The Saskatchewan government will spend $30 million to create a new nuclear research centre at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
The money, to be spent over seven years, will be used to expand nuclear medicine but also materials science and small reactor design, Premier Brad Wall said in a news release.
We could recycle Bill Boyd’s giant fans and use the metal for for something useful – like containment domes.
h/t LC Bennett
If only the green movement would discover nuclear, which is way better than coal (from their point of view, if they were honest).
http://pebblebedreactor.blogspot.com/2007/03/compare-coal-power-to-pbr-nuclear-power.html
Sanity, must we in Alberta now look to Sask for sanity? As our clown of an environment minister still bows down at the alter of “Gaia” with his little sidekick Jeff, building all the electric infrastructure needed to accomadate a million giant fans in the south, I’m happy to see sanity creeping into govt. somewhere. Now we need payback; we need class action lawsuits launched against the Suzuki Gore Strong cabal along with Greenpeace, Pembina Parkland Sierra club etal. These theives who have many polititians on their gravy trains need to be ferreted out.
I really can’t see how anyone would be opposed to this.
I play a lot of video games, but being a cheap bastard I generally wait until they’ve been out a few years before buying to take advantage of the software-depreciates-faster-than-fresh-fruit effect.
One thing I’ve been noticing of late is just how many video games from 3-5 years ago use the Giant Bird Cuisinarts as background scenery. They’re all over, even in games where they make no sense given the setting. Kid’s games, racing games, first-person shooters – everywhere.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great idea to bring in/keep scientific minds to Saskatchewan but it doesn’t address the need for nuclear energy in the near future.
Saskatchewan has a long history of research in the nuclear medicine field (even before Tommy!) and a new compact reactor design program is a laudable goal in the long run. It will most likely pay more dividends than say windmill research.
I read in some Scientific rag that they have prototypes of small personal sized nuclear reactors for homes. About the size of a small car on end if I recall. It had more than enough capacity, but saftey and regulatory speed bumps are getting in the way…..in other words, politics.
I wonder how many students and activists will picket the UofS to protest the slowpoke reactor that has been there for decades. BTW, uranium reactors remain an important source of power production but thorium reactors may challenge U in the future. WUWT, among others, has a few articles explaining Th’s advantages.
Erik, the fundamentalist wing of the environmental movement can’t ‘discover’ nuclear. It would make most of their problems go away but not in the way they want them to go.
cgh
[…….Erik, the fundamentalist wing of the environmental movement can’t ‘discover’ nuclear. It would make most of their problems go away but not in the way they want them to go………]
Indeed! Their objective is not environmental but political….global socialist governance…….
Nuclear Power the ultimate scam. When you factor in the GHG created in mining and processing the ore. And the fact that they can not get insurance from any insurance company, and all taxpayers are on the hook for their insurance. And given that the taxpayer has to pay for all of their waste disposal, even the dismantling and disposal of worn out nuclear parts and whole plants for ever. It is not a good deal. You are better off with coal financially and enviromentally. Do some honest accounting and quit using cooked books.
Bob Runluk, cgh and sasquatch – it’s Toshiba that makes the mini-reactors. Excellent for small communities far away from the grid.
http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-toshiba-micro-nuclear-12.17b.html
More current article re Toshiba mini-rx
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,687641,00.html
I’d far rather my tax dollars go to something useful like this instead of a friggin’ half-billion buck domed stadium for the Riders and six concerts a year…
Nice one, Mr. Wall.
Wow…hard to believe that there are still some enclaves that have not been completely brainwashed by the Gore/Suzuki coolaid. A emerging leader in common sense. Saskatchewan yet. Who’d have thunk.
Erik, there’s a number of them.
Here’s a list of all of the ones under development to date and by whom:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf33.html
Most of these are based on the concept of sealed units. Those under about 50 MW or so are intended to be rail-transportable. Install them and they run for about 10 years or so.
Remote locations is one application. But it’s also a very different concept of a nuclear facility. The problem with nuclear plants now is that when they go offline for maintenance or refueling, there’s a large loss of production which has to be made up somewhere else. So instead of having two to four very large reactors (1000-1500 MW ea.) on a site you have say 200 small 20 MW reactors. Their installation is timed so that you have a constant cycle of units being installed or withdrawn for refueling and service. So the grid disruption is very low.
And as sealed units, maintenance is done by removal back to the factory or assembly area. The advantage of this for maintenance purposes is enormous. This small reactor concept would finally transform nuclear generating technology from large facilities which are custom-designed and engineered to something which can be mass produced as a commercial product.
Some have often proposed using these mini nukes to generate the steam and electricity needed to extract oil sands.
Opens up way more natural gas for domestic use.
Interesting specs on the Toshiba reactor: The new reactor, which is only 20 feet by 6 feet … 200 kilowatt Toshiba designed reactor is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat.
Ever hear of the Canadian designed “nuclear battery”?: The reference design for the Nuclear Battery could produce 600 kWe net electricity via a Rankine cycle engine coupled to the heat pipes, and this production could continue uninterrupted (without refuelling) for 15 years. Alternatively, the unit could produce high-pressure steam at 2400 kW for that length of time. The overall dimensions of the reference unit were 2.5 m in diameter, and 2m high.
http://www.nuclearfaq.ca/cnf_sectionI.htm#g4
This, by the way, is a 1980s design!
As usual, the problem isn’t the technology – it’s the people.
Money wasted on inefficient ‘renewable’ energy = bad
Money wasted on inefficient nuclear energy = MOAR
Conservatives have no principles part XXV
I have a problem with taxpayers footing the bill for a form of electricity generation, which is uninsurable, and there has yet to be safe means of permanent waste disposal for. Before you all start calling me a raging lefty, need I remind you that the only reason Nuclear exists is due to heavy subsidization that comes off the backs of us taxpayers. At least burning coal is cheap, and also more widely available. I for one don’t feel like spending double for electricity.