How long have we urban dwellers got?

[openspaceman]

41 minutes ago, Macpherson said:

 

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.

 

 

That later technology is too recent for my understanding but yes the idea is you have a reaction that has a negative temperature coefficient, as the temperature goes up the neutrons  that are released by the earlier fission are not moderated so continue out of the core too fast to strike another fuel molecule.

[GarethM]

Effectively they used the same uranium, the magnox is the name of the cannister material not the fuel.

 

Magnesium aluminium alloy, great for thermal and radiation absorption.

 

Sadly it also deteriorated when left in water, the fire in part was due to cutting down the cooling fins as they needed higher temperatures to encourage plutonium production as the hotter the more active the reaction and conversion between uranium 235>238 and a very small percentage of plutonium.

Edited March 2, 2023 by GarethM

[Muddy42]

1 hour ago, GarethM said:

No, log drying is a single stage.

 

Split and dry, some will ooze out the sap behind the bark, unless you kiln dry which crystallised the sap using heat.

 

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

 

If it survives that it's probably not flammable.

 

1 hour ago, neiln said:

You don't want rot, that's calories gone and more water to dry. You can dry too fast though and trap water.  If you kiln green wood you can close off the cell tube (not the correct name!) Ends and seal the tubes trapping the water.  It's fairly well known for timber producers I believe, they will allow a period of slower drying first, then kiln, to prevent it.  However I digress. Sorry!

 

Thanks, learn something everyday.  I do season wood as full lengths to save double handling logs and avoid having hundreds of IBC cage space.  I think the rot is pretty minimal, mostly hardwood..  I also have an eco angus so its a fairly big scale operation.

[GarethM]

Yeah feeding a 25kw Angus is like a never-ending beast of an appetite.

 

Learnt a lot about gasification as a result, especially flue gas draught regulation to maximize the output as they just sell everyone a huge inline fan.

Edited March 2, 2023 by GarethM

[neiln]

Aaaanyway, back on topic. Will they tighten rules in urbanv areas? Yes I think the air quality debate will push this.  Do I think the policy they bring in will be fair? Well it will apply the same to all but will be simple and blanket and therefore feel like it punishes those that need the cheap heat and those that burn quite clean, while leaving bonfires and BBQ untouched.  (It wasn't a stove m'lud, it was a clear view BBQ 🤣 ) do I think it'll get enforced well and uniformly? No. Will it stop the worst offenders that jdgas and burn rubbish? Not many no. Will it work to improve air quality? Hmm, a little yes but not loads. How quick will it happen? I reckon we could see legislation next parliament, maybe someone will make it a manifesto pledge. And the complete ban by the end of the decade.  With luck it would at least be part of a domestic energy strategy....I can dream!

Given that the stove industry alliance don't seem to have any sway and neither do wood sure, it could be quicker.  Ulez zones have come along quite quickly and show that the care for those they can't afford better is.... Zero.

[GarethM]

2 minutes ago, neiln said:

Aaaanyway, back on topic. Will they tighten rules in urbanv areas? Yes I think the air quality debate will push this.  Do I think the policy they bring in will be fair? Well it will apply the same to all but will be simple and blanket and therefore feel like it punishes those that need the cheap heat and those that burn quite clean, while leaving bonfires and BBQ untouched.  (It wasn't a stove m'lud, it was a clear view BBQ 🤣 ) do I think it'll get enforced well and uniformly? No. Will it stop the worst offenders that jdgas and burn rubbish? Not many no. Will it work to improve air quality? Hmm, a little yes but not loads. How quick will it happen? I reckon we could see legislation next parliament, maybe someone will make it a manifesto pledge. And the complete ban by the end of the decade.  With luck it would at least be part of a domestic energy strategy....I can dream!

Given that the stove industry alliance don't seem to have any sway and neither do wood sure, it could be quicker.  Ulez zones have come along quite quickly and show that the care for those they can't afford better is.... Zero.

So, in summary we're poodle pumped.

Ah democracy I here my forebears cry.

[Steven P]

I don't believe the government does much unless there is a financial and tax benefit to it, not much tax in wood fuel and they are going to be losing a massive lump of petrol taxes as we go to electric vehicles - and adding tax t electricity isn't going to go down well. So hit what is perceived to be a middle class thing and wood burners... which is I think where they want to go, we all buy wood according to the HETAS scheme, then add tax to that.

 

But the comments above make a good point, years ago the air pollution from everything else was higher, wood burner emissions was nothing in comparison.

 

 

So let the wood rot in a tip (like Arb waste wood), the methane emissions from that are far worse to the environment than carbon emissions from burning it, let a diesel transit take the waste 30 or 40 miles round trip to a tip instead of round the corner to a bloke with an axe, and then import biomas logs from South America  rain forests in a boat so the bloke with an ace can get cheaper electricity and afford heating.

 

 

Joined up thinking is good but wood burning stoves isn't the right thing to go for just now

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, GarethM said:

Effectively they used the same uranium, the magnox is the name of the cannister material not the fuel.

 

Magnesium aluminium alloy, great for thermal and radiation absorption.

 

Sadly it also deteriorated when left in water, the fire in part was due to cutting down the cooling fins as they needed higher temperatures to encourage plutonium production as the hotter the more active the reaction and conversion between uranium 235>238 and a very small percentage of plutonium.

The spike in temperature that precipitated the combustion of the aluminium containment was due in large part  to the release of Wigner energy, this was energy stored in the distortion of the graphite core and had built up from the neutron absorption to the extent it suddenly released like an earthquake does. The reason it happened was because the joint  research that had discovered this was in america and their fear of the "communist" labour government resulted in them not allowing the british researchers who had returned home access to it. The core should have been heated up periodically to "anneal" the graphite back to its resting state.

[GarethM]

9 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

The spike in temperature that precipitated the combustion of the aluminium containment was due in large part  to the release of Wigner energy, this was energy stored in the distortion of the graphite core and had built up from the neutron absorption to the extent it suddenly released like an earthquake does. The reason it happened was because the joint  research that had discovered this was in america and their fear of the "communist" labour government resulted in them not allowing the british researchers who had returned home access to it. The core should have been heated up periodically to "anneal" the graphite back to its resting state.

They did actually do this regularly as it wasn't a predictable things, but monitored to detect when necessary.

 

The fire was due to fuel getting stuck in the fuel channels, once alight the fuel burned even hotter due to the fans. They tried co2 and water to extinguish it, but finally realised that turning the fans off solved the problem and the fire went out.

 

Even to this day the pile still has blocked and highly radioactive fuel in those channels as it's not possible to remove a burst element.

 

Regarding the labour government, it was a USA ban of information sharing even tho those who designed the thing worked on the Manhattan project.

Edited March 2, 2023 by GarethM

[Stubby]

I did hear that one jumbo jet taking off from Heath Row does as much pollution as wood burners for the month !

Edited March 2, 2023 by Stubby