Citing concerns over Fukushima Daiichi, China has called for a timeout in the development of the world's largest nuclear fleet. The Taishan nuclear units being built by Areva in China are just 2 of 25 currently under construction in China. Shaw/Westinghouse is building four units in China and helping to develop two others. The announcement, made March 16 by China's State Council, or Cabinet, could affect four AP1000s being built by The Shaw Group and Westinghouse, two others the group is helping to design, and two reactors being developed by Areva. China is currently building 25 nuclear reactors and had
Megaprojects will dominate construction to meet the world’s growing energy appetite, but securing financing and managing regulatory uncertainties remain key hurdles, according to government and industry leaders who assembled at the annual Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Conference in Cambridge, Mass. Photo Courtesy Of Bechtel The Ivanpah solar thermal megaproject in California’s Mojave Desert is set to produce 400 MW of power. While excitement bubbled up around panels and workshops on start-up projects in the clean-energy arena, industry, government and other attendees acknowledged that large-scale power generation would dominate future energy projects because of reliability and low cost. “Megaprojects are
To feed an insatiable need for more energy, countries worldwide are building terminals to import liquefied natural gas and constructing plants to convert waste fumes into LNG. However, the United States is no longer among that group. Photo: Courtesy of Black And Veatch The company is building 11 small LNG plants in China to capture waste coke emissions, turning them into LNG suitable for industrial feedstock or to fuel vehicles. In fact, the market for natural gas in North America has changed so dramatically in the past few years that companies that invested billions in terminals to import LNG now
Even before the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors has ended, nuclear industry experts from the U. S. are making plans to analyze and apply “lessons learned” from the accident triggered by an earthquake and tsunami. Already, they are beginning to battle a backlash against nuclear power that threatens a revival of the nuclear industry: At least one U.S. company is facing serious questions over the feasibility of its nuclear project, politicians want a temporary moratorium on nuclear power, and financial analysts are downgrading prospects for firms with nuclear interests. Worldwide, most countries are saying they will review their
For the U.S., the clear danger from a tsunami lies just offshore in the Pacific seabed where the Cascadia Subduction Zone shows up as a fault stretching about 800 miles, from Vancouver Island to Punta Gorda, Calif. Photo: AP Photo/The Times-Standard, Josh Jackson Half-sunken boats, docks and debris lie tangled Saturday, March 12, 2011, in Crescent City, Calif., after Friday's tsunami in Northern California. Related Links: Nuclear Nightmare Damage Assessments Climb At U.S. Ports and Harbors Seismologists say it has the potential to do almost exactly what happened on March 11 off Japan’s northeastern coast: generate a giant earthquake and
The March 11 tsunami battered U.S. coasts and ports from Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest to southern California. Related Links: Nuclear Nightmare Pacific Northwest Faces Tsunami Risk The waves were much less powerful after crossing the Pacific. The epicenter of the 8.9 magnitude quake was the northeast coast of Japan. The governor’s office in Hawaii expects damage to run to about $10 million. Estimates are heading toward $50 million in California and one county in Oregon one of three damaged ports is reporting $25 million worth of destruction there alone. Witnesses describe a day of violent wave action inside normally
Pittsburgh-based Consol Energy, the largest U.S. producer of coal from underground mines, will build an advanced wastewater treatment plant to treat wastewater from multiple mines in Appalachia as part of a settlement with the U.S. Dept. of Justice, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of West Virginia. The federal complaint, filed concurrently with the settlement agreement, alleges that, in the past four years, Consol mines violated pollution discharge limits in their Clean Water Act permits hundreds of times. The settlement, announced on March 14, calls for Consol to pay a $5.5-million civil penalty for Clean Water Act violations at
Work has resumed on the Steve Herrera Judicial Complex in downtown Santa Fe, N.M., after a plume of free-phase hydrocarbons, leaked from 1930s-era leaded-gasoline tanks, led to a two-year delay. In 2009, demolition of the site’s existing structures had been completed and excavation for the 103,000-sq-ft, three-story building had begun when the owner, Santa Fe County, and the New Mexico Environment Dept. dug test wells that revealed the extent of the contamination. Rendering: NCA Architects Work on a $38.5-million courthouse in Santa Fe finally progresses after extensive soil remediation. To date, 27,000 tons of contaminated soil and 15,000 gallons of
Astumbling economy has claimed another victim on the Las Vegas Strip. The two-tower, 1,720-room Sahara Hotel & Casino will close on May 16 amid funding woes that have temporarily stalled redevelopment plans. Photo: Courtesy Of Sahara Hotel & Casino Las Vegas hotel was a popular tourist and entertainment spot in the 1950s, but tough economics are forcing its closure. Los Angeles-based owner SBE Entertainment Group will shutter the 59-year-old resort on 17.5 acres because continued operation is “no longer economically viable,” a company statement said. The closure will likely affect the bankrupt 3.9-mile Las Vegas Monorail, which has a passenger
Administration officials say that nuclear power will remain an integral part of the United States' energy portfolio, despite the disaster unfolding in Japan. In light of Japan's growing nuclear emergency, some lawmakers, including Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), have called for a moratorium on the building of new nuclear powerplants in the U.S. But at a March 14 White House briefing, officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Dept. of Energy said they remained confident that the nuclear reactors in the U.S. are built to high enough standards that they could withstand the effects of major earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunami. They
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