Intermittent nature of nuclear generating technology threatens electric supply.

[kristopher]

Glitch forces shutdown of nuclear reactor in Fukui
Emergency cooling system malfunction means cut in Kansai power supply
Kyodo

FUKUI — A reactor at the Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture was to be manually shut down Saturday night due to a problem with its cooling system, operator Kansai Electric Power Co. said.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the problem with the plant's No. 1 reactor poses no environmental hazard.

The shutdown will affect the electric power supply in the Kansai region, and two more reactors run by Kepco are scheduled to be halted Thursday and Friday for regular inspections and maintenance.

This will mean eight out of 13 commercial reactors in Fukui Prefecture run by Kepco will be offline.

Reactor 1 at ...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110716x2.html

[obxhead]

1. but, but, but,

we shouldn't invest in wind or solar power because the sun is not always shining and the wind is not always blowing!1!ones!!

[madokie]

2. Thats what they pro-nukies keep telling us

Many of us simply know better though and keep right on plodding along

[kristopher]

4. There is a far more significant subtext to this article...

Right now there is a raging debate about shutting down nuclear power.

Do you remember the pigfarm methane plant used to produce electricity in "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome"?

How about the way they shut down the power supply to control people?

Mad Max MM
Master Blaster MB
Aunty Entity - Tina Turner (AE)

MB: Me order. Me Master! Me run Bartertown!

MM: That's why you live in shit.

MB: Not shit! Energy!

MM: Call it what you like, it still smells like shit.

MB: Not shit! Energy! No energy, no town! Me King Arab!

MM: Sure. Me, fairy princess.

MB: Embargo, on! Embargo on! Main valve off!
Four, three, two. . . .

AE: For God's sake, what now?

MB: Who run Bartertown?

AE: Damn it! I told you, no more embargos.

MB: More, Blaster. Who run Bartertown? Who run Bartertown?

AE: You know who.

MB: Say!

AE: MasterBlaster.

MB: Say loud!

AE: MasterBlaster!

MB: MasterBlaster what?

AE: MasterBlaster runs Bartertown.

MB: Louder!

AE: MasterBlaster runs Bartertown!

MB: Lift embargo.

http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/m/mad-max-3-thunderdome-script.html

This is one of the principle objections to nuclear power from a just and open society standpoint. It is an open invitation to power centralization of a sort that most people find abhorrent.

[caraher]

3. Unrec for strawman argument and hyperbolic thread title

Strawman: No pronuke claims nuclear plants never have unscheduled downtime.

Hyperbole: The linked article says the local electric supply will be "affected" and not "threatened." Obviously less electricity will be available, but the article gives no indication of any significant problems associated with this.

The argument against wind and solar based on the fact that the basic energy resource, in both cases, fluctuates on a short time scale is an irrelevancy given the current tiny fraction of our total electricity supply from such sources. Maybe that becomes a genuine issue rather than a pro-nuke debating point if we're above 40% wind + solar. But I don't believe in countering one bad argument with another.

Now I'd be VERY interested in a thread with the same title if someone did a serious study and found that unscheduled nuclear plant downtime really did pose a serious threat to the electricity supply somewhere. But I think no such study exists because the putative finding simply isn't true.

[kristopher]

5. Your interpretation of the effect on the community isn't accurate.

On a daily basis the entire country is fixated on how close they are coming to overloading the system. I assure you this is seen as a threat to the power supply.

Given all the attacks against renewables here over the years on the basis of its variability and your complete absence of participation seeking balance in those threads, your rejection just smacks of being typical of the sort of evasion we've come to expect from nuclear supporters.

The fact is that when a nuclear plant goes down unexpectedly it is a far more significant event to the grid than when wind moves past one wind farm on to the next.