DavidofMersea
Well-known member
What is "Self possessed" about talking about vehicles that are NOT going through a village?
Bradwell B Nuclear Power Station
- Thread starter tillergirl
- Start date
DavidofMersea
Well-known member
Presumably you use electricity, how would you suggest we generate that electricity without some sort of installation? You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs
tillergirl
Well-known member
I think we all tend to live in a self possessed bubble or at least a partial self possessed bubble (does that battered old van always have to park outside our house??). When I retired I made the decision to come here: I have decided I don't ever want to go into London again unless courtesy demands. I made the decision 20 years ago based upon liking it (very much) here. So I want it to stay as it was - largely - the new causeway is better etc, etc. 'Progress' (don't let's ever try and define that) is inevitable because the economy is based on growth and the population is out of control. A power station is apparantly necessary and I guess a nuclear power station is best. It would be nice if it was all wind and tide power but the long term solution seems to be too far away to fill the power gap.
So if a nuclear power station has to be built where best? It would be nice if it was out of our Nimby, say further down the Dengie Peninsula further away from the downwind habitation. But somewhere around Tillingham wouldn't have the access for cooling water. To draw from the Crouch would drag the power station down to Burnham. Not the best. So it has to be on the old emergency airstrip. Or could it go somewhere else? Sizewell 3? I guess further north than that would never work as the coast erosion would drown it before it was built. I suspect that the least damage is where it is planned and has some partial infrastructure (railway, power connections). But the rural idyll of the Dengie Peninsula is in for a bad time. I regret that. There is also the scenario for a post-build dystopia - South Woodham Ferrers is a 'New Town' on the commuters railway, close to the M25. Then with new road connections and the rural idyll destroyed why not a new 'New Town'. Ugh.
Don't like it but the alternative looks difficult. The idea of the critical infrastructure being in the hands of other countries worries me. But are we already in hock?
So if a nuclear power station has to be built where best? It would be nice if it was out of our Nimby, say further down the Dengie Peninsula further away from the downwind habitation. But somewhere around Tillingham wouldn't have the access for cooling water. To draw from the Crouch would drag the power station down to Burnham. Not the best. So it has to be on the old emergency airstrip. Or could it go somewhere else? Sizewell 3? I guess further north than that would never work as the coast erosion would drown it before it was built. I suspect that the least damage is where it is planned and has some partial infrastructure (railway, power connections). But the rural idyll of the Dengie Peninsula is in for a bad time. I regret that. There is also the scenario for a post-build dystopia - South Woodham Ferrers is a 'New Town' on the commuters railway, close to the M25. Then with new road connections and the rural idyll destroyed why not a new 'New Town'. Ugh.
Don't like it but the alternative looks difficult. The idea of the critical infrastructure being in the hands of other countries worries me. But are we already in hock?
DavidofMersea
Well-known member
What a sensible well thought out respose. However, with regard to last two lines, the Chinese have got to abide by the UK planning rules, UK H &S rules, UK employment rules etc etc
Tomahawk
Well-known member
There is no such thing as countryside in Essex these days.
The social and economic reality is a continuous urban space. People living in so called countryside buy their food from the national supermarket chains in the nearby large towns. Their children go to the same schools as the children in towns, they work in the urban economy. Hotels and leisure businesses sell to an urban clientele and are really very much pat of the urban economy. Even farmers work in an urban economic system using high capital value plant manufactured by multinational companies financed through multinational banks and selling a single product onto international markets that are governed by multinational trade agreements using complex futures and derivatives options.
The only real difference between so called countryside and urban setting is the density of the housing. .. and the price. But one must never let reality get in the way of emotion.
Tomahawk
Well-known member
Until they start to pressure the UK government to allow some slippage.. one needs re-watch Yes Minister.
DavidofMersea
Well-known member
Why would the UK government allow slippage? If the Chinese do not abide by the UK H &S rules, UK employment rules etc etc, and someone is hurt, this would be a civil matter in addition to anything the government may do
ex-Gladys
Well-known member
You all forget that this is an EDF/CGN joint venture, so the French are responsible for some of it as well and are probably easier to take to court. When I was working on my last work activity, we were using our external lawyers offices for contract drafting, and the EDF/CGN stuff was going on there at the same time... The lawyers catering team were cooking a lot of Chinese food!
UncleAlbert
Member
Being a Romford lad many many years ago I have been a townie but since then lived for many years in Tollesbury, I can state that you should believe that people do want to live in the country just to be away/removed such things that towns offer. There is a long long list of other reasons I do not desire to live in a town. I managed to convince some councillors some years ago that a development proposed should be rejected for the reason that if I had wanted to live in a town then I would have bought a house in Chelmsford, I didn't, so therefore 'punished myself' both in time and cost to live more rural and I wanted to keep it that way. i have a huge amount of sympathy for the Dengie and would have been just as NIMBY-ist in the 1950-60 when Bradwell was mooted.
As we see with the existing mothballed Bradwell when the countryside has gone its gone for ever and whilst dilapidation does give nature a second chance ( eg Chenobyl) it is hardly a natural environment.
I feel better for typing that
Unc
DavidofMersea
Well-known member
I think my comments were written rather badly. I am a country boy and I like it that way. However, there is a balance between town and country, and I feel that Mersea has got it about right. I like to live in the country (or by the sea) but I like to have a few amenities nearby, such as a supermarket or two, a doctor and dentist, sports facilities, etc etc., so I don't have to leave my countryside
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UncleAlbert
Member
David I think you are correct in your assessment. I consider your views normally measured and it takes something to get me to tap away and you achieved it there. Takes a good man to clear the air, so well done you .
I recognise that we need power and oit is surely better to screw up one place in a big way rather than many places in smaller ways so logic does dictate that build B next to A just as Sizewell has A, B and latterly C but does it really need to so huge in land take up. I smell a development RAT here and a bit of greed on the part of Maldon District Council when the proposed Campus becomes Greater Bradwell.
Unc
Kukri
Well-known member
I started sailing from West Mersea in 1969 and my first voyage from A to B was of course to Bradwell Creek. I’ve never known the place without the power station. A friend who was shown round in the eighties remarked that the control room looked antiquated even then - ‘dials like Concorde’s cockpit’.
LONG_KEELER
Well-known member
Technology has taken us into a future world, but the deep rooted beliefs we hold are
probably very old fashioned and many don't work well in the modern age.
There is probably too many of us on these islands and we have too much stuff but we can work it out and the UK is still a great place to live, work and sail.
Anyway, after food water and warmth, everything else is just a preference init ?
probably very old fashioned and many don't work well in the modern age.
There is probably too many of us on these islands and we have too much stuff but we can work it out and the UK is still a great place to live, work and sail.
Anyway, after food water and warmth, everything else is just a preference init ?
Kukri
Well-known member
I just looked up the Wiki page on Bradwell A and found a reference to the very rural Essex tale of the worker at the power station who nicked twenty natural uranium fuel rods to sell for scrap and who was caught when the local Plod stopped his accomplice for having defective brakes on his van. The Beak remarked that neither of them seemed to understand the consequences of their actions and bound them over.
Tomahawk
Well-known member
One needs to look at the way Public Health England downgraded their spec for PPE in the face of supply shortages. The hospital can say they are complying with regulations by supplying to the latest standard. Suing those responsible then becomes a more difficult.
Cavalierbond
Well-known member
The more access and power ( scuse the pun ) we give the Chinese or any foreign state , the less control we have ..
and let’s not kid ourselves about the labour force that will he used to build it ..
and let’s not kid ourselves about the labour force that will he used to build it ..
DavidofMersea
Well-known member
Irish
PeterWright
Well-known member
I think the proposers of Bradwell B are right to focus on the disruption to local life during construction as a key hurdle that they will need to overcome to get consent for the installation. The numbers sound alarming, but aren't all that different from the building of Sizewell B. Again they have learned from te Sizewell project in proposing to use sea won ballast, pumped ashore and washed on site, rather than the road delivered ballst used for the first Bradwell power station. The upriver marine terminal is for delivery of the large components by sea, as was done for the first Bradwell and Sizewell B. These options actually increase the building cost, but reducethe impact on the local community. I believe more work is needed to further reduce and mitigate that impact.
It was not very long ago that I had to break the news of Bradwell Power station's closure to Maldon District Council. Their immediate response was to ask for money to compensate the district for loss of employment opportunities - this project will bring more job opportunities back to the Dengie.
The UK needs power generation and at least a proportion of it needs to be reliable, not subject to the vagaries of wind or sunshine. Even James Lovelock, proponent of the Gaia hypothesis, in his later years came to realise that, with the relentlessly increasing population, nuclear power was the best option for reliable electricity generation.
I lived through the fifties, when UK electricity supply was pretty unreliable because demand far outstripped supply, but life was organised to cope with frequent power cuts (although the common heating system, coal fires had horrendous pollution consequences). Today, imagine how many days a modern town could survive without telephones (and computers) working, without sewage being pumped away each time you flush, without the water arriving to drink. wash in or flush. All these sevices today, rely on electricity to run pumps and control systems. Most governments of developed countries reckon 2 to 3 days of power cut will bring rioting and looting - do you want to go there? If not, what alternative for the reliable, available 24 hours per day, part of ourelectricity generation system. Currently the biggest contribution to national power production is burning gas.
Peter
It was not very long ago that I had to break the news of Bradwell Power station's closure to Maldon District Council. Their immediate response was to ask for money to compensate the district for loss of employment opportunities - this project will bring more job opportunities back to the Dengie.
The UK needs power generation and at least a proportion of it needs to be reliable, not subject to the vagaries of wind or sunshine. Even James Lovelock, proponent of the Gaia hypothesis, in his later years came to realise that, with the relentlessly increasing population, nuclear power was the best option for reliable electricity generation.
I lived through the fifties, when UK electricity supply was pretty unreliable because demand far outstripped supply, but life was organised to cope with frequent power cuts (although the common heating system, coal fires had horrendous pollution consequences). Today, imagine how many days a modern town could survive without telephones (and computers) working, without sewage being pumped away each time you flush, without the water arriving to drink. wash in or flush. All these sevices today, rely on electricity to run pumps and control systems. Most governments of developed countries reckon 2 to 3 days of power cut will bring rioting and looting - do you want to go there? If not, what alternative for the reliable, available 24 hours per day, part of ourelectricity generation system. Currently the biggest contribution to national power production is burning gas.
Peter
Cavalierbond
Well-known member
I’d be happier pay my a bit more tax to build this ourselves .. I know that’s a bit basic and is “ dont work like that “ but it’s need to be looked at
Capt Popeye
Well-known member
Maybe with the possibilty of Airlines Folding up very very soon we will have loads of personel to build these Power Stations from our own Population ?
