Japan To Replace Fukushima Reactor W. Largest Wind Farm

brianlux

It's not all great news- birds will die, the possibility of collisions exist, these things aren't exactly scenic and they are not a long term substitute for learning to live with less, but they sure beat being exposed to more radiation. Glad to hear Japan is getting smarter.

http://www.geekosystem.com/fukushima-re ... wind-farm/



Japan Plans To Replace Fukushima Reactor With World’s Largest Wind Farm

After the 2011 disaster that shut down it’s main reactor, Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant simply isn’t going to make a comeback. Like several other reactors across the island nation, it’s been shuttered and will likely remain so, leaving authorities there with a problem — how do they continue to provide the energy that the plant once produced and that residents in the region depend on? This week, we got their answer: rather than reopening the nuclear plant, Japan is looking off their shores, announcing plans for a massive wind farm ten miles off the coast of the area affected by the Fukushima reactor meltdown.

The planned project would host 143 turbines, making it the largest wind farm in the world. Together, those turbines will generate an estimated 1 gigawatt of power, or almos twice the energy produced by today’s largest wind farm near Suffolk in the United Kingdom.

That’s a lot of energy, but well short of the 4.7 gigawatts of power formerly produced by the nuclear plant, which was one of the most powerful in the world. Just where Fukushima prefecture — which has announced that it intends to be completely energy self-sufficient by 2040 — thinks it can make up that energy shortfall remains to be seen.

One thing seems certain, though — nuclear energy isn’t making its return to Japan anytime in the near future as the country continues to recover from the toll taken by the Fukushima meltdown and works to find its way forward to an energy future that doesn’t rely on either nuclear energy or expensive, environmentally damaging imported fossil fuels.

CH156378

Cool

unsung

How long before they are subject to rolling blackouts?

There is a wind farm near me, at least 40 or so mills, almost every time I drive by on the highway all of them are not moving.

Jeanwah

Birds also get killed by power lines, so I don't buy that argument against wind farms.

Good to see progress!

mickeyrat

perhaps the drive to create a source of sustainable less harmful energy will spread once they figure out a viable solution.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Susanne76

Good for Japan to plan to get rid of their nuclear power stations. A shame that one had to blow up first..
Others need to follow nuclear power stations are time bombs

unsung

I've worked in nuclear power for almost 20 years, are you saying I am sitting on a time bomb? Is it going to kill me soon?

mickeyrat

unsung wrote:

I've worked in nuclear power for almost 20 years, are you saying I am sitting on a time bomb? Is it going to kill me soon?

is the one you work or worked at sitting on top of "the ring of fire" an area highly susecptable to earth quakes on an island where a rush of water strong enough to knock one out of commision? Is that the place you work at?


What do you guys do with the spent fuel rods? Perhaps you should take then home and put them on your mantle?

unsung

If you want to have a serious conversation knock off the drama.

The spent fuel rods are stored onsite in concrete and steel casks. We (taxpayers) had a plan that we had been funding to the tune of billions of dollars through extra fees on our electric bills to store the waste in Yucca Mountain, but this administration cancelled that. So the billions are just sitting there. Nuclear has had some issues, but it is the still the lowest emissions, virtually no greenhouse gas, and is the most reliable. Plus it is a great job, and well paying. Each station employs around 800 permanent people.

mickeyrat

unsung wrote:

If you want to have a serious conversation knock off the drama.

The spent fuel rods are stored onsite in concrete and steel casks. We (taxpayers) had a plan that we had been funding to the tune of billions of dollars through extra fees on our electric bills to store the waste in Yucca Mountain, but this administration cancelled that. So the billions are just sitting there. Nuclear has had some issues, but it is the still the lowest emissions, virtually no greenhouse gas, and is the most reliable. Plus it is a great job, and well paying. Each station employs around 800 permanent people.

then I'll ask you the same about smart ass questions like the one I responded to. What I asked while bordering on smart ass were serious questions.

brianlux

unsung wrote:

I've worked in nuclear power for almost 20 years, are you saying I am sitting on a time bomb? Is it going to kill me soon?

Not necessarily, unsung, but I will tell you this: I was exposed to higher than normal radiation levels while spending a few hours in Lebanon, PA near Three Mile Island during that incident in order to evacuate my grandmother. We both had wished that hadn't happened.

On top of that, all of us on the west coast have received increased levels of radiation due to the Fukushima incident. I'm glad the Japanese are getting on board with wind power. I would not sugest getting one's head in the way of one of the blades. That would probably kill you for sure.

Who knows, these radiation incidents might kill me. It wouldn't be my first choice of ways to go. I'll take my chances with wind power.

peacefrompaul

Well that's good for Japan. I love wind power and I truly believe it is the way we'll move in the future. The only real con I see is the loss of jobs. The coal industry comes to mind...

brianlux

peacefrompaul wrote:

Well that's good for Japan. I love wind power and I truly believe it is the way we'll move in the future. The only real con I see is the loss of jobs. The coal industry comes to mind...

I truly do appreciate the concern for lost jobs. What is often missed is that converting to more renewable forms of energy (remembering that the most important thing we can do is reduce our energy and resource usage) will create many jobs and would be good for the economy as well as the environment. The longer we wait to do this, the more expensive the conversion- but also, the longer we wait to do this the more irreparable the damage to the environment.

peacefrompaul

brianlux wrote:

peacefrompaul wrote:

Well that's good for Japan. I love wind power and I truly believe it is the way we'll move in the future. The only real con I see is the loss of jobs. The coal industry comes to mind...

