Expansion of Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant Suspended 114
mdsolar writes in with news that plans to build two new reactors at the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant have been put on hold. "On Friday, Luminant, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Future Holdings, suspended its application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two new reactors at the plant. Its partner on the project, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, said it was focusing on getting its nuclear reactors in Japan back in operation. The majority of Japan's reactors were shut down because of safety concerns following a 2011 tsunami that caused a radiation leak at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex 150 miles north of Tokyo. Mitsubishi 'has informed us that they will materially slow the development of their design control document for their new reactor design by several years. In addition, both [Mitsubishi] and Luminant understand the current economic reality of low Texas power prices driven in large part by the boom in natural gas,' read a statement from Luminant."
Re:renewability of nuclear power (Score:4, Insightful)
Obviously nuclear power is technically non-renewable, so how long would it be expected to last, assuming no refinements to extraction or fission methods?
One answer is here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-long-will-global-uranium-deposits-last [scientificamerican.com]. The short version is that with current techniques, and usage levels, the available uranium will last a couple hundred years. However, there are methods that we expect would increase that by multiple orders of magnitude.
Re:Delays not surprising (Score:2, Insightful)
Gas is quicker responding and more short-term. Nuclear is a long-haul technology. You don't just decide one day "hey, let's make a nuclear reactor" and then have it start up the following year. The time for planning and building reactors is NOW because of the amount of time and planning required to make it happen when you need it in the future.
As for shale gas, it's a matter of time before increased demand makes the price too high. Additionally, it's still burning stuff which puts more crap in the air. We don't need more of that. (Doesn't matter which side of the global warming issue you are on, putting crap into the air is just bad.)
The delays are not surprising. It's just sadening. Companies need to be less concerned about "quarterly" and "annual" figures and more concerned about re-establishing the 5-year plans.