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First New Nuclear Plant in US in 30 years

Posted by samzenpus on from the let-the-meltdown-begin dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "With backing from the White House and congressional leaders, and subsidies like the $500 million in risk insurance from the Department of Energy, the nuclear industry is experiencing a revival in the US. Scientific American reports that this week NRG Energy filed an application for the first new nuclear power plant in the US in thirty years to build two advanced boiling water reactors (ABWR) at its South Texas nuclear power plant site doubling the 2700 megawatts presently generated at the facility. The ABWR, based on technology already operating in Japan, works by using the heat generated by the controlled splitting of uranium atoms in fuel rods to directly boil water into steam to drive turbines producing electricity. Improvements over previous designs include removing water circulation pipes that could rupture and accidentally drain water from the reactor, exposing the fuel rods to a potential meltdown, and fewer pumps to move the water through the system. NRG projects it will spend $6 billion constructing the two new reactors and hopes to have the first unit online by 2014."

8 of 838 comments (clear)

  1. What, no comments? by quigonn · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everybody busy reading TFA?

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    A monkey is doing the real work for me.
  2. Hey!! by madbawa · · Score: 4, Funny

    So this is what Ahmadinejad was called there to inaugurate! Cool.

  3. Eeeeeeeexcellent... by ettlz · · Score: 4, Funny

    [Taps fingertips together.]

  4. I'm torn... by cliveholloway · · Score: 5, Funny

    On the one hand, no matter how much time and effort is put into building a nuclear reactor, there's always a small chance that human error will cause a catastrophic meltdown leading to an almost incalculable loss of human life.

    But, on the other hand, they're going to build it in Texas.

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    -- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
  5. Advanced Boiling Water Reactor? by Yeti.SSM · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just call... vaporware!

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    R Tape loading error, 0:1
  6. Re:And 30 years ago, STP 1 and 2 were started by smittyoneeach · · Score: 3, Funny

    What's funny is the cost overruns that plaqued the first two aren't mentioned.
    Oh, how I lament those cost overruns, and their deleterious effect on the dental hygiene of the project.
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    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  7. Re:Boom by ozmanjusri · · Score: 3, Funny
    Aim them at the sun.

    How do we get rid of waste at night then?

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  8. Coal is "natural".... by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Funny

    Coal is natural, it's cute, you can hold it in your hands. People have been using it for thousands of years.

    Nuclear is something done by evil scientists wearing white outfits and radiation-monitor tags. It's obviously not to be trusted.

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    No sig today...