Nuclear power plant project
Students’ Name
Date
Nuclear Power plant project
Nuclear power plant project
Montana town intends to undertake a project.
A new nuclear power plant has a significantly high amount of capital expenditure when building the plant. It is vital to note that the cost seems uncertain due to a significant rise over the years. Companies planning to create new nuclear units indicate a total expenditure ranging between $5,500/kW to $8,100/kW. This is inclusive of financing costs and escalation costs. Following this, the total costs range from $6 billion to $9 billion for every 1,100MW plant. Regarding life expectancy, most nuclear power plants have been researched to have an operating life time ranging from twenty to forty years. It is vital to note that a plant’s life expectancy depends on the degradation of its material following its service conditions, which entail transient conditions and normal operations.
Nuclear power plant materials are majorly primary and secondary sources. The primary supply is mainly from direct mining, while the secondary sources are majorly from nuclear weapon stockpiles, commercial stockpiles, and recycled plutonium. Additionally, uranium material can be drained from the reprocessing of used fuel or re-enrichment of left over or depleted uranium trails. Regarding waste material disposal, a permanent waste disposal site can be created to help dispose of high-level waste. Also, the used fuel can be stored underwater for at least five years, after which it can be transferred to dry storage. For radioactive waste, they can be disposed of in deep geological disposal.
Regarding aesthetics, architects and engineers should design plants that are impressive, beautiful, but also functional. This will prevent the plants from being an eyesore and make the plant have an esthetic appeal. The federal law states that the operating companies should create and adhere to an emergency preparedness plan for the plant regarding security and emergency plans. This is to help in protecting the public. They should also specify the response activities that should be taken in the event of an event. Some of the activities include preparation for an evacuation plan and obtaining materials for public emergency information. There should be onsite security measures meant for responding to the accident in the plant itself and offsite, which entails measures to deal with the outcome to the population and surrounding areas (Nrc, 2019).
There are several economic impacts to a town having a nuclear power plant. They include an average pay of $16billion for local taxes and the state yearly. This amount can be of benefit to roads, schools, and more local and state infrastructures. Also, a nuclear plant can pay an average yearly amount of $67 million for federal taxes. Also, some of the environmental impacts are due to the plant making use of uranium as fuel. When extracting uranium, a significant amount of carbon dioxide is released into the environment (Kivi, 2018). When building new nuclear plants, there are high amounts of Carbon dioxide also released. Transportation of radioactive wastes also results in the emission of Carbon dioxide. This could have a significant impact on the environment. There are several alternative energy sources, aside from a nuclear power plant (Banto, 2020). These alternatives have been around for decades and have been proven to be less harmful to the environment than the plant. They include thorium, natural gas, solar power, and hydrogen.