Core costs

Trade-offs in basic core cost, final transformer cost, and RFI are the primary considerations. 

Assumes a <20 pm thick Nb cladding layer over a 130 pm steel core. Cost information is based on discussions with ATI Wah Chang, a leading worldwide producer of Nb sheet product. 

In 1998, an evaluation of Lasagna technology was prepared for the U.8. EPA s Rapid Commercialization Initiative. As part of the evaluation, cost estimates were prepared. An example of one of these estimates is given in Table 2. These estimates were determined for core costs only, as noncore costs such as oversight, health and safety, sampling, and quality assurance/quality control can vary significantly from one site to the next. The number of pore volumes of water... 

TABLE 3 Estimated Lasagna Remediation Core Costs per Cubic Yard as a Eunction of Depth, Pore Volumes (PVs) Required, and Years Allowed for Remediation... 

The level of aggregation used in strategic planning makes obvious the need to focus on core cost items that actually determine the economic viability of alternative network designs. A two-step approach was used to prioritize cost items. 

However, in the last two to three decades of the twentieth century the innovative force of the chemical industry slowed down. Far fewer reaUy new molecules were developed and the change in properties compared with those of existing materials became incremental. In addition, key markets have become saturated and production costs are getting closer to core costs. In this environment, many chemical companies are in desperate need of iimovation to generate the profitable growth which is a major driver of their stock value (see Chapter 3). 

Breaking out of this situation requires an internal discontinuity - a real step change in performance, characterized by improvement targets of inconceivable proportions. The concept of core costs has proved to be highly successful here over the last 10 to 15 years, particularly in production environments. Core costs are the minimum production costs that would be required if all types of costs... 

The difference between the present cost base and the core cost is described as the fully compressible cosf. A target - or ideal hurdle - of reducing compressible costs by about 30 to 50 percent has proved to be both stretching and also achievable in all process industries, and has been attained by many chemical companies with very different performance histories (Fig. 12.5). 

The radial power peaking factor is -1.23, due to the use of 3 axial zones with different enrichments. An increase in the number of axial zones could additionally reduce radial power peaking but also leads to an increase in core cost. 

The main cost factor ot coring is usually the rig time spent on the total operation and the follow up investigations in the laboratory. Core analysis is complex and may involve different laboratories. It may therefore take months before final results are available. As a result of the relatively high costs and a long lead time of core evaluations the technique is only used in selected intervals in a number of wells drilled. 

The commercial value of a clay deposit depends on market trends, competitive materials, transportation faciflties, new machinery and processes, and labor and fuel costs. Naturally exposed outcrops, geological area and stmcture maps, aerial photographs, hand and power auger drills, core drills, earth resistivity, and shallow seismic methods are used ia exploration for clays (32). Clays are mined primarily by open-pit operation, including hydraulic extraction however, underground mining is also practiced. 

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