Bill Gates-founded energy company set to construct $3 billion nuclear power plant in Wyoming that could be operational by 2030
I don't want to be too negative about this but trying to pump around safely a mass of just about the most reactive substance known is very optmistic. The slightest leak could trigger a totally destructive explosion. It is apparently going to be built in a remote area in Wyoming so maybe the Greenies will let it pass
A power company co-founded by Microsoft's Bill Gates has announced plans to begin building a new type of nuclear power plant in the US this summer.
TerraPower revealed it plans to apply for the necessary permits this month to start construction on a next-generation nuclear reactor at the start of June in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
The Washington-based firm has received an estimated $1 billion in funding from private investors, which will be combined with a promised $2 billion from the US government.
The reactor is unique in the world of nuclear power, as it is cooled with liquid sodium rather than water - an efficient strategy, but one that has proven dangerous in some cases because of sodium's explosive reaction if it touches water.
TerraPower's announcement puts it in a nuclear energy race against Russia and China.
The two superpowers are working to develop and export cheaper reactors, and the Natrium one represents TerraPower's attempt to enter that market, the Financial Times reported.
In December, the company inked an agreement with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation.
That deal will see TerraPower exploring the use of its Natrium reactors to not only generate electricity in the United Arab Emirates, but also produce hydrogen - a notoriously energy-hungry process.
TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque told FT that they plan to apply this month for the necessary permits to begin construction in June, but whether or not the company has received approval yet, they will begin building then.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is in charge of approving construction of new nuclear powerplants.
The next-generation reactor, called 'Natrium,' can be built for half the cost of water-cooled ones, the standard nuclear power technology for decades, Levesque said.
Because of the design of the Natrium reactor, most of the initial phase of construction will not involve any reactor parts per se, but will rather focus on support structures.
According to the company's website: 'TerraPower was founded by Bill Gates and a group of like-minded visionaries that decided the private sector needed to take action in developing advanced nuclear energy to meet growing electricity needs, mitigate climate change and lift billions out of poverty.'
Nuclear power does not have the same issues with carbon emissions that other powerplants do, especially coal.
But it does present new problems, as spent nuclear waste is dangerously radioactive for thousands of years.
There has not been a sodium-cooled reactor in the US since several experimental reactors were attempted in the 1960s and 1970s.
After several failures, including a partial meltdown of the Fermi 1 in Michigan in 1966, all of these reactors were decommissioned, and most were replaced with conventional boiling water reactors.
In 1995 the Monju Nuclear Powerplant in Japan suffered a fire as a result of a sodium leak in its cooling system.
The ensuing coverup, involving falsified reports and edited video footage of the accident, was so disgraceful that government investigator Shigeo Nishimura took his own life after uncovering it.
'When you use liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water it's a game-changer,' Levesque told FT, noting that since it boils at almost 900C it can be operated much more cheaply than water-cooled reactors.
'Natrium plants will cost half of what light water reactor plants cost . . . and we are moving our project along pretty aggressively,' he said.
The reactor in Wyoming will be a demonstration project, but upon completion it will become a commercial power provider, TerraPower claimed.
The plant is scheduled to be operational by 2030.
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SNP retreat is ‘high water’ for Net Zero
Campaign group Net Zero Watch has welcomed the announcement by the Scottish Government that they are considering legislating to water down their Net Zero targets.[1] Net Zero Secretary Mairi McAllan told the Holyrood Parliament that, having set themselves a legally binding target of cutting carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, she and her officials were now considering a variety of options to address the impossibility of actually delivering, including legislation.
Welcoming the move, Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford said:
Politicians across the world have set ruinous, utopian targets that are impossible to deliver. Ms McAllan is the first to publicly face up to reality, but she won’t be the last. We have reached the high water mark for Net Zero.
Under the Climate Change Act, governments can amend the decarbonisation target and the timetable for achieving it by regulation, as happened in 2020 [2]. It is also open to them to legislate.
Mr Montford said:
This is a purely political decision. Whatever course they take, the Scottish Government will face opposition from environmentalists, the Climate Change Committee and their Green coalition partners. But they have no option. You can’t negotiate with reality.
