Nucklea

[All Seeing Eye]

I've always found it mind boggling why power stations especially Nuclear are built seperately or so far apart so I have this question:

Why do we have to have more than one Nuclear Power Station? Why can we not build one super uber sized nuclear station capable of generating enough power as several? why is it not possible to have one big one and distribute the power around the country from that single location?

 

[Haytil]

The longer the transmission line, the more power you lose. That's why we're trying to develop room-temperature superconductors - no resistance means we can transmit power at any distance without loss of energy.

 

[Haytil]

Oh, also, you don't want to centralize all your power in one location anyway. Think about it - if that station goes down, the WHOLE COUNTRY loses power. That's not very smart - it leaves us very vulnerable to a single, crippling blow.

 

[blaXXer]

plus, if it goes BOOM, it goes BOOM for good. goodbye US of A. And we do not want that, now, do we?

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Oh, also, you don't want to centralize all your power in one location anyway. Think about it - if that station goes down, the WHOLE COUNTRY loses power. That's not very smart - it leaves us very vulnerable to a single, crippling blow.

But why would this single super station go down? it would have dozens of reactors, what could happen that would shut down every reactor?

 

[farmkid]

Oh, also, you don't want to centralize all your power in one location anyway. Think about it - if that station goes down, the WHOLE COUNTRY loses power. That's not very smart - it leaves us very vulnerable to a single, crippling blow.

But why would this single super station go down? it would have dozens of reactors, what could happen that would shut down every reactor?

Well, several natural disasters (flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, volcano, etc.) come to mind. Also, such a centralized system would make it more vulnerable to and a more attractive target for attack, terrorist or otherwise.

As mentioned earlier, the enormous distances the electricity would have to be transmitted are what really makes it a bad idea. This idea might be feasible in England, where the whole country is the size of one of our medium -sized states, but here in the US, the distances are just too far. It's what, 600 miles or so from one end of the island to the other? I drive significantly farther than that each way to visit my parents twice a year.

No, I think a much better option is to to the other way, and even further distribute the power generation. My idea would be to install solar on most or all homes and buildings. Then, use the power grid to distribute the power from those buildings generating excess at any given time to those who need more. Such a setup would most likely need more, so it could be supplemented with wind, wave, nuclear, hydroelectric, etc.