| Topic: |
Science > Physics |
| User: |
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" |
| Date: |
12 Jun 2005 02:49:20 AM |
| Object: |
UTILITIES SHOW INTEREST IN NEW NUKE PLANTS |
Utilities Show Interest in New Nuke Plants
By H. Josef Hebert
The Associated Press
Yahoo! News
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Washington - For two months, Ray Ganthner took to the
road, visiting a dozen power companies to find out if his
bosses should take a $100 million gamble. Asking
executives "eyeball-to-eyeball" about their future
generating capacity needs, he wanted to know just how
serious utilities were about building a new nuclear power
plant in the United States for the first time in three
decades.
"I was surprised at the consistency of the answers,"
Ganthner, a Lynchburg, Va.-based senior executive for the
French reactor manufacturer, Framatome, said in an
interview.
Based on what he found, AREVA, Framatome's parent
company, is now investing $100 million on U.S. marketing
and to get a design certificate from the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission for its newest reactor, one already
being built in Finland.
It may be a long shot. Two other manufacturers,
Westinghouse and General Electric, have a head start. But
the French company's decision to make it a three-way race
demonstrates the resurgent interest in nuclear power in
the United States, where no new reactor has been ordered
since 1973.
The 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island
nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, followed by the 1986
explosion at the Chernobyl plant in the Ukraine ended any
U.S. interest in more reactors beyond those already under
construction.
Recently a consortium of eight U.S. utilities, called
NuStart, announced potential sites where one or more of
its members might put a new reactor. Two other American
utilities are pursuing separate licensing efforts.
While no one has yet committed to construction, Energy
Secretary Samuel Bodman recently told an industry group,
"If all goes well, we could see new plants on line by
2014."
Westinghouse Electric Co., a subsidiary of the British
company BNFL, already has approval from the NRC for its
new 1,000 megawatt AP1000 reactor design and General
Electric will submit an application for its 1,500
megawatt ESBWR reactor later this year.
Both companies are working hard to line up customers,
convinced that electricity demand a decade from now will
require more large power plants, and that some will be
nuclear.
"We think everything is heading in absolutely the right
direction," says Vaughn Gilbert, a Westinghouse
spokesman. "Nuclear has to be part of the energy picture.
We expect the U.S. market will come back and eventually
be robust."
The new reactors are described as "evolutionary"
advancements over the 103 now in operation in 31 states.
They basically use the same technology, but with fewer
valves, pipes and pumps, and -- in the case of
Westinghouse and GE -- passive safety systems that, if
needed, can shut the reactor down and pour in cooling
water without human intervention. Other modifications
such as setting the radioactive fuel lower into the
ground were added in response to post-Sept. 11 worries
about terrorism.
President Bush has pushed nuclear power as a way to take
the pressure off fossil fuels -- oil, natural gas and
coal. While the United States gets 20 percent of its
electricity from nuclear reactors, France meets 78
percent of its electricity needs with nuclear power.
Even some environmentalists have abandoned their
opposition to nuclear power, arguing it is needed to
address climate change because reactors do not produce
so-called "greenhouse" gases as do fossil fuels. Other
environmentalists are not convinced, citing worries about
reactor waste and safety.
At the heart of the resurgent interest in nuclear power
are the high cost of competing energy sources and
improved reactor efficiency. A University of Chicago
study concluded that a new fleet of reactors can be
expected to produce power as cheaply as coal and natural
gas, given's today's prices.
"People are getting comfortable with nuclear," Paul
Dabber, a vice president for mergers and acquisitions at
J.P. Morgan, told a conference on new reactor technology
in February. One reason is that existing nuclear power
plants have been making profits, he said.
Wall Street has long been skeptical about committing $2
billion or more to a new nuclear reactor and investors
still consider such a venture risky unless the government
provides tax breaks or other incentives to get the first
group of reactors started.
Without some government help, no new reactors are likely
to be built before 2025, says the Energy Information
Agency, the government's energy statistical agency.
Congress is considering loan guarantees for new-design
reactors, and lawmakers are expected to come up with
other tax breaks to stoke investor interest. But a Bush
proposal to provide "risk insurance" to protect the
industry against licensing or legal delays has attracted
little interest on Capitol Hill.
No one has yet committed to building a new reactor and
despite the optimistic rhetoric, utilities are moving
toward that decision cautiously.
A premature pronouncement about a new reactor could
rattle investors and depress a utility's stock, industry
experts say. Utilities and investors still remember the
pitfalls of long licensing delays that doubled and
tripled the cost of many reactors in the 1980s. In one of
the biggest cost overruns, the proposed twin-reactor
Seabrook plant in New Hampshire was projected to cost
$850 million in 1976 and be finished in six years, but
ended up costing $7 billion when completed in 1990 even
though the second reactor was canceled.
"My company lost $5 billion to $10 billion on the last
round of nuclear construction," Exelon chairman John Rowe
said in a recent speech, explaining why he is approaching
new reactor investments with caution.
Rowe, whose Chicago-based utility company owns 17 nuclear
reactors, more plants than any other utility, also says
his company won't invest in a new plant until there is
more progress in dealing with reactor waste. A proposed
waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has had a
string of setbacks and the date for its completion is
optimistically put at 2012.
Still, Exelon and two other utilities, Dominion and
Entergy, have separately applied to the NRC for early
site permits for reactors with the idea of shortening the
licensing process if a decision is made to go ahead with
one.
"There is a growing recognition that if we are going to
meet our future need for electric energy and also reduce
our emissions of greenhouse gases ... we simply must
build the next generation of advanced nuclear energy
plants," said Marilyn Kray, an Exelon vice president and
head of the NuStart consortium.