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World’s largest solar company cuts thousands of jobs
China’s Longi Green Energy Technology Co., the world’s largest solar manufacturer, is cutting almost one-third of its staff to slash costs in an industry struggling with overcapacity and fierce competition.
Longi plans to trim as much as 30% of its workforce, which last year totaled about 80,000 at its peak, according to several people familiar with the matter, including some briefed by senior management. The people asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.
The move signals an acceleration of job cuts that Longi began in November, when it started laying off thousands of people who were mostly management trainees and factory hires — a reversal after years of breakneck expansion across the global solar industry. It isn’t clear how many employees had been dismissed before this latest decision.
Longi rejected as false the suggestion that it would cut 30% of staff and said reductions would involve about 5% of total employees.
The solar sector is facing an “increasingly competitive environment,” the company said in a statement. “In order to adapt to market changes and improve organizational efficiency, Longi is optimizing our workforce.”
Xi’an-based Longi isn’t alone: China’s solar industry dominates global manufacturing but has suffered from layoffs and suspended investment plans in recent months. Manufacturers have been forced to sell at or below production costs after prices for solar panels fell to record lows last year. The result is that an industry seen as crucial to the global energy transition is struggling with excessive capacity, consolidation and the possibility of bankruptcies.
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Financial adviser's frightening warning about the latest tech-enabled cars
Yipes! This is pretty appalling. My car is an 18 year old Toyota Echo that never talks to me and has never let me down in any way in all those years. It sounds like I am lucky to have it. Someone who knows Toyotas has offered me "above market" money for it
Scott Pape, who wrote the best-selling financial advice book The Barefoot Investor in 2016, argued that new 'internet-enabled cars' in the US often share data about a driver's speeding, braking and swerving with insurance companies.
This data can then lead to an increase in their insurance premiums.
Mr Pape recently wrote about his joyless experience driving a 'Chinese-built Haval Jolion SUV' on his blog.
'It is hands down the worst car I’ve ever driven (and in my twenties I drove a Mitsubishi Magna that leaked more oil than Saddam Hussein),' Mr Pape wrote.
'The Haval makes me feel like I’m 17 years old, back on my L-plates, with my hyper-anxious mother in the passenger seat "guiding" me.'
Mr Pape said the car would 'ding' repeatedly to keep him in check, including when he did not wear his seatbelt, tried to overtake or even if he looked away from the windscreen.
He suggested something more 'sinister' might be at work.
'You see, in the US, internet-enabled cars are recording all those dings, swerves and sharp stops, and selling the data for millions to the insurance industry,' he wrote.
'The result? People are often pinged with higher insurance premiums.'
While he acknowledged that this is only a reality in the US for now, he warned that it could soon be widespread in Australia.
'The most powerful car companies on Earth have teams of lawyers who craft 12,000-word privacy terms and conditions that they know no one ever reads,' Mr Pape wrote.
'This then allows the companies to track and sell our every move, and the buyers of that data feed it into algorithms and use it against us.'
In October, Katherine Kemp, Associate Professor at the UNSW's Faculty of Law & Justice, warned that 'Australia's privacy laws need urgent reform'.
'Australia’s privacy laws aren’t up to the task of protecting the vast amount of personal information collected and shared by car companies,' Ms Kemp wrote.
'And since our privacy laws don’t demand the specific disclosures required by some US states, we have much less information about what car companies are doing with our data.'
Ms Kemp cited a US study by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation which found that cars with internet-connected features were 'the official worst category of products for privacy' they had ever reviewed, dubbing them a 'privacy nightmare on wheels'.
They tested all major car brands – Toyota, Ford, BMW, Volkswagen, Tesla, Hyundai – and found they all failed to meet minimum privacy standards.
Almost 85 per cent share or sell your data to third parties, while Nissan and Kia reportedly even allow the collection of data on a driver's sex life.
'They come right out and say they can collect and share your sexual activity, health diagnosis data, and genetic information and other sensitive personal information for targeted marketing purposes,' the report by the Mozilla Foundation states.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13220797/Barefoot-Investor-new-car-warning.html
***************************************My other blogs. Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM )
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Jim Hansen and his twin
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