Posted on 12/21/2007 9:21:28 PM PST by GOP_Raider
PAYETTE - The developer of a proposed nuclear plant near Payette faced tough questions about safety, traffic, water and future quality of life in his first public meeting on Thursday.
Residents peppered Bill Fehrman, president of MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Co., with questions colored by their skepticism since learning about the plant proposed northeast of this lower Treasure Valley city near the confluence of the Payette and Snake rivers.
(Excerpt) Read more at idahostatesman.com ...
Guess what, Hippies.........electricity is a quality of life issue.
I think I may have something here for your rural/outdoor ping list. Payette is a small town near the Idaho-Oregon border. This article discusses the possible building of a nuclear power plant near that part of the state.
Activists showed up and the Statesman (true to form) emphasied them. But most people here know that Nuclear Reactors in the states are safe, and they know we need the energy.
The issue that is a very real issue around here is the water. This is agricultural country and that agriculture is fed by irrigation waters. That water is stored in several reservoirs (they mention Lucky Peak Dam...but thata is on a different drainage, the Boise River drainage), like Cascade Dam and Deadwood Dam.
Addingt the amount of acre feet of water necessary to feed the reactor is a large amount and would impact irrigation significantly unless another source is developed.
The questions regarding that aspect of this particular plant are very germaine to the area, and to the livelihood of the farmers and ranchers in the area and the communities that support them.
As the crow flies, I’m about 50 miles from where they want to build it. What I had read before they had the meeting up in Payette last night was that this same company wanted to build a nuclear plant further south—I believe near Grand View.
In terms of water usage needed, I would have to think that might be a little better, as it would be right by the Snake River and C.J. Strike Dam.
I was born and raised in Payette and still have friends and family there. The ones I have talked to are cautiously in favor but want more info. Particularly the farmers. I think the town will support it in the end.
Many people don’t know this, but the U.S.Navy has numerous nuclear reactors in Idaho. The number quoted to me by an ex-navy nukie was around 300.
Reactor 101 - you are not “going to feed the reactor water”; you will be using it for cooling and there are various methods not to steam the water in a cooling tower; and I doubt they would use a cooling tower there anyway.
It’s just another solvable engineering problem, and the water is not going to “disappear” or be eaten by the big bad reactor.
The reactor would use an estimated 25,000 acre-feet of water annually, more than a quarter of the water stored in Lucky Peak Reservoir
The largest nuclear power facility in the United States is located in the desert about 100 miles east of Phoenix, Arizona.
They manage to operate 3 large nuclear reactors in the Arizona desert with out any water problems. I’ll wager that there is less water there than in Idaho.
I've passed that sign welcoming people to Arco many times on the way to visit the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Craters is a fun place to visit. My wife and I love to explore the caves and lava tubes. It can be 140 degrees standing on top of the sun baked lava field, yet a few feet down into the cave reveals ice on the walls and floors. I've taken many digital pictures deep in the caves. The colors are phenomenal. The CCD in my camera can see color and detail beyond what I can see directly with my flashlights. Running up the big cinder cone in the middle of the park yields an amazing panoramic view of the Snake River plain. There are areas of "tree molds" where molten lava formed around tree trunks and cooled. The wood is long gone, but the impressions from the trees are very interesting. Idaho has lots of dormant volcanoes.
I know that...in essence, by cooling it, your are feeding it. It cannot produce electricity without the cooling water.
The water to cool the reactors would have to be divertted away from the irrigation canals given the current reserves in the lakes above it. Or another source has to be developed. The irrigation water does not return to the river.
So, as my first post indicated, they will have to develop anothyer supply...which is doable, but is also an issue.
Isn’t much of the water recovered, if not lost as steam? I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.
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