Archive for Nuclear
Entergy ordering parts to build a Nuclear Reactor in Mississippi
Posted by: | CommentsAug 2007
For Immediate Release
Entergy Nuclear Signs New Nuclear Project Development Agreement and
Components Order with GE-Hitachi
Jackson, Miss. — Entergy Nuclear, the nation’s second largest
nuclear operating company, has signed a project development agreement
with GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy that includes a major, advanced
reactor components order. Proceeding with the order now will ensure
timely delivery of schedule-critical parts should Entergy decide to
build a new nuclear unit.
Entergy Nuclear, through NuStart Energy Development LLC, is on target
to submit a combined construction and operating license application
for its Grand Gulf nuclear site in Mississippi by the end of 2007.
Entergy Nuclear is also targeting a mid-2008 submittal of a combined
construction and operating license application for its River Bend
site in Louisiana.
While Entergy has not yet made a decision to build a nuclear unit,
the company is moving forward systematically to position itself so
that the option for a new nuclear unit remains available in the 2017
time frame.
The utility is currently examining its customers’ future energy
requirements and other important factors, such as the related costs
of new nuclear construction and the projected costs of alternative
sources of base load generation, which are important factors in
determining whether or not to proceed with a new nuclear plant.
The two potential sites for a new plant each has a GE-designed
reactor currently operated by Entergy Nuclear. The Grand Gulf Nuclear
Station, located in Port Gibson, about 25 miles south of Vicksburg,
Miss., has a 1,266-megawatt boiling water reactor that entered
service in 1985. The River Bend Station in St. Francisville,
northwest of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital city, has a 978-
megawatt boiling water reactor that began commercial operation in
1986.
With a growing number of global utilities deciding to build new
reactors, the supply of important plant components is expected to
tighten in the coming years. By ordering the components from GEH now,
Entergy is positioning itself to be able to build a new economic
simplified boiling water reactor in time to start commercial
operation in the 2017 time frame.
“This significant components order ensures GEH and Entergy will be
able to build an ESBWR project on schedule if Entergy formally
decides to build a new unit,” said Andy White, president and chief
executive officer of GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy. “We share a long
history of working with Entergy and look forward to an expanded
relationship that may include new unit construction. ”
Said Entergy Chief Nuclear Officer Michael Kansler, “Signing the
project development agreement and long-lead equipment orders with GEH
demonstrates our clear commitment to planning for the future energy
needs of our customers while reflecting the methodical, step-by-step
approach we are taking so that a decision to build a new nuclear
power plant would clearly be a sound business decision for our
customers and our shareholders. ”
The order for Entergy Nuclear includes large forgings as well as
fabrication of several schedule-critical nuclear and turbine
components required for the ESBWR design. Several U.S. GE businesses
and a diverse network of global supply chain partners will perform
the work.
Terms of the project development agreement and the order are
confidential.
Entergy Nuclear is a charter member of NuStart Energy Development LLC
(www.nustartenergy. com), a U.S. Department of Energy-backed
consortium of nuclear utilities and suppliers that includes GE. The
NuStart consortium was organized to complete engineering work on next-
generation reactor designs and to test the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission’s new streamlined combined construction and operating
license application regulations. In 2005, NuStart selected Grand Gulf
as the site of a potential ESBWR. NuStart’s efforts are cost-shared
as part of DOE’s Nuclear Power 2010 program.
(http://www.doe. gov/energysource s/nuclear. htm)
About Entergy
Entergy Corporation (www.entergy. com) is an integrated energy
company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail
distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with
approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, it is
the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy
delivers electricity to 2.6 million utility customers in Arkansas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of
more than $10 billion and approximately 14,500 employees.
About GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy
Based in Wilmington, North Carolina, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy is a
world-leading provider of advanced reactors, nuclear fuel and reactor
services. GEH, established in June 2007, is a global nuclear alliance
comprised of GE and Hitachi, built to serve the global nuclear
industry. Through the new nuclear alliance, GE and Hitachi will
execute a single, strategic vision to create a broader portfolio of
solutions, expanding its capabilities for new reactor and service
opportunities. The alliance will offer customers the technological
leadership required to effectively enhance reactor performance, power
output and safety for the global nuclear industry.
Radioactive Boy Scout’ Charged in Smoke Detector Theft
Posted by: | CommentsRadioactive Boy Scout Charged in Smoke Detector Theft
David Hahn
Saturday, August 4th, 2007
The Radioactive Boyscout
DETROIT — A man who became the subject of a book called “The
Radioactive
Boy Scout” after trying to build a nuclear reactor in a shed as a
teenager
has been charged with stealing 16 smoke detectors. Police say it was a
possible effort to experiment with radioactive materials.
Arraigned Thursday on felony charges
David Hahn, 31, was being held Friday on a $5,000 bond in the Macomb
County
Jail after he was arraigned Thursday on felony larceny charges. Clinton
Township police Capt. Richard Maierle said Hahn denied the charges.
A district court clerk on Friday said Hahn did not have an attorney.
The
Associated Press called the jail in an effort to speak to Hahn, but a
sheriff’s spokesman said the jail does not give messages to inmates.
His
preliminary examination was scheduled for Aug. 13.
Investigators say Hahn was arrested Wednesday after a maintenance
worker saw
him stealing a detector from a ceiling in an apartment complex where he
lived. They later found the other detectors in his apartment in the
Detroit
suburb of Clinton Township.
His face was covered in open sores
Police say that Hahn’s face was covered with open sores, possibly from
constant exposure to radioactive materials. [Or maybe exposure to meth
or
something else -
http://www.foxnews.com/images/303168/0_61_080407_David_Hahn.jpg - JH ]
Smoke detectors have a small amount of radioactive isotope
Hahn learned that a small amount of a radioactive isotope could be
found in
smoke detectors during his experiments in the 1990s, according to a
1998
article in Harper’s Magazine that later expanded into a book by
journalist
Ken Silverstein.
Maierle said his department evacuated the apartment complex and called
the
state police bomb squad, which found no hazardous materials.
He said officials learned in January that Hahn had returned to the area
after serving in the U.S. Navy.
“Because of his past, we were a tad bit concerned,” he said, adding his
department alerted the FBI when they found out he was back in Michigan.
“We
didn’t want any other radioactive sites to pop up.”
Hahn’s first brush with authorities came in August 1994, after police
stopped him during an investigation into neighborhood tire thefts.
Officers
found radioactive materials, chemicals, rocks, plastic and glass
bottles and
two exploded pipes in his car, Maierle said.
Just trying to earn an Eagle Scout Badge
In a subsequent interview with a state health official, Hahn said he
had
been trying to produce energy and hoped it would help him earn his
Eagle
Scout badge, according to the Harper’s article. Hahn also acknowledged
having a backyard laboratory in a potting shed at his mother’s home in
Oakland County’s Commerce Township, the article said.
Authorities declared the structure a hazardous materials site and
sealed it.
Crews from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency led a Superfund
cleanup
in 2005 that included dismantling the shed and shipping its remains to
be
buried at a low-level radioactive waste site in Utah, the article said.
Hahn received a Scouting merit badge for atomic energy in 1991, the
article
said.
Maierle said Hahn’s 1994 arrest was expunged in 1996. His arrest this
week
was reported by The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens.