There have been complaints from the Environmentalists about commercial  Nuclear Plant Reliability,  safety, and cost.  These complaints are out of date years ago.

U.S. Nuclear Plants Have Record Year

 The 104 U. S. nuclear power plants posted all-time record highs for electrical production in 2007, according to figures released by the Nuclear Institute. U S nuclear plants produced approximately 800 billion kWh in 2007, exceeding more than 2% the previous high of 788.5 billed in 2004. The average capacity factor of these plants was  91.8% for the year 2007.   

Also these nuclear plants post an average energy cost 1.72 cents per kWh. This cost is is lower than that of either coal or natural gas fired power plants.

Current nuclear plant reliability is outstanding, The reasons for this reliability are explained below.

By   Mitch Singer

Media Relations Manager Nuclear Energy Institute

1776 I Street, NW, Suite 400

Washington, DC 20006

Tel: 202-739-8009        800-350 4614, ext. 8009     Fax: 202-785-4113

On Extended Nuclear Power Plant Shutdowns U.S. nuclear power plants are operating at extremely high levels of safety. The reports claims to the contrary are bogus.

• The safety and operating performance record tracked by both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (indicators in the reactor oversight process that the Union of Concerned Scientists helped develop) and the World Association of Nuclear Operators (annual performance indicators) belies the report's claims and provides strong evidence of the industry's exceptional safety performance.

• The industry is achieving record levels of reliability and efficiency, with industry average capacity factors at or near 90 percent achieved consistently since the year 2000. Capacity factors (total electrical output as a percentage of the theoretical maximum output if a plant ran at 100 percent non-stop for a full year) are a good indicator of efficiency and safety because plants with repeated problems, equipment or otherwise, cannot achieve high capacity factors.

• One result of improved plant performance at U.S. reactors is that there is no basis for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to shut down a plant for an extended period of time because high margins of safety are being maintained.

Nuclear plants operate nearly all the time at rated power, producing the maximum amount of electricity that could be produced during a given time period. Coal plants run about 70 percent of the time, wind and hydro 30 percent and solar 20 percent. This is known as capacity factor. U.S. nuclear plants achieved a capacity factor of 91 percent in 2008, and the plants have been operating near this level on a sustained basis for the last 10 years.

Below are the recommendations of the Union of Concerned Scientists for new nuclear reactors to be built in the USA.

 • The NRC should require that new reactor designs be safer than existing reactors .Otherwise, designs with greater safety margins will lose out in the marketplace to designs that cut costs by reducing safety

 • Forthcoming NRC regulations that will require owners to integrate security measures into reactor designs if they are “practicable” should specify that the NRC—not reactor owners—will determine which measures meet that criterion

 • The NRC should require that new reactors be able to withstand the impact of a commercial aircraft.

 • The United States should reinstate a ban on reprocessing U.S. spent fuel, and active discourage other nations from pursuing reprocessing

.• The United States should eliminate its programs to develop and deploy fast reactors

 My comments on their recommendations are the following:

·    The Union of Concerned Scientists do not show that they have been licensed professional engineers in their chosen fields. They are not qualified to make commentary about the current nuclear power plants. They are free to do so, but should not be considered as reliable experts. Their president is Kevin Knobloch who holds a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, with a focus on natural resource economics and environmental management, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he concentrated in English and journalism. I ask you what does a person who is schooled in public policy and natural resource economics have to do with the engineering of nuclear power plans?

• The existing nuclear power plants have demonstrated to be safe over the last forty years. And the design and construction of new plants incorporate all known safety requirements and do not compromise cost cutting measures. It is an insult to assume that safety would ever be compromised to cut costs
• Security measures have demonstrated to be very good through out forty year of operation.
• The nuclear power plants are designed to withstand the impact of commercial aircraft.
• A ban on refueling is ridiculous. It is necessary to recover the fissionable isotopes that remain in the discharged fuel. This is a valuable asset and no rouge nation can steel it. Are we so incompetent that a rouge nation can steal fuel right in front of us?
• The Fast Breeder is the most important system in mankind’s future energy needs. It can supply energy as long as mankind will be on this earth. How does the Union of Concerned Scientists think mankind will survive without the Fast Breeder reactors?

Part of the reason that nuclear power plant operations have steadily improved is that the industry has identified and applied lessons learned from operating experience  including extended shutdowns.

