An Industry In Decline
World Atomic Output Falls by Record in Fukushima’s Aftermath
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-06/world-atomic-power-output-fa...
By Kari Lundgren on July 06, 2012 Bloomberg News
World nuclear power production dropped by a record 4.3 percent last year as the global financial crisis and the Fukushima disaster in Japan prompted plant shutdowns and slowed construction of new sites. Reactors generated 2,518 terawatt-hours of electricity, down from 2,630 terawatt-hours in 2010, according to the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2012 published today. Atomic power accounted for 11 percent of all electricity generation.
Seven reactors began operating in 2011 and 19 were shuttered, the report shows.
At least five nations, including Egypt, Italy and Kuwait, have suspended plans to build their first reactors.
Even countries such as the United Arab Emirates, intent on using nuclear power to meet a third of electricity demand by 2020, can’t get the financing they need. “If banks don’t want to lend the money then where is this supposed to come from?” “The financial situation has dramatically worsened since Fukushima.”
There are 59 nuclear reactors being built globally and at least 18 are experiencing “multiyear” delays, according to today’s report. Nine have been listed by the International Atomic Energy Agency as “under construction” for more than 20 years.
Pot calling kettle black
This "TTFN" poster makes a big issue of the math. However, has anyone seen one shred of anything resembling math from this clown? For all his projections, it is "TTFN" that doesn't know the math. In spite of the last line of the above post; he should not include himself in the set of people that understand the math.
Additionally, one doesn't need the math to understand the implication of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics as described at the Georgia State University link. The GSU web page is correct that the Carnot cycle is the best possible cycle consistent with the laws of Physics. One can't do better. Yet, we have this poster who has been duped by some glossy ad copy from Siemens into thinking that they've somehow beat the 2nd Law.
When the above poster talks about not understanding the math, or not speaking the language; those postings better describe himself than any other person on this forum.
He's been cut to ribbons by Diemos and Rude Dog; and yet still come back to demonstrate his lack of understanding of Physics and Engineering.
Rude Dog
Hello Rude Dog, you ignorant, lying fraud.
It is not possible to 'dumb-down' the subject of thermodynamics, to the math background level attained to, by you and/or Diemos. It simply cannot be done. Your GED, or less, simply does not provide enough basic information to comprehend a derivation of physical reality. It would be like 'teaching' Euclid to a fire ant.
Nor is it possible for you to contribute ANYTHING useful to an engineering discussion of any technical topic.
You stated above, "one doesn't need the math to understand".
We ALL KNOW otherwise. WITH the math, thermodynamics is difficult. Without the math, thermodynamics is impossible.
TTFN
IDIOT PINHEAD taking statements out of context
You don't need to know the math to know what the Georgia State University stated that the Carnot cycle is the best there can be consistent with physical laws.
You don't need math to understand that. There is a BEST thermodynamic cycle identified by Carnot in the early 19th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_L%C3%A9onard_Sadi_Carnot
Of course you don't understand what you are told, when you are incapable of understanding them in context.
Yes you need the math
Rude Dog,
You are still wrong. In science and engineering, WE DO THE MATH.
You would perhaps be more comfortable in the Jesuit Order or some other 'faith-based' enterprise. WE DO THE MATH, conduct the experiment, review the data ...
Your GLARING IGNORANCE shines out with each dumbasarock comment.
You are WRONG in every frame of reference, and in ALL contexts.
WE DO THE MATH
TTFN
What is claimed by Siemens
Diemos,
It is probably best for you non-technical types to avoid detailed descriptions of thermodynamics, and what is possible. It is Siemens advertizing, not me. Argue with them. I am merely repeating their claims. Translation of ‘In Cogeneration Configurations’, means a Cascading Closed Loop Cycle (CCLC), not just using waste heat to warm up the bath water. So let’s just review the claims of Siemens and skip over the part where you tell engineers that we don’t know anything about thermodynamics.
The Gas Turbine primary stage turbine takes the temperatures to the MUCHO HOT range. The H2O steam turbine cycle is the 2ndary recovery. The tertiary level is a closed cycle, typically using a heat exchange liquid/gas such as propane, (which is NOT burned), but loops around like the coolant in HVAC systems or the above mentioned H2O steam cycle, and spins a 3rd turbine generator. Go hotter and use the heat 3 times and you are going to GET VERY efficient. I don’t have trouble with the 65% or even perhaps the 75% efficiency claim; but the 90% still seems somewhat hard to realize in a physical implementation.
From the Siemens literature.
Reducing your CO2 footprint using the Siemens SGT-800 Gas Turbine
Liam Kean liam.kean@siemens.com
Can achieve >75% overall energy efficiency in Cogeneration configurations
Seimens is correct; it's YOU!!!
Seimens advertising is fine. It's YOUR interpretation that is 100% WRONG
Seimens is accurately describing what the efficiency of their generators are in turning mechanical work to electical work.
The problem is YOU. You are taking the efficiency that applies only to the generator; and ascribing that as the efficiency of the whole power plant.
It's YOU; not Seimens that is fouling up the technical details.
Go back to school and learn something.
Actually the problem is your personal limitations
Actually Diemos,
The problem is your personal cognitive limitations, not the limits of thermodynamics.
You presume to understand, and pretend to pontificate, upon physical concepts which are 'out of your paygrade'.
