Technical Details Appendix

 Instead of adding too many technical details within the story, I decided to add this appendix.

Heat

Heat and food are two essentials to surviving Antarctic winters. Even after substantial Global Warming, Antarctic winters are still bitterly cold with months without a hint of daylight, especially south of the Palmer Peninsula in places like Nye Copenhagen.

Charcoal - Charcoal is the largest single source of winter heat today. The majority comes from the forests of lightly inhabited Eastern Antarctica, close to the single rail line (and spurs) crossing that side of the continent. Charcoal factories line the route. They process the previous years felled trees and use the wood gas given off from charcoal making to run generators. These generators operate the camp and feed into the electrical supply for the rail line.  The charcoal factories often use their waste heat and wood gas to make bricks with - if a suitable clay supply is nearby.

In the cities, charcoal is used in Central Heat & Power plants. Technology comparable to 1940s & 1950s coal fired generation plants burns the charcoal to create steam - which drives steam turbines and electrical generators. The "waste" heat is captured as hot water and is circulated around the district in insulated pipes for heating and domestic hot water.

Small towns, camps and individual homes burn charcoal directly in energy efficient stoves for heating and cooking during the winter.

A few towns store cured wood and create their own charcoal during the winter, using both the heat from making charcoal, the wood gas produced, as well as the charcoal itself.

Charcoal is expensive and is only used when other heat sources are unavailable.

Wood - Dried wood is also burnt directly in both CHP plants and in stoves and furnaces. However, wood is bulkier and more difficult to transport, handle and store out of the weather. (Few want to haul in ice coated wood when it is -40 C with a strong wind).  Most wood is used in the early winter, often before Last Light.

Hydroelectric - Hydroelectric generation peaks in the early to mid-summer snow melt peak. More water flows at peak melt than there are generators for. Many industrial electrical uses, such as electric arc steel furnaces, electrolytic copper refining to high purity and cement making, are delayed till water is flowing freely. Excess summer electricity is used to warm the earth under homes.

Antarctica has no truly high dams to store large amounts of water through the winter. But they do have some dams as high as 27 meters that can store some water throughout the winter. This water is husbanded for when the wind is not blowing and CHP plants are not producing enough electricity to meet demand.

In a few cases, low temperature heat pumps extract heat from underground or from the water below the floating ice. But electricity is the summer source of heat, with minimal use during the winter.

Wind - Antarctica manufactures a standard wind turbine of 225 kW with a choice of 26.5 or 29 m blades, depending on wind strength. A variety of towers are available. Over 2,000 of these wind turbines are installed around Antarctica. The wind is stronger in the winter and the wind can blow strongly for days - or have days of calm.

Slowpoke Reactors are adapted from a Canadian design by the same name. Beryllium and heavy water moderated reactors designed to just produce low grade heat (150 C or so). VERY useful in Antarctica, especially in the early years when there was limited wind, hydro, geothermal and wood power to provide heat.

These reactors are fueled by spent fuel rods left over from the reactors of the 20th and 21st Century - and lots of thorium.  The thorium breeds to U233 (no plutonium) which keeps the reaction going for centuries - and burns up the plutonium in the spent fuel rods.

These reactors are inherently safe and can operate unattended for extended periods. Replacing old fuel rods with fresh thorium ones drops the power at first, but within a year the radiated heat increases.

After the heavy water is drained, or the pressurized water boils, the chain reaction ceases.

All the Slowpoke reactors were but in little more than a century. None have been built in almost two hundred years.

All of the Slowpoke reactors in the North have been taken out of service - the last within living memory. In the South, they are kept operating as long as possible. Almost half of the Slowpoke reactors installed in Antarctica are still producing some heat.

There is strong popular support in Antarctica to reclaim this technology and build new Slowpoke reactors. The North strongly opposes this.

Given the extended time in the reactor, and the number of slow neutrons, often more than half the thorium (or original spent fuel rod uranium) atoms are split into a random assortment of elements.

{link to Wikipedia article for element distribution of fission products}

After waiting at least 110 years for the short and medium half-life radioactive isotopes to radiate away, the fuel rods are dissolved in an acid mix that reacts with everything but gold, the platinum group metals and krypton gas. After sitting for a few weeks, these valuable elements collect on the bottom of the acid solution.

