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First Nuclear Power Plant Planned In Jordan

jones_supa writes Jordan has signed an agreement with Russia's state-owned nuclear power giant Rosatom, that sets the legal basis for building the kingdom's first nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 2,000 MW. The agreement is worth $10 billion and it envisages the construction of a two-unit power plant at Amra in the north of the kingdom by 2022. The deal provides for a feasibility study, site evaluation process and an environmental impact assessment. Currently Jordan imports nearly 98% of its energy from oil products and crude and is struggling to meet electricity demand, which is growing by more than 7% annually due to a rising population and industrial expansion. The kingdom hopes that eventually nuclear power could provide almost 40% of its total electricity generating capacity.

148 comments

  1. Why not 100%? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are they afraid of having more than one set of reactors?

    1. Re:Why not 100%? by harryjohnston · · Score: 1

      Cost, perhaps? Particularly when compared to solar polar, etc.?

    2. Re:Why not 100%? by dwywit · · Score: 1

      There's not much polar solar, but you make a good point. I hope they'll invest a decent amount of $$$ in solar PV while they're at it.

      As someone upthread pointed out, it's a lot of money to invest in a single facility - it makes sense to invest some money in decentralised facilities, too.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    3. Re:Why not 100%? by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      They can also start with this, and expand to more reactors if this goes well.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  2. SOLAR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    SERIOUSLY?

    Why the fuck dont they just put up a load of solar panels... $10 Billion will buy you a LOT of them.

    1. Re:SOLAR by harryjohnston · · Score: 4, Informative

      According to Wikipedia, they are. Target of 500MW renewable energy, about 14% of total capacity, by the end of 2015.

    2. Re:SOLAR by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

      Why ... dont they just put up a load of solar panels... $10 Billion will buy you a LOT of them.

      because solar panels dont generate weapons-grade plutonium?

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    3. Re:SOLAR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why ... dont they just put up a load of solar panels... $10 Billion will buy you a LOT of them.

      because solar panels dont generate weapons-grade plutonium?

      http://atomicinsights.com/contradicting-arjun-makhijanis-claim/

      Just read that.

    4. Re:SOLAR by stooo · · Score: 2

      >> because solar panels dont generate weapons-grade plutonium?
      Yep, that's an argument.
      Although, nuke plants don't generate weapon grade Pu. They just generate Pu.

      --
      aaaaaaa
    5. Re:SOLAR by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1, Informative

      Why the fuck dont they just put up a load of solar panels... $10 Billion will buy you a LOT of them.

      Price per watt for solar is in the $5 range, not counting discounts for massive purchases.

      But without moderately massive amounts of energy storage, a 2GW solar facility won't really do you all that much good.

      Ultimately, this is about baseload as opposed to peak load. Solar can supply peak load, it doesn't do baseload nearly so well. Nuclear is the reverse.***

      ***caveat: it IS possible to design a nuclear power plant to handle large transients. Nuclear powered ships use such reactors. That particular type of reactor is, to say the least, uncommon for commercial plants.

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    6. Re:SOLAR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Solar also doesn't generate power at night, and wind doesn't provide power when it's not blowing.

      If you are trying to power a country, you need a power source that you can operate on your schedule, not on the whims if nature.

    7. Re:SOLAR by nojayuk · · Score: 2

      GenIIa reactors like the Russian VVER-1200 and the uprated French M310 designs can swing their output by 30% in fifteen minutes or so, given modern control systems and a few decades of experience in running such PWRs and BWRs. It doesn't happen often because nuclear fuel is so cheap and reducing power output doesn't save much money.

    8. Re:SOLAR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and coal fired plants generate peeyew

    9. Re:SOLAR by jfdavis668 · · Score: 2

      Because they don't work at night? You would need to buy an awful lot of batteries to keep a country running after dark.

    10. Re:SOLAR by towermac · · Score: 1

      I don't think it's the cost.

      Can't just dump extra power into the grid; you'll over volt it. Tallahatchie Valley burned out my dryer timer doing that. (I'm still bitter.) And I don't think you can let a generator that size, already connected to the grid, freewheel and not take power off of it.

      They must have a way to dump power spikes; fifteen minutes is too slow when Jordainian Idol goes off, and everybody goes to bed.

      Somebody here must know; how do they avoid voltage spikes if everybody turns their shit off at once?

    11. Re: SOLAR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The reactor may be capable of such power swings, but it might be problematic for the turbines, electrical grid, etc. etc. Probably best to keep them relatively stable.

    12. Re:SOLAR by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't like to work at night either. Nighttime is for sleeping.

      Solar power! [raises fist]

    13. Re:SOLAR by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 1

      > Price per watt for solar is in the $5 range, not counting discounts for massive purchases.

      Yeah, in 2011. Today, small residential installs are around $4.00 a watt, commissioned. Large industrial installs are $1.50.

      Page 11 of this: http://www.lazard.com/PDF/Levelized%20Cost%20of%20Energy%20-%20Version%208.0.pdf

    14. Re:SOLAR by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      GenIIa reactors like the Russian VVER-1200 and the uprated French M310 designs can swing their output by 30% in fifteen minutes or so, given modern control systems and a few decades of experience in running such PWRs and BWRs.

      Hmm, without mentioning numbers, I'll offer that a nuclear submarine can do larger transients faster.

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    15. Re:SOLAR by nojayuk · · Score: 1

      Nuclear propulsion reactors are quite a bit smaller than the current generation (no pun intended but I'll take what I can get) of PWRs and BWRs which typically start at 3GWt and can go up to as much as 5GWt (assuming the EPRs ever get finished and/or anyone commissions a full-scale ESBWR from Hitachi). Even the largest propulsion reactors like the Ford class CVNs at ca. 1GWt can be swung a lot faster as there's less fuel and heat to deal with. The very high fuel enrichment levels (RN Astute-class submersible cruisers use 90+% enrichment fuel in their Rolls Royce reactors) also helps as a major problem with swinging a low-enrichment PWR or BWR is the buildup of short-lived Xe-135 fission products in the fuel pellets. This isotope is very neutron-absorbent and causes problems controlling the the swing down and up again. It can be done and is done but it's not as simple as twiddling a dial on a control panel.

  3. Economics by Cyrano+de+Maniac · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Could someone fill me in on the economics of nuclear power generation? I'd like to know what the usual payback period for a plant is, and how much it costs to operate a plant over that period.

    Just doing some napkin figuring here, if the plant ran 24/7 at full capacity for a 20 year payback period, and assuming that operational costs are about the same as initial construction costs (i.e. using the $10 billion number from the summary, so $20 billion for construction and operation), that gives me a figure of about 5.7 cents per kilowatt-hour. Obviously the plant wouldn't run at full capacity for 20 years straight, but that does put something of a lower bound on the price of power generation, and it seems like a reasonable number given US electricity prices.

    I'd also like to know how this compares to hydro, gas, coal, solar, wind, tidal, and any other generation method currently in use.

    --
    Cyrano de Maniac
    1. Re:Economics by Hussman32 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Very nice back of the envelope estimates.

