Completely Off My Radar Scope: First US Nuclear Reactor Since 1996 Soon To Be On-Line -- June 14, 2016; "Ham & Cheese" Goes Down In Flames

Updates

June 17, 2016: WSJ has an article on this story.

By summer’s end, authorities expect the new reactor at this complex along the Chickamauga Reservoir, a dammed section of the Tennessee River extending northward from Chattanooga, to steadily generate enough electricity to power 650,000 homes.

Although the opening of a new nuclear facility used to draw protesters and angry rhetoric, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar reactor has been mostly welcomed by local residents — and even some advocates concerned about climate change.

“It’s a big step forward for clean energy, and we really have to be pushing that as hard as we can for the sake of the climate – all sources of clean energy, which includes nuclear,” said MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel.

He and a group of influential climate scientists, led by former NASA researcher James Hansen, have recently made a strong push for nuclear, arguing that the energy source “will make the difference between the world missing crucial climate targets or achieving them.”

But while nuclear reactors account for the lion’s share of the carbon-free electricity generated in the United States, the industry faces this new set of circumstances in a state of near-crisis. A combination of very cheap natural gas and deregulated energy markets in some states has led to a growing number of plant closures in recent years.

Original Post

 

So, how much does a nuclear energy plant cost these days?

$4.7 billion / 1,150 MW = 4,700,000,000 / 1,150 = only $4.1 million / MW.

Compare with costs for a new natural gas plant, or an unreliable politically correct power plant over at this link. 

The new nuclear reactor is pictured at this link: it looks pretty surreal, pretty futuristic.

The Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Watts Bar Unit 2 was connected to the power grid on June 3, becoming the first nuclear power plant to come online since 1996, when Watts Bar Unit 1 started operations.

Watts Bar Unit 2 is undergoing final testing, producing electricity at incremental levels of power, as TVA prepares to start commercial operation later this summer. The new reactor is designed to add 1,150 megawatts (MW) of electricity generating capacity to southeastern Tennessee.

From wiki:

The plant, construction of which began in 1973, has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactor units: Unit 1, completed in 1996, and Unit 2, completed in 2015. Unit I has a winter net dependable generating capacity of 1,167 megawatts. Unit 2 has a projected capacity of 1,150 megawatts.

Construction began in 1973. Does anyone even remember who the US president was in 1973...going backwards...Obama, Bush, Clinton...Bush, Reagan... you mean you have to go back this far...Carter? Nope, even farther back: to Richard M. Nixon, 1969 - 1974, who I think had more integrity than most since then .... at least on some level. I doubt anyone agrees with me. Whatever.

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That Double Slaying In Williston

No charges filed. The shooter has left the building. And the state.

Uff-da.

Most Willistonites were heard to say: "It could have been worse."

One question not yet answered: was the car ever sold?

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"Ham And Cheese" Referendum On Today's North Dakota Primary Ballot

And the results...corporate farming in ND goes down in flames ...

Pretty clear, huh?

So, what does "no" mean, and what does "yes" mean?

A vote "for" the measure would uphold Senate Bill 2351, which allows domestic corporations and limited liability companies to own and operate dairy farms and swine production facilities on no more than 640 acres of land. A vote "against" the measure would repeal Senate Bill 2351.