How long have we urban dwellers got?

[openspaceman]

7 minutes ago, GarethM said:

 

A modern stove or boiler uses refractory concrete to burn everything at 2000c.

Adiabatic flame temperature of wood is 1600C, allowing for excess air and 1200C is about all you can achieve, which is why charcoal was necessary for smelting iron and later coke and hydrocarbons were used for the 2000C plus.

Edited March 2, 2023 by openspaceman

[GarethM]

5 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Adiabatic flame temperature of wood is 1600C, allowing for excess air and 1200C is about all you can achieve, which is why charcoal was necessary for smelting iron and later coke and hydrocarbons were used for the 200C plus.

Probably mixing imperial and Celsius 🙂. As 2000F is just over 1000c

Edited March 2, 2023 by GarethM

[Macpherson]

10 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

I'm sorry Neil I was confusing you with @nepia.

 

Yes the only reason the post war labour government went down the magnox route was to produce plutonium (because the air cooled core at windscale overheated due to the graphite core suddenly releasing its stress and burning the uranium being bombarded with neutrons. It is doubtful that any of these and the later Dounreay fast breeder ever covered their build and operating costs let alone their decommissioning.

 

It's a pity imo that there really is no joined up thinking when it comes to providing sustainable energy for this country which was once at the sharp end of technology.

It seems that China are in the process of trialling a Thorium reactor atm, and a few others are at last planning the same... in my opinion that's the route we could easily have taken decades ago if we hadn't had the need to make ourselves a target for nuclear aggression.. which couldn't be more apt in todays world run by assholes.

 

Cheers, 😁

[sime42]

I've found sound to be a fairly good indicator of log dryness, moisture content. They almost "ring" when you knock really dry logs together. 

But if in doubt use a moisture meter. Maybe stove manufactures should include them in the box with new sales. They'll be plenty of idiots intent on burning whatever rubbish, wet wood or otherwise, they can, but more people will have the best of intentions but not the knowledge to tell wet from dry.

 

[GarethM]

Just now, Macpherson said:

 

It's a pity imo that there really is no joined up thinking when it comes to providing sustainable energy for this country which was once at the sharp end of technology.

It seems that China are in the process of trialling a Thorium reactor atm, and a few others are at last planning the same... in my opinion that's the route we could easily have taken decades ago if we hadn't had the need to make ourselves a target for nuclear aggression.. which couldn't be more apt in todays world run by assholes.

 

Cheers, 😁

Windscale used air to produce plutonium not energy, the Canadians use a similar design called Candu for energy production tho.

 

Thorium isn't much better in all honesty, it's all about working pressures that cause problems and corrosion of pipework etc.

[Macpherson]

1 minute ago, sime42 said:

They almost "ring" when you knock really dry logs together. 

 

That's a sound I very much like to hear👍

[Macpherson]

3 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Windscale used air to produce plutonium not energy, the Canadians use a similar design called Candu for energy production tho.

 

Thorium isn't much better in all honesty, it's all about working pressures that cause problems and corrosion of pipework etc.

 

I'm absolutely no expert on the subject, but I believe that it's usp is that if the power goes out it cools down and becomes safe as opposed to a lack of cooling water causing melting down and getting like ****************u shima  +  no serious radioactive waste... but of course no Plutonium.. what a feckin shame.

 

 

[GarethM]

There are a lot of different designs, the fast breeder was considered the best as it both created and used up the fuel simultaneously.

 

Never really got it working correctly, plus they discovered lots of cheap uranium so it stopped development.

 

The real problems are working pressures Vs usable heat.

 

If you forget power production it's a perfect solution for district heating, as you don't change the fuel until it's used fully before reprocessing and your talking decades not 3-5 years.

 

Plus if your only getting hot water, you don't need steam or much safety as it's not pressurised.

Edited March 2, 2023 by GarethM

[GarethM]

36 minutes ago, sime42 said:

I've found sound to be a fairly good indicator of log dryness, moisture content. They almost "ring" when you knock really dry logs together. 

But if in doubt use a moisture meter. Maybe stove manufactures should include them in the box with new sales. They'll be plenty of idiots intent on burning whatever rubbish, wet wood or otherwise, they can, but more people will have the best of intentions but not the knowledge to tell wet from dry.

 

I think a lot of installers already do, especially when they're emphasizing the warranty will be voided otherwise.

 

I still think local council enforcement will be better than trying to teaching everyone.

 

A few fines would do more than an expensive and pointless education campaign.

[openspaceman]

59 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Windscale used air to produce plutonium not energy,

It was an air cooled graphite core, I cannot remember what the fuel rods and control were but probably uranium and boron. Because the core was just air cooled and the hot air was vented to atmosphere there was no scope for raising steam and producing power. Calder Hall was the world's first reactor to produce commercial power by steam turbines but the primary reason for building it was to produce plutonium for bombs by bombarding the aluminium cased raw materials with neutrons.

 

It was the aluminium that burned to release radio isotopes, iodine being a prime one that contaminated dairy cows in the Wiscale disaster, not the graphite core as claimed IIRC.

Edited March 2, 2023 by openspaceman
submitted too early