Westinghouse strikes deal to build US nuclear power plants [the first such projects in 30 years....]

Brietbart ^

[Sub-Driver]

Westinghouse strikes deal to build US nuclear power plants Apr 8 07:52 PM US/Eastern

Westinghouse Electric, a unit of the Japanese Toshiba Corp., said Tuesday it had struck a deal with Georgia Power to build two nuclear power plants in the southern United States, the first such projects in 30 years.

The two Westinghouse AP1000 power plants will be located at a site near Augusta, Georgia which already had two existing nuclear reactors.

[potlatch]

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/910

[eyedigress]

I don’t know what that entails but the tech involved in RADAR would have been RF Engineering R&D. It looks like the main purchase of the company was 2006 for 5.4b, and a 77% share.

[potlatch]

Nice reply Sam.

[Captain Jack Aubrey]

Virginia Power is gearing up to add another to the 2 Lake Anna nukes that have been running there without incident for 25 years.

[Question_Assumptions]

Assuming you're right (which might be a real stretch ;>), by all means feel free to duplicate "super secret props" from Google news photos...

How about Microsoft Visual Earth? (Found easily enough via Google, on multiple sites.)

I'm sure the Soviets knew what the propellers looked like. What they didn't know was how to machine them. That's what they needed the special lathes for.

[Petronski]

When was the Toshiba-Soviet thing? What year?

[Red Steel]

Yeah, I blame Hanoi Jane's movie for the stagnation of new N-power plants.

[sam_paine]

The radioactive isotopes released directly by burning coal dwarfs anything you can worry about with non-Russian nukes.

[denydenydeny]

If “Kim Voluntarily Steps Down, Dissolves North Korean Dictatorship” and “Iranian Mullahs Overthrown” are a 10, then this story is a 5 or 6 on the Welcome News Scale.

[Who is John Galt?]

How about Microsoft Visual Earth?

So you're 'fine' with Toshiba's actions, because "Microsoft Visual Earth" presumably has photos of US propellers? Or not?

Either way, 'how nice'...

[been_lurking]

Do you want one in your backyard?

The number of deaths related to nuclear plant accidents in the U.S. is exactly ZERO! A far better record than any other industry in the country.

Maybe you prefer to live in the dark?

[Petronski]

What they didn't know was how to machine them. That's what they needed the special lathes for.

I'm seeing a gap there. They didn't know HOW to machine them. Fine. Did the lathes tell them HOW to machine them? Or merely give them the tools to machine them?

I have a buddy who has a table saw and uses about 5% of its capabilities, and the machine doesn't know how to teach him the other 95%.

I'm not trying to be a wiseguy (well, not right now, anyway), I'm just trying to understand.

[rsobin]

Don’t know exactly, seems like early to mid 90’s. The machines were gigantic 5-axis cnc controlled milling machines though.

[AGreatPer]

Here is a snip

"Toshiba must pay $380 mil. for stealing trade secrets ... In the mid 80s they sold submarine stealth technology to the Soviets, technology they received via ..."

I loved it. Our copier company put their (Toshiba) copier division out of business with this info. I made every salesperson carry the info around.

[blueheron2]

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ivo.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/nuclear-prop.png&imgrefurl=http://ivo.co.za/2007/09/03/&h=250&w=317&sz=173&hl=en&start=1&tbnid=cXWU97nL_lmjEM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnuclear%2B%2Bsubmarine%2Bprops%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff

[Who is John Galt?]

When was the Toshiba-Soviet thing? What year?

Guess you'll have to do a search online. The way I remember it, it was when I was actually working for the US 'guvmint,' & my boss was a Toshiba electronics fan (guessing the 1980's)...

[Petronski]

I have trouble holding Toshiba responsible for what a subsidiary did 20-25 years ago.

How far back do we go? Do we eschew products from Bayer, Mitsubishi, BASF, etc.?

How about Krups? Is my coffee grinder immoral somehow?

[Petronski]

The number stuck in my head is 1983, but I doubt my memory and was trying to confirm.

[CGTRWK]

Our water from the river is already being taken over by San Antonio north of us and nuke plants use HUGE amounts of water.

Nuclear plants use a great deal of water for cooling, but they don't use it up. It's discharged back in a couple hundred feet downstream at a higher temperature.

In an ideal world I wouldn't want anything in my backyard. But when the alternative is burning a billion - literally, billion with a B - tons of coal a year and releasing tens of thousands of tons of NOx, SO2, etc. that isn't even a decision.

Every day we sit on our collective hands arguing about whether nuclear is a good enough solution is another day of using the dirtiest and most dangerous power source there is by default.

[Question_Assumptions]

For those who want the full story, you can find a New York Times report about the sale here. Basically, the Soviets knew about the technology because of information that they got from John A. Walker Jr. Since the shape and surface of the blades are critical, it was the high quality of the milling machines that was key to the Soviet Union actually making the quiet propellers. The article says, "The equipment was sold by the Toshiba Machinery Company, which is 51 percent owned by the Toshiba Corporation. The other stockholders are Japanese." Please note that Kongsberg of Norway was also involved, selling the Soviets the controller for the lathes.