The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Energy => Topic started by: mountaineer on August 01, 2023, 10:54:17 am
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America’s first new nuclear reactor in nearly seven years starts operations
Published Mon, Jul 31 2023 1:15 PM EDT/Updated Mon, Jul 31 2023 3:32 PM EDT
Catherine Clifford
NBC News (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/31/vogtle-unit-3-nuclear-reactor-long-delayed-starts-delivering-power.html)Key Points
*The unit 3 reactor at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, Georgia, has started commercial operation, primary owner Georgia Power said on Monday.
*The reactor will power an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses with clean energy, meaning no greenhouse gasses are generated.
*The last time a nuclear reactor started delivering energy to the power grid was in October 2016, when the Tennessee Valley Authority began commercial operation of its Watts Bar Unit 2.
Monday marked the first time a new nuclear reactor has begun delivering power to the electric grid in the United States in nearly seven years. Nuclear energy does not generate the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
The unit 3 reactor at Plant Vogtle near Waynesboro, Georgia, has started commercial operation, primary owner Georgia Power said on Monday. This follows preliminary tests in March.
The reactor, an Westinghouse AP1000, is generating approximately 1,110 megawatts of energy, which can power an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses, Georgia Power said. ...
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So, that's 1 of the approximately 700 that will be needed to support the all-electric transportation fleet.
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New Georgia reactor is a test case for nuclear power
Kimberly Adams
Jul 31, 2023 The extreme heat this summer has been unrelenting in many parts of the country. With higher temperatures also comes higher demand for electricity to power air-conditioning units, fans and dehumidifiers as people try to stay cool. That’s all putting strain on power plants and the electric grid, which further heats up the planet.
Nuclear power, however, is totally free of carbon emissions. And on Monday, a new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia came online — the nation’s first new reactor to be built from scratch in decades.
The reactor at Plant Vogtle is the first of two new units at the plant, ultimately capable of powering half a million homes in Georgia, Florida and Alabama. But the project is seven years behind schedule and more than double the projected cost — to the tune of almost $35 billion. ...
Marketplace (https://www.marketplace.org/2023/07/31/new-georgia-reactor-nuclear-power/)
*****rollingeyes*****
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This is the first of two reactors set to go online. Story: Plant Vogtle by the numbers: Georgia’s nuclear expansion is here; The first of two new nuclear reactors enters service near Augusta as Georgia Power and partners activate Unit 3 (https://www.ajc.com/news/the-numbers-behind-georgias-new-nuclear-reactors/YXX5GAGKFNDMNJHHKPXTZ6FNYA/) from Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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But the project is seven years behind schedule and more than double the projected cost — to the tune of almost $35 billion. ...
I'd ask why, but I know the answer has the initials "NRC" in it.
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I'd ask why, but I know the answer has the initials "NRC" in it.
I can't even begin to imagine how much bureaucratic BS they had to go through.
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So, that's 1 of the approximately 700 that will be needed to support the all-electric transportation fleet.
@Kamaji
Not really. The whole concept of replacing gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles is Bull Bush. The idea is to slowly get people to accept they either stay close to home,or take public transportation. In the cases of cities,the only choices will be public transportation,bicycles,or walking.
Unless you are a public official or a member of the ruling class,of course. Then you will ride of fly anywhere you need or want to go.
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I can't even begin to imagine how much bureaucratic BS they had to go through.
@mountaineer
HEY!
Bureaucrats have to have jobs,too!
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New Georgia nuclear reactor enters operation, making history
American Military News by Drew Kann - The Atlanta Journal Constitution August 02, 2023
The first of the two new units at Plant Vogtle, in east Georgia, has officially entered commercial service, Georgia Power announced Monday, making history as the first nuclear reactor built from scratch in the U.S. in more than three decades.
The reactor, Unit 3, is expected to produce 1,100 megawatts of electricity at full tilt, enough to power roughly 500,000 homes and businesses. Georgia Power has said the unit and its twin, Unit 4 — which is expected to be finished by the end of the first quarter of 2024 — will be in service for the next 60 to 80 years.
The two reactors south of Augusta were pitched as part of a nuclear revival that would usher in vast amounts of carbon-free electricity. But both units will finish years behind schedule and billions over initial cost estimates.
Still, completion of Unit 3 is a major step for the country’s nuclear industry, which federal officials say must be revived for the U.S. to achieve its climate goals and reclaim energy independence. And though work continues to bring Unit 4 across the finish line, it marks the beginning of the end of a tumultuous quest to bring the reactors online.
During a ceremony Monday on a hill overlooking the site, with thick fog obscuring the cooling towers, Georgia Power president and CEO Kim Greene called the milestone a “culmination of years of hard work and sacrifices by many.”
“Along the way, we faced unprecedented challenges, skepticism, even doubt,” she said. “But we stayed the course.”
Mike Smith, the president and CEO of Oglethorpe Power, which owns the second-largest share of the two new units, said in a statement that Unit 3′s completion “is a testament to the important investments we’re making that drive us toward a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.” Once Unit 4 is finished, Smith said Oglethorpe — a power supply cooperative whose members serve 4.4 million Georgians — will source more than half of the electricity it provides from nuclear power.
Unit 3 came online Monday more than seven years after it was initially expected to enter service. Unit 4, meanwhile, is more than six years behind schedule.
The delays have pushed the total price tag for the whole project above $35 billion, more than double what the company initially forecast — and still growing. Critics have blamed Georgia Power and its parent, Southern Company, for the rising costs, which they say Vogtle owners and shareholders should pay for, not customers.
More: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/08/new-georgia-nuclear-reactor-enters-operation-making-history/ (https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/08/new-georgia-nuclear-reactor-enters-operation-making-history/)
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"Carbon Free!!!"
BS.
Not one mention of the CO2 released making concrete, mining, refining, milling and fabricating, during construction, or even mining and refining fuel for the core...
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"Carbon Free!!!"
BS.
Not one mention of the CO2 released making concrete, mining, refining, milling and fabricating, during construction, or even mining and refining fuel for the core...
How many tons of concrete do you figure it took?
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How many tons of concrete do you figure it took?
I don't know. a 1970s reactor (well, the plant) took 74,867 metric tonnes.
https://fhr.nuc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/05-001-A_Material_input.pdf (https://fhr.nuc.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/05-001-A_Material_input.pdf)
From: https://www.cement.org/docs/default-source/th-paving-pdfs/sustainability/carbon-foot-print.pdf (https://www.cement.org/docs/default-source/th-paving-pdfs/sustainability/carbon-foot-print.pdf)
The manufacture of cement produces about 0.9 pounds of CO2 for every pound
of cement. Since cement is only a fraction of the constituents in concrete,
manufacturing a cubic yard of concrete (about 3900 lbs 1.76901 metric tonnes) is responsible for emitting about 400 lbs of CO2
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(74,867/1.76901)*400= 16,928,564 lbs. of CO2 released by making the cement for the concrete, and that is just one aspect of the construction of the plant.