|
|
Post by LHR02 on Apr 24, 2006 14:48:05 GMT -5
Oh Eagle, I surely believe that! In Jacksonville my particular favorite stand was just outside the Orange Park Home Depot. It's surely not about 'where' they are located!
David, my daughter grows basil on her kitchen window sill year round. I am sure you can do so there!
|
|
|
|
Post by Kim on Apr 24, 2006 15:56:25 GMT -5
Thankfully I live in one of the places in Canada where it's not common, phew!!! We usually only get up to maybe 30 on the hottest days of the years and that's bad enough!
It's 19 here today and I'm LOVING it. We went to the park and had a picnic with a friend and her little girl.
|
|
|
|
Post by me on Apr 24, 2006 22:29:10 GMT -5
yeah, we've still got one basil plant left over from last year that wintered in the kitchen window sill. but, on plant just doesn't produce enough. 3 or 4 is more like it. David, my daughter grows basil on her kitchen window sill year round. I am sure you can do so there! |
|
|
|
Post by me on Apr 24, 2006 23:49:35 GMT -5
fuel oil [had to look up "Bunker C"] is still used in very limited quantities for power production in Texas. the NIMBYs have made it neigh impossible to build enough new power plants in America. [not that i blame folks for now wanting a power plant too close] that CANDU system looks good! i wonder why it hasn't been more popular. how does it compare with other designs on efficiency? nuclear is technically "thermal" generation. It varies from the other methods in terms of the manner in which the steam is produced. Rather than burning fossil fuels (natural gas, or in the "old days" when I started out, Bunker C), it uses a fission reaction. |
|
|
|
Post by Eagle on Apr 26, 2006 3:09:18 GMT -5
David, I don't know a lot about the CANDU system, but believe it is fairly popular as there are installations in various places around the world including India, Romania, etc. I think Romania is in the process of building a number of new CANDU installations at the present time. AECL is reportedly designing an "advanced" version of this which varies slightly from the original concept.
From the limited information I have, the CANDU system is one of the safest nuclear reactor systems in the world. Due to the use of "heavy water" (D2O) as the moderating medium, only "raw" uranium is required, rather than enriched uranium. This is cheaper as the enrichment process costs a bit. It is also capable of "burning" nuclear materials which could be used in weapons production, rendering them useless (albeit still radioactive). The CANDU system also features two fully automatic safety mechanisms, one which automatically inserts control rods and the other which injects a "poison" into the control medium, which makes it impossible for a Chernobyl or Three Mile Island accident to occur. It can also be refuelled while the reactor is operating!
Can't remember if this came up in the previous posts (it's late and I've been sampling some Orvieto Classico) but letters CANDU come from "Canadian deuterium uranium reactor". The deuterium replaces hydrogen in the water equation, making it "heavy water".
Cheers!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by me on Apr 26, 2006 12:48:43 GMT -5
yes, i read that, too. the fact that it uses natural, unenriched, uranium, 99%+ U238, would seem to make this CANDU reactor a nonproliferator's dream! it's the enrichment that causes the West to worry with Iran & the like. heavy water (D²O) could be obtained from many places, not just Canada or US. Iran could buy it from it's neighbor, India, even. <India also has a duterium oxide (D²O) plant, i've read> but, as i put it before, i suspect there's some reason why CANDU is less popular than other reactors. otherwise, why would so many countries be willing to invest in expensive enrichment facilities? this is especially true for those countries which are so adamantly anti-nuclear weapons.
- d
Due to the use of "heavy water" (D2O) as the moderating medium, only "raw" uranium is required, rather than enriched uranium. This is cheaper as the enrichment process costs a bit. It is also capable of "burning" nuclear materials which could be used in weapons production, rendering them useless (albeit still radioactive). |
|
|
|
Post by Eagle on Apr 26, 2006 13:44:40 GMT -5
David, I'm still not sure that CANDU is "less popular" than other types of Reactors. I saw a chart that listed the types of Reactors in use in various countries and CANDU seemed to be fairly well represented (including some new installations now being built).
