Fun fact: They were going to show the view from inside at the start, but the camera mount was only welded and chained down to the subframe so it flew out the rear window on launch.

How on earth did they weld all that rust together.

@GeeSussFreeK

I tried to stay way from issues specific to the use of nuclear technology for a reason. There's very little in your reply that I can respond to, simply for a lack of expertise. So bear with me if I once again attempt to generalize and abstract some points. And I'll try to keep it shorter this time.

You mentioned how construction times and costs are pushed up by the constant evolution of compliance codes. A problem not exclusive to the construction of power plants, but maybe more pronounced in these cases. No matter.

What buggers me, however, is what you can currently observe in real time at the EPR construction sites in Olkiluoto and Flamanville.
For instance, the former is reported to have more than 4000 workers from over 60 nations, involving more than 1500 sub-contractors. It's basically the Tower of Babylon, and the quality of work might be similar as well. Workers say, they were ordered to just pour concrete over inadequate weld seams to get things done in time, just to name an example. They are three years over plan as of now, and it'll be at least 2-3 more before completion.
And Flamanville... here's some of what the French Nuclear Safety Authority had to say about the construction site: "concrete supports look like Swiss cheese", "walls with gaping holes", "brittle spots without a trace of cement".

Again, this is not exclusive to the construction of NPPs. Almost every large scale construction site in Europe these days looks like this, except for whatever the Swiss are doing: kudos to them, wonderful work indeed. But if they mess up the construction of a train station, they don't run a risk of ruining the ground water and irradiating what little living space we have in Europe as it is.

Then you explain the advantages of small scale, modular reactors. Again, no argument from my side on the feasability of this, I have to take your word on it. But looking at how the Russians dispose of their old nuclear reactors (bottom of the Barents Sea) and how Germany disposes of its nuclear waste (dropped down a hole), I don't fancy the idea of having even more reactors around.

As for prices, I have to raise my hands in surrender once again. Not my area of expertise, my knowledge is limited to whatever analysis hits the mainstream press every now and then. Here's my take on it, regarding just the German market: the development, construction, tax exemption, insurance exemption, fuel transport and waste disposal of the nuclear industry was paid for primarly by taxes. Conservative government estimates were in the neighbourhood of €300B since the sixties, in addition to the costs of waste disposal and plant deconstruction that the companies can't pay for. And that's if nothing happens to any of the plants, no flood, no fire, nothing.

That's not cheap. E.ON and RWE dropped out of the bid on construction permits for new NPPs in GB, simply because it's not profitable. RWE CEO Terium mentioned ~100€/MWh as the minimum base price to make new NPPs profitable, 75.80€/MWh for gas-powered plants. Right now, the base (peak) price is at 46€/MWh (54€/MWh) in Germany. France generates ~75% of its power through NPPs, while Germany is getting plastered with highly subsidized wind turbines and solar panels, yet the market price for energy is lower in Germany.

Yes, the conditions are vastly different in the US, and yes, the next generation of NPPs might be significantly cheaper and safer to construct and run. I'm all for research in these areas. But on the field of commercial energy generation, nuclear energy just doesn't seem to cut it right now.

So let's hop over to safety/dangers. Again, priorities might differ significantly and I can only argue from a central European perspective. As cold-hearted as it may sound, the number of direct casualties is not the issue. Toxicity and radiation is, as far as I'm concerned. All our NPPs are built on rivers and the entire country is rather densely populated. A crashing plane might kill 500 people, but there will be no long term damage, particularly not to the water table. The picture of an experimental waste storage site is disturbing enough as it is, and it wasn't even "by accident" that some of these chambers are now flooded by ground water.

Apologies if I ripped anything out of context. I tried to avoid the technicalities as best as I could in a desperate attempt not to make a fool of myself. Again.

And sorry for not linking any sources in many cases. Most of it was taken from German/Swiss/Austrian/French articles.

In WW II they had Sherman tanks with a motorized cylinder sticking over the front on two booms, on the cylinder were welded dozens of chains so it would thump the ground as the tank rolled forward, hopefully detonating any mines before the vehicle got there.

Now they do this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eeaou2L2sI

None of it is considered 'cleared' it's just as good as you can get it if you have to travel through that zone. The only way to actually clear a minefield is the very slow and tedious approach.

That's why there have been so many pushes to restrict mine warfare in the past twenty years or so. Once they're out there it's really difficult to get them back safely.

Thanks for the promote..... and the monumental effort that it took to do so
In reply to this comment by deathcow:
*promote jesus that took some work

1 more comment have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

This video has been declared a duplicate by the original submitter; transferring votes to the original video and killing this dupe - dupeof declared by deathcow.

*dupeof=http://videosift.com/video/Friction-Welding-Machine

>> ^lucky760:

>> ^Yogi:
>> ^lucky760:
Reminds me of Clint Eastwood preparing to escape from Alcatraz using a bundle of matches to weld together a mini pickax (made out of a small nail cutter and its little nail file, IIRC).
Just me?

Who's Clint Eastwood?

He's a historical figure from the 1880s who unfortunately fell to his demise in Clayton's Ravine when the train he was engineering failed to stop before the tracks ended at an uncompleted bridge. Google "Mad Dog Tannen" for more info.


Ding ding ding!

Close out the comments. We have a winner.

>> ^Yogi:

>> ^lucky760:
Reminds me of Clint Eastwood preparing to escape from Alcatraz using a bundle of matches to weld together a mini pickax (made out of a small nail cutter and its little nail file, IIRC).
Just me?

Who's Clint Eastwood?


He's a historical figure from the 1880s who unfortunately fell to his demise in Clayton's Ravine when the train he was engineering failed to stop before the tracks ended at an uncompleted bridge. Google "Mad Dog Tannen" for more info.

Reminds me of Clint Eastwood preparing to escape from Alcatraz using a bundle of matches to weld together a mini pickax (made out of a small nail cutter and its little nail file, IIRC).

Just me?

>> ^spoco2:

Yeah 'DIY'
If you can weld
And can smoothly cut holes in metal
And have a surplus 1500rpm motor lying around
And a hydraulic plug and cap that you have centre drilled, and tapped of course
And you have a bench drill
Oh, and a butane torch
Basically... if you have a complete toolshop and good mechanical skills and spend $45 then sure, you could build this... (And hope that your welding etc. remains intact at 1500rpm) or you could just spend $45 and buy one.
except your plastic chinese-made thing will fall apart after 3 uses, while that contraption will still be making cotton candy for a post-nuclear apocalypse society.

Yeah 'DIY'

If you can weld

And can smoothly cut holes in metal

And have a surplus 1500rpm motor lying around

And a hydraulic plug and cap that you have centre drilled, and tapped of course

And you have a bench drill

Oh, and a butane torch

Basically... if you have a complete toolshop and good mechanical skills and spend $45 then sure, you could build this... (And hope that your welding etc. remains intact at 1500rpm) or you could just spend $45 and buy one.

>> ^Jinx:

I was under the impression that the technique of making Damascus steel had been lost, so I'm not sure that just folding metal qualifies. Still, its a cool effect and I bet it makes a strong knife.


Depends on who you ask. A few people think they've figured it out. I think the ABS defines Damascus steel as 300+ layers, but the term is generally used nowadays to describe any pattern-welded steel, like in this video.