• U.S. nuclear power plants have amassed a total of 3,100 reactor-years of operating experience. The extended shutdowns that are the subject of this report constitute four percent of the total U.S. operating experience, with all but three years (or one-thousandth of the total) of the extended shutdowns occurring prior to the year 2000.

• After the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, an event that triggered an era of new regulatory requirements and design changes or back fits,`1     it was not uncommon for a sizable contingent of inspectors to review a plant's operations when it tripped off-line. Similarly, the industry's commitment to safety often resulted in identifying enhancements to plant operation, and implementing those enhancements, often during extended maintenance shutdowns.

• The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations was established after the Three Mile Island accident. It has played a significant role in promoting safety by providing plant owners with a mechanism to pursue excellence in operations above and beyond regulatory requirements. This has been achieved by sharing operational experience, identifying best practices and sharing ?lessons learned.?

 Although the extended shutdowns of the past four decades provided lessons learned for the industry, they are an artifact of that era and are not directly relevant to the future performance of the next wave of nuclear power plants that will be built in the United States.

• Industry consolidation and strong operating performance over the past decade especially are indicative of a management approach that recognizes the characteristics of a ?fleet? of plants and achieves positive results through that approach.

• The standardized plant designs being approved by the NRC already have had virtually all of their engineering approved prior to construction. This facilitates safety in design and operations, a clear improvement over the era that existed following the Three Mile Island accident with many design changes taking place after plants were built or while they were being built.

 Management safety culture is an important issue, which is part of the reason that INPO, following the Davis-Besse shutdown in 2002, issued safety culture principles against which companies assess themselves. Safety culture is a subject of specific scrutiny during independent plant reviews that INPO conducts with all nuclear plant owners.
 

• We believe corrective action programs offer the best window into assessing whether nuclear plants have effective operational and safety programs in place. Corrective action programs should not only assist with problem identifications; they should identify and resolve the root causes of the problems that are identified. These programs constitute the largest portion of the NRC's baseline inspection regimen.

• The mere fact that in some cases NRC inspectors, rather than plant employees, identify problems that go into the corrective action program doesn't  mean a safety problem exists. Some problems that are identified have more to do with ?compliance? with regulatory requirements that were put on the books decades ago than they do with safety. What matters at the end of the day is whether the corrective action program is effectively determining and resolving the root causes of these issues, regardless of whether they relate to safety or compliance.

AEP's Cook Nuclear Unit 2 Sets Record.

American Electric Power's (NYSE: AEP) Cook Nuclear Plant Unit 2 set several fuel cycle records as the reactor was safely shut down early Saturday to begin a refueling outage.

Unit 2 operated continuously since the last refueling in spring of 2006 for a site record run of 497 days. This is known in the industry as a breaker- to-breaker run, as the unit's circuit breakers remained connected to the transmission grid for the entire 18-month fuel cycle. Projected totals show the unit operated at 100.6 percent capacity factor, a record for Unit 2 and equal to Unit 1's best performance, and generated 12,903 gigawatt -hours (GWH) of electricity, just shy of the Cook site record of 13,224 GWH which occurred during a longer fuel cycle.

MY comments: Compare this to that of solar PV's which have capacity factors of  15% and wind power with  CF of 20%. Which energy system will win out in the long run?

DETERRING TERRORISM:

Aircraft Crash Impact Analyses Demonstrate Nuclear Power Plant’s Structural Strength

NEI Says Many Safety Indicators Show Record-Best Levels of Excellence at Nuclear Power Plants in 2006

WASHINGTON, Apr 30, 2007 -- BUSINESS WIRE

America's nuclear power plants continued to operate at high levels of efficiency and safety in 2006, according to industry performance indicators compiled by the World Association of Nuclear Operators.

For the seventh consecutive year, the U.S. nuclear energy industry's unit capability factor topped 90 percent. The median capability factor for 103 reactors of 91.5 percent, when measured on an operating cycle basis, was within four-tenths of a percentage point of the 91.9 percent record set in 2005. Unit capability factor is the percentage of electricity actually produced compared to the maximum electricity a plant could supply to the electrical grid.

These sector-leading levels of efficiency at nuclear power plants produced 787.2 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity last year, second only to the record-high of 788.5 billion kwh of electricity produced in 2004.