The 'fly in the ointment' is that every engineer and physicist that breezes across this discussion, immediately translates the matter into the proper mathematical formulations and thermodynamic models. That is BECAUSE we took all those classes and did all those labs and write ups, years ago. I have refrained from posting this in mathematics, physics, engineering and thermodynamic TERMS. First you would be clueless and lost. And 2nd, that this would merely allow that fraudulent Rude Dog, to better PRETEND to be knowlegeable in physics. As it is, he does not even know how to begin.
TTFN
The Sky Is Falling
Climate-Faerie-Tales and pseudo-science
Perhaps the USA can dispense with Climate-Faerie-Tales and pseudo-science from Al Gore, NASA, East Anglia University, the NPP industry and Kyoto. Certainly, the ‘Rest-of-the-World’ has moved on from that fatuous fiction. Crowd manipulation with false disaster scenarios date back at least 25 centuries and should be left to children’s cautionary tales. Folktales of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 20C (including former type 2033) in which storytellers from around the world make light of paranoia and mass hysteria, selected and edited by, D. L. Ashliman © 1999-2010
The End of the World - The Sky Is Falling http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type2033.html
Contents: The Timid Hare and the Flight of the Beasts (India, The Jataka Tales), The Flight of the Beasts (Tibet, Anton Schiefner), Plop! (Tibet), The Story of Chicken-Licken (England, James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps), Henny-Penny and Her Fellow Travelers (Scotland, Robert Chambers), The End of the World (Ireland), The Cock and the Hen That Went to Dovrefjell (Norway, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe), The Little Chicken Kluk and His Companions (Denmark, Benjamin Thorpe), The End of the World (Flanders, Jean de Bosschère), Brother Rabbit Takes Some Exercise (African-American, Joel Chandler Harris).
The hucksters selling this CO2-Global-Warming-Garbage should be locked up, in GITMO.
IMHO,
Bill Duff
WRONG AGAIN!!!
Bill,
The 35% to 40% efficiencies are those of thermal Rankine i.e. "steam cycle" power plants. The efficiencies are constrained by the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
If you are implying that Germany, Japan, and the rest of the world are moving to some other "thermal" power plants that have efficiencies up to 90%; then you are very badly mistaken. Evidently, you don't know about the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics and the Carnot efficiency which is the absolute limit of efficiency imposed by the Laws of Physics for power plants that convert heat into useful work. The efficiencies you quote is beyond what the 2nd Law allows.
If you are implying that they are using some other type of electric generation; like solar; the efficiencies are even lower. Solar is typically about 20%.
Again you show your scientific ineptitude if you are implying, as many do; that it is the waste heat from power plants that is responsible for global warming. For Heaven's sake; do the calculation or get someone who knows the science to do the calculation for you. Waste heat produced by our power plants is TRIVIAL in terms of causing global warming.
Evidently you don't understand that it IS the "smoke". It is the emission of greenhouse gases by our power plants that trap the sun's energy. The driver for global warming is really the Sun's energy, trapped by the greenhouse gases that is driving global warming. The waste heat from power plants is really trivial.
Stupidity, ignorance, and an abject incompetence in all matters technical are not the proper basis for an informed discussion on global warming.
Thermo
Diemos,
You have NEVER even TAKEN a thermodynamics class, or the math prerequisites, much less the rest of the engineering sequence. Thus, it would be appropriate for you to adopt a more humble posture. The actual engineers are WAY out of your league in these subjects. You are trying to 'wing it' and lie to engineers, within our area of expertise, and we are not impressed.
Each PRIME MOVER STAGE Turbine can be connected to an electrical generator.
The 1st Stage, (Gas Turbine) is similar to a Fan Jet on a 747 aircraft. The burning Natural Gas is MUCHO HOT and the expansion of the natural gas combustion spins the 1st Stage electrical generator.
The WASTE heat from the FAN JET is way hot, sufficient to take water to DRY Superheated Steam at high pressure, like super-saturation. That 2nd stage (waste) heat from the Gas Turbine is EXACTLY equivalent to the hottest available temperatures in the nuclear power plant steam generation stations.
The available power and WASTE heat temperature from EVERY commercial power plant in the USA is the same as the output from the 2nd stage of these Gas Turbines. So the efficiency numbers are the same.
The 3rd Stage uses the closed cycle fluid such as propane, which is heated to superheated gas to spin the turbine/generator and is exhausted just above the condensing temperature from the 3rd stage turbine.
Each of the 3 stages generates electricity. Each stage has thermodynamic limitations each has electrical generation limitations. The combined 3 cycles have thermodynamic limitations and electrical generation limitations.
All of this thermodynamics is deliberately simplified down to your precalculus math level, while the actual engineers can deal with the entire concept.
TTFN,
Bill Duff
400+ reactors waiting to be retired
“more than 400 reactors worldwide are waiting to be retired”
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/02/210493.html
VIENNA, Feb. 22, Kyodo 10:44
IAEA to propose multilateral efforts to retire Fukushima nuclear reactors
“The safe decommissioning (of the reactors) should be undertaken not just by Japan but should draw on the wisdom and the most advanced technologies from around the world,” IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in an interview Thursday. There are concerns in some quarters of the global community that Japan may monopolize knowhow for reactor decommissioning, an area that will likely open up lucrative business opportunities at a time when more than 400 reactors worldwide are waiting to be retired.
