Solar for Chernobyl
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Lake Girl
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Interesting project with the transmission lines already in place. Didn't realize they still had thousands of workers at the site...
"Up to 3800 people still work at the Chernobyl plant, not doing very much."
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3020853/...e-who-still-live-near-chernobyl-and-fukushima
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3020853/...e-who-still-live-near-chernobyl-and-fukushima
There's lots of workers there because there's a huge project going on at Chernobyl at the moment to build an enclosure over the entire plant. It will keep any radioactive material from spreading if the plant collapses due to its structural damage. Such an event would be nowhere near as bad as the original accident, but still a concern.
Once the enclosure is in place, they'll start carefully dismantling the plant and disposing of the mess.
The other three nuclear plants at the site continued to operate after the accident, with the last one shutting down in 2000. The decommissioning work on those also has several more years to go, and takes a sizable crew of workers.
I'd be surprised if Ukraine installs solar at the site any time soon. Sure, there's plenty of land, but we haven't reached a point where available space is typically a problem for solar. Ukraine is not well off economically, and it got a lot worse recently due to the revolution. They have very little to spend on solar power, and are a very poor location for solar to pay for itself, like most of the rest of northern Europe:
http://www.greenrhinoenergy.com/solar/radiation/images/World Insolation Global.jpg
Then again, I would bet with the games Russia has been playing with their economy and gas supplies lately, their cost of energy has been skyrocketing. The fact that it's a poor location for solar might not really matter.
Once the enclosure is in place, they'll start carefully dismantling the plant and disposing of the mess.
The other three nuclear plants at the site continued to operate after the accident, with the last one shutting down in 2000. The decommissioning work on those also has several more years to go, and takes a sizable crew of workers.
I'd be surprised if Ukraine installs solar at the site any time soon. Sure, there's plenty of land, but we haven't reached a point where available space is typically a problem for solar. Ukraine is not well off economically, and it got a lot worse recently due to the revolution. They have very little to spend on solar power, and are a very poor location for solar to pay for itself, like most of the rest of northern Europe:
http://www.greenrhinoenergy.com/solar/radiation/images/World Insolation Global.jpg
Then again, I would bet with the games Russia has been playing with their economy and gas supplies lately, their cost of energy has been skyrocketing. The fact that it's a poor location for solar might not really matter.
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