Didcot powerstation

Perhaps I should ask my chum who lives within sight of the place?


Thankfully, there were no casualties.


What rather staggers me is that the lifespan of the place was only about 40 years, which begs a couple of questions:


(1) What was the intended lifespan in the original business case?


(2) How much energy has been consumed in both building and demolishing the place?

I went on a visit to the station in around 1985 it was very impressive seeing those huge alternators and cabling in the switch yard that was more like plumbing than electrics  shame it's all gone now

Hi Roy it's a shame these old power stations are going I'm sure its a decision that will come back to bite the government on the bum. I was never fortunate enough to work in a station like that or even to work for a DNO but I have been lucky enough to visit both Didcot station and also to have a look round Portsmouth just after it had closed thinking back it's amazing the difference between the 2 stations. Finally I saw the video of the demolition on TV again and it looks like the flashover was on some 33/66 Kv lines so not directly a grid fault even so I hate to think what the fault MVA would of been

It may be only related to the demolition stirring up a  cloud of dust around or settling on the insulators.

As a side note special dust bombs are made for attacking and disabling open air substations - like rain drops in a thunderstorm, the presence of mixed particulates ,even if individually not very conductive, turns the originally uniform insulation into a series of unequal values capacitors in series, which then break down one by one, until with a sizzle and a pop, the last link is complete. I understand the bombs contain a mixture of graphite powder and sand, and to restart can take days

Try a google for Graphite or Blackout Bombs


Basically spools of graphite filament that gets shredded when the embedded charge goes bang, to create a conductive cloud


Very effective, but relatively easy to get the electrical infrastructure working again.


I've seen the effects of one on power transmission substations in the former Yugoslavia - pretty impressive - and noting the damage comes from the energy in the system, rather than the munition - but relatively easy to repair.


Of course, if you want to put the lights out and keep them out, then conventional munitions are just the recipe for usually unprotected facilities.


Looking at the Didcot video, I did wonder if there was also an element of ground shock involved, coupled with a potentially conductive cloud - most distribution assets tend not to be seismically qualified.


Regards


OMS

Early on the day, BBC News on their website had a fairly good shot of the burning pole and associated gear. They pulled it not long afterwards, but not before I had........ captured it shall we say.


It looked like a 33 kV line to me, based on the insulators.




Clive

Brown and Mason may be in a little spot of bother. The 33KV line was outside the demolition safety perimeter.

However, Magic Grandad is a complete imbecile and has not the faintest perception of what re opening a UK coal industry would require - plus it appears he has no concept of the falling demand for coal, worldwide


Whilst it may strike a chord with Corbyn, McDonald et al to have a return to the great Marxist proletariat heroically struggling to hew coal in State owned collieries for the benefit of the many (and a stack of block votes for the Politburo), it won't go down well with the yak milk latte drinkers idling about in the dachas of Islington, trust me.


OMS