#bnfl ad

[man-and-atom]

We’ve seen this ad before ― in English, but in black and white.

[man-and-atom]

A simple and elegant message.

“Fission energy keeps the lights on.”

[man-and-atom]

The share for 2018 was just shy of 18%.

In 1999, before the shutdown of a number of the first-generation Magnox plants, it was 25%.

For comparison, the US share has been basically stable at 19―20% over the same period.

[man-and-atom]

The pellets illustrated are those used for the AGR or Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor, in which the moderator is graphite, the coolant is carbon dioxide, and the fuel is canned in stainless steel. Note the annular pellets, ie, with central holes, a measure to accommodate the low thermal conductivity of the fuel material. In solid pellets, very high temperatures are reached at the centerline.

14 out of the 15 central-station power reactors currently operating in Britain, which supply about 18% of the electricity used in the UK (including Northern Ireland, through interconnecting cables laid on the bed of the Irish Sea ― as a matter of fact some of this nuclear electricity also makes its way to the Republic of Ireland) are of this type. Although the AGR has the advantages, compared to water reactors, of greater thermal efficiency and less-costly steam plant, it never caught on outside Britain. Because of the implosion of the British nuclear industry, all new nuclear stations under construction or planned in the UK are PWRs or BWRs of imported design.

“Conversion”, by the way, refers to the process necessary to turn uranium hexafluoride as received from the enrichment plant to uranium oxide as used in fuel. Like all processes involving fluorine, it’s a delicate bit of industrial engineering.

[man-and-atom]

And it kept increasing, both because of new plants entering operation, and because of improved operation at existing plants, reaching a maximum of 28% in 1997. Today it has fallen to about 18%, owing to the retirement of the first-generation Magnox plants, and the failure to build any new plants after the Sizewell B PWR (despite a proposed 15 GW programme in the early 1980s).

Coincidentally, the worldwide nuclear share of electricity generation peaked at just under 18% in 1993. It fell to less than half that in 2015 (we may mention the stoppage of the Japanese and German plants), but is now recovering (new plants are coming on the line in China).

[man-and-atom]

Letters-Writing to Sellafield for a list of current videos.

My name is Emma, I take pictures, write letters and collect things.

Here’s someone with the right idea!

[man-and-atom]

If you ever wondered what the size of the much-discussed “nuclear waste problem” was, this is it.

We kind of wish we had one of these paperweights!

[man-and-atom]

This is a charming ad, showing us both muscle-power activated by fodder, the very definition of “renewable energy”, and the nuclear electric central station.

We would be very pleased if we could get our hands on those explanatory brochures entitled “Energy from the Atom”.