Satanic nukes? Finnish plant's cost overruns to $6.66 billion

[bananas]

LOL!
Joe Romm pokes fun at the cost overruns:

Satanic nukes? Finnish plant’s cost overruns to $6.66 billion



Reuters reports the news — or perhaps I should call it the Revelation:

The expected building costs of a new nuclear reactor in Finland by France’s Areva have increased to 4.5 billion euros ($6.66 billion) from 3 billion.

Last year Bloomberg had a long article on the troubles plaguing Finland’s Olkiluoto-3, “the first nuclear plant ordered in Western Europe since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.” By 2007, the plant had been delayed two years thanks to “flawed welds for the reactor’s steel liner, unusable water-coolant pipes and suspect concrete in the foundation.” It was also more than 25 percent over its 3 billion-euro ($4 billion) budget.

Yet a year later, the cost was up 50%, and Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority said “the supervision and ’safety culture’ of welding at the Olkiluoto-3 nuclear plant did not meet all of its standards and must be improved.”

Who could be responsible for all these flaws and cost overruns? Could it be … Satan? After all, The Book of Revelation clearly states:

<snip>

http://climateprogress.org/2008/09/19/satanic-nukes-finnish-plants-cost-overruns-to-666-billion/

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[xfundy]

2. Wow.

I take it this Romm pissed in your cornflakes at some point. I'd be angry too.

[bananas]

3. For those unfamiliar with Joe Romm, here is his bio from "The Foundation for Nuclear Studies"

I'll just point out that he has a Ph.D. in physics from MIT.

http://www.nuclearfoundation.org/rommbio.html

Biography

Dr. Joseph Romm is one of the world’s leading experts on clean energy, advanced vehicles, energy security, and greenhouse gas mitigation. He is author of a forthcoming book on global warming science, solutions, and politics, Hell and High Water: Global Warming—The Solution and The Politics—and What You Should Do (William Morrow, February 2007). He is coauthor of the recent Scientific American article, “Hybrid Vehicles Gain Traction” (April 2006). He is author of the report, “The Car and Fuel of the Future: A Technology and Policy Overview,” for the National Commission on Energy Policy (July 2004) and The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate, named one of the best science and technology books of 2004 by Library Journal.

Dr. Romm served as Acting Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy during 1997 and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary from 1995 though 1998. In that capacity, he helped manage the largest program in the world for working with businesses to develop and use advanced transportation and clean energy technologies—one billion dollars aimed at hybrid vehicles, electric batteries, hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, all forms of renewable energy, distributed generation, energy efficiency in buildings and industry, and biofuels. Romm was in charge of technology and market analysis for the office. Dr. Romm helped lead the Administration's climate technology policy formulation, and he initiated, supervised, and publicized a comprehensive technical analysis by five national laboratories of how energy technologies can reduce greenhouse gas emissions at low-cost: Scenarios of U.S. Carbon Reductions.

Dr. Romm is executive director and founder of the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions—a one stop shop helping businesses and states adopt high-leverage strategies for saving energy and cutting pollution. The Center is a division of the Virginia-based nonprofit, Global Environment & Technology Foundation. Romm is also a principal with the Capital E Group (www.cap-e.com), a premier provider of strategic consulting, technology assessment, and sustainable design services in the clean energy industry. Romm’s clients have included Toyota, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Collins Pine, Nike, Timberland, Texaco, and Lockheed-Martin.

Dr. Romm is widely quoted in the media and technical/policy journals on clean energy and advanced transportation technology. In 2004 and 2005, he was quoted in over one hundred media outlets (see attached), including the New York Times, Business Week, the L.A. Times, Fortune, Financial Times, Science, New Scientist, CNBC, NPR, CNN, the BBC, and CBS Evening News. The History Channel chose Dr. Romm to serve as on-air expert for hydrogen on the Modern Marvels program. Motor Trend magazine selected Dr. Romm as one of four experts to interview in its article examining future automotive technologies. Toyota Technical Center asked Dr. Romm to deliver the first talk in its newly launched “Vision 2020 Seminar” at their headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Romm holds a Ph.D. in physics from M.I.T. He has written and lectured widely on advanced transportation technologies, clean energy, business, and environment issues, including articles in Technology Review, Issues in Science and Technology, Forbes, Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, the L.A. Times, Houston Chronicle, Washington Post, and Science magazine. He co-authored “MidEast Oil Forever,” the cover story of the April 1996 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, which predicted higher oil prices within a decade and discussed alternative energy strategies. Dr. Romm is on the Board of Securing America’s Future Energy, which developed the Oil Shockwave scenario exercise, which was staged most recently at the 2006 Davos World Economic Forum.

[joshcryer]

5. FOAKE costs? Plant disasters are responsible for higher and more complicated regulations...

...not FOAKE by any means.

Look at it, the reason they're having cost overruns is because they tried to save money; flawed welds and suspect concrete.

These high ass standards exist for a reason, and trying to get around the fact that such structures *require* significant engineering is just a copout.

All energy R&D according to the IEA over the past 30 years (all USD, using rounding):

Conservation: 16956990000 / 6.9%
Fossil Fuels: 33038553000 / 13.5%
Renewables: 19811293000 / 8.1%
Nuclear: 143844275000 / 58.8%
Storage Tech: 7426103000 / 3%
Other Tech: 23193409000 / 9.4%
Total: 244271100000

This is on an energy that has supplanted fossil energy by about .2% in that same 30 years, for perspective.

Yes it costs money to build nuclear plants, I don't know what the controversy is. If people weren't trying to save a buck here or there then nuclear power wouldn't be as maligned as it is.

[diane in sf]

4. Funny! Was the church lady his coauthor?