Unpleasant firsts

[tlbuser]

Shouldn't they FORCE the construction of new nuclear power plants for cheap clean electricity so we don't have to burn oil for heat?

jb

Can't find the right link so.....

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Westinghouse Electric Co. on Tuesday landed the first contract for a new nuclear power plant in the United States in 30 years.

The Monroeville company agreed to supply Georgia Power with two AP1000 nuclear power plants for a site near Waynesboro, Ga. Also signing the engineering, procurement and construction contract was The Shaw Group, which owns 20 percent of Westinghouse.

"Today, the long-awaited nuclear renaissance in the United States has dawned," said Westinghouse chief executive Steve Tritch in a memo announcing the contract to employees.

Similar deals are likely to follow. American electric utilities have committed to acquiring at least 14 AP1000 reactor units from Westinghouse, according to plans filed with the U.S. Nuclear Power Commission.

"Agreements like this one announced today with Georgia Power will also ensure that the United States will have the power it will need to support long-term economic growth," Tritch said.

The two AP1000 units are expected to be placed in service in 2016 and 2017, pending final certification by the Georgia Public Service Commission, said The Shaw Group.

The AP1000 is a pressurized water reactor with a more streamlined and efficient design than previous power plants and more economical to operate, Westinghouse said. One unit can produce enough electricity for more than 800,000 homes.

The Shaw Group, of Baton Rouge, La., will construct the power plant at the Alvin W. Vogtle site in northeast Georgia, south of Augusta. Westinghouse will provide the plant design, components and nuclear fuel.

The contract won't add more jobs at Westinghouse, but it will help perpetuate the company's pace of hiring, said spokesman Vaughn Gilbert.
Westinghouse hired about 1,300 workers last year and will continue to add "several hundred more" a year for several more years, he said.

Westinghouse expects to create 1,000 to 2,000 jobs by 2016. The company employs more than 10,000 worldwide, including 4,000 in the region. To house the growth, Westinghouse plans to move its campus from Monroeville to a larger facility in Cranberry early next year.

Much of the corporation's newfound growth has been driven by China.
Westinghouse signed a $5.3 billion contract in July to build four nuclear reactors for that nation to supply its burgeoning power needs.

"We're actually ahead of schedule there," Gilbert said. "We started clearing the ground a month ago, and engineering is under way. We'll officially begin construction in 2009."

Last week, South Carolina Electric & Gas agreed to have Westinghouse and The Shaw Group purchase materials for two Westinghouse reactors that the utility would use in a power plant that could be placed into service in 2016.

 

[john_bud]

That actually sounds good to me. I'd rather see a hundred nuke plants churning out power than 100 coal fired plants.

After all, over its life time each coal fired plant will put into the environment more radiation than the combined total from all of the nuke plants. Background radiation is pervasive in stuff dug out of the ground...

Now about those windmills...

And what about the prominent politician that yesterday said we won't be able to "drill our way out of this crisis" and proposed more taxes. Like we can tax our way out of high prices???

I guess when politicians are asked if they want "a free bottle in front of me or a pre-frontal lobotomy", we know which they choose. Or is it a job requirement?

 

[AKfish]

jb -- got a chuckle out of that! Thanks.

Filled up yesterday and it's $5.05/gal for diesel up here, now. There's a refinery 50 miles from my house, too.

That's the global marketplace...

We all complain at times; just need to spin off some of the accumulated frustration!

But, it's also past time to get movin' forward with long-range solutions to our energy problems.

Nuclear, solar, wind, bio-fuels, tar sands and coal. We will need to develop and refine the technology for ALL of those sources of energy.

The sooner the better --- for us and the rest of the world.

AKfish

 

[EddieWalker]

Now about those windmills...

I'm from the SF Bay area where there was a massive push for wind power. That Altamont Pass has just about every type of windmill known to exist and there are tens of thousands of them in that area. It was a big project with allot of tax dollars used to built them.

A very good friend of mine owns a crain repair business. He now owns 20 crains of his own, but then, he just repaired them. He had the contract for the boom trucks that maintained some of the windmills. It turns out that it cost more money to keep them working then the generate in electricity. Twenty years of this and most of them are not even working. As long as the government is spending money on building windmills, people will build them.

But in keeping them working there is a problem.

