AT nuclear workers represent

[rcpratt]

http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2009/01/entergy-bids-goodbye-to-esbwr.html
http://nuclearstreet.com/blogs/idah.../exelon-bids-goodbye-to-ge-hitachi-esbwr.aspx
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=24289

Basically, 3 of the utilities who were looking at building an ESBWR reversed course or else gave up. Fermi may well be the only site still considering the design. I haven't read too much into the technical reasons, mostly it has just been seeing headlines since none of the reactor projects really involved me. I work for Bechtel, so I am much more interested in the sites they are looking at like Calvert Cliffs, South Texas Project and Bellefonte. We jsut recently had a meeting with some of the higher up managers on how these projects were going (because Watts Bar Unit 2 design is almost complete and they are laying off 600 people). Basically no other nuclear reactor project is going forward for at least another nine months year. There are currently three units which have construction permits and the next permit (a Part 52 license) likely won't be issued until 2012. You can do design work before then of course, but its too far off and the utilities are still too concerned about Obama's anti-nuclear tendencies to put any morey up at this point.

Ah, I remember this. All this happened before my last summer of work. This is happening because GE-Hitachi is trying to get the utilities to give them more money to help push the ESBWR through the licensing process, but the utilities aren't willing to. This is their counter to try to get GEH to pony up and get it done instead.

Dominion's North Anna is the Reference COLA for the ESBWR, and I know that as of last August, they were still working through the licensing process with the NRC. I'm sure this has evolved a lot since then, but I don't know how.

while not working in a power plant or on a ship I do handle am241be neutron and cs137 gamma sources along with neutron generators at my job.
I know a guy that was at fermi, an intern when he started. know any michigan tech grads that work there now?

Nobody comes to mind, but I spend most of my time at HQ in Detroit, only rarely at Fermi.

What exactly do you do? Sounds fun

 

[JohnCU]

http://djysrv.blogspot.com/2009/01/entergy-bids-goodbye-to-esbwr.html
http://nuclearstreet.com/blogs/idah.../exelon-bids-goodbye-to-ge-hitachi-esbwr.aspx
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=24289

Basically, 3 of the utilities who were looking at building an ESBWR reversed course or else gave up. Fermi may well be the only site still considering the design. I haven't read too much into the technical reasons, mostly it has just been seeing headlines since none of the reactor projects really involved me. I work for Bechtel, so I am much more interested in the sites they are looking at like Calvert Cliffs, South Texas Project and Bellefonte. We jsut recently had a meeting with some of the higher up managers on how these projects were going (because Watts Bar Unit 2 design is almost complete and they are laying off 600 people). Basically no other nuclear reactor project is going forward for at least another nine months year. There are currently three units which have construction permits and the next permit (a Part 52 license) likely won't be issued until 2012. You can do design work before then of course, but its too far off and the utilities are still too concerned about Obama's anti-nuclear tendencies to put any morey up at this point.

yeah all the people i know who were working on the ESBWR at GE have been laid off

 

[JohnCU]

speaking of nuclear, we just declared our second unusual event in a month, blah

 

[Xecuter]

nuke eng in progress here, excited

 

[herm0016]

i run tools into an oil well to see where the oil is and what kind or rock there is, also i use explosives to put holes in the casing where the oil is in the rocks.

 

[IronWing]

i run tools into an oil well to see where the oil is and what kind or rock there is, also i use explosives to put holes in the casing where the oil is in the rocks.

So you get to use neutron probes and deal with NARM?

 

[vjyper]

Got my B.S. in Nuclear Engineering and decided that it wasn't the career choice for me. Maybe I should have stuck with it and had fun at a reactor.

 

[HomerSapien]

The reason the ABWR is popular is that they are already licensed and have been built in Japan (I think there is one or two in the US, but not sure. I havent looked at the world reactor charts at www.ans.org recently). The ESBWR will hit the same road blocks in licensing that the AP1000 has once the review of the design is as far along as the AP1000.

All projects will slow down until there is more security in obtaining loans. The prices of long lead items fluctuate far to much in our current economy to make reasonable projections.

 

[Rubycon]

When someone tells kids to SCRAM I'll never think the same way about that.

 

[grohl]

sometimes I take a dump, I think, "damn, that's nuclear!"

 

[BrownTown]

speaking of nuclear, we just declared our second unusual event in a month, blah

INPO 4 here we come...

