Tonight Was The First Night Of Open Water Swimming At RWSABC. A Beautiful Evening With Sun, Clear Sky

Dome City Blog 6 - Ring Park

Something I feel strongly about is that it is important to spend time outside and to have public parks that are easily accessible from the Dome City.  Therefore, I would like to see the Dome City surround by a ring of park land 500m wide.  

This Ring Park would provide parkland with an area of 235 hectares (580 acres).  

To put this into context, in London, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens together are 253 hectares (625 acres) while New York's Central park is 341 hectares (843 acres).  Of course, for the residents of the Dome City, would never be more than 500m horizontally from the Ring Park unlike residents of London and New York who could be much further away from these outstanding green spaces.

Some of the features i would hope to see in the Ring Park are sports fields with modest amounts of spectator seating for football, rugby, cricket, and field hockey.  There should also be some outdoor tennis and basketball courts. Pitches and courts for these sports would also be available within the Dome City but with limited head room due to height restrictions of the levels in the Dome City.  These are the sports I would choose but ultimately it would be for the residents to decide.  

I would expect that we would make allotments available for residents who want them to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and other plants.

There should be a wide range of play parks for children of all ages and I would include a skate park within the Ring Park.

I would hope that there would be a lake where water sports such as swimming and kayaking could take place.

Somewhere in the Ring Park we should have a cemetery.  

Aside - I understand that the largest municipal cemetery in the whole of Europe is in Greenock, the town next to where I live.  It is 31 hectares.  If you are ever in Greenock and have a at a few hours visit this cemetery, it is fascinating - End aside 

Within the Ring Park here should be a range of different habitats such as grasslands, forests and marshes.  These habitats should become a haven for wildlife.

Footpaths and cycle ways would exist to encourage walking and cycling.

These are my initial suggestions and I think that the residents of the Dome City should have a say in what they want from the park.

Joe Heffernan - 8 April 2015

As I arrived at the Boat Club for a swim Colin and Gary were just coming back from a paddle to Helensburgh. I went for my swim which was 403m in 12:04. Highish tide going out. Calm. Water temperature 8 degC. A good swim 🏊😊 #openwaterswimming #kayaking #greenock #rwsabc (at The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club)

During today's swim there was a downpour. The raindrops on the water made for a fascinating sight. #RWSABC #inverclyde #greenockesplanade #Greenock #openwaterswimming #downpour (at The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club)

Photos from Lanzarote February 2017 #lanzarote (at Costa Teguise Lanzarote)

We went to the Blue Lagoon today. I do love hot springs.

We saw this in Reykjavik - read the sign and I hope you smile 😊

Really Tiny Reactors

I would be keen to see really tiny reactors becoming ubiquitous.  We need more than the typical 1000 MWe class reactors to help solve the world's energy and climate problems.  The problem with this class of Large Reactor is that they cost Billions and take between 4 and 6 years to build.

What if a reactor were the size of a tea kettle and the whole of the reactor, shielding and power production could fit in something the size of a tall refrigerator?  These reactors could be rolled out much more quickly at  low capital cost and very low fuel costs. 

In my opinion the requirements for such a reactor are:

Inherent and passive safety of operation, 

At least 5 years before reactor needs to be refueled, 

An ability to run unattended,

Production of both electricity and heat as required,

Ability to load follow electricity demand,

Use of either naturally occurring Uranium or Low Enriched Uranium.

I would hope that there would be a range of power outputs from this family of reactors.  I would hope that a reactor as small as 3 kW electric could be produced.  The size of 3 kW was chosen as that seems to be the typical small petrol generator size.  

This size of reactor does exist in the form of research reactors.  According to World Nuclear Association web site on research reactors, reactors with heat outputs as low as 0.1 kW thermal exist.  

An example of the kind of reactor (although not for the production of electricity) is the SLOWPOKE reactor designed by Atomic Energy Canada Limited (AECL).  There have been different variations of this reactor but the standard one has an output of 20 kW thermal.  AECL have done the design for a larger one with an output of between 2 and 10 Mw thermal to be used as a source of district heating.  To me this shows that the class of reactors I am interested in is possible from a technical point of view. Of course, like most things associated with Nuclear Power the technical aspects are only a small part of the ability to introduce the technology.

Now that I am back from China I felt I needed an Open Water Swim. It was a lovely day. Stacey, Colin and I went in. Stacey and for a swim. Stacey and I did 1030m in 34m 22s . Water temperature was 11.3 degC. I was in too long and came out very chilled. #openwaterswimming #greenock #esplanade #rwsabc (at Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club)

Swam with Stacey from Rosneath Slip (1st slip) bang on high tide. There was a south east breeze creating a reasonable swell. Swam to the yellow pole and then back towards the beach. Stacey exited the water at Rosneath Slip (1200m 42m) and I continued to the Boat Club (1675m 53:33) Water Temperature 13.5 degC #esplanade #inverclyde #greenock #rwsabc #openwaterswimming (at Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club)