Source: Zaporizhzhia: Ukraine's largest nuclear plant is under threat. But experts say a Chernobyl-sized disaster is unlikely | CNN The threat of nuclear calamity has hung for months over Russia's war in Ukraine. Those fears were renewed last week after shelling intensified around the massive Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, which has been under Russian control since March. Attacks at the complex, which have ramped up as fighting flares in Ukraine's south, have sparked concerns about the specter of nuclear disaster, . . . With the westerly winds, destruction of this nuclear plant will impact Russia more than anyone else. It will hasten Europe adoption of renewable energy thus cutting off Russian fossil fuel exports to the EU. Talk about a murder-suicide, this would end it. Bob Wilson
Nice title to the thread... You should be a professional headline writer for one of those crappy tabloids that's driven by a political agenda...
Today was advertised to be a bad day at 'Zap', but no disaster yet reported. For accelerating renewable E installations n Europe, well, maybe. It is quite unrelated to nuclear. No evidence that wind and solar are getting new large investments. More methane will come from other-than--Russia, if that can be accomplished. Any coal-burning stations not already closed will be stretched a bit I suppose. Residences with poor thermal insulation would be well advised to improve - which they should have done already After a few years we'll know if Europe accelerated renewable E. The broader picture is drought and low river levels in Europe, which damages business case for 'steam plants' of all flavors. There are days when winds over Zap blow east, and other days west. Mainly I suppose it is in the part of Ukraine that Russia hopes to control later, so damaging it would not be a great choice. For either side. They be makin' noise. Headline writers be makin' noise. It is an odd time to expect better.
Given the abysmal behavior of Russian forces, I suspect their welcome even in the pro-Russia regions has worn thin. But I have little confidence in Russian nuclear supervision, much less operation, by the Russian troops. The latent heat released by nuclear fuel means active cooling is a hard, long term, requirement. Talk about fecal matter in one's food bowl, Putin turn a friend into an enemy. His unreliability as an energy supplier has destroyed any confidence from his current and past customers. A kleptocracy works only if there is something of value to steal and Putin is (has) destroyed any confidence in fossil fuels. Into the breech steps Elon Musk and those like him who are manufacturing and installing renewable energy sources. Bob Wilson
Photovoltaics are doing well in Germany this year: Solar power is booming in Germany as Russia turns down the gas | CNN Business
Reminds me of being about to eat the cookies in the cupboard only to look in there and find out all the money I gave Bisco for buying our family cookies got me nothing but crumbs.
60 years ago, we were just two decades away from unlimited controlled fusion energy. For several decades after, we were still just two decades away. The last I heard, it is now just three or four decades away. While there is still hope for someday, that pattern says that I won't be seeing it in my lifetime.
It took a remarkably short time to make fast fusion into a big boom boom weapon. It is almost as if 'the universe' made a little mistake turning energy into matter, and would rather have things back as they were in first few seconds or whatever. Slow fusion is very easy if one has enough matter nearby for gravitational containment. Stars. 14 billion years (probably a time-underestimate). Slow fusion may be possible with magnetic confinement, with moving heat out (oh steam again? So 18th century ) With loss back to continue magnetic confinement. That slow dance is unlike how 'universe' does fusion, but we primates have our hubris. It is a magnificent conceit to manage slow fusion without gravitational containment. But good, because it funds physicists away from fusion-bomb-making? Whoops, no, too late. That layer cake has already been baked,
I remain amused by the thermonuclear test that was 3x larger than expected. A lithium isotope was not expected to transform into tritium . . . opps! Bob Wilson
