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Re: [Phys-l] an all-too-predictable blackout



One more thing:

According to
http://www.sce.com/PowerandEnvironment/PowerGeneration/SanOnofreNuclearGeneratingStation/default.htm?goto=songs

The twin reactor units at ... San Onofre ... are Southern
California’s largest and most reliable sources of electricity.

Most reliable? Really?

It is entirely predictable that during a cascading blackout, all nuclear
power plants in the area will shut down ... and they will be more-or-less
the last to come back up.

As of now, the San Onofre reactors are still shut down:
http://www.songscommunity.com/index.html?from=SONGS

I have long argued that every power plant should have black-start capability.
The lack of such capability makes it harder to recover from a blackout.

In this regard, nuclear power plants are a big step in the wrong direction.
Not only do they require external grid power for startup, they require nice
stable external grid conditions while running. In a system containing
/only/ nuclear power plants, a blackout would result in deadlock; no
recovery would be possible.