclear plant as least safe

This day 14 years ago marked the release of a devastating report concerning one of Nebraska’s nuclear power plants.

www.wowt.com

Still, the issue stands about locating nuclear plants in flood plains without adequate flood protection and elevated backup generators.

All the best, Peter

I don’t think we’ll be building nuke plants where tsunamis occur.
This is America, not Venezuela.

Did that plant in Nebraska have a melt down?