Saturday, December 31, 2005
SCOTSMAN NUCLEAR LETTER
This was published by the Scotsman on the 22nd Dec but for some reason I missed it, fortunately Bill Robertson put a reply in today but he is still wrong:
I regret that Bill Robertson (Letters, 16 December) has again chosen to criticise those who say 55 per cent of our electricity comes from nuclear, claiming instead that it is only 37 per cent. He is confusing total theoretical maximum capacity with the amount of electricity actually produced.
Capacity is what could be produced if every generator were working at full stretch. This is not how the real world works. Nuclear normally produces at full power but others can't - windmills work at just 28 per cent capacity because the wind doesn't blow constantly at the appropriate 22mph. Thus its capacity figures are four times real production.
Theoretical capacity will not keep us warm.
I regret that Bill Robertson (Letters, 16 December) has again chosen to criticise those who say 55 per cent of our electricity comes from nuclear, claiming instead that it is only 37 per cent. He is confusing total theoretical maximum capacity with the amount of electricity actually produced.
Capacity is what could be produced if every generator were working at full stretch. This is not how the real world works. Nuclear normally produces at full power but others can't - windmills work at just 28 per cent capacity because the wind doesn't blow constantly at the appropriate 22mph. Thus its capacity figures are four times real production.
Theoretical capacity will not keep us warm.