      If well operated, the capacity factors are about 90% or higher, and current designs are expected to last up to 60 years, so there is long term payback. Uranium enrichment and fuel costs are generally stable, but can vary given various external factors but it is still fairly competitive.

      The issue is that so much capital investment is required up front over several years, many companies are hesitant to invest what would be their market capitalization in a single asset. State-owned utilities have greater capacity to take on that risk, so it's a smart move (long-term) on their part.

      --
      "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
    2. Re:Economics by Hussman32 · · Score: 1

      Also, this link is a good quick summary using US metrics.

      http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/a...

      --
      "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
    3. Re:Economics by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 2

      Don't forget the economics of decomissioning the thing. You're writing up a huge debt for your country in 60 years.

    4. Re:Economics by OzPeter · · Score: 2

      Could someone fill me in on the economics of nuclear power generation? I'd like to know what the usual payback period for a plant is, and how much it costs to operate a plant over that period.

      Well in terms of foreign aid and keeping a positive political presence in the area, the payback for Russia is priceless.

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      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    5. Re: Economics by Redbehrend · · Score: 1

      I agree with nuclear energy done right. The problem is corners are cut to make more money. Corners in construction, maintance, parts and disposal. We just lost our plant because the tubines one of the most expensive parts were prematurely failing because corners were cut and false claims were made. I'm afraid of them just adding to the tally of sites to give it a bad name.

    6. Re:Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two unit plant, average load factor is about 50%. One unit will be down for maintenance 'quite often'.

      Conventional thermal plants get to 80% only by having 5 units and one scheduled for maintenance all the time.

      In theory you should do better than that, but in practice and long term 'shit happens' and maintenance downtime limits your output. And given how slow the cycle time is on any thermal plant that's what wins.

      The seller will tell you it'll do better than that, but over the economic life that's really unlikely. You can push for the design output, but only at the expense of maintenance, and there's a glowing lump in the Ukraine that demonstrates what happens then.

    7. Re:Economics by Hussman32 · · Score: 2

      Not sure where you got the 50% number, capacity factors are 90% these days,

      --
      "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
    8. Re:Economics by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 0

      Why decommission at all? Design for refurbishment now and keep it running indefinitely to avoid that cost and politics later.

    9. Re:Economics by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      Economics?!?! It's politics! Tell your people, "Look, we are a nuclear power now!"

      Even if that is not the truth, most folks in Jordan won't be able to recognize the difference.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    10. Re:Economics by Firethorn · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you run it for 60 years, all you do is charge something like 1/10th of a center per kwh for 'decommissioning costs'.
      2GW should produce about 15.8B kWh a year. Even excluding interest, that's $15.8M/year, $946M over 60.

      If you figure that it earns 5%, that's $3.7B in 60 years, or $185M they can spend each year indefinitely doing whatever it takes to decommission it.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    11. Re:Economics by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Informative

      You can push for the design output, but only at the expense of maintenance, and there's a glowing lump in the Ukraine that demonstrates what happens then.

      Chernobyl had nothing whatsoever to do with maintenance. It happened as the direct consequence of an ill conceived experiment, which deliberately bypassed safety protocols, with the added bonus that the experiment was moved at the last minute from the day-shift to the less experienced night-shift crew.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
    12. Re:Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, we'll just dump the reactor shells in your back garden once they've become brittle from radiation, and refurbish our plant with new ones. End of story. Not a lot of decommissioning costs at all...

      Oh, and by the way, could you ask whether some of your neighbours would be happy to take our spent fuel rods?

    13. Re:Economics by qbzzt · · Score: 1

      Jordan is a thin strip of arable land close to the Jordan river, and a whole lot of useless desert. They can just drag the radioactive pieces out to the desert and forget about them.

      --
      -- Support a free market in the field of government
    14. Re:Economics by Vitriol+Angst · · Score: 1

      Can anyone speak to the costs that are often left out of pro nuclear equations;

      Half of all nuclear power plants don't seem to get completed -- is that fair?

      Cost over-runs are rampant, they never cost what is projected, often this is 2 to 10 times projected, but maybe that's just in the USA where the winning lowest bid forces unrealistic expectations.

      After the plant is out of service, they have to maintain it for 2000 years -- or that's what I'd heard. Good luck getting humanity to keep going on a project that has no benefits for longer than the aquifers of Rome were built. Companies finagle themselves out of pension obligations these days, and dump toxins whenever someone isn't looking (google any records of dumping of the coast of New Jersey for instance -- metric tons of if). So the "we'll collect money to take care of decommissioning" is only as good as the government. With Citizen's United, it's cheaper to buy a politician than store a control rod. We all need government, but then some people who are pro corporate, have a lot of wishful thinking when it comes to corporate responsibility. Nuclear power has bigger responsibilities, are we heading towards our own Fukishima one day?

      It is reliable and good to have in combination with other energy sources, but mere "cost per KWH" is not the only factor. We should also be looking at the water usage of energy and how it effects standard of living (you know; creating jobs for a lot of people as the cost of Green energy, rather than mostly capital expenditures as we get with Nuclear Plants)

      --
      >>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
    15. Re:Economics by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      err.. 'cent per kWh'. Combining a touch typist with autocorrect doesn't always work well.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    16. Re:Economics by rubycodez · · Score: 2

      Nonsense, the reactor vessels are good for 60 or more years, heads might need replacing every 40. Those iron components have isotopes of concern iron-55, iron-59, cobalt-60 and zinc-65. with half lives of 2.7 years, 45 days, 5.3 years, 245 days respectively. In other words, after 50 years NO PROBLEM.

    17. Re:Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      scholar.google.com

      Search "economics of nuclear power". Hundreds of articles. Why are you asking Slashdot?

    18. Re:Economics by towermac · · Score: 2

      Yes, that's just in the USA.

      Concrete and steel are cheap. Refining uranium to the point it will heat up is easy, if somewhat energy intensive.

      2000 years? Ah, you might mean the 'nuclear waste' sitting in water pools at reactors all over. Yes, that's nasty stuff. Can't even bury it under the Rocky Mountains.

      What to do... what to do with it?...

      Nuclear fuel, that's still radioactive as hell. Huh.

      No, don't tell me; it will come to me...

      Stuck, saddled even, with tons of nuclear fuel, in an age where we need carbon free electricity...

      Nah, I thought I was on to something, but I got nothin.

    19. Re:Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they are good for 60 years or more, and there is no cost to taking out the old parts and storing them somewhere, why is there such a huge cost to storing them in the US? And why are the spent rods so hot that they are melting boots which walk over the concrete covering them? Is it because they are NO PROBLEM?

      IMHO, if you don't take into account what to do with the spent fuel, you are either irresponsible, or are mounting a HUGE debt for your children or grandchildren.

