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from the watch-out-for-the-three-eyed-fish dept.
Late last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its first new operating license in nearly two decades. It was issued to the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has finally completed the Watts Bar 2 reactor over 40 years after work was started on the site. The plant may begin generating electricity before the year is out.
Construction on the site was put on hiatus in 1985, but efforts to complete it were restarted in 2007. After work had restarted, the Fukushima disaster led to significant revisions of the safety regulations in the US; Watts Bar 2 becomes the first plant to meet all these requirements. Its license is good for 40 years.
According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the total cost for completion was $6 billion.
The NRC's announcement is here. [PDF]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Tuesday October 27 2015, @03:10PM
WE own it.
Which is another way of saying a few bureaucrats make all the important decisions.
And it should not be lost on anyone that this long suffering project which delivered an already obsolete design 40 years too late, billions over budget, and licensed by an agency that really couldn't say NO, was done by, wait for it..... Big Government.
Who rarely have to eat their own dog food.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday October 27 2015, @07:06PM
WE own it
.
Which is another way of saying a few bureaucrats make all the important decisions.
Is there someone else you would like to nominate?
Small business can't build reactors.
Big business can't be trusted - you'd be first in line to bitch about that.
Big government apparently meets with your disapproval.
So, what then? Local School boards? Citizens committees? Public Votes on each important decision?
Union of concerned scientists?
I astounded you weren't leading the cheering section for something finally done right by big government. Something measurable finally completed.....
Tell us exactly how a country should build a reactor project of this scale?
How much of society should we remake to satisfy your whims?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday October 28 2015, @12:23AM
Small business can't build reactors.
Big business can't be trusted - you'd be first in line to bitch about that.
No, I'd select both these groups. If one is "trusting" a nuclear plant operator, one is doing it wrong. In addition, private parties can't hide behind sovereign immunity, preferential treatment by regulation, or selective enforcement of regulation.
I astounded you weren't leading the cheering section for something finally done right by big government. Something measurable finally completed.....
An old generation nuclear reactor when there are apparently two measurable generations since that reactor was designed. Would a private business be able to get away with that?
Tell us exactly how a country should build a reactor project of this scale?
Well, halting construction and letting it sit around for 20 years is no doubt a sound approach.
How much of society should we remake to satisfy your whims?
The part where I'm not getting a substantial part of the entire world's GDP. I think 10 trillion dollars per year (in current dollars) would cover my needs.