Energy Group Plans to Build Nuclear Plants in Gulf States

NY Times ^ | 9/23/05 | Matthew L. Wald

[Crackingham]

A consortium of eight companies said on Thursday that it would spend about $100 million to prepare applications to build two nuclear reactors, in Mississippi and Alabama, a step that seems to move the industry closer to its first new reactor order since the 1970's. The announcement was made by NuStart Energy, a consortium of companies that has substantial government financing. The consortium selected a site in Claiborne County, Miss., adjacent to Entergy Nuclear's Grand Gulf reactor, and another in northern Alabama, next to the Tennessee Valley Authority's long-abandoned Bellefonte nuclear construction project.

The Energy Department is committed to sharing costs to develop the two applications, and has agreed to pay the application fee, about $30 million, for one of them; the consortium is asking the department for money for the other. At the same time, Entergy announced that it would act on its own to develop an application for a reactor at a site next to its Waterford plant, in Louisiana.

The government, the reactor manufacturers and companies that own and operate existing reactors are testing a reformed licensing procedure, established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the 1990's to avoid the pitfalls of the 1970's and 80's, when several reactors were ordered and construction begun before design was completed or regulatory approval obtained.

Under the program, designs for the Grand Gulf reactor, to be made by General Electric, and the Bellefonte reactor, to be made by Westinghouse, will be mostly completed and also approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission before substantial work is done at the sites.

[Lloyd227]

Well, apparently Quite a lot has changed since I last worked with Westinghouse backin 95/96

Looks like they're basically a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels now.

[SuziQ]

Sounds great!!

[bert]

 

This was the plan. I think only the cooling towers were actually built/exist. There is also probably a major transmission capability already there. The TVA plan was scrapped because the political pressure was too great. Pols can never act. They are doomed to only react. Bellfonte, Phipps Bend, etc....RIP

[SuziQ]

Let's hope they're hurricane-proof!

Have you ever seen what goes into the construction of the containment structure of a nuke plant? The walls and ceiling are about 6-10' thick and the reinforcing steel bars that run ALL through it are about 4" in diameter! I don't think a Cat 5 hurricane would even put a dent in the structure.

We took our kids on a tour up at Seabrook Nuke plant in New Hampshire. This was after 9/11, so the security was tight, and we could only go in their Education Building, but it was fascinating! Turns out, they had originally planned to build TWO plants there, but because of the lawsuits and environmental frap they had to endure just opening the first one, and which delayed that opening by 10 years, they scrapped plans for the second plant. We could have had much cheaper electric rates in this area had that second plant come on line.

[montag813]

Congress and/or the President should immediately waive any and all environmental impact studies for these plants and any and all new refineries. Just build them. Do not pass go, do not permit delays by anti-capitalists posing as tree huggers.

[Iscool]

Have you ever seen what goes into the construction of the containment structure of a nuke plant?

I have...Up close...Nuclear plants historically are safe...That may change when we have our first melt-down...Or, the radiation leaks into the cooling water and then into a major stream or lake...

But nuclear waste storage seems to have the most potential for disaster...And like they say, never say never...

Although nulcear power is big in the rest of the world, America has been at a nuclear standstill for years...That's years of research and testing put on hold by the greatest engineers of the world (American engineers, that is)...

[SuziQ]

That's years of research and testing put on hold by the greatest engineers of the world (American engineers, that is)...

Actually GE has been continuing its research by building smaller nuke plants all over the world. I'm interested in the Pebble Bed technology, and my hubby, SirKit, and our youngest son, Joseph, are interested in Fusion technology.

[sefarkas]

A brief visit to the Westinghouse Nuclear web site may help you avoid speculation. Westinghouse employs several hundred engineers in Windsor Connecticut and hundreds more in Monroeville Pennsylvania. Westinghouse has spent a fortune in research and development. The plant owners do not pay a 'royalty' to Westinghouse, GE, B&W or CE. The utilities purchase fuel contracts from the reactor vendors who have design information on all of the plants they built giving reactor vendors a competitive advantage in those situations. It is rare, but not unheard of, for a utility to sign fuel contracts with one of the reactor vendors different from the one that supplied the NSSS.

[Last Dakotan]

The Koreans are interested:

"If Doosan succeeds in the takeover of Westinghouse, we can build atomic generators with our own technology without paying royalties any more," a Doosan official said on condition of anonymity. Doosan has built 20 domestic nuclear reactors.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/GH23Dg01.html

[sefarkas]

without paying royalties

Your source is not credible. There are certain components in which Westinghouse has a competitive advantage. The new Korean plants are based on the Combustion Engineering System 80+ plant (like Palo Verde in Arizona). Westinghouse bought Combustion Engineering from ABB and thus the Koreans have to purchase certain technologies from Westinghouse (like reactor coolant pumps), but I would hardly call those types of arrangements 'royalties.' As part of the contract with CE, the Koreans purchased 'technology transfer' so that the Koreans could build their own plants as they now do. To continue the technology transfer, the Koreans have to now deal with Westinghouse. Like any other industrial process, some suppliers have a competitive advantage for certain equipment.