West of Mpls MN about 50 miles on Hwy 12 | I'll call BS.
The Monticello Mn. nuke plant went on line in 1971, scheduled for shutdown in 2010. In 2006, Xcel Energy proposed a series of upgrades to the plant in order to increase its output and extend its life for an additional 20 years. In December 2013, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the license amendment allowing the unit to increase output from 600 MWe to 671. This plant will now run until the year 2030 at the very least.
All the "waste" everyone is so afraid of from this plant will generate will fit in a very small one car garage. You should see the "temporary" mountain of fly ash the Sherco plant, it's coal fired neighbor in Becker MN. has made. They have no idea what to do with it.
As of 2015, there are five new reactors under construction with a gross electrical capacity of 6,218 MW. As of October 2014, the NRC has granted license renewals providing a 20-year extension to a total of 74 reactors. However, no applications for an additional license renewal, which could extend nuclear plant operating lives beyond 60 years, have yet been filed...I bet they will in the future.
Up until 2013, there had also been no ground-breaking on new nuclear reactors at existing power plants since 1977. Then in 2012, the NRC approved construction of four new reactors at existing nuclear plants. Construction of the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station Units 2 and 3 began on March 9, 2013.
For about 22 reactors license is due to expire before the end of the next decade if no renewals are granted.The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant was the most recent nuclear power plant to be decommissioned on December 29, 2014. Another four aging reactors were permanently closed in 2013 before their licenses expired because of high maintenance and repair costs at a time when natural gas prices have fallen...Cheap natural gas has become a deciding factor if it does pay to recommission
These new plants are way more powerful than the old ones they are replacing. And the recommissioned plants coming back on line are more powerful. You don't need as many.
A very good friend of mine works for GE Nuclear in Wilmington NC. He builds, and tests the new and improved fuel bundles for almost all the current, and new nuke plants being built, he is paid very well, he is very busy. They are also recycling fuel bundles at his plant, someday I'll have him explain the process, it will take a lot of band width. His plant employs over 3,000 very well paid people.
You should see all the nuke plants being built in China, they have to, they can't breath. Nuclear is a very viable source of power. I personally will take nuke over coal any day.
Edited by CMN 1/21/2016 00:58
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The End of Saudi Arabia?