      Why do I care, after all, I'm already over 60. Well, I grew up near the first commercial nuke plant in the US. It's been closed for years, although there are two others built very nearby...all on an earthquake fault, it turns out. There is spent fuel 60 years old, still on the site, still rather hot. The replacement units are already past their original estimated life, but they probably won't shut down due to costs...and what do you do with that land afterwards? It won't be good for humans for a LONG time, unless you truck away all the bad stuff and dump it in someone else's backyard. Hey, maybe we can ship it to one of those places that acts as a tax haven?

    20. Re:Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe we can pump the radioactive waste into gas wells as a new fracking material. It won't be any worse than pumping nasty metals near the water supply, honest! (fingers crossed)

    21. Re:Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget that in that solar blessed country the added cost of dismantling these uranium plants one they gone old and useless, assuming no costly accidents along the way. The plutonium byproduct is likely to create some nervous neighbors. Of course Thorium plants are being suppressed from the public discussion.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-based_nuclear_power
      " The reasons were that uranium breeder reactors were more efficient, the research was proven, and byproducts could be used to make nuclear weapons."
      "...Weinberg realized that you could use thorium in an entirely new kind of reactor, one that would have zero risk of meltdown. . . . his team built a working reactor . . . . and he spent the rest of his 18-year tenure trying to make thorium the heart of the nation’s atomic power effort. He failed. Uranium reactors had already been established, and Hyman Rickover, de facto head of the US nuclear program, wanted the plutonium from uranium-powered nuclear plants to make bombs. Increasingly shunted aside, Weinberg was finally forced out in 1973.[11] ..."
      Local solar generation also diminishes the need for central distribution, power lines, billing etc, which in a corporate controlled economy is a priority, but in this kingdom perhaps alternate energy sources can be exploited.

      This sounds more like global political thing than an energy generation need.

    22. Re:Economics by spauldo · · Score: 1

      I highly doubt the Joran reactor will be a breeder reactor.

      It's one thing to build a nuke plant in a non-nuclear country, it's something completely different to give them a machine for making plutonium. Yes, commercial plants produce plutonium, but it's not weapons grade and requires a lot of processing to make it so - which is why you still see RMBK-style reactors running.

      As far as the thorium thing goes, considering most plutonium in the US is produced by reactors specially built for the purpose of creating plutonium, your argument doesn't quite fly. It's much more likely that, given the abundance of uranium and the extremely conservative nature of the nuclear industry, it wasn't considered important to spend time and money developing an entire new reactor technology.

      I really hope someone does, though. It would solve a lot of the proliferation issues and offer a safe alternative for situations like this. India's been making noise about it, but the last I checked they hadn't really done much in the way of building actual reactors.

      --
      Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
    23. Re:Economics by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 0

      Nah, I thought I was on to something, but I got nothin.

      As much as it sounds like a cop out, leaving it to future generation who will no doubt have better technology isn't such a bad idea. As a poor example, we didn't have the capability to combat microbiology 200 years ago, now it's trivial (well in some cases at least). Who knows, when space travel becomes cheap we could shoot it all into the sun, or maybe someone will invent a genetically engineered Kaiju that eats Plutonium and shits out crude oil. As long as the costs of long term storage and maintenance are taken into account, I have no problem with this approach.

    24. Re:Economics by dbIII · · Score: 1

      It's the microcracking due to neutron bombardment while under stress that puts a serious limit on life, since those microcracks eventually grow into real cracks. Just making the vessel wall thicker doesn't do the job. Ripping bits out and welding new ones in does.
      So a lot of decades until the repair costs exceed the worth of the thing, not just decades of sitting idle and pulling in the money.

    25. Re:Economics by dbIII · · Score: 1

      it's something completely different to give them a machine for making plutonium

      But the Russian's would never do that! They're the good guys, not like those sneaky Canadians that sold India the reactor they used to produce their bomb materials!
      In case it wasn't obvious the above was an attempt at a joke based around the idea that this plant will be seen by the buyers as a step towards being a nuclear armed power just like the ones sold to small nations in the 60s and 70s. Even Egypt was angling for the bomb back in the day.

      India's been making noise about it, but the last I checked they hadn't really done much in the way of building actual reactors.

      Seriously? They've built a lot more than the US has over the last 30 years and they've got the accelerated thorium idea heading towards construction.

    26. Re:Economics by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      Could someone fill me in on the economics of nuclear power generation? I'd like to know what the usual payback period for a plant is, and how much it costs to operate a plant over that period.

      Absolutely. Here is a link to the peer reviewed science that details net energy return after factoring input costs.

      Have a great day!

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    27. Re:Economics by MrKaos · · Score: 1
      It sounds like a cop out because it is a cop out.

      Who knows our civilisation may be at its peak right now and we will never reach these technological heights again. For all we know our selfishness will drive humanity back to nomads with some crazy old man poking a stick in a fire saying 'We used to have great machines that could fly'. Not what I want, but just as likely.

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    28. Re:Economics by stdarg · · Score: 1

      "Just as likely" huh. Seems legit.

    29. Re:Economics by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      As much as it sounds like a cop out, leaving it to future generation who will no doubt have better technology isn't such a bad idea. As a poor example, we didn't have the capability to combat microbiology 200 years ago, now it's trivial (well in some cases at least). Who knows, when space travel becomes cheap we could shoot it all into the sun, or maybe someone will invent a genetically engineered Kaiju that eats Plutonium and shits out crude oil. As long as the costs of long term storage and maintenance are taken into account, I have no problem with this approach.

      You honestly couldn't make this shit up if you were trying to make an anti-nuclear point.

      With friends like you...

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    30. Re:Economics by Jeremi · · Score: 1

      Chernobyl had nothing whatsoever to do with maintenance. It happened as the direct consequence of an ill conceived experiment, which deliberately bypassed safety protocols

      Granted, but the fact is that people occasionally do make dumb mistakes. The fact that a dumb mistake in a nuclear power plant can render an entire region uninhabitable is what makes nuclear power so risky, and hence uneconomical to insure. Most other forms of power plant might in the worst case be badly damaged, but they wouldn't also permanently remove the surrounding zip code from civilization.

      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    31. Re:Economics by spauldo · · Score: 1

      But the Russian's would never do that! They're the good guys, not like those sneaky Canadians that sold India the reactor they used to produce their bomb materials!

      They're hardly similar.

      India and Canada are both commonwealth countries. India has a stable, democratic government and doesn't go around starting wars. China (a nuclear power) and Pakistan were both threatening India.

      Also, India isn't well off as far as natural resources go, and has a large population, so nuclear power is the obvious choice for their electricity needs. Giving them the capability to make their own fuel wasn't nearly as much of a risk.

      And they made nukes from it. The world watched, and learned.

      Iran, on the other hand, is openly antagonistic toward quite a few of their neighbors and is ruled by a religious body. It doesn't need nuclear power - it's got plenty of oil - and certainly doesn't need to make its own fuel to be energy independent. After seeing what the Indians did when being able to make their own fuel, no one sane is going to give Iran the same capability.

      A better comparison would be the US giving nuclear weapons capability to Pakistan. That was just fucking stupid.

      Seriously? They've built a lot more than the US has over the last 30 years and they've got the accelerated thorium idea heading towards construction.

