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thewayneThe Tennessee Valley Authority plant shut down a reactor because the river has averaged 90 degrees for a 24-hour period.
Bummer.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/5061439.html
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/18/131226
One of the Slashdot responses was interesting:
"A little noted fact of the cold war is that a very large amount of the US total electrical generation capacity is in the TVA region (Tennessee River - Dependent) The loss of this reactor is serious as the whole USA has no reserve capacity at peak load and with the heat wave over the East USA this is a critical loss. If it were the only reactor in danger this might be of no concern. The US TVA operates 5 big reactors and numerous coal fired plants all of which have the Tennessee River at thermal capacity to cool them and the river is dropping daily.
If heavy sustained rain does not fall on the Tennessee River Valley over the next 3 to 4 months an event which is historically unlikely, the loss of something close to 15 times the Browns Ferry reactor in capacity is likely to hit the USA. There is nothing to pick up the load. The loss of this one reactor is nearly equal to all the wind energy the USA generates. This loss threatens the operations of every one of the 48 US States. With the possible loses in Alabama Power pools and their reactors etc as well as Georgia Power, this poses the very real risk of cutting the energy supply of the USA by a very large fraction. As I write the North Alabama region is short 60 inches of rain over the past 18 months. The US TVA has been drawing down storage for 5 years now. There is no reserve and little prospect of one for some years to come.
I had warning of this imminent event when the City of Huntsville requested from TVA more water for its treatment plant and was turned down for supply. I knew then that the supply was gone."
Bummer.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/5061439.html
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/18/131226
One of the Slashdot responses was interesting:
"A little noted fact of the cold war is that a very large amount of the US total electrical generation capacity is in the TVA region (Tennessee River - Dependent) The loss of this reactor is serious as the whole USA has no reserve capacity at peak load and with the heat wave over the East USA this is a critical loss. If it were the only reactor in danger this might be of no concern. The US TVA operates 5 big reactors and numerous coal fired plants all of which have the Tennessee River at thermal capacity to cool them and the river is dropping daily.
If heavy sustained rain does not fall on the Tennessee River Valley over the next 3 to 4 months an event which is historically unlikely, the loss of something close to 15 times the Browns Ferry reactor in capacity is likely to hit the USA. There is nothing to pick up the load. The loss of this one reactor is nearly equal to all the wind energy the USA generates. This loss threatens the operations of every one of the 48 US States. With the possible loses in Alabama Power pools and their reactors etc as well as Georgia Power, this poses the very real risk of cutting the energy supply of the USA by a very large fraction. As I write the North Alabama region is short 60 inches of rain over the past 18 months. The US TVA has been drawing down storage for 5 years now. There is no reserve and little prospect of one for some years to come.
I had warning of this imminent event when the City of Huntsville requested from TVA more water for its treatment plant and was turned down for supply. I knew then that the supply was gone."
