Posted by Bignuncio at 4:03pm Feb 11 '12It took four years to get the approval and this was only because the process was "streamlined" in order to get the costs and time of the approval process reduced.
They are going to build the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor there which is only a generation III reactor which uses high pressure water.
While this reactor design is extremely safe just the nature of a high pressure containment means there is more possibility of something going wrong than with the generation IV reactors which could use molten lead for cooling.
Our nuclear regulatory commission is so slow and inept they have not yet approved any generation IV reactors even though they are a twenty year old design. So the approval process wasted four years and even after all that we are still being held back from having superior technology.
It will be another four years before the reactors start to come online and the cost will be around fourteen billion dollars. This means this power company is taking a huge risk in capital for returns it will not see for years and possibly not ever if some hippie protesters get their way. So why wouldn't they go with the current trend of building natural gas plants which are cheaper and less controversial and has far less of a regulatory burden and risk of political blowback?
The political and regulatory environment makes it a huge gamble on the part of this power company that this green technology will work and no doubt has only been spurred into action by the new environmental regulations placed on coal burning plants. They are gambling that the cost of natural gas will go up and the regulatory burden on other sources of power will go up as well.
To appreciate the size of the LHC check this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXjR-Jkrsvg
It is in a tunnel 50 to 175 meters deep 27 kilometers around.
They are going to build the Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor there which is only a generation III reactor which uses high pressure water.
While this reactor design is extremely safe just the nature of a high pressure containment means there is more possibility of something going wrong than with the generation IV reactors which could use molten lead for cooling.
Our nuclear regulatory commission is so slow and inept they have not yet approved any generation IV reactors even though they are a twenty year old design. So the approval process wasted four years and even after all that we are still being held back from having superior technology.
It will be another four years before the reactors start to come online and the cost will be around fourteen billion dollars. This means this power company is taking a huge risk in capital for returns it will not see for years and possibly not ever if some hippie protesters get their way. So why wouldn't they go with the current trend of building natural gas plants which are cheaper and less controversial and has far less of a regulatory burden and risk of political blowback?
The political and regulatory environment makes it a huge gamble on the part of this power company that this green technology will work and no doubt has only been spurred into action by the new environmental regulations placed on coal burning plants. They are gambling that the cost of natural gas will go up and the regulatory burden on other sources of power will go up as well.
added on 4:41pm Feb 11 '12:
To put that fourteen billion dollar price tag into perspective and perhaps give an indication of how much of that cost is simply nonsense regulatory burden that's about enough money to build one and a half Large Hadron Colliders.To appreciate the size of the LHC check this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXjR-Jkrsvg
It is in a tunnel 50 to 175 meters deep 27 kilometers around.
Finally nuclear power is back. - Bignuncio