      Considering the US doesn't care about thorium reactors, that's hardly surprising.

      From Wikipedia:

      According to replies given in Q&A in the Indian Parliament on two separate occasions, 19 August 2010 and 21 March 2012, large scale thorium deployment is only to be expected "3 – 4 decades after the commercial operation of fast breeder reactors with short doubling time".[69][35] Full exploitation of India’s domestic thorium reserves will likely not occur until after the year 2050.

      India discovered large uranium deposits in 2011. I will be surprised if this doesn't delay their thorium plans.

      --
      Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
    32. Re:Economics by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 1

      > I'd also like to know how this compares to hydro, gas, coal, solar, wind, tidal, and any other generation method currently in use.

      Page 2 of this: http://www.lazard.com/PDF/Levelized%20Cost%20of%20Energy%20-%20Version%208.0.pdf

      According to that, this is an *extremely* competitive plant. If you turn to Page 11 you'll see the problem - it seems *HIGHLY* unlikely that the plant can actually be built for this number. This is *well* below the worldwide average. They may be quoting the wrong number, this might be the overnight costs, which would put the total CAPEX (which is what's on page 11) into the 8 range depending on the financing, which makes it much more in-line with other examples.

    33. Re:Economics by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 1

      > and current designs are expected to last up to 60 years

      No, they are designed to run for about 30 to 25 years, then be torn apart and re-built from new. All that remains is the containment building and the parts outside the nuclear island. This is supposed to get you a new reactor good for another 25 to 30 years (because now those other parts and breaking down) for about 50% of the cost.

      However, those that have actually tried this have a 100% rate of overrunning the budgets, to the point where it's >100% of the original cost. That's why people are shutting down their reactors instead of refurbing them. The new designs are supposed to avoid these problems, but we won't really know for another 40 years.

    34. Re:Economics by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 1

      > Cost over-runs are rampant, they never cost what is projected, often this is 2 to 10 times projected,
      > but maybe that's just in the USA where the winning lowest bid forces unrealistic expectations.

      Cost overruns in Canada were 100%, both on initial construction and refurbs. Current cost overruns in Europe are the same.

      If there is a *real* theoretical problem with nuclear power is that its economics scale with size. To compete with wind or gas they have to make really large plants. That complicates financing and construction. Construction becomes so complex that you end up with many critical paths, as we're experiencing with Vogtle. Wind power may not be a panacea, but it's highly modular so you can build out slowly. It's a lot easier to get $25 million for a turbine than $25 billion for a nuke.

      The providers are dumping nuclear for that reason. All that's left of Europe's industry is Areva, which just lost more than it's entire book value in one quarter. The other German, French and UK companies have all left the industry. In the US, Westinghouse is bankrupt, Betchel, Babckock and General Atomics are all out of the industry, leaving only GE and the zombie "Westinghouse" (Toshiba). Canada sold off AECL's design side for negative $750 million.

    35. Re:Economics by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      You know people have had that thought before but it didn't work out for them... Put it this way, if it was that obvious and that much of a good idea someone would be doing it. I don't see anyone other than governments doing research trying to build them though.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    36. Re:Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While your numbers sound reasonable, you're missing one key point. In the absence of a law (with teeth) to the contrary, the suits who run the reactor will at some point between now and now+60 years see that there's a large pile of cash that they could be using for something else. It extremely unlikely that even 10% of your calculated decommissioning fund will be available when needed.

    37. Re:Economics by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      "Just as likely" huh. Seems legit.

      as a "a genetically engineered Kaiju that eats Plutonium and shits out crude oil" - for sure

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    38. Re:Economics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they are good for 60 years or more, and there is no cost to taking out the old parts and storing them somewhere, why is there such a huge cost to storing them in the US?

      NIMBY-ism and treaties that prevent fuel rods from being reprocessed into new fuel.

    39. Re:Economics by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      My my your brain goes in random directions, I was specifically addressing typical iron reactor vessel decommisioning concerns.

        So called "spent fuel" is a different topic, and the short story there is that it's a gold mine of energy that can be used in proper type of reactor, getting six or seven times the original amount taken out. It can thus be burned into waste that only takes decades to decay.

    40. Re:Economics by Vitriol+Angst · · Score: 1

      That was an awesome and insightful response.

      So while Nuclear is getting better technology -- it's providers are only in the game if the Government can flip the bill.

      Has any business in the past two decades actually financed and built a nuclear power plant? If not, then that would challenge the concept that they are economical.

      --
      >>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
    41. Re:Economics by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      Tthey replace or repair reactor head (the lid if you will, which is removable for refueling, it has the complicated shape with holes for rods mechanisms, and such). I've not heard of any welding repair allowed on vessel itself in USA, that's pretty much the thing the NRC won't let you replace and the one thing that limits reactor life.

    42. Re:Economics by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      It's not a cop out, it only sounds like one to people who haven't weighed up the options thoroughly enough. As much as it wind and solar makes us feel all warm and fuzzy they cannot solve the issue of base load requirements. There's only two viable solutions today, Coal and Nuclear. So given the choice of coal and tens of thousands of deaths per year from air pollution, or Nuclear with it's known risks, I still think Nuclear is a less worse option.

  4. So not that cheap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess with the same money you could build around 10000 MW in windturbines. With a conservative capacity factor of 20% they would achieve more or less the same output power and create more jobs for the country in mainteinance and construction. Only if there are some windy areas in Jordan of course

    1. Re:So not that cheap by rubycodez · · Score: 2

      Sorry but Jordan has sand storms, they're hell on wind turbines.

  5. Cooling by riverat1 · · Score: 2

    Seems to me cooling might be an issue in an already water poor area of the world.

    1. Re:Cooling by Shoten · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Seems to me cooling might be an issue in an already water poor area of the world.

      Jordan has access to enough water. Just because it's in the middle east doesn't mean it's a desert. Power plants go near population centers, and population centers exist near water. Even more importantly, there's a difference between "drinking water," with all of its sanitation, distribution, and monitoring needs, and just plain "water," which can be found in any lake. Heck, lots of power plants have man-made lakes to supply that water.

      But you're missing the real point. Modern nuclear plants don't need that much water. The Fukushima reactor is the oldest design there is, and its dependency on water is one of the reasons it's no longer used. Passive cooling towers (the big bong-looking cement things that we associate with nuclear plants, but which can also be used on other non-nuclear plants) massively reduce the water requirements of a nuclear plant, and are almost certainly what would be used.

      --

      For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
    2. Re:Cooling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why? How much water do you use to cool your car every year? Or are you saying coal/oil plants use more efficient cooling loops? Or are you saying you can't out-think one of those whaky nuclear power plant designers? Well, i bet you wouldn't put your backup generators in the basement, so maybe you have something there.

    3. Re:Cooling by silas_moeckel · · Score: 1

      Go one further, they do a great job of providing the heat for desalination. They do have a small amount of coastline on the Gulf of Aqaba and the city of Aqaba is reasonably large.

      --
      No sir I dont like it.
    4. Re:Cooling by the+monolith · · Score: 5, Interesting
      It is my home town! Aqaba is a good, western-oriented town, but with occasional camels!

