Slashdot Mirror
Toshiba to Pay $5.4 Billion for Westinghouse
Philip writes "Business electronics firm Toshiba is bidding for 100% control of Westinghouse - famous for making blenders and LCD televisions, but principally in the business of building nuclear reactors. 'By 2020 the market for nuclear power generation is expected to grow 50 percent compared to 2005,' Toshiba CEO Nishida said at a London news conference. 'Toshiba is responding to this challenge by acquiring Westinghouse.'"
Nuclear Powered Laptops?
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Does the DOE have any limitations on foreign corporations handling parts of our Nuclear Energy programs?
Is anyone else a little concerned about this?
Never ask for directions from a two-headed tourist! -Big Bird
How can we developing more nuclear technology without securing the manual override from our defense contractors? Am I the only one watching these 24 Monday Marathons???
...Iran's bid for Westinghouse is 5.5 billion
I read
In the 90s, Westinghouse was split up by Viacom, the owner at that time. The electronics side of the business was sold to Siemens and currently goes under the name Siemens-Westinghouse. All the other divisions of Westinghouse were sold to a variety of companies except for the nuclear division. The nuclear division retained the name Westinghouse Electric Company and was sold to British nuclear fuels.
As far as the next generation of "traditional" fission reactors, I guess I've been more impressed with GE's ESBWR , than Westinghouse's APxxx ...
IANANE (I am not a Nuclear Engineer), but BWRs seem to have fewer problems (no steam gnerators to leak/plug up, no vessle head degradation) and are theroetically more efficent (single cycle)...
I wonder if anyone is going to make a bid for GENE (General Electric Nuclear Energy)...
I also wonder why we dont hear more about CANDU reactors . They use natural uranium instead of enriched uranium, which could provide more peaceful energy in unstable areas of the worls
It seriously set the nuclear power industry back, which is a shame. Old plants continue to operate, but new ones are very slow to appear. Safe and non-polluting technologies were available for decades and we are wising up to using them only now.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I have never heard of Westinghouse blenders or TVs. To me the name Westinghouse means railway brake systems.
In the UK the BBC website recently ran articles pointing to upcoming reviews of existing nuclear power plants and the impact of bring new plants online.
As noted before the environmentalist camp has had some of it's big guns come out in support of nuclear power as the only alternative available to stave off global warming.
Probably the various political power bases have decided nuclear power is the way to go and have given the spin doctors orders to soften public reaction.
Good news for Canada with a mature nuclear technology, substantial Uranium resources, not to mention being oil and hydro rich.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
The rest of the old Westinghouse has been gone for many years. When you see a new "Westinghouse" consumer product, such as a lcd television, that's a separate individual or company that purchased the right to use the brand name in a certain product area, and then contracted with an asian manufacturer to produce the product.
The same point is true of "Polaroid" lcd televisions; an investor bought the right to use the brand name for electronic products at Polaroids bankruptcy auction, and then contracts with asian manufacturers to bring in product.
I'd love to see Toshiba's mini nuclear reactors widely deployed in the U.S., or at the bare minimum looked into with a few test deployments.
They are small, safe, and cost effective.
They are the size of a grain silo, buried 100 feet underground. They are idiot-proof (think of the causes of Chernobyl) because the nuclear reaction only happens while a plate is moving in front of the rods. If the plate stops, the reaction stops. The plate cannot move except intentionally, so the chance of a runaway meltdown approaches zero.
If the U.S. were smart it would take a months budget for the war in Iraq and just buy the technology outright from Toshiba, then deploy them as widely and cheaply as possible.
Lose Weight and Feel Great with Isagenix
That CANDU link is quite interesting
http://canteach.candu.org/library/20000101.pdf
Existing reactors work by using an expensive fuel (enriched uranium) and a cheap moderator (graphite or water).
CANDU's idea is relatively safer. Instead of enriched uranium, CANDU reactors use natural uranium (which is cheap) along with an expensive moderator (heavy water). The design is a bit safer too.
OTOH, heavy water is still a part of the nucleur weapons making process & is export controlled.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Rotary Steam Engine
Railroad Block Signal
Railroad Air Brakes
AC Power Generation
First Long-distance power transmission
Niagra Falls AC Generation
Steam turbine generators
Light Bulbs
AC Electric Locomotives
First Marine Turbine Engine
Micarta Laminate
Electric kitchen Range
Radios Receivers/Transmitters
Electric Iron
Television Cameras
Televisions
Elevators
Electrostatic Air Cleaners
First Atom Smasher
Radar
Automatic Washing Machine
Electric Clothes drier
X-Ray Machines
Self Defrosting Refridgerator
Electric Rotisserie Grills
Room Air Conditioners
Submarines
Jet Engines
Nuclear Reactors
And on and on and on
My nuke plant puts out about 3400 amps at the New England Grid's 345,000 Volts. I don't know what the resistance is for the lines, but it's pretty damn low.
The outgoing three phase lines have to be kept at a considerable distance from each other (16 feet) meaning that the minimum tower width is 32 feet or so.
If you bring them any closer, you'd have arcing, or you'd need to heavily insulate them.
If you increased the voltage (some places in the US run as high as 750,000 volts), you need to move the lines further apart, or insulate them greatly- not only is this expensive, but it makes them heavier, so you'd need tougher towers, you'd have less margin for ice buildup, etc, etc.
There are numerous reasons why the main grid distribution voltage can't get substantially higher.
Also local lines need to be kept at relatively low voltages to reduce maintanance costs. Again, the higher the voltage, the more prone a line is to arching to nearby grounds. If you run 100,000 volts through a neighborhood line you'd reduce line losses, but you'd have to send tree trimming crews out alot more often, and they'd have to cut trees much further back.
In short, when you decide on a grid voltage for a particular line run, you have to weigh construction costs vs maintanance costs vs material cost vs line losses.
There are numerous factors at play here.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.