Next Wednesday, the IAEA will dispatch experts to Fukushima Prefecture for a project being jointly implemented with the prefectural government to promote decontamination of areas affected by fallout from the nuclear disaster in March 2011. These experts are also expected to engage in preliminary consultations with relevant prefectural and other officials ahead of the international team’s visit in April. According to an IAEA official, the proposed multilateral project would be based in an office in the city of Fukushima with a resident staffer.
NPP Business Model
The Business Model for the commercial nuclear power plant (NPP) industry consists primarily of:
Inadequate design-basis criteria, 2nd rate engineering, 3rd rate materials & construction, 4th rate operational procedures, 5th rate disaster preparation, 6th rate security practices, planned water-waste, lousy power conversion efficiency, exorbitantly expensive power, excessive pollution, unnecessary health-hazards, fraud, monopolistic business practices, cost overruns, under-insurance, technology stifling, political corruption, graft, undue-arrogance, vindictiveness, bullying, retaliation, bastardization of the peer-review process, and contempt for scientific accuracy.
Natural Gas is plentiful, inexpensive and clean. The Combined Closed Loop Cycle process VASTLY improves power conversion efficiency and reduces cooling water requirements for any power plant. It is typical, even DEFINING, that the NPP industry has taken NO steps to implement CCLC technology.
http://repository.tamu.edu/bitstream/handle/1969.1/6021/ESL-IE-04-04-12.pdf
http://murphyintldev.com/website/content/publish/printer_tech_whr.shtml
The NPP industry has proven itself to be utterly incapable of: candor, energy conversion efficiency, proper design criteria, adequate material selection, suitable construction methods and/or safe operation. NPP disaster preparation is abysmal, to counterproductive and even HOSTILE to disaster discussion. The prudent course of action is to shutter the lot of them; and only allow underground, multiple-containment, nuclear power research projects. These guys have PROVEN they are ‘not ready for prime time’.
IMHO
Bill Duff
Whoopsi Daisy!
How shall we word this?
Power failure @ 100% of Japan NPP
OR
50% of Japan operational Nuclear Reactors lose electrical power
That would be a Single Point of Failure. Not too swift, IMHO. Did Homer Simpson ‘design’ and ‘engineer’ THAT piece of crapola? No redundancy? Zip, Zero, Zilch … NADA. What is the water level in that reactor? Apparently, that is the best that the commercial NPP industry has to offer. This ain’t the Super Bowl. Going Dark is a critical SAFETY concern, that should have been prevented at the DESIGN stage of a nuclear project. One (1) breaker ‘kills the lights’, you gotta be kidding me. Hopefully the reporter(s) for this story left something out ...
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/02/207972.html
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/02/07/national/power-goes-out-for-...
Kyodo, TSURUGA, Japan, Feb. 6, 19:35
Power went out Wednesday for one minute at the No. 3 reactor of Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. The utility said it believes part of the internal power supply at the reactor building was cut at around 2:30 p.m. as a trainee touched the circuit breaker by mistake. The Nos. 3 and 4 units at the Oi plant are the only reactors currently in operation in Japan in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis in 2011.
WHO
Who, fergawdsake?
Who, forgawdsake SUBMITTED this POS electrical scheme as an adequate design for a CRITICAL APPLICATION?
WTF, was 'going on' in the head of the supervising engineer that approved this non-redundant, cobbled together, POS electrical scheme?
Was the government regulator that ACCEPTED this on behalf of the GOVERNMENT of a 1st World Sovereign Nation, stupid, corrupt, getting laid and/or STONED?
There is NO EXCUSE for a non-redundant electrical power supply in ANY mission critical application.
PLUS, some total moron or committe of morons, RECENTLY approved the return of Oi-3 and Oi-4 to ACTIVE Service as the apparent FLAGSHIP nuclear power station in the nation Japan.
This appears to be an electrical design suitable for a 4-quarter-laundrymat, and nothing more.
Inexcusable
Inexcusable
An el-cheapo, non-redundant UPS is an electronic primary electrical power supply for a critical load with a bypass (station) power supply connected via a FAST automatic electronic switch (static switch). A non-redundant UPS system would have a battery charger, backup battery, inverter and static switch. Redundant systems would include at least two or three of these components wired together, in a clever fashion.
That still leaves a SINGLE POINT of FAILURE, hence the existence of two (or more) meter systems, control consoles and lighting sources.
ONE breaker, taking a control room down, is … well … STUPID!
Perhaps something important was lost in the translation. This design simply beggars belief. Such a failure should be impossible.
I hopeToGawd, that USA NPP electrical control room design is 'better-than-this', but doubt lingers.
The closer yah look the dumber they appear to be.
NPP Redundancy
Say Bubba,
Wouldn’t Reactor-3: Gage Array (1), Control Console (1) Light Battery (1) NORMALLY be connected to redundant UPS-1 (Uninterruptable Power Supply - Ichiban)
Wouldn’t Reactor-3: Gage Array (2), Control Console (2) Light Battery (2) NORMALLY be connected to redundant UPS-2 (Uninterruptable Power Supply - san)
Wouldn’t Gage Array (3), Control Console (3) Light Battery (3) NORMALLY be connected to the Station Power?
Oh, excuse me! I thought we might be discussing some kind of a CRITICAL Load. This apparently represents the best that Team Nuke can offer.
Pitiful!
Typo
Blogging Typo: (Duh)
1 ichi, 2 ni, 3 san, 4 shi, 5 go or 1 hito, 2 futa, 3 mi, 4 yo, 5 itsu
Sorry bout that
Station Power
To be perfectly frank,
Electrical Power Station Power is ... well ... often quite substandard, with MASSIVE voltage excursions from time to time.
A sudden load disconnect or a shorted transformer or pump, and you may be looking at a DCS (Distributed Control System) Crash due to over/under voltage conditions. That would NOT be a good thing, in the case of a NPP.
But, since Gross Criminal Negligence is 'on the table', substandard control room architecture makes perfect sense.
If this recent event accurately describes the design basis of the Oi Japan nuclear power station ...
A Responsible Adult should RUN to the plant and SCRAM that sumbeech. And thereafter keep it in Cold Shutdown ... forever. Oh and HANG the corporate board of directors, by the neck, until dead.
IMHO
TEPCO … down the tubes
Oh and how is the Japan NPP nuclear utility power tax ‘raking in’? Zero, ($0), Zilch, Nada ... the same as the USA Price-Anderson fraud, would produce under the same circumstances. Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff was a FAR better bet than the USA NPP ‘self-insurance’ fraud.
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/02/207586.html Kyodo TOKYO Feb. 4, 19:48
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday it expects to log a group net loss of 120 billion yen in the business year ending March, AND an operating loss of 275 billion yen.
The earnings announcement was made AFTER the government decided to provide an additional 696.8 billion yen to TEPCO to help the utility pay its compensation liabilities stemming from the worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/US-nuclear-disaster-coverage/2011/09/21/i...
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/18/would-fund-protect-us-taxpayers-from-n...
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/25/news/economy/nuclear_accident_costs/inde...
http://rt.com/usa/news/us-nuclear-report-ap/
Uncompetitive NPP
Since Fairewinds website is under siege (DDS) attack,
http://www.fairewinds.com/content/fairewinds-podcast
Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Energy Education:
They’re saying basically that the costs to run a nuclear reactor makes them uncompetitive in today’s environment. So we’ve had 4 reactors in the last month talking about they’re having trouble making economic sense about running. Kewaunee, Oyster Creek, Callaway, and Wolf Creek. And you’ve got to believe that there are others out there too.
Natural Gas/Nuclear ≈ Walmart/Saks 5th Avenue
Are U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Going the Way of Coal Plants?
http://www.investmentu.com/2013/January/us-nuclear-power-plants-going-th...
by David Fessler, Investment U Senior Analyst, Tuesday, January 29, 2013: Issue #1958
Last October, Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE: D) announced it would be closing its Kewaunee nuclear power plant. Located in Wisconsin, this small, 566-megawatt (MW) unit is the first nuclear plant to succumb to cheap natural gas. The boom in U.S. shale gas production has natural gas prices at 10-year lows. It’s thrown an interesting curve at the domestic power market.
About 20% of the power generation in the United States comes from nuclear power plants. Back in the 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission predicted that over 1,000 nuclear power plants would be operating in the states by the year 2000. The incident at Three Mile Island (TMI) took the wind out of the sails of the nuclear power industry. Because of TMI, plans for more than 120 nuclear plants were ultimately cancelled.
With regard to plant construction costs, natural gas is to nuclear as Walmart is to Saks Fifth Avenue. The typical natural gas-fired plant can be constructed for about $1 million per MW. That puts the price for a 1.1 GW plant at just over $1 billion. This is easily within the financing range of most utilities. It’s no wonder utilities are choosing natural gas over nuclear. It’s simply about economics. Older, smaller plants will be the first to go. According to data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), 40 are smaller than one GW in size. They all could ultimately suffer the same fate as Dominion’s Kewaunee reactor.
Duke Energy - CR3 Closure
Duke Energy, announced today that it will retire the Crystal River Nuclear Plant (CR3)
http://www.duke-energy.com/news/releases/2013020501.asp
Crystal River Nuclear Plant to be retired; company evaluating sites for potential new gas-fueled generation
Feb. 5, 2013 … Following a comprehensive analysis, Progress Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, announced today that it will retire the Crystal River Nuclear Plant (CR3) in Citrus County, Fla. The plant has been safely shut down and offline since late 2009.
http://www.duke-energy.com/power-plants/nuclear/crystal-river.asp
Crystal River Nuclear Plant Capacity: 860 megawatts, Location: Citrus County, Fla. Commercial Date: 1977 … In February 2013, we announced plans to retire Crystal River Nuclear Plant.
Local References:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/qampa-crystal-river-nuclear-plant-to-close/...
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/duke-energy-announces-closi...
Bump
Bumper over the AD Spam
A pity that natural gas is a
A pity that natural gas is a finite resource that will one day run out.
Hopefully they will only mothball the plant, not decommission it. That way it'll be there when we need it.
Diemos
Mothball
Decommission the WORST
It seems appropriate to FULLY decommission ALL the GE Mark-I and GE Mark-II nuclear containment systems. The GE Mark-I and GE Mark-II represent the WORST of the Worst for the USA NPP fleet.
Perhaps the rest of the USA NPP fleet could be placed on bypass, using natural gas produced steam to spin the turbines. The nuclear reactors could then be placed on a long-term (cold) shut-down status and/or as preferred, entirely mothballed or scrapped.
