Nuclear Generating Capacity In The United Kingdom

nuclear united kingdom
Following the recent completion of three nuclear power plants, there is now some 9.6 GW of nuclear capacity in the United Kingdom. The nuclear share of electrical output, which has stood at around 13% for many years, should rise to around 20% when this capacity is in full operation. A further two reactors are currently under construction which will increase the British nuclear capacity to more than 12 GW by the late 1980s, which could bring the nuclear share of electrical output to around 25%. (more…)

Federal Excise Taxes to Motor Fuels: Gasoline, Diesel, Aviation Jet Fuel

Federal Excise Taxes
Federal Excise Taxes placed on specific energy sources tend to reduce energy demand for these energy sources in both the short and the long run. The federal government imposes excise taxes on almost all petroleum products (including petroleum additives) and coal (see Table 1). The federal government also imposes federal excise taxes on many transportation uses of methanol, ethanol, natural gas, and propane and imposes a fee on electricity produced from nuclear power plants and nuclear power electricity. (more…)

Peak Electricity Demand Impact and Reducing Power Needs During Peak Periods

Peak Electricity Demand
Power generation and distribution networks are built with spare capacity to meet peak periods of energy consumption is usually a time when demand for heating and / or cooling is particularly acute accommodate. Normally, peak electricity demand in some cases last just a few hours every year. And while the networks have always had to cope with peaks in recent years, the electricity consumption during peak hours has increased dramatically in the afternoon. (more…)

Solar Water Heating for Swimming Pools

Solar water heating for swimming pool rank as the most successful but least heralded commercial solar application. The use of solar energy for pool heating and the equipment and needs of pool owners make a perfect match. The storage unit for the solar heated water already exists—the swimming pool. The pump needed to push water through the solar collectors must be purchased irrespective of the technology used to heat the water. The pool owner merely has to purchase the solar collectors. Since those using the pool generally want the temperature of the pool to be no higher than 801F (271C), the solar collectors do not require a costly glass cover or expensive metal sheeting and piping. (more…)

CO2 Emission Reduction and Fossil Fuels Carbon

Reductions in carbon intensity, C/E, the carbon emitted per unit of energy generated, reflect the degree to which societies decarbonize their energy sources. The long-term trend has been a shift from coal to oil to natural gas––hydrocarbons with decreasing C/H ratios emitting progressively less CO2 per joule. However, the increasing use of clean low-carbon fuels is not sustainable without somehow disposing of excess carbon because it opposes the trend in the abundance of fossil fuels, with coal resources being the most abundant followed by oil and gas. (more…)

Nuclear Power Plant Safety Systems and Reactor Pressure Vessel

Because a nuclear explosion in a nuclear power plant is impossible due to the low fuel enrichment, the worst conceivable accident is a severe loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), leading to a core meltdown. Although the nuclear fission and fusion process would be immediately stopped by a control rod insertion, the radioactive fission products would continue to generate decay heat in the fuel. Thus, a LOCA producing core uncovering could cause the fuel to melt. In the most extreme case, a molten mass would fall to the bottom of the reactor, melting through the reactor pressure vessel and the underlying concrete, and eventually coming to rest about 6.1 m (20 ft) underground. (more…)

Nuclear Radiation Protection: Shielding to Minimize Exposure

Nuclear engineers work in conjunction with health physicists to assure that all activities involving radiation exposure to nuclear power plant workers or to the public are kept well below the U.S. requirements stated in Title 10, Part 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 20). In fact, the current industry practice is to apply the ALARA (‘‘as low as reasonably achievable’’) principle to every exposure-related activity. To this end, nuclear engineers have been widely successful in designing nuclear plants that limit the dose to the public. (more…)

Well-to-Pump Energy Efficiencies

Well-to-Pump
The energy efficiencies of various fuel production pathways from well to pump. The efficiencies shown are defined as the energy in a given fuel (available at pumps in vehicle refueling stations) divided by total energy inputs during all Well-to-Pump activities, including the energy content of the fuel. One way to interpret the Well-to-Pump efficiencies in the figure is as the difference between 100% and the energy efficiencies, which roughly represent energy losses during Well-to-Pump stages for making a given fuel available at the pump. As stated in Section 3, Well-to-Pump activities include biomass feedstock production; feedstock transportation and storage; fuel production; and fuel transportation, storage, and distribution. (more…)

Main Energy Sources: Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy

main energy sources
The energy that people use every day comes from many different sources. The resources are divided into two main groups: renewable energy and nonrenewable energy. Renewable energy sources are those that can be used again and again. Renewable energy resources have unlimited supply. (more…)

Maglev Technology For High-Speed Transportation

High-speed maglev technology offers four main advantages: non-contact operation; low-mass vehicles (on a per seat basis, maglev vehicles weigh approximately one-third to three-quarters as much as high speed trains); high speed; and wayside system control and self-propelled vehicles (each car contains its own secondary part of a linear synchronous motors).

Non-contact operation means that vehicle traction does not depend on adhesion between contact surfaces, e.g., wheels and rails. (more…)

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