      There is not a lot of water available anywhere in Jordan, and precious little in Zarqa Governate (where Amra is located,) and it is far, far away from Aqaba. We do need power, we need water too (the aquifers are running out rapidly.) We could also do with more coastline (in 1965, Jordan traded some desert for more coast from the Saudis.)

      Personally, I need tourists who want to go diving (some excellent dives right here 15km south of town, and I happen to be an instructor) and talk tech/programming/music/movies etc. Oh, yes, there are 'problems' in the neighbouring states, but they don't impact here, except that the tourism trade has slowed down.

    5. Re:Cooling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I can't read "Aqaba" without hearing it in the voice of Peter O'Toole as Lawrence of Arabia.

    6. Re:Cooling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is a stupid trope anti-nukes like to play; "oh-noes it will use up all the water we can't do that oh noes!!11"

      Google Palo Verde Nuclear. Learn something. Water consumption is a matter of design. Nukes can operate in "water poor" areas just fine.

    7. Re:Cooling by dbIII · · Score: 1

      But you're missing the real point. Modern nuclear plants don't need that much water.

      Why do people chime in while knowing so little about their pet topic? Large nuclear plants need access to vast amounts of water purely due to the way the loop of steam through the turbines work - the bigger the heat source the more cooling water you need. The water is not consumed, tied up for that use only or irradiated in any way, but you do need it to be there. It's an issue in choosing a site but after that the water can go down river or whatever, however one of the most simple facts about large nuclear, or any other large thermal power plant, is that you need to put them next to a lot of water and you need to move a vast amount of cooling water through the condensors if you are going to get much use out of the steam.

      Passive cooling towers ... massively reduce the water requirements

      Not enough to reduce the requirements below that of a decent sized lake that could supply a city with water for a few years.

    8. Re:Cooling by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      Hi neighbor! I've been to Aqaba though I haven't dived there. You should know that as an Israeli, I'm very happy to see Jordan building a nuclear power plant. We (humans) need _clean_ energy, even if it is more expensive than burning carbon. And anything that advances the Jordanian standard of living is good for the entire area, especially considering what is happening on Jordan's northern and eastern borders right now.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    9. Re:Cooling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mod parent up as ignorant pro-nuclear groupthinker!

    10. Re: Cooling by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      The Arizona design, which has been cranking out 6 GW steadily for years, uses desert air as the heat sink. This is the design Jordan should be using.

    11. Re:Cooling by drwho · · Score: 1

      Do you know why they switched the site from Aqaba? They could have used the waste heat from the plant to desalinate the seawater.

    12. Re:Cooling by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Passive cooling towers don't work so well in hot countries where the differential with ambient is lower. France found that even modern supposedly passive reactors ended up needing a lot of water to cool them during heat waves, and the ended up dumping hot water into rivers and killing all the fish.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  6. The Cost of Security by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 1

    will probably be higher than the cost to build and run it, with how things are in that neighborhood.
    It would be a prime target for ISIS/DASH or your flavor of retard islamic extremists of the week.

    --
    We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
    1. Re:The Cost of Security by Sowelu · · Score: 1

      In case you didn't notice, they're already in a state of pretty much all out war versus ISIS. Wasn't the King of Jordan personally flying combat missions against them a few weeks ago? (Even if you do think it's just PR, they are seriously invested there.)

  7. What is the over/under on Israel's attack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Al Jazeera added an interesting piece of information, "According to the state's Petra news agency, Jordan plans to finish construction of the plant in Amra by 2022. There are hope it will be fueled with uranium mined in Jordan." That means that there is a plan to enrich the uranium in Jordan, thus providing the opportunity to produce a weapon as well as energy.

    1. Re:What is the over/under on Israel's attack by Blaskowicz · · Score: 2

      That means the uranium is mined in Jordan, but it can be shipped elsewhere for enriching (France, US, Russia or other)

    2. Re:What is the over/under on Israel's attack by Firethorn · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not all plant designs require enriched Uranium. No idea if they're using it.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    3. Re:What is the over/under on Israel's attack by qbzzt · · Score: 1

      This is Jordan we're talking about. A country whose Beduin rulers have as much of an interest in keeping Palestinians down as Israel if not more so. They probably cleared the plans with Israel beforehand.

      --
      -- Support a free market in the field of government
    4. Re:What is the over/under on Israel's attack by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Just CANDU? What about RBMK? I don't recall ever hearing anything bad about one of those...

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    5. Re:What is the over/under on Israel's attack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good joke, eh?

      "Chernobyl is a type of reactor called an RBMK (Russian acronym) which uses a graphite moderator and water coolant."

    6. Re:What is the over/under on Israel's attack by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      CANDU is the only plant design that I'm aware of that doesn't require enrichment. I should have said 'No idea if they're using one', IE a design that doesn't require enrichment.

      They should, of course, avoid the problematic RBMK design.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
  8. New headline coming soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "First tactical strike on Jordan planned by Israel".

    1. Re:New headline coming soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Attack on Jordan has to be in the election program of Netanyahu's party at the next elections. For now they just have to provoke war and reduce safety around all Palestinian territories and Israel.

  9. 2022? by SeaFox · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who thinks seven years to build a nuclear power plant from scratch sounds too optimistic a timetable?

    1. Re:2022? by stooo · · Score: 1

      No, it's possible. But it's a trade off with safety.

      --
      aaaaaaa
    2. Re:2022? by TimSSG · · Score: 1

      Am I the only one who thinks seven years to build a nuclear power plant from scratch sounds too optimistic a timetable?

      Yes, you likely are the only one; who thinks 7 years is a short time to build a nuclear power plant. Tim S.

    3. Re:2022? by nojayuk · · Score: 3, Informative

      It depends if there's a production line for large components and a guaranteed market for future orders. The Chinese are rolling out 1GW reactors from breaking ground to grid connection over a period of about five years or so but they've got predictable orders of the large components needed for a reactor and teams of engineers who move from one site to the next as their particular tasks (pouring the basemat, building the containment, installing the reactor vessel etc.) on a given construction site are completed, they don't have to learn how to do it again from scratch every time. Rosatom is in the same position, building a number of reactors of similar design in Russia and around the world but also leveraging a turnkey operation capability, supplying fuel and taking away spent fuel for reprocessing and waste disposal which is very attractive to countries like Vietnam, Jordan and other Arab nations.

      Ningde 3, a 1GW reactor on the central coast of China started construction with first concrete in January 2010 and achieved grid connection a couple of days ago, about 63 months later. Two more Chinese reactors of similar capacity are expected to come on line this year.

    4. Re:2022? by Firethorn · · Score: 1

      Not if they're willing, like many middle-east countries, to shoot protestors. Protests by environmental groups was, for years, one of the biggest reasons for slowdowns in plant construction here in the USA.

      --
      I don't read AC A human right
    5. Re:2022? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now we might see the progress that can be made without some of the
      westrem society green movement pushing the poli^h^h^h^h voters around.

