On Tue, 5 Aug 2008 09:39:33 -0400, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .


In the US, it takes 12 years (and that's a conservative estimate -
there is one proposal by Clearwater to add additional reactor to an
existing site in Texas that will be twenty years into the process) to
get a nuke power plant approved and additional 5 years to actually
build it. Those 12 years are the result of legal challenges - pure
and simple. We could be entirely off fossil fuels in the US for power
generation by now if only...



I may have mentioned this before, but what the heck ....

I was talking to my neighbor not too long ago. He's a quality control/test
engineer at the Pilgrim Nuke Plant in Plymouth.
The discussion involved the need for new plants and the historical problems
and costs risks associated with getting permits.

He told me that has changed, fairly recently. Prior to the change, a
utility company or company who wanted to put up a nuke plant had to go
through all the engineering, design phases, get building permits, build the
thing, then apply for a permit to operate it.
The application for permit to operate is where the trouble started with all
the environmentalists and anti-nuke organizations, and they prevailed. As
a result, nobody wants to put up the money to design and build, only to be
refused a license to operate.

The new procedure changes that. A permit to operate is issued up front
.... contingent upon successful compliance with all inspections conducted
during the design and build phase. As long as the plant meets the approved
design and build conditions, a license to operate is already approved.

This may help get new plants off the dime.

They can build one in my back yard anytime they want. :)