I am not comfortable with ANY future commercial NPP installations that are Above Ground. Too many security risks, and they comprise SOFT terrorist/military targets.
Subterranean BUNKER construction, perhaps 100 feet underground, would be FAR more secure. The filtered, vented, cooling towers, heat exchangers and pressure release valving could still be, for the most part above ground.
Any future nukes should incorporate the LESSONS of Chernobyl, TMI & FDU-1, FDU-2, FDU-3 and FDU-4. The MOX fueld FDU-3 Atomic Explosion ranks about equal to the Chernobyl disaster. FDU-1, FDU-2 and TMI are about on a par with each other.
IMHO
IMHO
Japan Government assumes control of Fukushima Cleanup
The Work cannot be left up to TEPCO
“the work cannot be left up to plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and that the state will be "at the forefront" of such efforts”
TOKYO, Jan. 29, Kyodo http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/01/206569.html
The Japanese government earmarked Tuesday 156.4 billion yen ($1.7 billion USD) for the industry ministry to accelerate efforts to scrap the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's stricken reactors and support companies seeking to export nuclear technologies in the initial draft budget for the next fiscal year.
The nuclear power-related budget to be allocated to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry increased 12.4 percent from the initial budget for the current fiscal year, with the government seeking to pour in more funds to help the country recover from the 2011 Fukushima crisis and improve the safety of its nuclear power plants.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has vowed to accelerate the difficult task of scrapping the reactors that suffered core meltdowns, saying that the work cannot be left up to plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. and that the state will be "at the forefront" of such efforts.
Upside Down, Underwater & down the tubes
Bankrupt
The electrical utility known as TEPCO is a financial train wreck. The government of Japan has dropped ALL PRETENSE that 'there-is-any-there-there' at TEPCO.
The investors in the TEPCO fraud, are by now, recognizing that they have LOST their money.
The neighbors, within an approximate 75 mile radius, of the Fukushima Daiichi NPP have recognized that they have LOST their homes, health and livelihood. The sealife is just as screwed, but probably doesn't know it.
Tokyo residents, the recipients of the FD electrical power are now paying FULL Fare for their bargain-basement, slipshod, monumentally stupid, morally deficient and dangerous electrical utility 'management style'.
The Nippon Taxpayer is 'On the Hook', for the duration; which is likely measured in eons.
Stick a fork in TEPCO - they're done!
IMHO
ZOMBIE Reactors … The UNDEAD
Forty Seven (47) Japan NPPs are classified among ‘The Undead’. The nuclear reactor status has been recently adjusted from Operational to Long-term Shutdown and back to Operational.
http://www.iaea.org/pris/
http://www.iaea.org/PRIS/CountryStatistics/CountryDetails.aspx?current=JP
http://www.iaea.org/PRIS/WorldStatistics/OperationalReactorsByCountry.aspx
http://www.worldnuclearreport.org/UPDATE1-IAEA-Reactor-Status.html
http://enenews.com/unprecedented-move-iaea-shifts-47-japan-reactors-long...
UPDATE1: IAEA Reactor Status Modification Reversed on Japanese Government Request
Saturday 19 January 2013
The Japanese government has requested the reversal of the reactor status of 47 Japanese reactors from the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “Long-term Shutdown” (LTS) category to “In operation”. On 16 January 2013, the same 47 units were reclassified as in LTS
http://www.worldnuclearreport.org/Historic-Move-IAEA-Shifts-47.html
Historic Move: IAEA Shifts 47 Japanese Reactors Into “Long-Term Shutdown” Category
Wednesday 16 January 2013
In an unprecedented move, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has shifted 47 Japanese nuclear reactors from the category “In Operation” to the category “Long-term Shutdown” (LTS) in its web-based Power Reactor Information System (PRIS). The number of nuclear reactors listed as “In Operation” in the world thus drops from 437 yesterday to 390 today, a level last seen in Chernobyl-year 1986 and a dramatic step of the IAEA’s official statistics in recognizing industrial reality in Japan. This is without doubt a unique revision of world operational nuclear data.
Mixed Signals From Industrial Council
Then: (9) Industry bodies urge less reliance on nuke power
Now: (9) called on the government Thursday for the swift restart of nuclear power reactors
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/06/22/news/industry-bodies-urge-le...
Kyodo, Jun 22, 2012
Then:
Nine major industry bodies have urged the government to engineer economic growth and cut Japan’s reliance on nuclear power. The lobby groups, which include the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association and the Japan Iron and Steel Federation, made the request Wednesday in a joint document for submission to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and other government bodies.
The move came as the government’s advisory council is deliberating what percentage of the nation’s electric power should be generated by nuclear plants in 2030. The document warns that the advisory panel has not paid adequate attention to the risk higher electricity charges pose to the economy. It also cautions higher electricity rates will stoke a hollowing out of the economy.
Now:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2013/01/205850.html
TOKYO, Jan. 24, Kyodo,( 20:54 24 January)
9 industry bodies seek restart of nuclear reactors
Nine industry bodies including the Japan Iron and Steel Federation and the Japan Mining Industry Association called on the government Thursday for the swift restart of nuclear power reactors and steps to alleviate the negative impact of higher electricity charges on their businesses.
MOST of the civilized world
Most of the CIVILIZED world is telling the NPP Industry to 'take a hike'.
The NPP Industry is 'selling' a pack of pseudo-scientific lies about the very REAL dangers of meltdowns and other radionuclide releases.