    6. Re:2022? by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      Depends how motivated you are. WW2 serves as a great example of how quickly you can deliver when the motivation is sufficient.

    7. Re:2022? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      No so hard when you are using obsolete 1970's French technology.
      The AP1000 reactors in China seem to be taking a while though and that's probably a better comparison, as is that reactor in Sweden that's been taking a while.

    8. Re:2022? by lars_stefan_axelsson · · Score: 1

      Ã-h? We're not currently building any reactors and haven't for a long time... The one in Finland isn't an AP1000, so which one do you mean?

      --
      Stefan Axelsson
    9. Re:2022? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Finland.

    10. Re:2022? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      as is that reactor in Sweden that's been taking a while.

      The one currently in development hell is Finland's Olkiluoto 3.

  10. Yet more wrong by Firethorn · · Score: 2

    Not to to mention that the 'glowing lump' in Ukraine was the result of stupid testing combined with poor design, not lack of maintenance.

    Arguably the glowing lump in Japan would be a better example, in that they didn't install recommended upgrades - a system to handle hydrogen generation in an overheat event and at least a few generators in a waterproof location.

    --
    I don't read AC A human right
  11. Not viable without subsidies by edxwelch · · Score: 1

    Most countries allow nuclear power operation with insurance caps. That means in case of an accident the taxpayer foots most of the bill (as in Fukushima).
    If you were to include the full cost of insurance nuclear power would be completely unviable.
    http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear_...

    1. Re:Not viable without subsidies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's an infitnite liability problem, not a nuclear power problem. In a world where anyone can sue anyone for anything, real, imaginary, legal or illegal, nuclear power is the ultimate source of income for lawyers. Roughly a quarter of the cost of nuclear power in the US stems directly or indirectly from paying lawyers to go away. Think about that, they've made billions extorting everyone involved in nuclear power, and you're paying for it in every power bill, and your children are paying for It in every degree of climate change and cm of sea level rise.

      Jordan, being a benevolent dictatorship, is in a much more viable position to use nuclear power than any country in a lawyer-controlled oligarchy. Note how many MPs and American senators are lawyers.

    2. Re:Not viable without subsidies by tehcyder · · Score: 2

      That's an infitnite liability problem, not a nuclear power problem.

      If nuclear power has an infinite liability problem, then that is a nuclear power problem.

      I don't object to sensibly done nuclear power, I do object to private companies making a profit out of it at the expense of taxpayers who have to fund the downstream decomissioning and storage costs and pick up the bill in case of any unfortunate accidents.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    3. Re:Not viable without subsidies by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 1

      > Roughly a quarter of the cost of nuclear power in the US stems directly or indirectly from paying lawyers to go away.

      I keep hearing this number, but I can't find a trustworthy source for it. The recent documents I've seen, covering Crystal and Vogtle put the entire compliance load around 5 to 6%.

    4. Re:Not viable without subsidies by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      nuclear power is the ultimate source of income for lawyers.

      Funny because most of the lawsuits have been trying to stop the plants being built in the first place, and most of the ones over accidents and emissions have failed due to lack of proof. It's hard to show that the cancer you developed 20 years later was the result of a leak at the local nuclear power station.

      Do you have any evidence of massive income for lawyers, compared to say coal or even renewable plants? Can't include any actual accidents of course, which are entirely justified.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  12. And then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Terrorists take over it, make it go critical and we have another nuclear fallout on our hands.

  13. Explain this to me. by Nyder · · Score: 2

    Why is it okay for Jordan to build a Nuclear Power Plant but not okay for Iran?

    --
    Be seeing you...
    1. Re:Explain this to me. by harryjohnston · · Score: 2

      A couple of possibilities spring to mind. I'm just speculating, mind you.

      1) Because Jordon aren't insisting on enriching the uranium themselves, or aren't planning to use enriched uranium in the first place?

      2) Because their government has a reputation for trustworthiness rather than a reputation for being batshit crazy?

      ("Trustworthiness" is of course a relative term for governments. But still, there's a pretty big gap between Jordon and Iran.)

    2. Re:Explain this to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Its #1.
      Everyone has already said Iran with nuke plants is fine as long as someone else provides the fuel for them. Iran are the only ones who are not ok with that stipulation.

    3. Re:Explain this to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      Because the US didn't stage a coup in Jordan in 1953, overthrowing its democratically elected government and installing a right-wing bloody dictator so they could steal their oil. Nope, the US did that to Iran.

      The US is stil pissed off that after the revolution against their installed puppet dictator that they lost access to all that oil.

      Doesn't help that Israeli Jews are both so influential in the US and so irrationally hateful toward Iran. They have forgotten that without the Iranian king Cyrus that there would not be a Jewish religion. Iran rebuilt the temple of the Jews in ancient Israel after it was destroyed by invaders and created the Torah for the Jews. This is where the Zoroastrian influences got into the Jew-Christian-Muslim-Bahia religions.

      On a different note, it seems crazy to build such a thing anywhere near such an aggressive and unpredictable neighbor as Israel. Just look at what Israel has already done in Iran and Lebanon. I suppose nowhere without nuclear weapons of their own is safe from the US though.

    4. Re:Explain this to me. by spauldo · · Score: 1

      The US and Isreal don't really care if Iran builds nuclear plants. They could make dirty bombs with them, but that's about it. Most reactors don't produce plutonium, and even Russia isn't crazy enough to build them one that would.

      We don't like them enriching uranium to fuel their reactors. Russia and France have both offered to provide them with fuel (at a very low cost, IIRC), and the Iranians have refused.

      The same process that makes nuclear fuel can make weapons-grade materials. If you can get weapons-grade uranium, you can build little-boy style bombs dead easy - they're much less complex than plutonium-based bombs. Just the stuff you need if you want a nuclear weapons program quick.

      Iran hasn't come up with a good explanation of why they want to process their own fuel. The equipment is expensive, the maintenance is expensive, and the energy cost is high. Iran is also antagonistic against the only nuclear power in the middle east. It's not too hard to connect the dots.

      --
      Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
    5. Re:Explain this to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because your fucked up worldview has you believing a fucked up premise; Iran can have all the nukes it can fund. The US et. al would be only too happy to allow that the moment they stop acting like the nut bag islamists that they are. Hell, we gave N. Korea power reactors.

      What Iran can't to is reprocess or enrich fuel. And neither can Jordan and a slew of other small nations that inherited reactors from the Soviets.

    6. Re:Explain this to me. by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      2) Because their government has a reputation for trustworthiness rather than a reputation for being batshit crazy?

      Because that's not the worst case of projection in history? Iran hasn't attacked another country in hundreds of years. It hasn't overthrown democracies around the world to satisfy it's thirst for empire and capitalism - it was the recipient of such a 'regime change' courtesy of the CIA. Iran hasn't had a worldwide kidnapping and torture program, isn't sending robot planes to blow up teenagers in Mexico and then call them "military aged males". Etc.