Even when they are working properly, they only work at ideal wind speads. Too much wind or not enough and they are either turned off or free wheeling.

Factor in the cost of building the windmill and installing it, the lease on the land, and maintenance and they are big time money pits.

Eddie

 

[AKfish]

Yep... I don't doubt that there were design problems with many of the early designs (and likely some of the more current ones) but it's alot like my ol' man used to say "you ain't never gonna ride that horse unless you git back on 'em"!

I'd like to have a dime for every dry hole that's ever been drilled or a nickel for every light bulb that Edison burned up tryin' to get one that worked...

Try, try, try... and git up and try some more! Somethin's good gonna happen sooner or later!

AKfish

 

[CurlyDave]

When I consider that the Federal tax on a gallon of gas is three to four times the profit the oil company makes on that gallon, I know who is making the excess profit here. At least the oil company does work and risks their capital for the oil they sell. The government just sits back and takes the money.

Then there is state tax on top of the Federal. I think every state takes more tax per gallon than the oil companies make profits.

Now, let me tell you guys a secret that no politician will ever admit. If you talk to an economist, he will tell you that there is no such thing as "corporate taxes". Oh, the government can make corporations pay takes, but they pass them along in the prices of the products they sell.

As far as "windfall taxes" go, anyone who is old enough to remember the 70s ought to know that oil went up dramatically then too, and there were windfall profits taxes. Of course, they just got passed along to the consumer, and they raised the price of gas even more. They didn't work and they were repealed. We have been there and done that -- it didn't work.

I really think the only way to get oil prices under control is to allow drilling in the US, both onshore and offshore, and to look at other oil sources: shale, biomass, coal conversion. Right now the government is blocking all of these, and then trying to blame other people for the prices we pay.

 

[john_bud]

Eddie,

You're right about the Cali wind. But the new ones are actually making $$. The gen heads are better, they can take more wind and not be harmed and they can spin with less wind. Silly little computers controlling them for operational optimization. Farmers here in the heartland are putting up windmills with pooled money in co-ops and are in the black. So, the high price of electric is benefiting some. I guess they best get ready for the windfall windmill tax?

Oh, I did hear some rumblings that states are starting to freak out as we are driving less and when we drive it is in a micro-speck so fuel consumption is down. (duh!) and tax revenues are down - so they are looking to RAISE TAXES at the pumps to make up the shortfalls.

Grrrr

Need I say more?

jb

 

[schmism]

i couldn't agree more with you. well said. maybe you should run as an independant? you'd have my vote

so to what end?

should any "private" utility be able to raise there rates just to keep making more profit? Why 7cent/KwHr... why not 10 or 15 or 30... oh sorry bout that, your new bill is a $1 per KwHr. you really have a choice on who you buy your power from? (I dont)

Should any drug company be able to charge whatever they want for there drug? sorry your heart meds are now $100/month..oh wait, $200...mmmmm make it an even $400 a month.
Shure go ahead and not take them, "hear lies bob, died of a heart attack cause he couldnt afford his heart meads"

not like people are dieing over the price of gas yet... (oh wait i guess we are, its just "over there")

 

[john_bud]

so to what end?

should any "private" utility be able to raise there rates just to keep making more profit? Why 7cent/KwHr... why not 10 or 15 or 30... oh sorry bout that, your new bill is a $1 per KwHr. you really have a choice on who you buy your power from? (I dont)

Should any drug company be able to charge whatever they want for there drug? sorry your heart meds are now $100/month..oh wait, $200...mmmmm make it an even $400 a month.
Shure go ahead and not take them, "hear lies bob, died of a heart attack cause he couldnt afford his heart meads"

not like people are dieing over the price of gas yet... (oh wait i guess we are, its just "over there")

Utilities are regulated as they are typically government granted monopolies in a geographic area. Often subsidized by government (dam's are powered by taxpayer owned water, etc).

I guess you feel that private industries in a country that was build on a foundation of free enterprise and has risen to be the greatest country to ever grace God's green earth should convert to a failed system like Communism? Dictatorship? Kingdom? Scratch that last one, our founding fathers FLED that system.

Ever see how much a hammer costs the government in a contract that specifies a set % profit? I really don't want to pay 100$ a gallon for gas....

jb