Bloomberg News has an article up on why it will be difficult to support the nuclear renaissance currently planed. Here is the money quote:
“I find it just amazing that so many people jumped on the bandwagon of this renaissance without ever looking at the industrial side of it,” Schneider said.
It would take any competitor more than five years to catch up with Japan Steel’s technology, said the company’s chief executive officer, Masahisa Nagata.
That is what people don’t get when they want some kind of rapid industrial change. The supply chain is long and it is demand driven. Steady growth is easy. Sudden surges are difficult if not impossible.
HT linearthinker
Cross Posted at Power and Control
Comments
4 responses to “The Industrial Side Of Things”
The traditional way to divine the I Ching is with yarrow stalks.
Well, what about making the containment vessels from multiple forgings welded together? There are an awful lot of safety-critical systems which involve welds–is it really out of the question in this case?
David,
Of course it is done that way often. However, forgings are inherently sounder. Thus they can be made thinner. Which eases thermal problems. Which means they can be made thinner. Their corrosion resistance is better. So they can be made thinner.
Hopefully if this pans out:
WB-7 First Plasma
we can use smaller forgings. Or just weld the reactors together.
The jewel in ths story was this:
The Russians forge their own.
There is competition. They made it sound as if the Ruskies forge the items in one piece as well.