In an interview, she said the goal is to preserve the
nuclear option by testing the NRC's streamlined licensing
process.
Also testing the water is Duke Energy, based in
Charlotte, N.C., which, moving on its own, is talking
about possibly having a new reactor operating by 2014.
Dominion, based in Virginia, also is making plans to seek
an NRC reactor construction permit. Neither company has
made a final decision.
The Energy Department is paying half the cost of the
various initial licensing efforts, including an expected
$46 million next year.
"Adding nuclear capacity ... makes a lot of sense," says
Henry "Brew" Barron, in charge of nuclear operations at
Duke Power, a subsidiary of Duke Energy that serves 2
million customers in the Carolinas. By 2014, Duke will
need at least one more large power plant to meet demand
in one of the country's fastest growing regions. Many
other utilities around the country are facing similar
electricity demands.
Once the logjam is broken with the first orders, the U.S.
reactor market could become the world's second largest,
after China, given expected growth in U.S. electricity
demand and environmental and cost concerns about rival
fossil fuels, says Andy White, president of GE Energy's
nuclear business.
"We've probably never had a better situation," White said
in an interview, predicting that 60 or more new reactors
may be built in the United States over the next 20 to 30
years with several designs finding customers.
- - -
On the Net:
Energy Department: http://www.ne.doe.gov/
NuStart: http://www.nustartenergy.com/
Westinghouse: http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/
General Electric:
http://www.gepower.com/businesses/ge_nuclear/en/index.htm
Framatome: http://www.framatome.com/
Areva: http://www.areva.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050611/ap_on_bi_ge/nuclear_resurgence
- - - - - - -
Well, it's about time.
Posted on 6/12/2005 12:34:24 AM PDT by FairOpinion
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
End of forwarded message
Jai Maharaj
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"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
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| User: "Komin" |
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| Title: Re: UTILITIES SHOW INTEREST IN NEW NUKE PLANTS |
12 Jun 2005 04:10:13 AM |
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Mharaj ,
I thought Westinghouse was American .
When did teh Brits bought up this company Westinghouse ?
The Dayan Bay project [ 1970 ] east of Hong kong ,
went to Framatone because Westinghouse was American .
.
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| User: "Brian Bosley" |
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| Title: Re: UTILITIES SHOW INTEREST IN NEW NUKE PLANTS |
12 Jun 2005 06:36:29 PM |
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"Komin" <veakrin@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118567413.615810.119030@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
Mharaj ,
I thought Westinghouse was American .
When did teh Brits bought up this company Westinghouse ?
1999
The Dayan Bay project [ 1970 ] east of Hong kong ,
went to Framatone because Westinghouse was American .
.
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| User: "Komin" |
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| Title: Re: UTILITIES SHOW INTEREST IN NEW NUKE PLANTS |
12 Jun 2005 07:49:15 PM |
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Bosley ,
Which company bought Westinghouse in 1999 ?
the Chinese are comparing the Nuclear plants built by the Russians
outside Shanghai,
and Nuclear plants built by the French .
.
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| User: "Brian Bosley" |
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| Title: Re: UTILITIES SHOW INTEREST IN NEW NUKE PLANTS |
13 Jun 2005 01:38:27 AM |
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"Komin" <veakrin@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118623754.975303.19620@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Bosley ,
Which company bought Westinghouse in 1999 ?
British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) The UK government is 100%
shareholder.
the Chinese are comparing the Nuclear plants built by the
Russians
outside Shanghai,
and Nuclear plants built by the French .
.
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| User: "Komin" |
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| Title: Re: UTILITIES SHOW INTEREST IN NEW NUKE PLANTS |
13 Jun 2005 02:36:33 AM |
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Thanks Brian Bosley .
The HSBC financed heavily the Chinese railways before the Commi
take-over ,
The HSBC will undoubtedly finance the Westinghouse Nuclear projects
inside China ,
China wants Nuclear Plants , the Indians are going into coal powered
electric stations.
India is near to Australia and S. Africa for coal .
.
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| User: "quasarstrider" |
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| Title: Re: UTILITIES SHOW INTEREST IN NEW NUKE PLANTS |
13 Jun 2005 08:45:54 PM |
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Komin wrote:
China wants Nuclear Plants , the Indians are going into coal powered
electric stations.
India is near to Australia and S. Africa for coal .
Both are trying to have diverse sources.
China has huge hydro plans (e.g. Three Gorges Dam), but most of their
electricity comes from Coal, which they have large reserves of. They
are going to built lots of nuclear power plants, but you have to see
the scale of it. A couple of dozen nuclear power plants are not enough
to replace Coal for a country like China.
India seems to be betting on Coal and Thorium fission nuclear power.
.
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| User: "Bruce Sinclair" |
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| Title: Re: UTILITIES SHOW INTEREST IN NEW NUKE PLANTS |
13 Jun 2005 07:59:30 PM |
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In article <1118713554.906467.276280@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, "quasarstrider" <quasarstrider@gmail.com> wrote:
Komin wrote:
China wants Nuclear Plants , the Indians are going into coal powered
electric stations.
India is near to Australia and S. Africa for coal .
Both are trying to have diverse sources.
China has huge hydro plans (e.g. Three Gorges Dam),
... tho this will produce only a small fraction (1 or 2 % ?) of their needs
IIRC.
Bruce
-------------------------------------
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.
- George Bernard Shaw
Cynic, n: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.
- Ambrose Bierce
Caution ===== followups may have been changed to relevant groups
(if there were any)
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