Most likely there are a variety of factors dictating the use of one technology over another in each country or region, with (I suspect) money being at the top of the list. Those countries that have developed nuclear technology (as AECL has with CANDU) want to be able to sell the concept to others. I'm sure there are philosophical and political concerns driving the decisions also. This concept is probably best illustrated by the fact the Ontario has "nukes" while B.C. doesn't! There's a strong environmental presence here, and I doubt that most of our citizens would allow the Politicians to establish nuclear power here! Of course we have more mountainous terrain than Ontario, so have lots of Hydro capability and don't need nuclear (at least at the present time). Probably none of the "average people on the street" will really know the reasons, as their main concern will be having electricity to operate the lights or the TV; they won't care which method is used to produce it.
Regardless of your statement that you're "just a liberal arts grad", you've posted some excellent comments! I don't profess to understand nuclear technology either, but just have a general overview. I'm more familiar with hydro and "conventional" thermal generation.
One final point to make... Regardless of how power is produced in each area, I think ALL of us are going to be paying more for this in future as it's become a commodity like natural gas.
Cheers!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by Eagle on May 17, 2006 14:26:49 GMT -5
A further update on my comments about the weather (more specifically the temperatures) in the sunny Okanagan.According to the radio, yesterday we broke temperature records going back about 100 years in the north Okanagan. I believe the "official" temp's were about 31C, however I suspect it was much warmer as the monitoring station is located in a "cool" part of town. The digital Thermometer on my balcony is reading 36C at the moment (probably a bit higher than actual as it's on the side that gets the morning sun). Hard to believe it's still May!!! I shudder to think what July & August will be like. Might be time to start thinking about an air conditioner, especially as some of the stores have "sales" going on right now. If anyone is interested in looking at the temp's or weather in this area, check www.chbc.com for current details. The Bridge Cam is sometimes interesting to check out. Cheers!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by WillTravel on May 17, 2006 15:00:58 GMT -5
Eagle, it got to 28C (82F) in Vancouver (at least at the airport), and I suspect it was warmer elsewhere as well. It felt way too hot to me. This was a record also - the highest previously for this date was 70 (21 C) in 1997.
|
|
commie
Senior Travel Member
(",)
Posts: 145
|
Post by commie on May 17, 2006 16:26:05 GMT -5
Eagle, it got to 28C (82F) in Vancouver (at least at the airport), and I suspect it was warmer elsewhere as well. It felt way too hot to me. This was a record also - the highest previously for this date was 70 (21 C) in 1997. i had to work for 2 months in alice springs at this camper van hire company (during the "cold" season): it was about 10 deg in the morning and more then 30 in the afternoon, not a single cloud to see all the day. was not pleasant to work in a camper van after someone parked this sweat-box in the sun for half the day. and why put they all the sheets, towels and blankets in a DRYER in the middle of the dessert after they came out of the washing maschine...? |
|
|
|
Post by jennifer on May 18, 2006 5:05:55 GMT -5
Man, why is it i move to sunny Freiburg and YOU get all the sun?
|
|
|
|
Post by me on May 24, 2006 8:19:09 GMT -5
Jen, speaking of Freiburg, what's new there? tried to check your blog, but www.julyblossum.com is out of order and i can't remember the old URL for your blog. - d Man, why is it i move to sunny Freiburg and YOU get all the sun? |
|
|
|
Post by jennifer on May 26, 2006 5:34:03 GMT -5
heheh its julyBLOSSOM not ssum hheheh maybe that will help david :=
|
|
|
|
Post by me on May 26, 2006 9:40:05 GMT -5
D'oh!!  heheh its julyBLOSSOM not ssum hheheh maybe that will help david := |
|
|
|
Post by me on Jun 1, 2006 12:24:04 GMT -5
this is the thread where CANDU reactors came up before. just saw an interesting bit about this reactor type at www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19270501-30417,00.html the article in The Australian is titled "Gorton's grand plan to produce an N-bomb." the last two paragraphs follow: Baxter pushed for the development of a 500MW Canadian "Candu" reactor, a system that had as one of its production side effects the creation of a significant amount of plutonium, which could be used in a nuclear bomb. But Baxter was outnumbered within the commission by others who had safety concerns about Candu. Gorton's successor as prime minister, McMahon, was concerned about his and killed off the reactor after he took control of the government in 1971. |
|
