UK National Grid

[Colin Wood]

Yes, things are invented and then bought out and shelved. Like the electric light bulb, we Had RU bulbs at sea, Rough Use, which were used in clusters when working cargo at night, but never saw ashore. They lasted better than ordinary bulbs but were not quite so bright.
As regards tidal power, not very good on its own, as needs a battery to keep going during slack tide neaps.
Have even used the tide to start an old Gardiner diesel, engine in nutreul, propellor starts turning, all valve lifter off, propellor shaft starts turning, drop one valve lifter and put in gear and away d=she goes.

[Tony Taylor]

Non puncture car tyres was another one the tyre company’s bought out the inventor JS

Yes John, I actually saw a demo of that on Tomorrows World program; as you say, it vanished.

[James Curry]

Yes Colin , but as the tide does come in and out at least twice a day and the wind does not blow every day tidal power surely is more reliable. I would rather have a wind farm or tidal power in my area than a Nuclear power station. The radio active fall out from Chernobyl and Fukushima effects are still being felt around the world. If Putin wants to he can cause another Nuclear disaster anytime he wants if he continues to bomb the Nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

James.
Why the hell would Putin bomb a place that I know is run by Ukraine but his own troops are guarding?
Des

[happy daze john in oz]

Greece yesterday ran the whole country for 10 hours on renewable power from wind, solar and hydro.

No doubt it can be done but depends on the size and population of a country.
Storage capacity and the demand from industry.

Hydrogen will in my opinion become the power of the future.

[Colin Wood]

Well James(13), you ate more liable tohace a road accident than be affected by problems with a power station, so guess you will not go out anymore. Just sstay wrapped up in bed.
Having lived in Northern Territory for 15years, can tell following true story. We had a USA nuclear destroyer visit. While entertaining officers to a cocktail party, we asked where was there patch which recorded the amout of radiation they had absorbed. They told us they were not allowed to wear them ashore in NT and had to hand in at the gangway because if they wore them, for the evening, they would absorb enough radiation to mean they would be overdosed and sent home.
Also had the usual green rabble rousers demonstrating, and after the ship sailed, they came gleefully to wharf office waving a piece of paper with a graph showing as the vessel swung at anchor, the value of radiation went up and down. Not happy when they left as it exactly mirrored the tidal range. They were measuring the radiation of the harbour water.

[James Curry]

Hands up who on here would have no objections to having a Nuclear power station built within a few miles where they live?
Staying wrapped up in bed will not keep you safe from a nuclear accident.
Do you still live in Australia Colin? A country that has never had a nuclear power station.

It was 65 years ago this week that the UK Windscale disaster happened in what is now Cumbria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire.

I wonder why they changesd the name from Windscale to Sellafield?

Australia has never had a nuclear power station. Australia hosts 33% of the world's uranium deposits and is the world's third largest producer of uranium after Kazakhstan and Canada. Australia's extensive low-cost coal and natural gas reserves have historically been used as strong arguments for avoiding nuclear power.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi James.
I hope you haven't forgotten the British nuclear tests in Woodmera, one of which was an air burst not reported to the Aus Govt at the time.
Des

[vic mcclymont]

Beet me to it Des.
Vic

[James Curry]

No I did not forget about the Nuke tests carried out in Australia at the time. But I suppose in those days the UK still thought they were a world super power and could do what they liked. More than likely still considered Australia to be no more than a Penal colony.

The Australian government formally agreed to the islands being used as a nuclear test site in May 1951. In February 1952, Attlee's successor, Winston Churchill, announced in the House of Commons that the first British atomic bomb test would occur in Australia before the end of the year.