What if Offshore Power Systems succeeded?

[man2no4h2o]

What do you think Jacksonville would be like if we had OPS on Blount Island? How much would gasoline be if these nukes were located along our coasts instead of oil tankers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_Power_Systems

http://www.atomicinsights.com/aug96/Offshore.html

[buckethead]

Then she'd be my uncle?

[CS Foltz]

I can understand exploring all options...........just not sure this is something viable for future consideration!

[man2no4h2o]

There's quite a few of these 'offshore' systems a little north of here in Kings Bay, and one scheduled for Mayport.

[BridgeTroll]

They would not help the supply or price of gasoline nor reduce the number of oil tankers.  They would reduce the burning of coal which we use for electricity production...

[NotNow]

Standard design for new nuclear power generating facilities is a must.  Offshore units provide that standard design and "right sizing" of the power output as well.  If cost and lifespan goals can be met, this is a viable solution.  Our future electric cars will be able to tap these kinds of resources and help to reduce our foreign oil use.  

Florida is not a viable wind state, but solar hot water and solar power are excellent choices.  Large tax credits for such installations along with public utilities buying excess power would change the face of Florida as well as most Southern and Southwestern states.

[stjr]

The issues with OPS floating nuclear power plants were many:  Cost, nuclear safety and hazards, hurricanes, navigation hazards, environmental (remember, power plants put out lots of hot water), public perception, NIMBY, cost, cost, cost.....

OPS was going to be another one of those saviors of the City:  12,000 employees and the largest industrial operation in the state.  Alas, it was not to be, despite the unbelievable whitewash of the City by the Chamber of Commerce and the Times Union (as I recall, they even took out billboards supporting it - so much for objective reporting but then they were owned by Atlantic Coast Line RR who saw freight revenue $$).  Comparable to the campaign to attract the Jaguars.

JEA wanted them (it was all politics about supporting the "local" boys) but they cost more than all the other assets of JEA combined.  As I recall, stopping that deal from bankrupting JEA was one of the early ways Harry Shortstein made a name for himself.  The only other serious interest came from NJ Public Service and it was killed before it got very far.  And, joint venture partner Tenneco pulled out before the venture made it very far, recognizing the lack of economic feasibility.  Amazingly, OPS ordered the world's largest gantry crane before having a single firm order, mainly to meet a legal requirement to retain nearly half of Blount Island for the near zero sales price from the City of Jax.  Jax challenged this in court and lost the case and the land.  Gate ended up with the land and sold it to the Marines for over $100 million.  Another CoJ land deal fiasco.  I think the crane was sold to China.

[Dog Walker]

If OPS had succeeded by now we would have had at least one spill of highly radioactive waste into the ocean carried by the Gulf Stream all along the Atlantic Coast.  Glowfish for dinner, anyone?

[CS Foltz]

Amazing.............Gate ended up with the land huh? Gee.......no collusion here, no insider information, they just happended to be standing in the right place at the right time......right? Makes me wonder just what the odd's are on that taking place! I would pass on the "Glowfish" Dog Walker something that is more bright than me, makes me wonder!

[Ocklawaha]

Imagine, OPS + Hurricane Andrew = OMG!

But then again, if JAX could make a buck on it...

OCKLAWAHA

[NotNow]

I believe that the design called for "grounding" the floating platform on existing sand bar so that the facility actually was an island.  Nuclear power generation in America has an excellent safety record.

Russia has a few floating power plants operating I believe.

But even if the "floating" concept proves to not be viable, we should still strive to establish standard design into nuclear power generation and embrace the concept. 

[Charles Hunter]

IIRC, the idea was to build a breakwater around the floating nuclear plant, in many cases, the breakwater would be more expensive than the FNP

[mindingeye]

What if Offshore Power Systems succeeded?
The JEA would have bankrupted the City back then.
Instead, now in the future this is happening again.
Things do not change in Jacksonville..........


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Cury

Joseph H. Cury (November 6, 1928 - January 11, 1977) was the owner of the Mandarin Super Market and a resident of Mandarin, Florida. He gave generously to the poor and the disadvantaged of Mandarin, and was widely known as the founder of POWER, an advocacy group on utility rates, and as an opponent of the Dames Point Bridge and nuclear power plants.
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In 1972, two corporate giants, Westinghouse Electric and Tenneco announced they were forming a joint company "OPS", to build floating nuclear power plants. They decided Blount Island would be the location for their production facility. JEA formed a contract to buy the plants, even though it meant going instantly bankrupt. It turned out JEA bought oil from Ven Fuel. Ven Fuel had one customer, JEA. No one knew who exactly who Ven Fuel was. Ven Fuel was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the FEA, and found it illegally did business. The city of Jacksonville, represented by Harry Shorstein, sued Ven Fuel, which settled for $1.2 million and went out of business. In 1976, the JTA voted in an illegal meeting to build the Wesley C. Paxson Memorial Bridge across the Atlantic ocean. When built, the bridge went from Arlington to Blount Island, where no one lived, only a company constructing two power plants. The bridge was going to cost $150 million of taxpayers money that would ultimately never be used.[6]

From 1972 to 1976, a number of related events occurred. They all involved Jacksonville's government, price gouging, and suspect reasoning. These were:

The Jacksonville Port Authority (JPA) gave OPS 850 acres (3.4 km2) of choice land on Blount Island.
The JPA gave OPS a money-back guarantee.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) decided to build a bridge to nowhere, except to the nuclear plant assembly facility.
The JEA would buy the plants for $2.2 billion
Why did these events occur?

The businessmen who headed the authorities also had their own businesses
They would personally profit from the OPS business
The taxpayer would pay the bill

Read the whole article on Wikipedia and think NOW, not PAST.