Reply To: Focus fusion and transportation

[Rematog]

One simple reason for not stacking units. Real estate, esp in the country, is cheaper then structural steel. Think about the structural steel need for a 20 story (10 module) high power stack. Thats about the height of our boilers. They sit on an 11′ (yes, feet, that’s not a typo) thick concrete slab and the main columns have flanges about 2″ thick, somewhere around 200 lb per foot WF beams.

Land is cheaper. Plus, you’d need cranes, elevators…all those things equal dollar signs.

Two reasons boilers go up. Hot gases rise and molten slag falls.

Plus, until about 1960, all boilers were natural circulation. It’s only been since the 90’s that supercritical once thru boilers became common. And for natural circulation (of the water in the boiler tubes) the tubes must go up and down with the steam drum on the top of the boiler.

Gravity, you’ve got to love it, it never fails and costs nothing.

Rematog