Three Swiss Utilities Form a Consortium For Building New Nuclear Capacity.

[NNadir]

Three Swiss utilities have agreed to jointly develop projects to replace old reactors and cut back on energy imports from France.

The move is the latest configuration of power companies that want to address an upcoming security of supply issue in the country.

In late 2007, Axpo, Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke (CFC) and BKW FMB Energie joined forces in a new company to replace the Beznau and Muhleberg nuclear power plants. One year later, after Axpo had taken control of CFC as a subsidiary, Axpo and BKW FMB filed 'framework permit applications' for the replacement. Separately Alpiq has made the same kind of application with reference to the Niederamt site.

Now Axpo and BKW have been joined by Alpiq to "join forces in further pursuing the planning and construction of two new nuclear power stations." This will replace old reactors and "compensate for long-term import agreements with France which are due to expire." The concept of building new reactors at all three sites was approved by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI) in November.

Currently Muhleberg hosts a 306 MWe boiling water reactor, while Beznau plant hosts two 350 MWe pressurized water reactors. As a combined heat and power plant Beznau also provides 80 MW in heat to industry and homes over a 130 kilometre network that reaches 11 towns. Under current plans, power generation at those sites would end in around 2020. At the same time around 2000 MWe of imported nuclear energy from France would begin to be phased out and a 355 MWe hydro plant at Mill Mountain would close. The loss of so much low-carbon power generation at one time could be a serious environmental issue for Switzerland.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN_Three_become_one_for_new_nuclear_in_Switzerland_2312102.html">Three become one for new nuclear in Switzerland


The bold is mine. I was unaware that the Swiss used nuclear heating much as the Romanians, Russians and British have done. This is, of course, an excellent policy, and helps to address climate change. District heating is only the tip of the iceberg on what can be done with 2nd law heat from nuclear power plants.

Most people who know any science whatsoever know that the Swiss glaciers, and thus their hydroelectric capacity are at risk. Personally, I am gratified that the plans for the new reactors includes dismantling a dam, but then I rather hate dams.

[joshcryer]

1. Using waste heat as heating is awesome, I know much of Iceland does that with its geothermal.

Though I don't think it would be considered waste heat as they pump it directly from the ground as their heat source for towns, and it is not necessarily used as electrical generation at that step.

[NNadir]

2. In the nuclear case, we can greatly increase the overall efficiency by the use of high temperature

reactors.

Using "waste" heat to heat residences and businesses is only one possible application.

There are many approaches to building high temperature reactors for use as process heat for various kinds of reactions, most of which represent energy storage media for portable devices like, um, gasp, cars and trucks, ships and planes. In this case electricity would only be a side product.

It is possible via these means to achieve thermal efficiencies of close to 60%, and still have some waste heat available for space heating or heat pumping to other industrial systems.

[jpak]

3. Waste heat fom Oyster Creek nuclear plant kills sea turtles and untold numbers of marine life

and the owners do not want to spend the money on cooling towers to protect the bay.

have a nice day

[NNadir]

4. I guess the owners of your new swell gas plants will NOT be dumping waste heat and dangerous

carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Oh wait, you don't know the laws of thermodynamics, which is why you don't know how dangerous fossil fuel plants work.

Most anti-nukes have selective attention. I note that your concern for Barregat Bay doesn't extend to having your fellow trust fund brats remove their homes and garages all along the shores that fill the Bay with phosphate, acid, and nitrates.

You couldn't care less that the bay will disappear entirely with the rise of sea level.

Nuclear power need not be perfect to be vastly and infinitely superior to all the stuff you don't care about. It only needs to be vastly superior, not the perfect, but the best, which it is.

Have a nice gas waste dumping day in Maine and thanks for your efforts to put particulate matter in my family's lungs.

[jpak]

5. New Jersey burns far more gas, oil and coal than Maine and Oyster Creek kills

it kills

it kills

it kills

have a nice Ambien day

:D

[NNadir]

6. Really? New Jersey burns more dangerous fossil fuels than Maine?

That might have something to do with the fact that New Jersey's population.

One would need to know how to do something called math to grasp this, but that intellectual backwater up in Maine, inhabited, apparently, by hicks has a population of 1.3 million, all of whom can tea party all night, apparently.

By contrast, New Jersey, which has not destroyed its largest source of climate change gas free energy to satisfy the whining of dumb guys from, um, intellectual backwaters, has 8.7 million people.

Fifty percent of our electricity generated in state comes from nuclear energy, although out of state cranks are trying to bring their gas pals new business here.

http://www.rmi.org/rmi/Amory+B.+Lovins">Famous Anti-nuke Amory Lovins describes his revenue sources:

Mr. Lovins’s other clients have included Accenture, Allstate, AMD, Anglo American, Anheuser-Busch, Bank of America, Baxter, Borg-Warner, BP, HP Bulmer, Carrier, Chevron, Ciba-Geigy, CLSA, ConocoPhillips, Corning, Dow, Equitable, GM, HP, Invensys, Lockheed Martin, Mitsubishi, Monsanto, Motorola, Norsk Hydro, Petrobras, Prudential, Rio Tinto, Royal Dutch/Shell, Shearson Lehman Amex, STMicroelectronics, Sun Oil, Suncor, Texas Instruments, UBS, Unilever, Westinghouse, Xerox, major developers, and over 100 energy utilities. His public-sector clients have included the OECD, the UN, and RFF; the Australian, Canadian, Dutch, German, and Italian governments; 13 states; Congress, and the U.S. Energy and Defense Departments.

The total carbon dioxide generated per MWh in the State of New Jersey - and unlike gas bags like Amory Lovins I find any carbon waste dumping in Earth's atmosphere to be unacceptable and so I am not excusing my state - was 685 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, making us number 43 in the nation.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/new_jersey.html">New Jersey's electricity profile.

Maine generates exactly the same amount of carbon dioxide - 685 million metric tons - with 1/7 of the population of New Jersey.

One reason that Maine is such a natural gas hellhole is that immoral people destroyed, out of ignorance, the largest single source of climate change gas free energy in the state, the Maine Yankee plant.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/maine.html">Maine's electricity profile.

Everyone on earth is affected by Maine's disproportionately large dangerous fossil fuel waste dumping habits.

Everyone...


I note that in 1990, that gas hellhole in Maine - created by and for the ignorant - produced just 22% of its electricity from dangerous fossil fuels. Today that figure is 48.3%.

Heckuva job. Heckuva job. I note that Maine is also generating more electricity than it did in 1990. So much for that big, big, big, "conservation will save us" scam being run by air heads living in the clouds of Snowmass Colorado.

Mainers should use some of that Arabian Horseshow Horseshit as "renewable fuel."

Have a nice provincial, garbage dumping evening. Give my regards to your tea party Governor.

[Kolesar]

7. Have a nice provincial, garbage dumping eveningair heads

something called math to grasp this
intellectual backwater up in Maine,
inhabited, , by hicks
all of whom can tea party all night,

New Jersey, whining of dumb guys from, um, intellectual backwaters,
nuclear energy, out of state cranks gas pals

[Dogmudgeon]

8. I know you're REALLY angry, but ...

... that made no sense whatsoever.

--d!

[Kolesar]

9. It never does

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=269639&mesg_id=269813