There are few interested 'buyers', in the general public, globally.
The USA should scale our NPP fleet to a TINY fraction of our present exposure for RESEARCH purposes only. This is NOT presently a technology that is suitable for commercial electrical power applications.
NONE of the present NPP commercial Industry players should EVER be eligible to participate in the technology again. They have ALL proven themselves to be dangerously unreliable LIARS.
Humanity is likely 500 to a thousand years away from being able to SAFELY handle this stuff, on a routine commercial basis.
IMHO
Crimes Against Humanity
IMHO
The 'Usual Suspects' among the NPP operators and the NPP A&E firms should be 'brought to justice'. Their trail of destruction, propaganda and death, most closely resembles the NAZI WAR criminals of WWII.
They have paraded their litany of lies upon this BLOG and elsewhere, following the Fukushima multiple meltdowns. They willfully bring on human misesry and death, with no regard to the suffering and death of their victims.
They appear to deserve a similar fate of execution or life imprisonment; as the NAZI War Criminals and for the same sorts of REASONS.
Crimes Against Humanity
IMHO
Italian Referendum
Perhaps, when the SPAM is cleared; we shall discuss the Italy referendum on Atomic Energy.
This is yet another indicator of an industry in decline.
Berlusconi's nuclear power plans crushed
Berlusconi's nuclear power plans crushed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/13/berlusconi-nuclear-power
John Hooper in Rome The Guardian, Monday 13 June 2011 14.51 EDT
The anti-nuclear movement won a crushing victory in Italy on Monday when well over 90% of voters rejected Silvio Berlusconi's plans for a return to nuclear power generation.
Italy abandoned its nuclear programme following a similar referendum in 1987. The government of the day opted to phase out all the country's existing plants. The last one shut down in 1990. Berlusconi had planned to generate a quarter of Italy's electricity with French-built nuclear plants. Construction of the first was due to start between 2013 and 2015.
The result represented an overwhelming setback for the prime minister, who had tried to thwart the outcome by discouraging Italians from taking part. The referendum needed a turnout of at least 50% to be binding. Interior ministry figures projections indicated that more than 57% of the electorate had taken part.
Acknowledging defeat even before the polls closed, Berlusconi said: "We shall probably have to say goodbye to nuclear [energy]." The government, which appealed to the courts for the vote to be scrapped, did all it could to keep turnout low.
Bump
Bump, Bump, Bump, Bump
Pages of total SPAM have been deposited on the BRAWM blog.
Perhaps the SPAM will be cleared away, soon after the Christmas break.
Last 24 hours have 'killed' French nuclear
"In a way, the last 24 hours have killed French nuclear”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/enel-edf-idUSL5E8N4DIJ20121204
UPDATE 2-Enel pulls out from French EPR nuclear project
* Last 24 hours have 'killed' French nuclear - analyst (Releads, adds details, background)
By Stephen Jewkes and Michel Rose Tue Dec 4, 2012 2:44pm EST
MILAN/PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - French power group EDF received a new blow on Tuesday when Italy's biggest utility Enel announced it has pulled out from a project to build a next-generation nuclear reactor in northern France. The French state-owned utility said earlier this week stricter regulation in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster has forced it to revise up the construction cost of its European Pressurized Reactor built in Flamanville, northern France, to 8.5 billion euros ($11.12 billion). In 2005, EDF estimated the reactor's cost at 3.3 billion euros.
"In a way, the last 24 hours have killed French nuclear finally because the cost makes it totally impossible to export and now you have one of the few partners actively withdrawing; it looks really bad," said UBS analyst Per Lekander.
Play Ball
Perhaps only ‘nobodies’ were killed & injured
http://enformable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Pascarelli-Robert.png
Five (5) Dead
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/world/asia/japan-nuclear-worker-files-...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDUw0wz98v0&feature=player_embedded
“Tokyo Electric Power Company, knew the risks from highly radioactive water but sent crews into a flooded area during the early days of last year’s crisis without adequate protection or warnings. The actions led to radiation injuries,”
http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/interview-tokyo-2020-brushes-aside-fu...
No one died
No one is worried about the tsunami or radiation.
Tokyo is so far. It‘s not the same, far away from the Fukushima area
No one died, no one got injured from this event. No one
Chernobyl was totally different.
Bullet-8
Was Karl Feintuch ‘misinformed’?
http://enformable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Pascarelli-Robert.png
Bullet-8 indicates the USA would supply KI to Japan. Was Karl Feintuch, of the NRC … ‘misinformed’?
http://enformable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Pascarelli-Robert.png
Bullet-9
"5 persons have received lethal radiation doses"
Are the International Olympic Committee and the Japan Royal Family misinformed?
Bullet-9 states, “Japan reports that 5 persons have received lethal radiation doses.”
http://enformable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Pascarelli-Robert.png
2 ‘NOBODIES’ received radiation burns
3 ‘NOBODIES’ received a 4 year dose that day
Nuclear crisis crew not told of danger
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121102a1.html
AP By MARI YAMAGUCHI Friday, Nov. 2, 2012
Seconds after the three workers started going into the (FDU-3) basement, the dosimeters began ringing loudly and then went silent, a sign the intended limit had been exceeded, though the team's leader said it must be an error. The three workers in the basement waded through ankle-deep water to check the wall-mounted switchboard and came back up, saying the water felt warm through their rubber boots.
