tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post8187173372373380776..comments2023-04-07T05:19:44.951-04:00Comments on Yes Vermont Yankee: All Around the Coal BoilerMeredith Angwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-12675352269123841032013-01-16T12:59:01.138-05:002013-01-16T12:59:01.138-05:00B Marshall
I have immense respect for the careful...B Marshall<br /><br />I have immense respect for the careful job they do at Merrimack Station. Also, I know many people who have dedicated a major portion of their lives to improving the ability to burn coal cleanly...designing better scrubbers, pollution control, etc.<br /><br />I greatly prefer nuclear energy, but I try to avoid demonizing coal. <br /><br />And if I don't avoid it, Kit P will correct me! Here's his guest post at this blog.<br /><br />http://yesvy.blogspot.com/2012/04/guest-post-by-kit-p-epa-nrc-and-coal.html<br />Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-11632749509192318052013-01-15T19:12:28.865-05:002013-01-15T19:12:28.865-05:00Its nice to see someone write about Merrimack Stat...Its nice to see someone write about Merrimack Station, with respect to what the station does to burn a "dirty" fuel as clean as they can. I work at this station from time to time sub-contracted during annual outages. A lot of people see the 'born on date' and they think "why are we spending so much money fixing an old plant". Power plants are not like a car that you drive 150K miles and then junk it, at least not the plants of those days. This plant has had a lot of updating, and a lot of repairs over the years and not much of this plant is original. I'm glad you did notice that for a coal plant it was cleaner than expected, I've worked at many that were far worse. As far as Vermont Yankee goes, I would love to see them spend the time and money to keep that station going.B Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13868969467353342257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-9464476833843502242012-11-01T09:51:07.648-04:002012-11-01T09:51:07.648-04:00The slag was good-looking. I loved looking during ...The slag was good-looking. I loved looking during a port to see bunting of molten slag flow into the quenching watereconomicalhttp://www.online-dissertation-help.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-7407732428376902122010-05-03T08:32:05.115-04:002010-05-03T08:32:05.115-04:00Marry, thank you for visiting and for the complime...Marry, thank you for visiting and for the compliment!<br />MeredithMeredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-84140084148511489192010-02-16T08:30:01.246-05:002010-02-16T08:30:01.246-05:00Kit. I remember Rancho Seco. I visited there onc...Kit. I remember Rancho Seco. I visited there once, back in the old days, shortly after I left EPRI. Late 80s early 90s? That was a very sad story. I also think it was a story about a municipal utility trying to run a nuclear plant without much in-house expertise as backup. Nuke plants do better when owned as a group. <br /><br />When I look at the hills around Vermont, covered with trees, I thank coal. Without fossil fuels, these forests would all be gone for firewood. You understand, I think coal should be phased out and nuclear plants built, but I also think people might learn to appreciate the work that has gone into cleaning up coal. A lot of smart people have spent a lot of time and money to give us the relatively clean coal plants we have today.Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-27342657464063949202010-02-14T23:57:05.758-05:002010-02-14T23:57:05.758-05:00Meredith I am always looking to looking for system...Meredith I am always looking to looking for systematic approaches to producing electricity with less environmental impact. Let me remind you that the standard for nuclear and coal are the same. We are charged with making electricity safely with insignificant environmental impact in the general context of how we live. While there is no such things as a zero risk, the North American electric generating industry of keeping it very small and smaller every year.<br /><br />One of the reason we are building new nukes is the price of coal on the world market. A second reason is the cost of reducing risk. For example. putting a stainless liner on a spent fuel pool to prevent tritium leakage into ground water add cost but when amortized over the the life of the plant. However, the cost of ash ponds are something else too. <br /><br />The people who yell ands scream to close nuke plants not have standards but drama. I worked at Rancho Seco when it closed. It is painful. I think VY has a better chance because of its great recored.Kit Pnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-45677585540009730462010-02-14T12:11:55.507-05:002010-02-14T12:11:55.507-05:00Thank you, Kit! Here's a coal plant, over 40 ...Thank you, Kit! Here's a coal plant, over 40 years old (built 1968) and people are okay with investing almost half a billion into pollution control. While people yell and scream about Vermont Yankee as too old be be worth fixing up. It bothers me. It doesn't bother me that they are fixing up Merrimack, but it does bother me that they won't use the same standards for VY. Both are important parts of the energy mix.