3 ms·
It's other way round. Although nuclear sites tend to have access to water many of them in the UK do not have ready access to suitable large harbours (these pla
by lonelyasacloud 2y ago
It's other way round.
Although nuclear sites tend to have access to water many of them in the UK do not have ready access to suitable large harbours (these places by definition tend to be out of the way). In the UK building and maintaining these harbours would be way more expensive than sticking it on the road for a relatively short hop (even in the remote areas) to the nearest local railhead.
- timthorn 2y agoMany also have/had their own railhead, so the road part wasn't always needed.
- youngtaff 2y agoThere are a few without their own rail head e.g. Oldbury on Severn and think the fuel for there was sent somewhere near Berkley and then by road I lived in Berkley about 25 years ago and my next door neighbour was part of the team that managed fuel shipments around the UK
- arethuza 2y agoAs far as I can tell, the Torness AGR plant doesn't have a rail link even though it is pretty close (less than 1km) from the east coast main line.
- FLHerne 2y agoThere's a dedicated transfer facility with a siding and crane on the ECML about 1.5km west of the power station.
- arethuza 2y agoThanks - once I knew it was there it was easy to spot.
- chickenbig 2y agoSee https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/torness-power-station-rail-connected.89909/ https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/torness-power-station-r... ; it is perhaps a mile and a bit west of the power station, crane and all.
- acchow 2y agoI’d rather nuclear material be kept away from water…
- chickenbig 2y agoSpent nuclear fuel has to cool down in water for a few years. Being spent it is not very prone to partaking in chain reactions; no many neutron poisons, too few fissionable atoms.
- chickenbig 2y agoTo be fair, I expect the water around the spent nuclear fuel is also borated as an added precaution.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 2y agoI suppose salt water can leech ions from anything, but how soluble are the rods?