CTR Technical Services Newsletter

2008

St. Lucie Power Station

The St. Lucie Power Station consists of twin nuclear power plants located on Hutchinson Island, near Ft. Pierce, Florida in St. Lucie County. Both units are pressurized water reactors designed by Combustion Engineering and are owned and operated by Florida Power & Light. The plant contains two nuclear reactor containment buildings. However, the plant does not have the classic hyperboloid cooling towers found at many reactor sites; instead, it uses nearby ocean water for secondary coolant. The first unit began operating in June, 1976 and the second unit began 7 years later in 1983.

The original operating license was to expire 40 years later in 2016 for unit 1 and 2023 for unit 2. However, an extension of the license for an additional 20 years was granted by the NRC in October, 2003 so that now the plants can be operated until 2036 for unit 1 and 2043 for unit 2. Extending the operating license of a nuclear plant is the most inexpensive way to meet electrical demand since new power plants will not be needed for another 20 years. Almost every utility in the United States have either obtained or are seeking life extension as a means to meet electrical demand without building new power plants. The St. Lucie Power Station will also increase electrical capacity by uprating the power output of each unit from the current 839 MWe to approximately 940 MWe. The cost of the uprate will be about $350 million per plant or $3.50 per additional watt. The cost of new construction is estimated to be $6 to $10 per watt so uprating an existing power plant is much less expensive than building new power plants. A majority of the nuclear power plants in the United States have obtained or are seeking power uprates to increase capacity.

New Fresh Fuel Storage Rack

Dale Lancaster of NuclearConsultants.com, working with CTR Technical Services, has completed a comprehensive criticality analysis of a new high density fresh fuel storage rack planned for the Korea Nuclear Fuel (KNF) fabrication plant. The rack will be able to store up to 780 fresh (unburned) PWR fuel assemblies in a compact design that minimizes the area required. The storage rack can accommodate a variety of different fuel designs including Westinghouse 14 x 14, Westinghouse 16 x 16, Combustion Engineering 16 x 16, and Westinghouse 17 x 17.



Criticality is controlled by borated stainless steel that surrounds each fuel assembly. Although the rack is operated in a dry environment, the criticality analysis conservatively assumes that the rack is flooded. Boron is a very good neutron absorber. Using stainless steel that contains only 1.5% by weight of boron, the k-eff of the system will always be less than 0.95.

The high density storage rack allows a very large number of fresh fuel assemblies to be stored at the plant prior to shipment to the nuclear power plants in South Korea and beyond. South Korea currently has 20 operating nuclear power plants that provide 40% of the country’s electricity.

Wind, Solar and Biofuel

To lessen the world's dependence on oil, some politicians are promoting the use of wind, solar, and biofuel to generate a substantial portion of the world’s energy needs. How feasible is this idea and how much does it cost?

Heat or electricity can be generated from windmills. A windmill having a radius of one meter in a brisk wind of 20 miles per hour (9 meters/sec) generates about 500 watts of electricity. To replace one coal or nuclear power plant generating 1000 megawatts of electricity would therefore require 2 million windmills assuming that the wind blows 20 miles per hour continuously. Of course, the wind doesn’t blow all the time. Assuming an average wind speed of 5 miles per hour, you would need 8 million windmills to replace one power plant. Each 2 meter diameter windmill needs about 50 square meters of land area. 8 million windmills would therefore require 400 million square meters or about 160 square miles (not to mention the eyesore such a massive wind farm would have on the environment). A conventional coal or nuclear power plant (1000 MWe) can be built on less than one square kilometer which translates to a continuous power density of 1,000 watts per square meter which is 400 times more land efficient than wind power which has a power density of less than 3 watts per square meter. An efficient windmill producing a peak power of 500 watts in a 20 mph wind costs about $1000 or $2 per peak watt. However, this is peak power which cannot be achieved continuously. So the real cost is more like $8 per watt assuming that land has no value. The cost of new construction for a nuclear power plant is estimated to be $6 to $10 per watt, which is very expensive due to taxation, regulation, and litigation of the energy industry (the cost of nuclear power plant construction during the 60s and 70s was on the order of 50 cents per watt). However, a new nuclear power plant will generate electricity for 60 years compared to the 20 year life of a windmill. The bottom line is that wind power costs about 30 cents/kWhr compared to a cost of 10 cents/kWhr for new nuclear power. If windmills were an easy solution, there would be hundreds of millions of them.

What about solar power? Electricity can be generated directly from solar panels made of photovoltaics. The first solar cell invented in 1954 cost $300 per peak watt and had an efficiency of 5% (i.e., extremely expensive for a piddling amount of power). Advances in the technology has significantly reduced the cost of solar systems to about $10 per peak watt and efficiencies have increased to 10-15%. Nevertheless, considering that the sun does not shine continuously, solar power is still three to five times more costly than a modern nuclear power plant.

