The Panama Canal Authority awarded the contract to design a bridge on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal near the Gatun Locks to a Chinese-U.S. joint venture. The China Communications Construction Co. and the Louis Berger Group offered a $4.66-million proposal, the lowest bid offered. The structure will be 75 meters above sea level and 5 km long, including the approaches. The other firms proffering bids included TYPSA Principia, URS Holdings, Puente de Colón JV, ARUP and T.Y. Lin International.The bridge is required to maintain a road passage across the isthmus with the construction of the new larger locks
Republican efforts to revive the Yucca Mountain high-level, long-term waste repository got a boost when a June 10 report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of the Inspector General questioned NRC Chairman Gregory Jazkco’s use of a continuing budget resolution to shut down continued work on the repository.The report from Inspector General Hubert T. Bell found Jaczko was “not forthcoming with other Commissioners about his intent to stop work” on Yucca Mountain work, but Bell stopped short of calling Jazcko’s actions illegal. Jazcko says the report showed his actions were within his authority as chairman.In the meantime, on June 1,
The Electric Power Research Institute, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and the Nuclear Energy Institute announced a joint organization to coordinate the U.S. nuclear industry’s study and response to the March 11 disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. In a June 9 press conference, the three agencies said the coordination of the groups would ensure that all groups understand and implement “lessons” learned from the event. In addition to improving response capabilities and communication plans, the group will focus on technical areas including studying total loss of on-site and off-site AC power; the accident guidelines already in
A European Union environmental regulation is prompting big changes and some uncertainty about the future at the Tilbury B Power Station, located on the Thames River, 25 miles east of London. Work is under way to convert the former 1,050-MW coal-fired powerplant, closed in March, to what would be the world’s largest biomass plant, generating 750 MW. But thanks to the regulation that prompted the plant's conversion, Tilbury’s future beyond 2015 is not yet certain, says its owner, RWE npower. Photo courtesy of RWE npower Tilbury is switching from burning coal to wood pellets as its fuel source. RWE, which
Photo courtesy Bintan Resorts Work is now under way on Lagoi Bay, a resort encompassing over 1300 ha on Bintan Island. Photo courtesy Bintan Resorts The project faces a number of engineering challenges because it is being built on swamp land. Work is now under way on Lagoi Bay, a resort community encompassing over 1300 hectares on Bintan Island, one of Indonesia’s largest islands. Valued at approximately $812 million, the project is slated to be completed by 2014.Once a coconut plantation, the coastal development is less than an hour away by ferry from Singapore. The owners, Bintan Resorts, hope to
The Missouri River, fed by record runoffs from a massive snowpack and heavier-than-normal spring rains in seven states, is in overflow mode and will continue that way through most of August. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is managing the river with releases from six mainstream dams, five of them discharging or ramping up to discharge 150,000 cubic feet per second and the sixth churning through 65,000 cfs.The Corps is watching its own levees and working with state and local sponsors on other levees to repair three breaches in Iowa and prevent others.The challenge now and the next two months:
Eight pumps with a capacity totaling 13,920 cu ft per second were put through their paces on June 3, demonstrating that the $1-billion Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex near Harvey, La., is ready for operation this hurricane season.
The staff of Tampa Bay Water, Clearwater, Fla., is recommending awarding a $162.4-million contract to Kiewit Infrastructure Group, Omaha, Neb., to repair and expand the utility’s six-year-old, 15.5-billion-gallon, cracking reservoir.
Eight pumps with a capacity totaling 13,920 cu ft per second were put through their paces on June 3, demonstrating that the $1-billion Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex near Harvey, La., is ready for operation this hurricane season. Photo By Angelle Bergeron Eight 5,400-hp diesels drive the pumps to remove stormwater when the gates must be closed to defend against a storm surge. Photo By Angelle Bergeron The 1,740-cfs pumps got a “wet test” June 3, running two at a time for 10 minutes each. The complex consists of operating gates, t-walls and levees that are designed to close
In response to Japan’s Fukushima disaster, the European Commission on June 1 began stress tests on143 nuclear powerplants operated within the 23 member states of the European Union. The EC expects tests to be complete by year’s end. Later this month, the commission will invite neighboring countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, to follow suit. For the most part, stress testing is a desktop exercise to review safety factors and is already a part of the licensing procedure for nuclear plants, says Andrej Stitar, chairman of the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group, which helped devise the methodology. “All the natural
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