The acid (and boron, to stop chain reactions) mix is drained off and precipitated as a salt and stored in a corner of a salt mine to let more radioactive decay work. Some of this salt mix has been processed again to recover thorium, to isolate the uranium & residual plutonium and collect some of the zirconium (fuel rod casings), rare earth elements, silver, copper, nickel and tin.  The silver, copper, zirconium and tin are been set aside for use in a future century when the mines of today are exhausted. And the twice processed salt can be processed again to extract other elements if needed.

Slowpoke reactors were usually placed in an accessible pit with heavy shielding around. A multi-story ring was built around the reactor, with a central courtyard over the reactor. The roof over the courtyard could be a geodesic dome, to allow light in during the summer, or an upper story would cover the courtyard with LED lighting the common area. The geodesic dome over the courtyard would be covered with insulation - above and below - during the winter.

Five stories above ground and one or two stories below ground were the most common building rings. Many ring buildings were built with only two service elevators, but more elevators were added in later years. All ring buildings were designed to resist very strong earthquakes and some to withstand tsunamis. And they were almost always built is pairs or triplets a few hundred meters apart, with a connecting covered walkway. In an emergency, people could evacuate from one building to another, and it expanded the social contacts during the long winter.

Most ring buildings were either circles, hexagons or octagons, but there were also many ovals and rounded triangles (giving two sides exposure to the sun, with the third side being devoted to lower priority uses, such as storage, mechanical rooms, stores, etc.)

A building surrounding a central heat source, with a minimized exterior surface for the volume inside, made the most efficient use of energy and imported building materials in the first 80 years of Settlement.

Normally, the side facing the courtyard would have balconies and people would often leave the windows and doors facing the courtyard open (the atrium was usually warmer).

The reactors would radiate heat directly through stainless steel rods into the surrounding earth and a heat exchanger would extract hot water from the heavy water in the reactor for domestic use and some warmth against the outer walls.

This design would not keep everyone in the building warm, but it would keep them from freezing during the long Antarctic winter. 5 C (41 F) was considered quite acceptable in an apartment, office or school during the winter.

During the summer, more of the reactor heat would be diverted to warming the earth around it via the stainless steel rods. During the winter, most of the reactor heat was circulated around the building with hot water pipes.

Obviously, prefabricating such structures in the North and shipping them to the South, took significant resources. However, heat is required to survive Antarctica, especially in the colder late 21st and early to mid 22nd centuries. Only a dozen or so such buildings, with Slowpoke reactors, were shipped south each year, along with a few thousand colonists. But over an 80 year period, Antarctica developed it's own largely self sustaining infrastructure and could build it's own housing to add to what the North shipped south.

Once Antarctica could build most of it's own housing, schools, factories - usually two stories plus a basement - a few dozen larger Slowpokes were shipped South to provide district heating. Hot water would be pumped around a district in insulated pipes.

This made room for many of the Danes that had to flee Denmark as the waters rose. Other Danes went to Greonland, Spitsbergen and the Kola Peninsula - or just went to the settled areas of Scandinavia and integrated into their societies.  Danish was the language of Antarctica, Greonland, Spitsbergen and the small island of Jutland.

Of the 872 Slowpoke reactors in Antarctica, only 388 remain operational. All 388 are producing less heat than originally designed for.  One reactor was covered in a volcanic flow and released some radioactivity into the hot lava. There have been a number of tritium leaks over the centuries, but none of significance.

All such reactors are decommissioned in the North. There is a popular desire in Antarctica to build new ones, but the technology has not been approved, nor are the resources readily available, to build new Slowpoke reactors.

The Antarctic Electrical Grid is at 16.7 Hz (1/3rd of 50 Hz, the old EU standard and the standard of the North), with electrified rail lines connecting the various cities and towns of Western Antarctica and the Palmer Peninsula.

16.7 Hz is the 20th and 21st Century Hz of German, Swiss, Austrian, Swedish and Norwegian electrified railways.  With simple electronics, it is easier to drive an electric locomotive with 16.7 Hz than 50 Hz. And lower Hz carries further with less distortion and less loss.

Most electrical loads, the railroads, resistance heating, lighting (mostly LEDs) and large motors run off 16.7 Hz.  Some small hand tools, small motors and equipment from the North runs on 50 Hz. Resistance heat can, or course, take any Hz electricity. Resistance heating absorbs the excess power as and when it develops.

In the few cities of Antarctica, there is a separate 50 Hz grid for these speciality loads. In smaller towns and camps, 16.7 Hz motors drive 50 Hz generators to generate the needed 50 Hz.