Another team sent in to do other tasks rushed back out without doing any work, ignoring Shinichi's team, after measuring dangerously high radioactivity in the basement.
But his group stayed, making several more trips into the flooded basement. Two workers wearing short boots got their feet soaked and suffered beta-ray burns that were not life threatening. The three men who stayed there the longest were exposed to about 180 millisieverts — nearly four times the annual safe limit, according to a government report released in July. Shinichi refused to help tie up the dangling cable in the basement because of his short boots, and a colleague wearing long boots volunteered to do the task instead, saving Shinichi from injury.
>The three men who stayed
>The three men who stayed there the longest were exposed to about 180 millisieverts
That's about 38 times less than a lethal dose, though.
5 LETHAL Radiation Doses
“Japan reports that 5 persons have received LETHAL radiation doses.”
You need work on that Reading: comprehension/retention deficit ‘thing’, and/or that candor ‘thing’.
“Japan reports that 5 persons have received lethal RADIATION doses.”
Karl Feintuch (KF), of the USA-Nuclear Regulatory Commission, summarized the official Japan Government communications in an Email (03/16/2011 @ 09:17): 5 Fatal Radiation Doses.
KF Email: Bullet-9 states, “Japan reports that 5 persons have received lethal radiation doses.”
http://enformable.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Pascarelli-Robert.png
Was Karl Feintuch, of the USA-NRC … ‘misinformed’? Was the USA-NRC somehow … ‘misinformed’?
KF Email Bullet-9 is discussed in some detail (up this page), for the ‘Retention-CHALLENGED.’
http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/forum/218/industry-decline.2012-10-10#commen...
“Japan reports that 5 persons have received lethal radiation DOSES.”
Planet Texas shuns nuclear
Crony Capitalist Governor, and failed presidential candidate, Rick Perry had Texas signed up for ‘the full ride’: License Extension, MOX Uprates, New Units, Underwater NRG, Toshiba, TEPCO and flood risks. Now it is ‘Game Over’ for New Texas Nuclear.
http://www.chron.com/business/article/Contracted-awarded-for-nuclear-pla...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ajKiDc8Mr22Y
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/03/02/south-texas-nuclear-expansion-clears-...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/14/us-nrg-nuclear-idUSTRE72D7VH20...
NRG Texas nuclear plans in doubt after Japan: analysts
By Anna Driver HOUSTON | Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:19pm EDT
HOUSTON (Reuters) - NRG Energy Inc's $10 billion nuclear plant expansion planned for South Texas may never get off the drawing board as repercussions from the nuclear disaster in Japan spread, analysts said on Monday. Standard and Poor's warned clients that the risk of cancellations or delays for existing and future nuclear projects has increased as a result of the situation in Japan.
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/south-texas-project-deal-dubiou...
Updated: 11:24 p.m. Monday, March 14, 2011 | Posted: 11:23 p.m. Monday, March 14, 2011
South Texas Project deal dubious in wake of quake
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2011/03/21/south-texas-nuclea...
South Texas nuclear-power plant expansion project put on hold
San Antonio Business Journal Nuclear Innovation North America LLC, jointly owned by NRG Energy Inc. and Toshiba Corp., is scaling back its expansion plans for the South Texas Project.
http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/nrg-pulls-financial-support-for...
Updated: 10:58 a.m. Wednesday, April 20, 2011 | Posted: 7:47 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, 2011
NRG pulls financial support for South Texas nuclear plant expansion
Toshiba, is a 12 percent partner in the expansion, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) a 20 percent partner, faces its own difficulties because it operates the Fukushima plant.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/Report-South-Texas-Project-...
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/04/02/1889590/nuclear-us-production-f...
Article II Qualified
Rick Perry is Article II qualified to serve as POTUS. This is a step up from the present Resident.
Otherwise, Rick Perry is unfit to operate a 2 quarter laundrymat.
Perry does spend a lot of time in 'hot-water'.
Grossly unfit, but an improvement over the Interregnum.
Scraping the bottom of the barrel for POTUS.
IMHO
Cambodia Rejects Nuclear Power
An explosion will damage others in the region.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-10/29/c_131937792.htm
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/741035.shtml
http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2012/10/cambodia-has-no-plan-to-build-nucle...
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2012/10/190763.html
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that the country has no plan to build a nuclear power plant for present time, citing nuclear disasters in Ukraine and Japan.
The premier said at a graduation ceremony of students at Asia-Europe University. "It is not the right time for Cambodia to build it." Cambodia's capacity has not reached the level of building the nuclear power plant. Neighboring countries have their rights to voice their concerns because if there is an explosion, it will not only affect Cambodia, but also damage others in the region.
The premier also cited the world's two worst nuclear incidents. One was the catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred in April, 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine and the other was Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan in March last year.
Nuclear risks are unacceptable
RWE Won't Build New Nuclear Plants
http://www.epcengineer.com/news/post/8129/germanys-rwe-wont-build-new-nu...
Germany's second-biggest energy supplier, RWE, will stop building nuclear power plants, its future CEO has announced. It will also continue moving out of all nuclear projects that it is involved in abroad. The future boss of German utility company RWE, Peter Terium, announced on Monday the firm would no longer engage in any projects involving the construction of nuclear power plants. He said the company would scrap all relevant plans abroad under his leadership.