The nuclear energy industry similarly sustained excellent levels of safety and operating performance in areas including safety system performance, industrial safety, unplanned automatic reactor shutdowns, and programs to protect workers from radiation exposure.

"The 2006 performance indicators are another indicator of the nuclear industry's commitment to safety and efficient operations," said Frank L. "Skip" Bowman, the Nuclear Energy Institute's president and chief executive officer. "As our industry prepares to build new state-of-the-art nuclear plants, it's noteworthy that we move forward from a solid foundation of operating excellence at our existing plants."

The performance data compiled by WANO is analyzed by the Atlanta-based Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, which promotes excellence in U.S. nuclear power plant safety and operations. INPO uses the data to help set challenging benchmarks of excellence against which safety and plant operation can be measured.

NEI Says Many Safety Indicators Show Record-Best Levels of Excellence at Nuclear Power Plants in 2006

WASHINGTON, Apr 30, 2007 -- BUSINESS WIRE

America's nuclear power plants continued to operate at high levels of efficiency and safety in 2006, according to industry performance indicators compiled by the World Association of Nuclear Operators.

For the seventh consecutive year, the U.S. nuclear energy industry's unit capability factor topped 90 percent. The median capability factor for 103 reactors of 91.5 percent, when measured on an operating cycle basis, was within four-tenths of a percentage point of the 91.9 percent record set in 2005. Unit capability factor is the percentage of electricity actually produced compared to the maximum electricity a plant could supply to the electrical grid.

These sector-leading levels of efficiency at nuclear power plants produced 787.2 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity last year, second only to the record-high of 788.5 billion kwh of electricity produced in 2004.

The nuclear energy industry similarly sustained excellent levels of safety and operating performance in areas including safety system performance, industrial safety, unplanned automatic reactor shutdowns, and programs to protect workers from radiation exposure.

"The 2006 performance indicators are another indicator of the nuclear industry's commitment to safety and efficient operations," said Frank L. "Skip" Bowman, the Nuclear Energy Institute's president and chief executive officer. "As our industry prepares to build new state-of-the-art nuclear plants, it's noteworthy that we move forward from a solid foundation of operating excellence at our existing plants."

The performance data compiled by WANO is analyzed by the Atlanta-based Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, which promotes excellence in U.S. nuclear power plant safety and operations. INPO uses the data to help set challenging benchmarks of excellence against which safety and plant operation can be measured.

PG&E's Diablo Canyon Power Plant Begins Scheduled Refueling and Maintenance Outage On Unit 1

AVILA BEACH, Calif., April 30, 2007 /PRNewswire

Diablo Canyon Power Plant operators safely shut down Unit 1 at 1:30 a.m. Monday, April 30, 2007 to begin a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage. Unit 1 operated continuously for 513 days, beginning at the conclusion of the last refueling outage in December 2005.

"Operating Unit 1 continuously between refueling outages is a testament to the people who maintain and operate it safely and efficiently every day," said Jim Becker, Vice President, Operations, and Station Director. "The Diablo Canyon team is prepared to execute a world-class outage that will set the stage for another long, continuous run for our customers."

Diablo Canyon personnel, supplemented by over 1,200 specialized and local union contractors, will complete nearly 11,000 tasks during the outage, including replacing one-third of the nuclear fuel. This will allow the plant to produce electricity safely and efficiently through the next 18-month cycle.

Diablo Canyon's two units together produce 2,300 net megawatts of electricity, about 10 percent of all electricity generated in California, and enough to meet the needs of over 2 million homes in central and northern California.

SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company

My comment: Can you believe a full power run of 513 days or 1.4 years?.

Diablo Canyon Unit 1 Returns to Service Following Refueling Outage

Diablo Canyon Power Plant operators returned Unit 1 to service at 9 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, 2007, safely completing a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage and returning more than 1,100 megawatts of electricity to the regional power grid.

Diablo Canyon can now again operate at fill power for another year and a half. This will be a capacity factor of about 90%. Compare this to wind power machines that can operated at capacity factors of only 25%.

Epilogue

My comments: Nuclear Plants with capacity factors of 90% will produce 4 to 5 times the electrical energy per installed capacity compared to renewable energy systems which have capacity factors of only 15% to 25%. This advantage will never change because the wind will not blow harder or longer and the sun will always go down in the evening. Moreover,  increasing solar production  requires massive excess collectors which store heat transfer transfer fluids. These are too costly to employ.