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Next-Gen Nuclear Power Plant Breaks Ground In China

Posted by timothy on from the plenty-safe-bye-now-call-later dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The construction of first next-generation Westinghouse nuclear power reactor breaks ground in Sanmen, China. The reactor, expected to generate 12.7 Megawatts by 2013, costs 40 billion Yuan (~US$6 billion; that's a lot of iPods.) According to Westinghouse, 'The AP1000 is the safest and most economical nuclear power plant available in the worldwide commercial marketplace, and is the only Generation III+ reactor to receive Design Certification from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.' However, Chinese netizens suspect China is being used as a white rat to test unproven nuclear technologies (comments in Chinese)." Update: 04/20 07:28 GMT by T : As several readers have pointed out, this plant will generate much more than 12.7 Megawatts -- more like 1100 MWe.

21 of 426 comments (clear)

  1. Fun with acronyms. by palegray.net · · Score: 1, Funny

    Nexr-Gen Nuclear Power Plant

    Is "Nexr" either an acronym or abbreviation for something I should be aware of, or is this a "typo in title" case?

    --
    512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    1. Re:Fun with acronyms. by jae471 · · Score: 4, Funny
      Either way, people may want to consider getting on the nexr plane out of China...

      In all seriousness, 12.7 MW seems rather small for a $6 billion price tag.

    2. Re:Fun with acronyms. by palegray.net · · Score: 4, Funny

      Fool, they're not running Vista on the control system. They're running a pirated copy of the Windows 7 beta. Get it straight.

      --
      512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    3. Re:Fun with acronyms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Please do your own damn history homework.

    4. Re:Fun with acronyms. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Just wait for Italy to switch nuclear. Just wait...

    5. Re:Fun with acronyms. by fractoid · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nah, the typo is later. The full title should be "Nexr-Gen Nucrear Power Prant".

      --
      Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
    6. Re:Fun with acronyms. by daveime · · Score: 1, Funny

      "Flied lice ? It is fried rice, you plick !"

    7. Re:Fun with acronyms. by Miseph · · Score: 2, Funny

      "And that exclusion zone is busily turning into a forest with flourishing widllife"

      Happy, healthy, multi-headed wildlife.

      --
      Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
    8. Re:Fun with acronyms. by daveime · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's a quote from Lethal Weapon 4, spoken by a Chinese no less. Damn mod needs a frontal labotomy ... or perhaps he's already had one !

  2. Units? by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Funny

    12.7 MW sounds a bit low. Even a DeLorean could generate 1.21 GW.

    But seriously, my home entertainment center uses more than that. Well, OK, not so seriously. But still, I'm just sayin.

    1. Re:Units? by auric_dude · · Score: 2, Funny

      Now "pulling 12.7 Megawatts out of thin air" may imply use of cold fusion, use of a ZPM, or some other form of Exotic Matter power source or it might not.

    2. Re:Units? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      This thread sums up the usual Slashdot inaccurate myths about solar panels in one set of replies. Very convenient!

  3. Does Steve Jobs know... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Funny

    (~US$6 billion; that's a lot of iPods.)

    That iPods have become an international currency? Maybe I should cash out my collection of iPods...

    1. Re:Does Steve Jobs know... by WindBourne · · Score: 2, Funny

      Only if you bought them in China and then sold them in America or EU. Otherwise, you will lose money.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    2. Re:Does Steve Jobs know... by bitrex · · Score: 3, Funny

      1.21 Jigawatts is equal to approximately 47,000 mega ExplodingIpodBatteries, which is about 7.8 Burning Libraries Of Congress. These units of energy are of course in the US standard micro-10-fully-loaded-18-wheelers^2*milli-footballfield^2*deci-time-it-takes-you-to-fix-a-cup-of-coffee^-2.

  4. Oops by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 2, Funny

    Next-Gen Nuclear Power Plant Breaks Ground In China

    So... it was a surface detonation instead of a standard air detonation?

  5. Re:12 megawatts? by aliquis · · Score: 3, Funny

    12 MW, 1200 MW, big deal.

  6. iPods? WTH? by NilObject · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since when did iPods become a unit of measurement?

    "That kid was hit by a 2-ton truck. That's a lot of iPods!"

  7. China vs US nuke policy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I had to laugh when a Chinese visitor recently said to me:
    "I see you're going back to the windmill in Britain. We Chinese cannot afford that."

  8. Re:WTF? by clarkkent09 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't worry, given the usual quality of slashdot summaries, cutting them in half is probably an improvement.

    --
    Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
  9. Doc Brown doesn't care by CarpetShark · · Score: 3, Funny

    12 MW, 1200 MW, big deal.

    Yeah. At the end of the day, they're both guitar amps that'll blow you across the workshop.