Terium, who will be at the helm of RWE from July 1, said new nuclear plants in Germany were out of the question anyway, as the country was on its way towards phasing out nuclear power completely by 2022. The Essen-based utility firm lost one of its most profitable domestic plants last year in the wake of a security stress test for all nuclear plants in Germany. Terium made it clear that the same resolve to steer clear of nuclear plant construction in the future also applied its former considerations to build new facilities in the Netherlands and Romania.
"The financial risks involved in building new reactors nowadays are unacceptable to the company," he said in a statement.
FORMER CEO, who disagreed is now GONE
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44324596
http://www.dw.de/german-utility-company-turns-back-on-nuclear-plants/a-1...
German Nuclear Power: Gone in a Puff of Smoke?
Nuclear plants have long generated nearly a quarter of Germany’s electricity. But after the tsunami and earthquake that sent radiation spewing from Fukushima, half a world away, the government disconnected the 8 oldest of Germany’s 17 reactors — including the two in this drab factory town — within days. Three months later, with a new plan to power the country without nuclear energy and a growing reliance on renewable energy, Parliament voted to close them permanently. There are plans to retire the remaining nine reactors by 2022.
Jürgen Grossmann, (Now, Former) chief executive of the German energy giant RWE, which owns two closed reactors here in Biblis, about 40 miles south of Frankfurt, expressed skepticism. “Germany, in a very rash decision, decided to experiment on ourselves,” he said. “The politics are overruling the technical arguments.”
Some USA nuclear power plants are virtually worthless
Excerpts: Aging and Expensive, Reactors Face Mothballs
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/business/energy-environment/economics-...
By MATTHEW L. WALD, NYTimes - Published: October 23, 2012
THE conventional wisdom about nuclear reactors is that they are expensive to build but cheap to run. But electricity on the wholesale market is so inexpensive, its price depressed by cheap natural gas, that some reactors may not have enough revenue to justify needed capital expenditures. Experts say that as a result, the nuclear industry may be nearing its first round of retirements since the mid-1990s.
Even plants with no pressing repair problems are feeling the pinch, especially in places where wholesale prices are set in competitive markets. According to an internal industry document from the Electric Utility Cost Group, for the period 2008 to 2010, maintenance and fuel costs for the one-fourth of the reactor fleet with the highest costs averaged $51.42 per megawatt hour. That is perilously close to wholesale electricity costs these days.
Bruce E. Biewald, the chief executive of Synapse Energy Economics, a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass., compared the nuclear plants to old coal plants now facing big capital expenses. “An asset that might have been worth a couple of billion dollars is now basically worthless,” he said. And with average costs approximating average revenue, some reactors face higher-than-average costs.
Christopher Crane, the chief executive of Exelon, the nation’s largest nuclear operator, said his company’s reactors sometimes found themselves selling electricity at hours when the market price was negative, during periods of low demand. In other words, they have to pay when they produce power, instead of being paid. And even during hours of higher demand, prices on the open market are low because of the low price of natural gas.
A Dying Industry?
An Industry In Decline
http://www.fdlreporter.com/article/20121023/FON0101/310270008/Kewaunee-n...
Kewaunee nuclear plant to shut down in the spring
Closure will affect 650 jobs; caused by cheap natural gas
9:19 PM, Oct 22, 2012
CARLTON — Cheap natural gas is putting 650 nuclear plant employees at Kewaunee Power Station out of work.
Dominion Resources Inc. said Monday it will shut down the one-reactor power plant on the shore of Lake Michigan in the spring because it could not sell it and cannot operate it profitably.
“The biggest factor is the market price of power,” said Daniel Stoddard, senior vice president of nuclear operations at Dominion.
Fond du Lac Reporter - a Gannett Company
The Washington Post has an ‘alternate reality’ explanation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/dominion-resources-to-close-kewau...
CALVERT CLIFFS 3 - DOA
CALVERT CLIFFS 3 NUCLEAR PROJECT
http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1230/ML12306A398.pdf
Applicants are ineligible to obtain a license because they fail to meet the requirements of Section 103(d) of the Atomic Energy Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2133(d), and 10 C.F.R. § 50.38.
LBP-12-22
Docket No. 52-016-COL ASLBP No. 09-874-02-COL-BD01
November 1, 2012 ORDER (Terminating the Adjudicatory Proceeding)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION, ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD
Before Administrative Judges: Ronald M. Spritzer, Chairman, Dr. Gary S. Arnold, Dr. William W. Sager
Rockville, Maryland
…
Note: (Board grants summary disposition in favor of Joint Intervenors as to Contention 1 and finds Applicants ineligible to obtain a license because they are owned by a United States (U.S.) corporation that is 100 percent owned by a foreign corporation.)
Calvert Cliffs just has to find a US company to join in.
When Constellation Energy bowed out of the Calvert Cliffs 3 project; that left Calvert Cliffs 3 to be totally owned by French companies, EDF and AREVA.
The Calvert Cliffs 3 plant is currently ineligible for a US license since it would be 100% French-owned.
If EDF can find a US corportation, like Exelon, or Entergy; that is willing to partner with EDF; then the plant will have a US-corporation that can serve as owner so far as the NRC license is concerned.
I don't think EDF is going to walk away from a multi-billion dollar investment solely for the lack of a US partner.
Calvert Cliffs 3 will soon be back on the agenda; as soon as EDF cleans up the ownership legalities.