The single rail line through the TransAntarctic Mountains to the port of New Davis on the mouth of the Lambert River operates of 12.5 Hz (1/4th of 50 Hz).  The long distances, over 2,500 km, and hundreds of km between hydroelectric power stations required the lowest possible Hz power that traction motors in locomotives could use.

Most hydroelectric power plants generate at close to 10 kV and most transmission is in the 9.5 kV range, so no transformers are required. However, over a century ago, three higher voltage transmission lines were built.

One such transmission line was from Nye Copenhagen north up the coast to mid-day on the Palmer Peninsula. Another went from Nye Copenhagen up the Minnesota fjord into a partial loop around East Antarctica. And the last one was at 12.5 Hz to support the rail line crossing West Antarctica.

The terminus port town of New Davis has it's own unique mixed grid of 12.5 Hz, 16.7 Hz and 50 Hz. Some nearby hydroelectric generators can switch between 12.5 and 16.7 Hz if need be.

First Light, Last Light, First Sun and Last Sun

First Light is when the tallest building in a town gets the first rays of the Spring Sun. First Sun is when the full globe of the Sun can first be seen from the town square.  Last Light and Last Sun are the reverse from the Fall Sun.  These measures vary by location of course, and there a holidays for each.

Directions

"East, West, North and South" do not adapt well to the high latitudes of Antarctica. Instead people use "Poleward, Sunward (meaning the apex of the noon Sun), Leeward and Windward". The last two reflect the prevailing wind direction.  This gives a radial set of directions.

USAS Antarctica, Ascension & Union

These three ships are designed to provide constant communication between the North and South, without requiring large "Grand Convoys" every few years.  Shipping dates still need to be timed to avoid the height of the Northern Atlantic hurricane season.

They do not sail alone, but in pairs or all three together.

Although equipped with sails, they have substantial speed and range on bio-diesel. Two large piston, slow rpm diesel generators produce electricity to drive three electric motor driven screws. Except for crossing the Southern Ocean, the ships usually run with only one generator.

The hulls, decks, masts and framing of this class of ship is made of titanium. Corrosion resistance and strength with light weight make for an ideal hull that should last for well over a century (with interior rebuilds).  The interior is made of marine plywood, wood and some plastics to keep weight at a minimum. 

The hull has a modest tumbledown above the waterline to resist boarding and improve maneuverability. And if the Islamic powers ever develop radar in the next century, tumble down hulls have a reduced radar signature.

The USAS Antarctica and Ascension are nearly identical sister ships. The Union is a copy with every dimension increased by 1/8th - for a 42% increase in tonnage, a 50% increase in passengers, a 55% increase in range and a 45% increase in cargo capacity.

The Antarctica and Ascension hulls are built with mainly 11 mm titanium plate, thicker than necessary for protection from pirate cannon. The Union uses 12 mm thick plate.

This class are the first ships with adequate electrical power, and size, for Alexanderson antennas for long wave broadcasts. They are limited to adapted Morse code but they need not be out of contact for the entire voyage.

They also each have a freezer in the cargo bay for cargo requiring freezing or low controlled temperatures.

Armament
Antarctica - Two 110 mm cannons in a turret just forward of the forward mast,
Two 88 mm cannon in a turret aft of the rear mast. Both are adaptations of WW II Krupp designs
One 57 mm Bofors gun (high rate of fire) in a turret just forward of the main mast

Ascension - Two 110 mm cannons in a turret just forward of the forward mast,
One 110 mm cannon in a turret aft of the rear mast, instead of two 88 mm cannon
One 57 mm Bofors gun (high rate of fire) in a turret just forward of the main mast

Union - Two 110 mm cannons in a turret just forward of the forward mast (sized for expansion to 120 to 125 mm when available)
Two 110 mm cannon in a turret aft of the rear mast (also sized for an future upgrade)
One 57 mm Bofors gun (high rate of fire) in a turret just forward of the main mast
Two 57 mm Bofors guns, mounted as "waist" guns, port & starboard, mounted just below deck level forward of the rear mast

Railways

Vehicles - Most railcars, passenger, freight or mixed, are self propelled 4 axle EMU (electric multiple units). A 45 to 90 kW electric motor drives each axle (in a paired set-up know as PCC truck). The lead EMU requires an operator and controls. In some areas, power comes for an over head wire. In other areas, from a third rail. All EMUs have both a pantograph and a 3rd rail shoe.

EMUs can reliably use track with a 5.5% grade without dropping sand in front of the wheels and 8% with dropping sand.