Posted on 02/08/2012 6:35:56 PM PST by matt04
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to approve licenses to build two new nuclear reactors Thursday, the first approvals in over 30 years.
The reactors are being built in Georgia by a consortium of utilities led by Southern Co. They will be sited at the Vogtle nuclear power plant complex, about 170 miles east of Atlanta. The plant already houses two older reactors.
Spokespeople for Southern Co. and the NRC were quiet on the matter Wednesday ahead of the vote set for Thursday at 12 PM ET. If approved, NRC staff would likely issue a construction and operating license within the next few days.
Although new nuclear reactors have been built in this country within the last couple of decades -- the last one started operation in 1996 -- the NRC hasn't issued a license to build a new reactor since 1978, a year before the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania. The reactors that have opened in the last decades were approved before 1978.
The combination of the Three Mile Island incident and the high costs of nuclear power turned many utilities away from the technology.
There are currently 104 operating nuclear reactors at 64 plants across the country that provide the nation with roughly 20% of its power. Half are over 30 years old.
The utilities building the new Vogtle reactors submitted their application seven years ago. Prep-work at the site has been under way for some time, but the actual reactors can't be built until NRC issues the final license.
...
Still, a coalition of nine mostly regional environmental groups say the current design is not safe. They are asking the NRC to delay its decision Thursday until they can file a challenge in federal court.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
I agree. DARPA is working on a nuclear battery using nuclear waste.There is revival of interest in small and simpler units for generating electricity from nuclear power, and for process heat
“...Name one Nuclear Reactor Design that is inherently safe...”
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Name anything that is inherently safe.
[ Thorium reactors are supposed to be much safer in that regard. Google TechTalks on YouTube has a good presentation on that. ]
Liquid Thorium Fluoride Salt Reactors. We have a winner.
The Liquid reactants are held in the core by use of a “Frost Plug” when the power dies the active cooling to the frost plug ends and the liquid reactants flow via gravity into a baffled drain tank where they solidify and become inert. Since the liquid fuel is bound ionically to the most reactive halogen ie. Florine they will not react with Oxygen meaning fire risk is drastically reduced.
there are breeders that can make weapons grade plutonium. the plant killed by jimmah was claimed to potentially create weaponable plutonium. Interestingly many of the breeder designs leave nothing but lead behind, gate’s design needs just a little enriched material and a pile of yellow cake. looks like the development work will be done in china cuze you can’t do that here.
The AP1000® pressurized water reactor works on the simple concept that, in the event of a design-basis accident (such as a coolant pipe break), the plant is designed to achieve and maintain safe shutdown condition without any operator action and without the need for ac power or pumps. Instead of relying on active components such as diesel generators and pumps, the AP1000 relies on the natural forces of gravity, natural circulation and compressed gases to keep the core and containment from overheating.
This is the plant that will be built in Georgia.
Pebble Beds have a lot of unresolved safety issues. Notice that the South Africans who were investing heavily in Pebble Bed technology have shut their entire project down.
For the foreseeable future, Light Water Reactors are the only proven commercially viable technology.
The AP1000® pressurized water reactor works on the simple concept that, in the event of a design-basis accident (such as a coolant pipe break), the plant is designed to achieve and maintain safe shutdown condition without any operator action and without the need for ac power or pumps. Instead of relying on active components such as diesel generators and pumps, the AP1000 relies on the natural forces of gravity, natural circulation and compressed gases to keep the core and containment from overheating.
That is good, but the greenies would rather stall a reactor like this replacing current reactors. They would rather have us rely on old unsafe designs because it fits their anti-nuclear agenda.
I just got confirmation that Southern Nuclear has received their COL (combined construction and operating license) for Vogtle-3 and -4.
This was the last hoop to jump through.
We’re building nuclear plants again!
Looks like the Greenies are out of luck on this one. Once the NRC License is issued, they only way they can stop it is if the utility screws up.
The NRC licensing process was changed about 10 years ago. It used to be a two step process... first a construction license and then after construction, an operating license. That gave the anti-nukes many opportunities to throw monkey wrenches into the process to delay things, for expensive (and often needless changes) and run-up costs. (Remember Seabrook and Shorham?)
Today, it's different. Once the design is approved, and a combined construction/operating license is issued, all they have to do is build it exactly as designed and they are good to go. If they start today, that plant will be operating in five years or less and the kooks won't be able to stop it.
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