Nuclear utility industry

This industry too had its share of corrosion costs. For boiler reactors capacity factor losses because of corrosion problems averaged over 6% between 1980 and 1991, reaching a peak value of 18% in 1982. It is estimated that corrosion problems have cost the nuclear utility industry more than 5 billion since 1980. In addition, repairs and mitigation cost the average US light water reactor > 0.5 billion in the industry with radiation exposures of about 100 rem per year. 

In 1985, owiag to the declining demand by the nuclear power industry for enriched uranium, the Oak Ridge gaseous diffusion plant was taken out of operation and, subsequently, was shut down. The U.S. gaseous diffusion plants at Portsmouth, Ohio and Paducah, Kentucky remain ia operation and have a separative capacity of 19.6 million SWU (separative work unit) per year which as of this writing is not fully utilized. 

What are the reasons for the excellent record of the French nuclear power industry The main reason is that there la only one vendor, and one user. Both the construction company and tho utility are stated owned. The centralization of government In Franca helps considerably. 

There is no detailed documentation of the number of chemists and chemical engineers employed in the nuclear power industry. Within AECL there are 300 in a total staff of 6000 (5%). Within Ontario Hydro (26) there are approximately 145 in a total staff of 3300 associated with nuclear power generation (4.4%). The Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA) estimates that in 1976 there were about 18,400 people employed in the Canadian nuclear industry, excluding the uranium industry (27) If about 4% of these were chemists or chemical engineers, one can estimate that a total of about 700 were employed in the industry at that time. There is likely to be considerable expansion of the industry by 1985, particularly in the utilities such as Ontario Hydro, Hydro Quebec, and New Brunswick Power which already have additional nuclear capacity under construction. The expansion will in turn provide new opportunities for members of this profession. 

Chlorine trifluoride, CIF3, is violently reactive with many oxidizable substrates. It is available commercially and has been utilized to fluormate uranium to UFe in the nuclear power industry. This is an important step in uranium enrichment because volatile UFe can be readily separated from the nonvolatile fluoride impurities. 

The total cost of electricity sold in the United States in 1998 was 3.24 million gigawatt hours at a cost to consumers of 218.4 billion. The electricity generation plants use fossil fuel, nuclear, hydroelectric, cogeneration, geothermal, solar, and wind energies. The major players are fossil and nuclear steam supply systems. The two types of nuclear reactors are boiling water and pressurized water reactors. Some relevant data on the costs of corrosion estimated in 1998 are as follows nuclear facilities 1,546 billion fossil fuel sector 1,214 billion transmission and distribution 607 million hydraulic and other power 66 million. The total cost of corrosion in the electrical utilities industry in 1998 is estimated at 6,889 billion/year. 

Industry observers generally expect the majority of the nuclear power industry to remain heavily unionized after deregulation, as did the U.S. aviation and rail industries. For example. Miller (1998, pg. 27), in an article about the process of plant acquisition, states that Operating non-union is almost never an option for the buyer, since the seller typically has gained workforce and community support by requiring a union-fiiendly transaction. Similarly, Public Utilities Fortnightly associate editor Schuler (1999, pg. 56) states that Nearly all [of the utility vice presidents that he surveyed] recognize the roles of unions in the future employee mix. Thus, unions will undoubtedly continue to be players in the industry. 

John J. Barry (1996), International President, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, letter to Mr. John C. Hoyle (Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission) Re 10 CFR Part 50, Draft Policy Statement on the Restructuring and Economic Deregulation of the Electric Utility Industry, December 6. 

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1996), Draft Policy Statement on the Restructuring and Economic Deregulation of the Electric Utility Industry, Washington, D.C. 

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