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Submission + - Nuclear plants delayed in China, watched closely by US firms (pennenergy.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: U.S. power companies struggling with the escalating costs of building nuclear plants are closely watching similar efforts in China, where officials are expecting delays.

Two plants under construction in Sanmen and Haiyang, China, are the first-ever built using Westinghouse Electric Co.'s AP1000 reactor design. Utility companies in Georgia and South Carolina are building two similar plants in the United States using a very similar design. Since the project in China is father along, U.S. executives and safety regulators watch it closely.

Officials at China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. blame the delays on the late delivery of equipment from the United States. Westinghouse Electric Co. and project manufacturers are working to redesign a coolant pump for the plant.

Chinese officials are building a fleet of nuclear plants as they aim to produce a fifth of their country's electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.

"Because it is the first of this kind in the world, it is normal to have some delay," said Guo Hongbo, director of the firm's general office. He was vague on how long the delays may last. "It is not a problem whether the delay is one year or two years. The technological breakthrough will be utterly valuable to the development of ... world nuclear power."

The projects in the United States are already under cost pressure. Westinghouse Electric Co. and Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. expect construction of two new AP1000 reactors at Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia will go three years beyond the approved schedule, according to financial filings. Southern Co., which owns a 46 percent stake in the plant, and the plant's other owners have not accepted that timeline.

Regulators in Georgia estimate the latest delays could push Southern Co.'s share of spending on the plant from $6.1 billion to more than $8 billion.

A sister plant owned by SCANA Corp. and Santee Cooper in South Carolina has run into similar delays and cost overruns.

Comment Re:Unreliable indeed (Score -1, Flamebait) 311

by mdsolar (#49066563) Attached to: Nuclear Plant Taken Down In Anticipation of Snowstorm
There are a lot of fanbois here, which is why this type of information is useful. Entergy already has a history of neglecting their plants and lying about it to those responsible for oversight. They seem particularly vulnerable to this kind of dangerous dishonesty with so much at risk. http://www.forbes.com/sites/je...

Comment Brittle (Score -1, Troll) 311

by mdsolar (#49063863) Attached to: Nuclear Plant Taken Down In Anticipation of Snowstorm
Nuclear power seems to add brittleness to the system. They get shut down when it is too hot in the summer. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com... They extend blackouts by being too big to fail gracefully. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... And, they don't allow consumers access to the lowest cost power by failing to shut down when not needed. http://will.illinois.edu/nfs/R... They seem to add more problems than they solve.

Comment NRC ranks Pilgrim among worst US nuclear plants (Score -1, Troll) 311

by mdsolar (#49063779) Attached to: Nuclear Plant Taken Down In Anticipation of Snowstorm
" Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth will continue to be classified by the federal government as one of the worst performers among nuclear power plants in the country, at least for now, based on a recent inspection.

Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Entergy Corp., the plant's owner and operator, put together adequate action plans to address past issues there, related to a series of unplanned shutdowns, but the utility fell short on execution.

"It has to do with follow through on the corrective actions," Sheehan said. "Some weren't completed as intended, and others were closed before actions were completed."

Pilgrim was downgraded to among nine of the poorest performing nuclear plants in the country in February 2014, based on unplanned shutdowns and shutdowns with complications during 2013. Federal regulators said Entergy had to determine the root causes for the shutdowns and implement corrective actions. The plant was downgraded to a category that required federal regulators watch it more closely. The recent inspection could have moved the plant back to the group requiring only regular inspections.

"They told us when they were ready for an inspection, and we sent an eight-member team who found they had deficiencies in the execution of corrective action as well as in understanding of the causes of the issues," Sheehan said. "The net effect is we'll have to go back for another inspection." http://www.patriotledger.com/a...

Submission + - Unreliable nuclear plant down for snowstorm (capecodtoday.com) 1

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: Pilgrim Power Plant in Plymouth was taken offline line Saturday in anticipation of the weekend snowstorm. According to a statement from Entergy, the owner of Pilgrim, the plant was taken off line in preparation of "a potential loss of offsite power or the grid's inability to accept the power Pilgrim generates."

This is the second time this season the plant has been shut down due to storm conditions. On January 27 the facility was taken offline after the two main power transmission lines were knocked out by blizzard conditions. Although the transmission lines were restored within a few days, the plant remained offline until February 7 at which time it was reconnected to the grid.

Submission + - Fossil Fuel Industry Funds Study That Concludes Fossil Fuel Divestment Is A Bad (desmogblog.com)

Submitted by mdsolar
mdsolar writes: As of September 2014, 181 institutions and local governments as well as 656 individual investors representing more than $50 billion in assets had pledged to join the growing fossil fuel divestment movement, which seeks to take investments away from the oil, gas and coal companies that are cooking our atmosphere and reinvest that money in the development of a low-carbon economy.

This has, understandably, caused quite a bit of alarm amongst the fossil fuel set.

Enter Daniel Fischel, chairman and president of economic consulting firm Compass Lexecon, who recently published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal called “The Feel-Good Folly of Fossil-Fuel Divestment” in which he discussed the findings of a forthcoming report that “indicates that fossil-fuel divestment could significantly harm an investment portfolio.”

Fischel goes out of his way to appear to have the interests of the poor universities called on to divest at heart: “Every bit of economic and quantitative evidence available to us today shows that the only entities punished under a fossil-fuel divestment regime are the schools actually doing the divesting,” he concludes.

You had to get past the WSJ’s paywall and then read to the bottom of the piece before you got to the most salient point: “The report discussed in this op-ed, ‘Fossil Fuel Divestment: A Costly and Ineffective Investment Strategy,’ was financed by the Independent Petroleum Association of America.”

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