      For more than 10 years now, both the CIA and Mossad will tell you flat-out that Iran has no nuclear weapons program. Iran wants nuclear power for the same reason the U.S. was offering it to the Shaw it installed as dictator of Iran - so it can sell more of it's oil rather than using it for power.

    7. Re:Explain this to me. by harryjohnston · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure that Jordan has blown up any teenagers in Mexico recently. We're comparing Jordan and Iran, remember, not Iran and anybody else.

      I'm not claiming, mind you, that Jordan is necessarily really any more trustworthy or any less batshit crazy than Iran. I know little about Jordan, so it's entirely plausible that the difference is entirely PR.

    8. Re:Explain this to me. by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      Not wanting the fuel you need to keep the lights on to be at the mercy of an antagonistic country (France) or a single powerful patron which could easily turn against you if the geopolitical situation made that profitable (Russia) is an extremely good reason to want to enrich locally.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
    9. Re:Explain this to me. by Bongo · · Score: 1

      You're quite sure who setup the Iran-Iraq war?

    10. Re:Explain this to me. by gtall · · Score: 1

      Yes, let's forget the Hezbollah in Lebanon who started the last Lebanon-Israeli war, the Shi'ite stooges of Iran in Iraq who are helping turn the country into a continuous civil war, the Houthis in Yemen who decided their neck of the woods wasn't enough that they needed to try to take all of Yemen which will probably spark the next Yemen civil war, the help the Iranians gave to al Qaeda when all those nice al Qaedians wanted was a safe place to hide after attacking the U.S., the bombing of the Jewish center in Argentina, etc. The list of Iranian atrocities is very deep including their repression of minorities in Iran, the repression of gays in Iran, the repression of any serious opposition to the nutjob mullahs in Iran and using Hezbollah thugs to silence the opposition during previous elections, the periodic stealing people from other countries for stupid show trials in Iran, etc. And Iran attempting to build a atom bomb because they fear their dicks will be too small without one.

      Yep, the Iranians are a bunch of fluffy bunnies. Hey, you aren't really Joe Biden, are you?

    11. Re:Explain this to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Under the terms of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, of which Iran is a signatory, they have every right to develop a nuclear power program with access to the full nuclear fuel cycle.

    12. Re:Explain this to me. by moeinvt · · Score: 1

      Where do you get this crap about Iran being "crazy"? Fox News? Israeli and U.S. government propaganda? Iran is not "crazy" and U.S. intelligence analysts have said that there is no evidence of an active nuclear weapons program in Iran.
      Even IF Iran had a weapons program, they are not "crazy" enough to use a nuke against the USA or Israel and doom themselves to complete annihilation in the inevitable counterattack.
      If oil was my only major export, I wouldn't want to burn it for domestic power production either.
      The real reason is that the USA government uses a ridiculous and short sighted double standard in its foreign(and domestic) policy.

    13. Re:Explain this to me. by spauldo · · Score: 1

      Iran doesn't need nuclear power to keep the lights on.

      They've got... what was it? On the tip of my tounge... oh yeah - FUCKLOADS of oil.

      --
      Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
    14. Re:Explain this to me. by Rakarra · · Score: 1

      For more than 10 years now, both the CIA and Mossad will tell you flat-out that Iran has no nuclear weapons program

      Boy, I would love a trustworthy source for such a claim.

    15. Re:Explain this to me. by harryjohnston · · Score: 1

      Where do you get this crap about Iran being "crazy"? Fox News? Israeli and U.S. government propaganda?

      General knowledge.

      To be fair, upon going back over my collection of news reports I was surprised how few of them were about Iran as opposed to other Islamic nations. On the other hand I specifically claimed that Iran has a reputation for being batshit crazy rather than that it actually is batshit crazy. Scott Adams once pointed out that if you analyzed Iran's actions rather than their words they didn't seem nearly as insane.

      Even so, there were some relevant items about Iran - and none about Jordon, though a more thorough search might turn up more.

      Rafsanjani and Mashaei barred from Iran presidency poll - Only eight of the 686 people who registered as potential candidates were reportedly cleared to stand.

      Ashton visit to Iran sparks co-operation and controversy - "Do you think our country has no order that you can go anywhere you want and see anyone you want to see?" the head of the judiciary, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, demanded on Tuesday night.

      Iran sentences British-Iranian activist Ghoncheh Ghavami 'over volleyball game' - speaks for itself

      Wikipedia, Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Freedom and equality of religion - Freedom to convert from Islam to another religion (apostasy), is prohibited and may be punishable by death.

      There's also Iran's own constitution. The first five articles are all about how Islamic Iran is. In other words, they're a theocracy and don't even try to hide it. The preamble even says "... with the hope that this century will witness the establishment of a universal holy government and the downfall of all others."

      The Supreme Leader has considerable power and is chosen entirely on religious grounds. In other words, he's chosen precisely because he's batshit crazy.

      Can you really be so sure that one day the Supreme Leader won't decide to nuke Israel, counting on God to protect Iran from Israel's counterstrike?

    16. Re:Explain this to me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get it right. The Shah of Iran had been in power since WWII when the Brits had him take over for his father, not 1953. The pro-Soviet prime minister wanted to nationalize Iran's oil industry which had been built by British Petroleum. Not suprisingly, the Brits didn't like those investments stolen from them, so they along with the CIA engineered a plot to get rid of the PM, it went badly, the Shah fled, and then returned after the mess had been taken care of. You call him a right wing bloody dictator, but he actually did a lot to modernize Iran and make it a more secular society. The revolution was a giant step backward for women and anyone who didn't quite line up with the Islamic theologians who took control. Sure, the Shah had pro-communist activists jailed and tortured. The guys who took over after him skipped all of that and just killed those individuals and anyone else they didn't like.

    17. Re:Explain this to me. by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      We're comparing Jordan and Iran

      It's Americans wagging their finger at Iran, which is like watching Jack the Ripper telling Larry Summers that he has a bad attitude when it comes to women. The only country to have ever used nuclear weapons has spent a decade threatening to bomb a country for the nuclear weapons program the CIA says Iran doesn't have.

    18. Re:Explain this to me. by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      You're requesting a cite for remedial knowledge of the subject? This is no more obscure than Saddam not having WMD's or Bush ignoring the Taliban's offer to hand over Bin Laddin before he invaded Afghanistan.

      • SECRETARY LEON PANETTA: ....I think the pressure of the sanctions, I think the pressure of diplomatic pressures from everywhere -- Europe, United States, elsewhere-- is working to put pressure on them, to make them understand that they cannot continue to do what they're doing. Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No.
    19. Re:Explain this to me. by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Yes, let's forget the Hezbollah in Lebanon who started the last Lebanon-Israeli war

      A continuation of blaming wars started by Israel on those bombed by Israel. The rest of your post is a combination of blather, projection, ignorance and confirmation bias.

    20. Re:Explain this to me. by harryjohnston · · Score: 1

      Really? Just Americans? Last time I checked the sanctions were just a *tad* wider than that.

      And, gee, last time I checked *I* wasn't an American, either. Just because you're idiot enough to believe Iranian propaganda doesn't mean the rest of the world is.

