SCANA and Toshiba/Westinghouse couldn't agree on a "turn-key" price for an AP 1000

[RP Instructor]

SCANA CEO Bill Timmermann left us all a voice mail message indicating that SCANA and Toshiba/Westinghouse couldn't agree on a "turn-key" price for an AP 1000. Last estimate was $3000.00 per megawatt, which was more than SCANA was willing to pay.
We recently had a site meeting with Jeff Archie (Site VP) and he suggested that SCANA may entertain other vendors, i.e. Mitsuibishi or AREVA.

[rlbinc]

Heard it through the uber secret Reactor Buyer's Network that PWRs offered to Southern Company at Vogtle were estimated at $9 Billion, which resulted in an outbreak of Negotiatus Interruptus characterized by Acute Buyer Departure.

[Rennhack]

Heard it through the uber secret Reactor Buyer's Network that PWRs offered to Southern Company at Vogtle were estimated at $9 Billion, which resulted in an outbreak of Negotiatus Interruptus characterized by Acute Buyer Departure.

9 Billion?  Some one is smoking something if they think ANY utility would pay that. $3B, sure.  But $9B?  Looks like we are going to build more BWRs if Westinghouse thinks 9 is a good number.

[rlbinc]

Yeah, the Chinese are spending all those US dollars on Areva reactors.
The low US dollar combined with the high reactor demand makes Euro denominated plants expensive here in the US.
That's the hidden side of extreme trade deficits - eventually we can't afford the products of an industry we created.

GE's ESBWR will be the right choice for the US.
No Steam Generators or associated maintenance costs.
No Recirculation / Reactor Coolant Pumps or associated power costs.
No Safety Related Emergency Diesels.
All sold for good, old, cheap US dollars.

Those same cheap dollars allow most foreign countries to realize an immediate economic advantage by buying a US design.

[rlbinc]

If we expand the topic from electricity to energy in general, Nuclear Power really starts to get cheap.

The Chicago Auto Show is going on right now. The Chevy Volt, an electric-powered car is drawing alot of attention. Honda has a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Civic, which can be powered from electrolytically produced Hydrogen.

According to Dr. Arthur Robinson of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine:
"The construction of just one nuclear power station like Palo Verde (CA) in each of the 50 states, with a full complement of 10 reactors, would supply all of the energy that the United States currently imports—with, in addition and at current prices, $300 billion per year worth of excess energy to export."

Energy is measured in British Thermal Units, BTUs. One BTU is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2006 the United States used 99.5 quadrillion BTUs of energy for electrical energy and for our transportation needs.

What energy sources were used? This includes transportation, which nearly matches our heating and electrical demand.

40% came from oil
23% came from coal
22% came from natural gas
2.9% came from biomass ALL of these sources are Carbon Dioxide emitters

8% came from nuclear plants
2.8% came from conventional hydroelectric dams
less than 1% came from all other alternatives combined, geothermal, wind and solar power.
So about 12% of our energy consumption does NOT emit Carbon Dioxide.

It's so bad that a large portion of the nation's corn crop, an essential element of our food supply, is liquefied into ethanol and burned for fuel! Which is tantamount to a sin, when people in other countries are literally starving for a fraction of the corn crop.

We're burning the furniture to heat the house, folks. People will die, if we continue to act like this.

According to the DOE, between 1989 and 2004, a 15 year period, US spending on energy DOUBLED from 437 Billion to 869 Billion. http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb0105.html

Since 2004, energy prices
1) have been conveniently EXCLUDED from the Consumer Price Index, as has food. You'll hear the term Consumer Price Index for Inflation, excluding food and energy...
2) has increased by 250%, from $38 to nearly $100 per barrel.

The number is so staggering, they have spared you the statistical reference in the CPI.
A few hundred billion dollars in the right direction, beats the trends shown above.
We need to get off oil, get off gas, get off coal, get off corn...

...and get on nuclear.

[HydroDave63]

Yeah, the Chinese are spending all those US dollars on Areva reactors.
The low US dollar combined with the high reactor demand makes Euro denominated plants expensive here in the US.
That's the hidden side of extreme trade deficits - eventually we can't afford the products of an industry we created.

GE's ESBWR will be the right choice for the US.
No Steam Generators or associated maintenance costs.
No Recirculation / Reactor Coolant Pumps or associated power costs.
No Safety Related Emergency Diesels.
All sold for good, old, cheap US dollars.

Those same cheap dollars allow most foreign countries to realize an immediate economic advantage by buying a US design.

As the French work valiantly to prove rlbinc correct yet again

http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Finnish_reactor_start-up_may_be_delayed_until_2012_company_999.html

"Based on the present time schedule information received from the plant supplier, Areva-Siemens, the reactor plant civil construction works will take several months longer than earlier estimated," TVO said in a statement, adding: "The start-up of the plant may be postponed until 2012."