<br /><br />Also, thank you for liking my post about the coal plant. When I started blogging six weeks ago, I feared that nobody would read my blog if I ever strayed off-topic. I'm still a little worried about that, and a note like your note helps a lot. Thanks!Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-66224015449228158482010-02-14T11:59:41.753-05:002010-02-14T11:59:41.753-05:00Thanks for the informative post on a coal plant. ...Thanks for the informative post on a coal plant. The reason for pro-nuclear activist to be objective about coal is that it is an important part of energy mix. If you look at the cost of keeping an older plant running by adding pollution additional controls, keeping VY looks very good.Kit Pnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-3045106777684877572010-02-12T14:13:00.993-05:002010-02-12T14:13:00.993-05:00I'm not the lone voice. There are others. I d...I'm not the lone voice. There are others. I didn't mean to imply I was all by myself, but I I don't have a fraction of the resources I would like to have. By "resources", I mean I don't have fliers, bullet points, events planned to garner publicity, etc. All the stuff that makes a campaign work!<br /><br />Your comments about Entergy's commitment to the plant may well prove to be true. I persevere because I think closing this plant would be a shame for the nuclear industry, and put Vermont in a hard place about buying power.Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-23943447628986980102010-02-12T11:57:36.668-05:002010-02-12T11:57:36.668-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-33963644926355781652010-02-12T11:20:30.288-05:002010-02-12T11:20:30.288-05:00It's can't be easy being the lone voice in...It's can't be easy being the lone voice in a fight like this, I feel for you. But even if the plant is closed, you will be able to look at yourself in the mirror after, and you will also know too that time will prove you right.<br /><br />As for Entergy, I see that they made a point of telling their shareholders that the closure of VT would have little impact on the company's bottom line. Now to some extent this could just be sandbagging, to keep their stock from being dumped by nervous investors, but as you say corporate support has been slim. I am beginning to wonder if Entergy is starting to see VT as a millstone around their necks, and would be just as happy to see it go, rather than fight Vermont residents forever on the matter.DV8 2XLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14595060432772287143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-17440816635194197952010-02-12T11:05:19.359-05:002010-02-12T11:05:19.359-05:00I tried at one point to get a letter writing campa...I tried at one point to get a letter writing campaign going. I am going to whine a bit. The letter writing campaign wasn't easy to set up, and I decided to blog instead. <br /><br />Now, Entergy does not pay me and I would not want Entergy to pay me while I am blogging about them. BUT. They could do more to help the plant. For example, there's Town Meeting day coming up and a friend of mine has been asking Entergy for info to take to his town meeting, which will vote on a shut-down VY petition. So now my friend is asking me. You see what I mean. I have asked Entergy again, but I think I will simply be writing bullet points for my friend and myself this weekend. <br /><br />Town meeting is big around here. Entergy could have fliers, talking points, etc. available. There's just one of me, and I can only do so much.<br /><br />Also, i think that we pro-nukes just don't have much fun. Where are our potlucks, our rallies, our letter-writing-at-my-house evenings, our local chapters? There ARE pro-nukes out there, and they have nobody to talk to. I remember that writing letters for Amnesty used to be great fun in terms of support and meetings and so forth.<br /><br />Whine whine. Now all the anti-nukes hate me, and Entergy will probably hate me too. Oh well. My kids like me. I think.Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-42263713920934839762010-02-12T10:49:32.698-05:002010-02-12T10:49:32.698-05:00Although off topic a bit, I have been following of...Although off topic a bit, I have been following off and on the reporting of the VT issue on WCAX ch. 3, which we get up here in Montreal.<br /><br />I have to admit that I have not been that impressed with what I have see so far. Do you know if they make any attempt to get he opinions of those that support the plant other than Entergy mouthpieces?<br /><br />Maybe you should get a letter writing campaign going to get the coverage balanced a bit better.DV8 2XLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14595060432772287143noreply@blogger.com