 

[mafia]

So do y'all get to make big explosions at them nucular plants?

 

[herm0016]

So you get to use neutron probes and deal with NARM?

we measure decay time for some things, and we measure the energy of the gamma ray that comes back to identify elements. we use the chemical sources to measure density in 2 different ways. we use the chemical neutron source to find water level in formations.

what is NARM?

do you mean Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material?

 

[IronWing]

what is NARM?

do you mean Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material?

Close. NARM is Naturally Accumulating Radioactive Material, basically NORM that has plated onto pipelines, thereby concentrating. Some oil field collector piping ends up with so much uranium and thorium plated in the pipe scale that it has to be disposed as a rad waste.

 

[herm0016]

Close. NARM is Naturally Accumulating Radioactive Material, basically NORM that has plated onto pipelines, thereby concentrating. Some oil field collector piping ends up with so much uranium and thorium plated in the pipe scale that it has to be disposed as a rad waste.

ah. i guess i just never have heard of that term. we don't deal with that stuff, most of the wells we work in are new.

 

[Locut0s]

BWR - Boiling water reactor right?

 

[HomerSapien]

BWR - Boiling water reactor right?

Yes. To name a few others:

Current and Gen 3 reactors:
PWR - Pressurized Water Reactor
ABWR = Advanced Boiling Water Reactor
APWR = Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor
ESBWR = Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor
EPR = European Pressurized Reactor

Gen 4 reactors -
SCWR = Super Critical Water Reactor
VHTR = Very High Temperature Reactor
MSR = Molten Salt Reactor

Typically, they are categorized by the coolant type.

 

[HomerSapien]

The following is a map that shows the site and what has been submitted to the NRC,

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/new-reactor-map.html

 

[rcpratt]

The following is a map that shows the site and what has been submitted to the NRC,

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/new-reactor-map.html

Interesting that the Grand Gulf, Victoria County, and River Bend units say "TBA" on that map now (because of the aforementioned issues), but the NRC COLA page still says ESBWR. Guess they update that map more often, since it shows which reviews are suspended.

Also, apparently Fermi is in Ohio.

 

[Locut0s]

Yes. To name a few others:

Current and Gen 3 reactors:
PWR - Pressurized Water Reactor
ABWR = Advanced Boiling Water Reactor
APWR = Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor
ESBWR = Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor
EPR = European Pressurized Reactor

Gen 4 reactors -
SCWR = Super Critical Water Reactor
VHTR = Very High Temperature Reactor
MSR = Molten Salt Reactor

Typically, they are categorized by the coolant type.

Thanks. Do they have any Gen4 reactors in operation?

What about Breeder reactors, I don't think they have any but prototypes running. They are a potential solution to the nuclear waste problem though they actually make the waste more suitable for weapons utilization.

 

[rcpratt]

Thanks. Do they have any Gen4 reactors in operation?

What about Breeder reactors, I don't think they have any but prototypes running. They are a potential solution to the nuclear waste problem though they actually make the waste more suitable for weapons utilization.

No. There aren't even any Gen 3+ reactors (ESBWR, AP1000) operating yet. Gen 4 is 20-30+ years away.

 

[coloumb]

I use to maintain nuclear weapons... [big gravity bombs and SRAM's]

 

[HomerSapien]

Thanks. Do they have any Gen4 reactors in operation?

What about Breeder reactors, I don't think they have any but prototypes running. They are a potential solution to the nuclear waste problem though they actually make the waste more suitable for weapons utilization.

Breeder reactors create more fuel, not waste. I think Russia is building one (VHTR?) and I would assume China is looking into it. They create more plutonium, which depending on the nuclide created, is great for the fuel cycle. It depends on the type desired as plutonium can be used for fuel in fast or thermal reactors.

I hate recommending wikipedia, but it is a good source of general information. They have a pretty good writeup for most of this stuff.

 

[BrownTown]

The original design were primarily breeder reactors, the reason that they never took off the same way that light water reactors did is simply because light water reactors are cheaper. The idea was to get the industry started with light water reactors and then phase in the breeder reactors after 10-20 years. The idea was never to have purely light water reactors running (because they are so horrible inefficient). That having been said, there are dozens of breeder reactors that have operated in the past or continue to operate now. Superphoenix was 1000+ MW, so that is just as large as any other plant, it was shut down for political reasons. For