Horray, it's about GD time we built some new nuclear power plants.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8518670.stm

2/16/2010 1:38:28 PM

Quote :

"The two new reactors will be built at an existing nuclear facility in Georgia. "

i don't know if I'd consider this a "new nuclear plant" any more than adding a garage to a house would be considered building a "new house"

2/16/2010 1:45:03 PM

That doesnt matter. We have built any new production reactors or plants in decades. This is substancial news.

2/16/2010 1:57:11 PM

message_topic.aspx?topic=588576

2/16/2010 1:58:52 PM

although I agree that more nuclear power is necessary to reduce our carbon emissions, I dont agree with Obama using tax money to guarantee the loans. Im sure there are strong reasons why they cant get financing through the credit market to build these reactors and the government should not step in and take the risk with tax-payer money.

2/16/2010 2:40:44 PM

we should also reprocess our fuel.

2/16/2010 2:45:11 PM

^^Carzin gave a little bit of an explanation as to why it happens that way in aforementioned previous thread

2/16/2010 2:48:22 PM

wait so we are building more plants without a place to put the spent fuel as there is no more yucca mountain

wow obama makes a lot of sense

2/16/2010 2:50:37 PM

wow obama makes a lot of sense

2/16/2010 2:57:29 PM

They let 75 of our contractors at Yucca Mtn go the day of inauguration. Thanks Harry Reid.

2/16/2010 3:09:42 PM

About damn time. Clean power FTW.

(Yes, there is the spent fuel issue, but I believe it is by far the lesser evil than the emissions from coal or oil fired plants.)

[/soap box]

2/16/2010 4:00:45 PM

Good. It's about 28 too few, but it's a start.

Quote :

"i don't know if I'd consider this a "new nuclear plant" any more than adding a garage to a house would be considered building a "new house""

This is like having two houses, and then building two more houses on lots that you already own.

2/16/2010 4:11:40 PM

^As mentioned here, message_topic.aspx?topic=588576 there are likely more on the way.

[Edited on February 16, 2010 at 4:19 PM. Reason : .]

2/16/2010 4:19:17 PM

Yeah finally I agree with something that Obama is doing.

2/16/2010 4:41:43 PM

Quote :

"Yeah finally I agree with something that Obama is doing."

2/16/2010 6:27:06 PM

Quote :

"wait so we are building more plants without a place to put the spent fuel as there is no more yucca mountain"

Glad we are kissing Harry Reid's ass and closing down the best option in the country for storing spent nuclear fuel because of one politician.

2/16/2010 7:58:45 PM

What'll be fun is when the government funds yet another study on what to do with the fuel and they go "hey, we should restart the yucca mountain project." By that point, everybody will be on board and they'll celebrate having made "the right decision at the right time" and it'll be a great big circle jerk for the politicians involved.

This happening as the politicians are attempting to salvage their ratings leading up to an election, realizing that it's best to make decisions that are in the nation's interest.

At least we've got a start with the new plants. I hope they build a few dozen more.

2/16/2010 8:13:12 PM

I am working on one of the other plants eyeing that money. My project was the front runner for the money for a long time until some internal problems between the two investors have caused some setbacks. Still look pretty solid to be in the top 2-3 which is what you need to be to get a slice of the loan guarantee.

also, these plants/new reactors have been under engineering design and even procurement for a few years. All the news is about today is that they got funding and that the design will actually be finished and constructed.

[Edited on February 16, 2010 at 8:45 PM. Reason : ]

2/16/2010 8:31:28 PM

Quote :

"although I agree that more nuclear power is necessary to reduce our carbon emissions, I dont agree with Obama using tax money to guarantee the loans. Im sure there are strong reasons why they cant get financing through the credit market to build these reactors and the government should not step in and take the risk with tax-payer money. "

This is standard procedure for building nuclear plants.

2/16/2010 8:38:22 PM

yep.

