The Great Canadian Energy/Power Thread

[Kitchissippi]

I cheering for nuclear fusion technology. If successful it could usher in a new Golden Age.

[MolsonExport]

While I agree that Ontario is largely geologically stable, but even geologically stable parts of the country will, over the very long run (100s or 1000s of years) have some tectonic activity or be affected by tectonic activity occurring elsewhere.



For example, the St. Lawrence valley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_...ce_rift_system

[ericmacm]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

While I agree that Ontario is largely geologically stable, but even geologically stable parts of the country will, over the very long run (100s or 1000s of years) have some tectonic activity or be affected by tectonic activity occurring elsewhere.



For example, the St. Lawrence valley
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_...ce_rift_system

It's important to realize that not all tectonic events are considered severe earthquakes. In terms of earthquake intensity, anything below a Magnitude 6 is generally considered to be too weak. Structures in a nation with a good building code (such as ours) would absolutely be built well enough to withstand an earthquake anywhere in the country, especially nuclear plants. Ontario as a whole rarely gets a significant earthquake, with the largest ever being in the St. Lawrence Valley, a M5.8 in 1732.

Also, in a practical sense, examining risk on those timescales are too large for structures that only have a design life of 30-40 years or so. It is impossible to predict the state of anything even 100 years out, let alone 1000 years. If you were worried about earthquakes in the St. Lawrence Valley 500 years from now, why would you build anything in the region at all? Generally speaking, in an engineering sense, a risk level of less than 1-in-1000000 is deemed as acceptable. A good way to determine the risk of something failing is the use of fault-tree analysis. A failure rarely occurs on its own, and is often a result of multiple smaller failures compounding. By mapping out what exactly could cause a nuclear reactor to fail, in addition to the associated odds of each small event occurring, you can obtain the overall risk of a reactor failure and subsequent meltdown, which will most likely be incredibly low odds.

Here's an example of a fault-tree analysis for the failure of a BWR Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS):

[jamincan]

It is possible for larger earthquakes to happen away from crust boundaries. The most notable being New Madrid in the early 1800s which is estimated was over magnitude 8. Intraplate earthquakes like that are relatively rare, but they are also less studied and therefore harder to assess when it comes to risk.

[J.OT13]

Ottawa-Gatineau has been experiencing 100 year floods again, for the third time in 6 years.

Here's Hydro Ottawa's Chaudière Dam and the Chaudière Bridge (series of bridges built between 1828 and 1919).

• Video Link

[harls]

^ It's pretty crazy this spring, but 2019 was worse.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Ottawa-Gatineau has been experiencing 100 year floods again, for the third time in 6 years.

Here's Hydro Ottawa's Chaudière Dam and the Chaudière Bridge (series of bridges built between 1828 and 1919).

The problem people are not grasping with a warming climate is that a warmer climate means a wetter climate. That translates to more snow in the winter months. That is what we had this winter.

[1overcosc]

Floods on the Ottawa River were regularly much worse than anything recorded in the modern era back in the old days before the hydro dams and flood control structures were built.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Floods on the Ottawa River were regularly much worse than anything recorded in the modern era back in the old days before the hydro dams and flood control structures were built.

That is why along the river, like the Pembroke area and around Ottawa you have good farmland. The soil was deposited there