Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants

Re:Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants by xg15 on Monday October 17, 2022 @03:58PM (#33238757)

> Germany's main source of heating is gas and yes, gas is used to generate electricity, so nuclear can reduce gas consumption. However, only about 10% of gas is used for electricity and Germany has enough electricity. In a worst-case scenario, those nuclear power plants can help stabilize the grid, but they are not needed in general.

A number of cities also use district heating, where the heat is taken directly from the cooling circuits of nearby power stations. No idea what percentage of total heating this is and if nuclear plants are involved here, but this would be another way how those plants could (theoretically) contribute to heating.

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Re:Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants by V__ on Monday October 17, 2022 @04:01PM (#33238796)

Good point, and this is a thing in Switzerland, but not in Germany. Direct heating from nuclear plants, that is.

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Re:Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants by YetAnotherNick on Monday October 17, 2022 @04:09PM (#33238899)

I wouldn't like nuclear water heating my house.

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Re:Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants by xg15 on Monday October 17, 2022 @04:18PM (#33239004)

I mean...

I usually belong to the anti-nuclear crowd, but even I don't think that would be an issue.

From what I know, one of the iron rules of nuclear plant design is that the contaminated stuff never leaves the reactor building. Even the steam circuit that powers the generator is separated from the (contaminated) primary circuit and receives energy through a heat exchanger [1].

The lines for district heating would probably be separated from the primary circuits by several of those.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_exchanger

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Re:Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants by oynqr on Monday October 17, 2022 @04:17PM (#33238995)

I bet you don't travel by plane, either.

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Re:Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants by ChuckNorris89 on Monday October 17, 2022 @05:23PM (#33239682)

It's a separate circuit. That water never touches the reactor core.

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Re:Germany extends lifetime of all 3 remaining nuclear plants by llampx on Tuesday October 18, 2022 @04:58AM (#33244690)

This is the level of education the average German has.

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