 |
| Columbia Generating Station Graphic from ANS Nuclear Cafe post: Columbia Generating Station Sets New Generation Record |
Energy Northwest has a new blog: Northwest Clean Energy. Here's how Energy Northwest describes themselves in their About page:
Energy Northwest produces reliable, affordable, environmentally responsible electric power and delivers it to Northwest public power utilities at the cost of production.
Energy Northwest owns Columbia Generating Station, which generates 1170 MW (nuclear). The company also owns hydro, solar and wind facilities.
Energy Northwest definitely delivers clean energy: so Northwest Clean Energy is a very appropriate name for the blog!
Not a New Blogger
However, I can't say "welcome new blogger" because...umm...currently, I am the lead blogger for the new blog. There's even a picture of me on the "about this blog" page. (I am very fond of pictures with a nuclear plant in the background.)
My first post was an overview of Electricity in the Northwest. My most recent post is about two women in the Northwest who have very different careers in nuclear energy: Northwest Women in Northwest Nuclear Energy. Both women are engineers. Wanda Munn worked at the Fast Flux Test Facility, and Kaitlin Carter works at Columbia Generating Station. I enjoyed interviewing them and writing the blog post, and I hope you will enjoy reading it.
Another post, written by Laura Scheele of Energy Northwest, describes the new Demand Response pilot project. The Northwest wants to move away from complete reliance on the giant hydro projects for system balancing. Another post, written by Dan Yurman for his own blog, Neutron Bytes, describes the potential use of SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) in the Pacific Northwest: Tri Cities seeks SMRs for post clean up future.
The Northwest
The Northwest is quite different from Vermont. For example, when Columbia Generating Station got its NRC license renewed, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire visited the plant to celebrate. The equivalent didn't exactly happen in Vermont (sarcasm alert). Also, the Northwest is a traditional home of nuclear research (Idaho National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory). In the Northwest, interest in SMRs is real and near-term. Of course, nuclear energy has enemies also, and sometimes they have to be answered.
In the new blog, there will be a lot of good news to write about. I look forward to having some fun!
I hope you will read Northwest Clean Energy!
No comments:
Post a Comment