2/16/2010 8:40:47 PM

Quote :

"wait so we are building more plants without a place to put the spent fuel as there is no more yucca mountain"

shoot the shit into space

2/16/2010 8:46:50 PM

But we can reprocess and reuse the shit, without running the risk of an exploding rocket casting radioactive material across the united states.

2/16/2010 8:55:05 PM

^It'd take dozens if not hundreds of trips to get what we've already produced into space... not to mention the risk of sprinking nuclear waste into the atmosphere.

Glad to hear we're building something cleaner than coal, though

2/16/2010 8:57:24 PM

breeder reactors

2/16/2010 9:52:13 PM

How dare Obama take us down this path to Socialism?

2/16/2010 9:57:04 PM

Quote :

"Yeah finally I agree with something that Obama is doing."

It could save his re-election bid.


I am 110% for this.

2/16/2010 10:00:13 PM

heh, Obama is getting WAY too much credit for this...

For those of you that aren't that familiar with this new push for nuclear, this is an effort that started back in 2005. Taken from the DOE website:

Quote :

"Established under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Secretary of Energy is authorized to make loan guarantees to qualified projects in the belief that accelerated commercial use of these new or improved technologies will help to sustain economic growth, yield environmental benefits, and produce a more stable and secure energy supply."

Once this push was started back in 2005, it allowed these sites, investors, and the companies with the technology to actually start working towards developing feasibility studies, as well as start engineering design for these new reactors as well as start the loan and COLA process. It has taken years for companies to get to a point where the government can start making decisions on who has their stuff together enough to give them the billions of dollars needed to make this an economical decision.

Obama just happens to be the president in office when the DOE is making these decisions. Yes he could not go along with them, but this isn't his idea or anything. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy this is going on, and crossing my fingers nonstop hoping that my project gets a slice of the pie, but this was put in motion yearsss ago.

[Edited on February 16, 2010 at 10:08 PM. Reason : ]

2/16/2010 10:03:02 PM

CalledToArms, you working on/at STP?

2/16/2010 10:05:59 PM

Yea I am. I work for Fluor who is working as the EPC contractor under Toshiba (who has the reactor technology planned for use on the site). You know anyone working on it?

[Edited on February 16, 2010 at 10:12 PM. Reason : ]

2/16/2010 10:07:39 PM

Not really, but I've read a lot about the CPS NRG problems. I work for Areva. Hopefully we are 2/3 on the list also!

2/16/2010 10:13:37 PM

ah ok. I worked on USEC for over a year if that means anything to you. After that pretty much got canned I shifted over to STP.

Good luck!

2/16/2010 10:15:45 PM

Quote :

"Yeah finally I agree with something that Obama is doing."

qft

2/16/2010 10:45:28 PM

CTA knows what's up. this isn't obama's work. it's DOEs work that started under bush and is finally coming to fruition. obama is just the one not to shoot the plans down (so maybe he gets credit for that?).

but yes, gg, on shutting down yucca mountain. fucking morons

2/17/2010 8:41:58 AM

with proper pyro-reprocessing you separate the wastes from still viable (unburned) fuel (fuel is often contaminated with wastes at a point when only 10% or less of the uranium has been spent), seperation of the wastes also allow them to fizzle out much sooner than they would if left combined in the material. the really really hard to store super nasty waste would become non-threatening in a matter of 100 years or so (we can build containers for something like that rather than the 1000's projected for exsiting waste/fuel combination) and the remaining waste is far less dangerous and can be blended in with the plutonium to prevent it's use in bombs (for some reason this is a big huge concern that we wouldn't be able to keep track of waste).

on the plus side we wouldn't need to mine for more fuel for almost 100 years.

we really really need new nuke power plants.

2/17/2010 10:03:31 AM

w00t. NINA and CPS resolved the lawsuit and are moving forward as scheduled with the STP 3&4 expansion. hopefully this keeps them in a good position for some loan $!

2/17/2010 6:15:47 PM