I truly do appreciate the concern for lost jobs. What is often missed is that converting to more renewable forms of energy (remembering that the most important thing we can do is reduce our energy and resource usage) will create many jobs and would be good for the economy as well as the environment. The longer we wait to do this, the more expensive the conversion- but also, the longer we wait to do this the more irreparable the damage to the environment.

I just think it might be a sudden, albeit necessary, hit to the job market waiting for the alternative energy jobs to open up. Maybe you can give me some insight into the jobs that will be available and how many there will be. Will there be more jobs that are skill required as opposed to being more labor intensive, such as mining coal? A good forecast is all I'm asking for.

brianlux

peacefrompaul wrote:

brianlux wrote:

peacefrompaul wrote:

Well that's good for Japan. I love wind power and I truly believe it is the way we'll move in the future. The only real con I see is the loss of jobs. The coal industry comes to mind...

I truly do appreciate the concern for lost jobs. What is often missed is that converting to more renewable forms of energy (remembering that the most important thing we can do is reduce our energy and resource usage) will create many jobs and would be good for the economy as well as the environment. The longer we wait to do this, the more expensive the conversion- but also, the longer we wait to do this the more irreparable the damage to the environment.

I just think it might be a sudden, albeit necessary, hit to the job market waiting for the alternative energy jobs to open up. Maybe you can give me some insight into the jobs that will be available and how many there will be. Will there be more jobs that are skill required as opposed to being more labor intensive, such as mining coal? A good forecast is all I'm asking for.

According to World Watch Institute the conservative estimate is that 2.3 million people are already working in the renewable energy field. They also state that, "Global wind power employment is projected to grow to as much as 2.1 million in 2030 and 2.8 million in 2050."

That's good news!

peacefrompaul

brianlux wrote:

I just think it might be a sudden, albeit necessary, hit to the job market waiting for the alternative energy jobs to open up. Maybe you can give me some insight into the jobs that will be available and how many there will be. Will there be more jobs that are skill required as opposed to being more labor intensive, such as mining coal? A good forecast is all I'm asking for.

According to World Watch Institute the conservative estimate is that 2.3 million people are already working in the renewable energy field. They also state that, "Global wind power employment is projected to grow to as much as 2.1 million in 2030 and 2.8 million in 2050."

That's good news![/quote]

Good start!

dancepartner

Brian wrote; "it's not all great news- birds will die, the possibility of collisions exist, these things aren't exactly scenic and they are not a long term substitute for learning to live with less, but they sure beat being exposed to more radiation. Glad to hear Japan is getting smarter."

Given the options, I'm in favor of wind farms but -- birds do die. Lots of them.

Also, my two-bits on the job side. While the wind industry picks up momentum, so is the industry paid to quickly invent the robotics to build these wings. Just a reminder; remember to consider this industries perks in terms of sustainability etc... but not sustainability in jobs because now, any new industry has robotics hot-on-the-heals of any newly created job market. Once completed, both inventor & fabrication jobs fall into the lap of automation. A lap that does not require a paycheck, healthcare, and can't sue if it gets broken.

mickeyrat

dancepartner wrote:

Brian wrote; "it's not all great news- birds will die, the possibility of collisions exist, these things aren't exactly scenic and they are not a long term substitute for learning to live with less, but they sure beat being exposed to more radiation. Glad to hear Japan is getting smarter."

Given the options, I'm in favor of wind farms but -- birds do die. Lots of them.

Also, my two-bits on the job side. While the wind industry picks up momentum, so is the industry paid to quickly invent the robotics to build these wings. Just a reminder; remember to consider this industries perks in terms of sustainability etc... but not sustainability in jobs because now, any new industry has robotics hot-on-the-heals of any newly created job market. Once completed, both inventor & fabrication jobs fall into the lap of automation. A lap that does not require a paycheck, healthcare, and can't sue if it gets broken.

but the maintenance and repair of these turbines WILL require human hands. Trucks to drive them to the site and humans to erect these things.

polaris_x

the problem with nuclear is the cost ... sure, it's emission free when you discount the mining of uranium from the ledger but the reality is the cost to build and maintain these reactors make it the most expensive form of new energy around ...

wind makes the most sense ... i don't think windmills kill anymore than skyscrapers ... especially when you can turn these off during migratory periods ...

Kel Varnsen

Sounds cool that more money is going to be building, and thus researching new forms of power. And my understanding is that Fukushima was about to be decommissioned if the accident hadn't happened anyways. That said I think it is kind of a weird reactonary thing. I mean for one thing I look at the Fukushima accident as an argument for nuclear power. I mean the plant was 40 years old and was hit with a gigantic 9.0 magnitude earth quake and then hit directly with a tsunami. And even after a disaster of that magnitude no one died as a result of it being a nuclear plant.

It is just weird to me about how people will evaluate risk. I mean a lot of people were freaking out about a possible radiation cloud from Japan coming to north america, but no one freaks out about the radiation exposure you get hit with from flying in plane. Hell people freak out about radiation in general when it would seem to me that things like being a crappy driver and eating fast food would take more years off of your life than a hypothetical exposure to radiation.

Jason P

mickeyrat wrote:

What do you guys do with the spent fuel rods? Perhaps you should take then home and put them on your mantle?