      Sure, if we could bully the US into getting rid of its nuclear weapons that would be a good idea, in my opinion, though North Korea, Pakistan, China, and Russia would come first on my list. But for the time being it isn't practical to much more about any of them. We *may* however be able to keep Iran from getting them.

    21. Re:Explain this to me. by harryjohnston · · Score: 1

      To quote Wikipedia:

      "The 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid was a cross-border attack carried out by Lebanon-based Hezbollah militants on an Israeli military patrol on 12 July 2006 on Israeli territory."

      Started by Israel, my ass.

    22. Re:Explain this to me. by harryjohnston · · Score: 1

      So ... now the Americans are a trustworthy source? You might want to make up your mind about that.

      (Never mind that that quote merely claims that they had stopped their program for the time being, which is entirely plausible. Doesn't mean they can't start up it again if we let them get away with it.)

  14. Wait till ISIS takes over !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope they'll invest a decent amount of $$$ in solar PV while they're at it.

    Nowadays the Western powers are afraid of having the Iranian going nuke

    Imagine ISIS going nuke?

    Sooner or later Jordan will fall into the hands of the Islamists

  15. So when are we invading Israel for possessing WMDs by Uberbah · · Score: 1

    Israel is the only member of the nuke club in the region, and the only nation likely to use them.

  16. Why not 100%? Monocultures suck by dbIII · · Score: 1

    No matter how good your energy source is you don't want to rely on it 100% is case something it depends on has problems. I've run into that with inland coal fired power due to a lack of rain - plenty of coal, but not much cooling water. The answer was a long pipeline to a dam near the coast that was hijacked by farmers with strong political connections before it was even finished.
    So without going into the viability of whatever the Russians are selling or that generation of nuclear in general it's a bad idea to "put all eggs in one basket".

  17. Economics is not the reason by dbIII · · Score: 1

    With existing stuff, never, but with new stuff that's never been tried everything is going to work perfectly and payback time will be swift.
    The banks don't believe that either which is why the only entities that put up the cash are governments. So nuclear is built due to a perceived National need for GigaWatts that don't have to come from coal or oil (eg. Japan worried about a blockade and maybe Jordan for the same reason) and not for economic reasons at all.
    So good economic performance is gravy if it happens but it's not the reason to build one of these things.

  18. Re:So when are we invading Israel for possessing W by gtall · · Score: 1

    Yep, a fact not lost on its neighbors who periodically have a go at getting the U.N. to pressure on Israel to give up its nukes. That way the neighbors can conduct a full jihad against Israel without worrying about losing their capital cities.

  19. Re:So when are we invading Israel for possessing W by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

    And you base this likelihood on what, exactly?

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  20. Re:So when are we invading Israel for possessing W by Maury+Markowitz · · Score: 1

    > That way the neighbors can conduct a full jihad against Israel without worrying about losing their capital cities.

    Considering that three of its neighbours lost parts of their capital cities, and two others were under serious threat, Israel doesn't need nukes to do that.

    And now that we're 50 years in the future, the neighbors have a lot more to worry between each other than Israel. There will be no repeat of '67.

  21. Good news! by drwho · · Score: 1

    I already knew about this, but glad to see it posted here. I am sad that it has to be a Russian one instead of a US/Japan or French one, and wish it could be Thorium instead of Uranium, but those aren't available yet. They originally were going to build it at Aqaba, their only sea access, to make use of the seawater for cooling and also desalinate it with waste plant heat. I wonder why they moved it.

  22. FFS by dbIII · · Score: 1

    FFS - They all use air as the heat sink via fucking huge cooling towers filled with a lot of water. While they don't actually lose much water you still need a fair bit to start with.

    1. Re:FFS by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      Other plants use cooling towers to fill in a part of the temperature differential down to the heat sink temperature, but their heat sink is still water from a lake, river or the ocean.

  23. There is a comma by dbIII · · Score: 1

    There is a comma which is meant to inform the reader that the first thing may not be the same as the second thing, but yes I could have put it in a different sentence.
    Try reading it as:
    The AP1000 reactors in China seem to be taking a while.
    That reactor in Sweden (Forsmark upgrade) is taking a while (since 2004).

    1. Re:There is a comma by lars_stefan_axelsson · · Score: 1

      Ah, OK. It was more the "building" a reactor in Sweden that caught me off guard. We're not allowed to build any new reactors by law. We weren't even allowed to do research into building a new reactor, or technologies that could be applied to such, but that law was fortunately stricken a few years back.

      But yes, we do "upgrade" our reactors to the extent that if they're reported as "building" in foreign sources that's arguably more correct than our current doublespeak.

      --
      Stefan Axelsson
    2. Re:There is a comma by dbIII · · Score: 1

      The loophole is the "building" is catagorised as an upgrade despite being a new reactor, which is probably fair enough since new boilers in coal fired power plants are described in the same way.

  24. The above poster is literally talking shit by dbIII · · Score: 1
    The above poster is literally talking shit (as well as doubling the size of the plant - what's with that?)

    The Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant is located in the Arizona desert, and is the only large nuclear power plant in the world that is not located near a large body of water. The power plant evaporates the water from the treated sewage from several nearby cities and towns to provide the cooling of the steam that it produces.

    Sorry kids - no magic to see here. Just a LOT of water from wherever you can get it, even sewage. You can reuse the water but you do need a LOT of water to start with.

    1. Re:The above poster is literally talking shit by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

      Being able to use treated sewage to assist in cooling is the same as the bump that other plants get from using water in cooling towers. The desert air still replaces the standard large body of water as the primary heat sink.

    2. Re:The above poster is literally talking shit by dbIII · · Score: 1

      As does the non-desert air in other places with cooling towers FFS.
      What is your game? I state the equivalent of "water is wet" and you go off with something like "as a rabid fanboy of water sports I strongly object, water is more like a very tasty chocolate milkshake only crunchy". It's not even a criticism yet I get an ignorant fanboy kneejerk response with made up "facts".
      Evaporative cooling to remove a lot of heat requires access to a lot of water that's a "real" fact as distinct from silly deliberate misinformation.
      In reality it just means putting your reactors close enough to a whole lot of salty water that nobody is drinking if that's all you've got. No contraversy. Not a criticism of nukes at all. Why make up shit to deny it?

  25. What is that blue stuff in the picture then? by dbIII · · Score: 1

    Instead of taking the word of a fanboy being ridiculous because someone suggested nuclear is not perfect in some way that nobody gives a shit about I suggest taking a look for yourself:
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi...
    That's from the article about the station he's writing about which is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...
    Note the line "20 billion US gallons (76,000,000 m) of treated water are evaporated each year.

    So yes, the Jordan plant is going to need a LOT of water but nobody said it has to be drinkable or even fresh water. It just means it has to be sited near the sea, a river or a lake (even a very salty lake) or have some other access to a lot of water.
    It's not a disadvantage, just a constraint, and it's pathetic that somebody is enough of clueless fanboy to see it as an attack instead of just a statement about a choice of site.