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Related: About this forumpromises of easier nuclear construction fall short
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NUCLEAR_CONSTRUCTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-26-11-03-49In this Friday, June 13, 2014 photo, Buzz Miller, executive vice president of nuclear development at Southern Co., stands in front of the high-pressure vessel that will be used in a new nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle power plant in Waynesboro, Ga. Before it started building, the nuclear industry promised its new generation of plants would be constructed using giant Lego-like modules that make building faster, cheaper and produce a higher-quality result. Instead, the Louisiana factory building these modules has failed to master quality control rules, stick to schedule or replicate the approved designs, adding time and significant cost to first-of-their-kind projects. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)WAYNESBORO, Ga. (AP) --
The U.S. nuclear industry has started building its first new plants in decades using prefabricated Lego-like blocks meant to save time and money and revive the once promising energy source.
So far, it's not working.
Quality and cost problems have cropped up again, raising questions about whether nuclear power will ever be able to compete with other electricity sources. The first two reactors built after a 16-year lull, Southern Co.'s Vogtle plant in Georgia and SCANA Corp.'s VC Summer plant in South Carolina, are being assembled in large modules. Large chunks of the modules are built off-site, in an effort to improve quality and avoid the chronic cost overruns that all but killed the nuclear industry when the first wave of plants was being built in the 1960s and 1970s.
Analysts say engineers created designs that were hard or impossible to make, according to interviews and regulatory filings reviewed by The Associated Press. The factory in Louisiana that constructed the prefabricated sections struggled to meet strict quality rules. Utility companies got early warnings but proved unable to avoid the problems. Now the firms leading the project are phasing out the Louisiana factory for work on the biggest modules and contracting with new manufacturers.
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promises of easier nuclear construction fall short (Original Post)
xchrom
Jul 2014
OP
madokie
(51,076 posts)1. Wouldn't you think
that at some point the nuclear power industry will have to call Uncle. Nothing about nuclear energy has been as it was promised to us all those decades ago at the beginning. All these years later and still no viable, safe way to deal with the waste, nor do they have answers when things do go wrong such as is proven to be the case by what is happening in Fukushima Japan right now. They've thrown millions/billions of dollars and lots of lost lives at this painted up pig that its about time to admit that safe, cheap and clean nuclear energy is not going to ever be.
Sure I'd like to believe that there is a big pie in the sky that was going to feed us all but that kind of thinking only makes one hungrier.
hunter
(38,321 posts)2. And then there is this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill
Every time we drive a car or fly somewhere in an airplane or buy something made in China or eat "factory farm" food, or heat and cool our homes... any number of things, we are choosing to ignore global warming and all the other environmental catastrophes of fossil fuel use and our high energy industrial consumerism.
Pardon me if I can't get especially worked up about the hazards of nuclear power, or the wonders or "renewable" energies like big hydro, wind, or solar. They are all just alternative flavors of the same shit sandwich.
Which would you prefer in your meal, sir? Today's specials are tritium, fracking fluids, antibiotic resistant pathogens, and glycophosphates.