The Forest of Dean to Ironbridge - Seven Centuries' Use of Coal

Day 9: St. Briavel's Castle to Cynwyd

by Joshua Taron

The group met this morning in a conference room of St. Braviel’s Castle to discuss group interactions and our thoughts on the trip thus far and into the future.

We drove on to Ironbridge, named appropriately after Thomas Pritchard's and Abraham Darby's "iron bridge," the first in the world. After stopping to oohh and aahh at a few ducks, one of which slept for quite some time while standing on one leg, the group dispersed through the old town. Ironbridge, according to most scholars, is the birthplace of the industrial revolution due to the first use of iron on such a scale. The bridge was built in 1779, ten years prior to the French Revolution.

Most of us had a pasty, pastry bread filled with a mixture similar to beef stew, for lunch and then, to avoid the rain, Semih, Eric, and I sat in a little café for tea and fruitcake. Semih floated the bill.

The four massive cooling towers of Ironbridge Power Station could be seen from town where they rested in Severn Gorge. The station outputs 1000 MW, primarily from coal combustion. To meet U.K. law twenty-five percent of combusted fuel must be renewable; this plant uses sawdust. Most of the coal arrives via rail; usually ten trains per day.

This is one of fourteen coal-fired power plants remaining in the U.K., the removal of these plants began with Margaret Thatcher, who loved nuclear power. The U.K. is experiencing similar problems to the U.S. with lack of investment into power lines. Thus, the country’s power lines are reaching maximum capacity.

The boilers have a capacity of 35-38 tons of coal per hour and use hydrogen for cooling, to reduce friction. Steam leaves the boilers at 568° C and the 22,000 Volts produced are transformed into 400,000 Volts. Water, used for steam production, is used at a rate of 19 million gallons per hour. It is extracted and returns, after passing through the cooling towers, into the river.

NOx and SOx regulations are imposed and the plant was forced to switch to low NOx burners in 2000. The low NOx burners do create some problems. The ash product was previously sold for industrial purposes, but now the product is unusable, thus the combusted material is piling up. The entering coal must contain some sulfur to allow effective removal of particulate matter in the electrostatic precipitators that are used.

The U.K. was nationalized after the war in 1947. In 1990, the country was denationalized, as is now the world trend, and as a condition of denationalization this electric company, and all others, must sale a chunk of their corporation every so often to avoid monopoly. Electricity is produced at a cost of 6 pence per unit of production and sold to the grid at 10 p/unit. The consumer then pays three times this amount for electricity.

The convoy then set out for a considerable drive for Cynwyd, where we will stay tonight and tomorrow. It's comforting to know we will be in the same place for two nights.

Joshua Taron is a Senior in Environmental Systems Engineering.

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Last updated: Wednesday December 03, 2003