A 20% efficient solar panel can generate up to 200 peak watts per square meter. Assuming an average capacity factor of 15% over 24 hours, this would be 30 watts per square meter. Solar panels require ten times less land area per watt than windmills but still require at least 30 times more land area than a conventional coal or nuclear power plant.

What about biofuel such as ethanol? A 1 hectare plot of land (10,000 square meters) can produce 1,000 gallons of ethanol per year. A gallon of ethanol represents about 35 kW-hr of heat energy. So, doing the math, the power density of biofuel is 35 kW-hr * 1000 / 8760 hr / 10 or only 0.4 watts per square meter or 80 times more land area per watt than solar! The actual cost of producing ethanol is higher than reported because it is heavily subsidized. Assuming $4 per gallon as the real cost of production, using ethanol to produce electricity (in a 30% efficient plant) would cost 40 cents per kW-hr of electricity or 4 times that of new nuclear power and the land area required is enormous. The land would be better utilized growing food rather than growing fuel.

Rules for Teachers 1872

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys.

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s session.

3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.

4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.

5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.

6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.

9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Puzzle

There are two boxes which contain either a red ball or a black ball. One of the boxes also contains a prize. On top of each box, there is a statement as shown below. If the box contains a red ball, then the statement is true. If the box contains a black ball, the statement is false. Which box contains the prize?

Rombough Also Ran

Charles Rombough, 60, had to drop out after completing 61 miles of the Leadville Trail 100 footrace through the mountains of Colorado at high altitude. The conditions were far from ideal with rain, sleet, and hail throughout the day. Mud was a big problem between Twin Lakes and Hope Pass. The winning time was 18:02:39 by Duncan Callahan of Gunnison (over 2 hours slower than the course record). The first female, Helen Cospolich of Breckenridge, completed the course in 23:21:53 (over 5 hours slower than the female record). Only 186 of the 468 starters finished the run before the 30 hour cutoff (40%). In the 60+ age category, Rombough placed sixth out of 39 starters.

Thanks go to Don and Sherry Owens, Dianne Wood, and Lisa Maytag who gave aid and comfort to Rombough to get him going between aid stations. Considering that he was suffering from pain in the calf, hamstring, and buttocks, fell on the trail three times, and threw up twice, Rombough was pleased that he made it as far as he did.

Three weeks later, Rombough attempted the Wasatch 100 mile run near Salt Lake City, Utah. The calf would not hold up, however, and so he called it quits after only 24 miles. He took the rest of the day off and then cheered finishing runners 33 hours later on the next day.

Quotes

You are better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can.

Ken Choubler

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you get rained out.

Satchel Paige (c. 1905-1982) Baseball player

To be content with what one has is the greatest and truest of riches.

Cicero, Roman orator

Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.

Marie Curie, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and chemist

Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.

Confucius

Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.

General George Patton, Jr.

The man who does not make any mistakes does not usually make anything.

William Connor Magee, Irish clergyman

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but enough money can make it renewable.

Anon

Answer to Puzzle

There cannot be a black ball in box 1 and a red ball in box 2 (why?) nor can there be a red ball in both boxes (why?). Therefore, there are only two possibilities - (1) a red ball in box 1 and a black ball in box 2, or (2) a black ball in both boxes. Since there must be a black ball in box 2, the prize must be in box 2.

Who We Are

CTR Technical Services was incorporated on May 15, 1987 to provide technical support for the nuclear industry. Since then, we have done work for 34 worldwide organizations (located in 22 states and 4 foreign countries). We specialize in the fields of reactor physics calculations and measurements, reactor core monitoring, shielding evaluations, criticality evaluations, and custom software applications.

The President is Charles Rombough who has over 30 years experience in nuclear analysis and software development. Our associate is Steve Martonak who specializes in mathematical modeling of physical systems and computer programming. We have also teamed with Dale Lancaster of NuclearConsultants.com to expand our expertise into other areas.

CTR Technical Services, Inc.
950 Sugarloaf Road
Manitou Springs, CO 80829

Tele: 800 - 524-9328
Fax: 719 - 685-3579

Email: ctr@ctr-tech.com

List of Clients

ADTECHS Corporation
Alief Alamo Bank
Arizona Public Service Corporation
Arkansas Power & Light Company
Bechtel SAIC Corporation
Beijing Institute of Nuclear Engineering
CP&L Progress Energy
Consumers Power Company
Duke Power Company
E G & G
Environmental Measurements Lab
First Energy Corporation
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power Corporation
Fluor-Daniel Northwest
Framatome ANP
Galaxy Computer Services, Inc.
General Electric Nuclear Energy
Gesellschaft fur Nuklear-Behalter mbH
GPU Nuclear Corporation
Institute for Nuclear Energy Research
Korean Electric Power Research Institute
Korea Nuclear Engineering Services Company
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Nuclear Management Company
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Omaha Public Power District
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Scientific Application International
TRW Environmental Safety Systems
Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Hanford Company
Yankee Atomic Electric Company

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