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California prepares for energy shortfalls in hot, dry summer

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By KATHLEEN RONAYNE

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So happy that I don't live there. California imports dirty power from neighboring states as a way to avoid California laws. It's the whole "not in my back yard" syndrome. They'll be sweating this summer, again.

Not that my state doesn't have issues too, but power generation isn't one of them.

At present the utility projects a Unit 3 in-service date in the third quarter of 2022, and a Unit 4 in-service date in the second quarter of 2023 ...

The expansion at Plant Vogtle includes two 1,100-MW Westinghouse AP1000 reactors.

I just wish they were building MCFR production reactors. They are testing with the DoE.

California will never do that. They are anti-nuke, regardless of which type of nuclear energy is used ... except the type 93M miles away that shines most days with a 23% efficiency. California won't allow cold fusion reactors when those are safe, effective, and have been proven 50x around the world, such is their anti-nuke, simple minds.

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California will never do that. They are anti-nuke, regardless of which type of nuclear energy is used

Except Governor Newsom is now asking NRC to consider extending the operating license for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/analysts-differ-on-feasibility-need-to-extend-diablo-canyon-california-nuclear-plant/623214/

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 California won't allow cold fusion reactors when those are safe, effective, and have been proven 50x around the world, such is their anti-nuke, simple minds.

Sigh, please tell us where cold fusion has been proven 50 times. There are none on the public record that I can find and the claims about it being even possible are questionable. "Scientists" will claim they achieved cold fusion in their lab but can never reproduce the results later. There is currently no accepted theoretical model of cold fusion.

https://www.brighthubengineering.com/power-plants/106497-low-energy-nuclear-reaction-or-cold-fusion-at-room-temperature/

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Sigh. You missed the entire point. The anti-nuke people are anti-nuke fanatics at all costs. Power isn't something that can be generated without years of planning. Industry needs power - large scale power.

I never said any CF solutions existed. The point that in 5 or 250 yrs, when they do, Californians will reject the technology because is has "nuclear" in the name.

The only reason the governor is trying to get Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power license extended is because he has to choose from bad choices, thanks to the voters there. It was planned to be closed by 2025, but they are desperate for power.

That's the subject of this article.

Power is also needed for desalinization plants which California needs too. Dog, I really hope they are building a few of those too.

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Power is also needed for desalinization plants which California needs too. Dog, I really hope they are building a few of those too.

Desalinization is a waste of money. The cost of water from desal is a good thousand bucks an acre foot more than the most expensive imported water from Northern California. California isn't flat like Saudi Arabia or Israel either. California is mountainous and pumping water uphill from coastal desalinization plants to where people live adds another thousand bucks and acre foot to the price. It's a non starter. Orange County Water Authority long ago showed the world the future. For 35 years they have been treating waste water to a potable standard, clean enough to drink, and pump this water back into their aquifer where it mixes with the normal groundwater. This is price competitive with Northern California water. About 75% of Orange County's water comes from that aquifer. LA is expanding a huge treatment plant in the San Fernando Valley to likewise treat waste water to a potable standard and pump it back into that aquifer. In addition the city is building two of the largest water treatment plants of their type ever built to treat the heavily polluted ground water in parts of that valley to remove all the methyl-ethyl bad sh_t that is the legacy of decades of aircraft, defense and auto production. That will allow the city to fully use the water in that aquifer where half of the wells were too polluted to use in the past. LA also recently reinforced the old dam in Big Tujunga Canyon, a very expensive seismic reinforcement to allow it to store water at full pool. For decades it was restricted to flood control only due to seismic risk. Now the city can store water and dribble it out into a series of spreading basins where it can percolate back into the aquifer. Can you see where this is going? The city plans to replace half their imported water with treated waste water and better recharge of their aquifers with stored run off from several big flood control dams, made possible by technology that finally allows them to treat water contaminated with Chromium Six, trichloroethane and other nasty chemicals that are in the groundwater there. This is much less costly and because most of it relies on gravity flow, a lot more practical than desalinization. San Diego is also going this way.

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What I don't understand is about five years ago the news was that California had over built gas fired power plants and many were mothballed for lack of demand. I have seen some of these plants in the San Joaquin Valley, relatively new power plants sitting idle. Now suddenly there is an energy shortage? There is more to this story but I don't have time to poke at it now. Maybe tomorrow after I do an oil change on my hard working old Audi 90.

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Gas fired power plants were sold by gas companies as the cleaner fossil fuel. Appears that was a huge lie.

Methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane

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