Westinghouse strikes deal to build US nuclear power plants

[Meeker Morgan]

First new nuke plants in 30 years.

When did Westinghouse get bought out by Toshiba?

Westinghouse strikes deal to build US nuclear power plants (AFP)

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.

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

[NMDemDist2]

1. Westinghouse has been sold off piecemeal. they spun off as Washington Group Int. who just got

bought by URS

not sure when that all happened but I'm thinking in the 90s

[WhiteTara]

2. Isn't Georgia in a drought?

Don't these things take a lot of water? I read (sorry no link) the TVA might have to shut down because of low water in the river? These people are completely insane!

[bananas]

4. Last year, a reactor shut down in Alabama because of drought

and it may happen again this year:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/01/23/drought.nuclear.ap/index.html

Drought could force nuclear shutdowns

LAKE NORMAN, North Carolina (AP) -- Nuclear reactors across the Southeast could be forced to throttle back or temporarily shut down this year because drought is drying up the rivers and lakes that supply power plants with the cooling water they need to operate.

<snip>

A reactor in Alabama experienced a brief, drought-related shutdown last summer.

<snip>

An Associated Press analysis of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors found that 24 are in areas experiencing the most severe levels of drought. All but two are built on the shores of lakes and rivers and rely on submerged intake pipes to draw billions of gallons of water for use in cooling and condensing steam after it has turned the plants' turbines.

<snip>

At Progress Energy Inc., which operates four reactors in the drought zone, officials warned in November that the drought could force it to shut down its Harris reactor near Raleigh, according to documents obtained by the AP. The water in Harris Lake stands at 218.5 feet -- just 3½ feet above the limit set in the plant's license.

<snip>

[NNadir]

7. Um...um...um...

Does this mean that reactors will perform at as low a capacity loading as say, a wind plant or a solar plant?

I don't think so...

There are zero nuclear reactors in this country that perform at 25% capacity utilization.

In fact, there are zero fundie anti-nukes who know anything at all about the second law of thermodynamics.

There are zero fundie anti-nukes who understand that coal plants as well as nuclear plants obey this law.

There are zero fundie anti-nukes who gave a rat's ass when the Kayenta coal plants were about to shut because Lake Powell was running out of water.

In 2005, North Carolina's nuclear reactors produced more energy that the rest of the country produced from solar and wind yuppie toys.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/at_a_glance/states/statesnc.html

As of today, one can read the status of every reactor in the country, a few of which are now being refueled so they are available at 100% of capacity all summer long.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/solar.renewables/page/trends/table1_1.html

In fact, the anti-nuke faith, like most cults, relies on innuendo, the conceit that it is OK to make stuff up if you don't know what you're talking about.

[Massacure]

5. All power plants require a water to act as a coolant.

The easiest way to to take a bunch of water from a river, run it through the power plant once, and then return it to the river. Such a method requires the designs be careful with exactly how much heat they put into the river, if you return water that is too hot, you cause all kinds of problems for fish and such that live near the discharge pipe.

Another method requires building a cooling towers. Then water is taken and evaporated into the air. This method recycles the cooling water, and only needs to replace about 5% of it an hour to counter evaporation.

That is what Wikipedia says anyways.

[bananas]

6. Wind and PV don't. nt

[NNadir]

8. On the other hand they don't produce much energy.

My calculator solar cells didn't need cooling, but they didn't power by computer either.

[diane in sf]

3. another Bushco corporate welfare deal, just be grateful Halliburton isn't building them

[NNadir]

9. If you don't know what you're talking about, make stuff up.

Westinghouse is owned by Toshiba.

A bunch of anti-science fundamentalists drove this company out of the United States.

A first rate nuclear engineer can make close to $100,000/yr just a few years out of college.

Nuclear engineering is a difficult and extremely beautiful science that involves years of hard study.

Fundamentalism involves cruising websites via google.

In fact, the main association between Cheney and the nuclear industry took place when Cheney used anti-nuke ignorance to rachet up his phony war by saying "uranium" and "Saddam Hussein" in the same sentence.

People who knew nuclear science, from Hans Blix to Mohammed El Baradei to NNadir knew immediately that Cheney was lying.

On the other hand, the fundie anti-nuke cult helped rachet up a dangerous fossil fuel war in Iraq that has killed hundreds of thousands of human beings.

Ignorance kills.