Contents

 Electricity Technologies 

Nuclear Fission

• Development History of Nuclear Power
• Three Infamous Nuclear Accidents
• Nuclear Waste Treatment
• Concerns of Nuclear Proliferation
• Costs of Nuclear Power
• Low Level Radioactivity

Nuclear Fusion  

• Will Fusion Power ever work?
• Immense Challenges for Nuclear Fusion Reactors
• Essentials of Nuclear Physics
• Essentials of Plasma Physics 
• Nuclear Fusion and Nuclear Fission
• Reactor costs, fusion compared to fission
• Radioactive Waste 
• Materials and Radiation Damage 
• Safety of fusion compared to fission
• Lack of tritium fuel supplies for fusion reactors
• Tokamak Fusion Reactors
• Breeder Blanket
• Divertor and Limiter
• Superconducting magnets 
• Maintenance, Breakdowns and Availability
• Pharaonic Size and Byzantine Complexity 
• Timescales advertised for Fusion Power Plant
• Show-Stoppers for Mainstream Approach
• Alternative Approaches
• Why bother with Fusion rather than Fission?
• Commercial fusion will never happen

Electricity Generation 

The Trouble with Renewable Energy

• Seasonal Variations of Consumption and Generation 
• Temperature Variations of Electricity Demand and Consumption
• Seasonal Variations of Solar Generation
• Wind Energy is low on the Coldest Winter Days

Wind Intermittency

• Wind Intermittency Problem : issue and examples.
• Wind Speed and Wind Turbines: why wind power goes to zero
• Wind around North Sea: why fluctuations in Europe correlated
• Amplitude of Wind Fluctuations: magnitude of the problem.
• Compensation of Wind Fluctuations: with fossil and imports
• Long Distance Correlation in Wind Power: between countries

Solar Mismatch with Demand 

• Solar Mismatch with Demand: examples of output throughout day
• Optimal PV Panel Orientation: example of energy output vs. orientation.
• Solar Installed Capacity in Europe: maps of solar capacity and isolation

Demand Variations

• Importance of Demand Variations
• Amplitude of Demand Variations

Reducing CO2 Emissions

• Curtailment of Variable Renewable Energy Generation
• Official UK Plans towards Net Zero Carbon Emissions 
• Denmark as Example of Large Wind Capacity 

Country Data

• Statistics on European Countries Considered
• Data for: Germany ; United Kingdom ; France ;  Italy ; .......... Estonia

Evolution of Generation Mix

• Changes in Mix of Generation Technologies 
• France evolution of Nuclear Generation

Country Comparisons

• CO2 Emissions in European Countries
• Countries with Dominant Fraction of Hydro+Nuclear Generation
• Countries with Dominate Fraction of Fossil Fuel Generation
• Countries with Large Fraction of Wind+Solar Generation

Imports/Exports 

• Cross-Border Flows
• Magnitude of Imports and Exports