Skilled union labor to be used in construction of two new reactors in TX

[Statistical]

Fluor NE, a unit of Fluor Corp., signed a project labor agreement with the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO to provide skilled union labor to build two new nuclear power units at the South Texas Project near Houston.

About 6,000 workers are expected to work on the two reactors. STP 3 & 4 are being developed by Nuclear Innovation North America LLC, a nuclear development company jointly owned by NRG Energy and Toshiba America Nuclear Energy Corp., the U.S. unit of Toshiba Corp. Fluor is Toshiba's engineering, procurement and construction subcontractor for the expansion.

New unit construction is expected to begin in 2012 once the project receives its combined license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. STP 3 is expected to come online in 2016 and STP 4 is expected to come online in 2017.

http://www.pennenergy.com/index/articles/display/8157333150/articles/powergenworldwide/nuclear/o-and-m/2010/04/Fluor-nuclear-labor-agreement.html

6000 Union workers will help build the two new reactors in TX starting in 2012. Hopefully this is the first of many projects.

[bananas]

1. Hopefully it'll be cancelled before construction starts

By 2012 there will be more work installing windmills and solar plants.
Texas has lots of wind and sunshine.
They don't need any more nukes.

[Statistical]

2. Your hoping contract employing 6000 union workers gets canceled?

At a time of record unemployment? Projections show >7% unemployment in 2012.

Must be easy to wish away other people's employment when you have a job.

[bananas]

3. No - their jobs won't start for two years - there is much more work to be done

Renewables can be brought online faster and cheaper - they should be working on that instead.
The STP project has already turned into a boondoggle, it's just going to get worse.
People like to have pride in their work, and a feeling of accomplishment with what they've built.
They don't want to spend ten years with nothing to show for it but a couple of empty cooling towers.
Well, some people will see this as a gravy train, and not care whether or not it ever gets finished.
The longer it takes to build, the longer they have job security.

[MajorChode]

4. Even at best, wind power can only provide 10% of the need in Texas

And Texas has more wind power than any other state. The current goal for Texas is to increase it's wind capacity by 50% by 2015. Wind power will be lucky to barely be able to keep up with current growth. Despite the fact that Texas has more potential for wind power than anyone, it's doubtful we'll ever reach 100% in my lifetime. That means even in Texas, electrical power generation by coal and natural gas will be around for a long time unless some of that is replaced by nuclear.

In addition, the wind farms are in West Texas. Houston is in East Texas. Houston is not going to have access to wind power unless they start building wind generating infrastructure in the gulf, which still has a long way to go towards being viable.

[bananas]

5. ...

http://blogs.chron.com/newswatchenergy/archives/2010/02/texas_wind_powe.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tres_Amigas_Project

[MajorChode]

6. Potential being the key word here

Reality is another good one.

[Truth2Tell]

7. It looks like Fluor generally works non-union in the US

if they can get away with it, which is pretty crappy for a fortune 500 company.

Here's a PDF from McGraw Hill on finance and labor that confirms that:

http://ncabuild.org/nca/NCA/nca_action_files/ENR%2004Sep06%20Union%20Shifts2.pdf

But it makes sense for them to go full union on this job. They know they will be facing progressive resistance and getting labor on board is important politically.

Believe me, they are happy to see you post this here. This is why they went union.

[Brickbat]

8. Excellent.

[demosincebirth]

9. Ditto. Union jobs are good paying jobs. nt

[Statistical]

10. Shameless kick for the morning crew. n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

11. The Key word here is "Skilled" ...Would you trust scabs like the

ones that KB&R sent to Iraq to build a nuclear power plant?

The building trades puts out skilled craftsmen who are trained to do the jobs they are sent out on. Outfits like Halliburton KB&R send people who build showers that fry American soldiers. Do you want those scabs building nukes...Me Neither.

[Statistical]

12. No probably not.

Glad to see utility is being "smart" (or maybe just realistic) and accepting skilled labor is a requirement for a $14 billion project (2 reactors + transmission upgrades).

[bananas]

19. Part of the political negotiations to get the federal loan guarantees

Part of the political negotiations to get Democratic support for the federal loans was that union labor would be required.

http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/01/bailout-nuclear

The Bailout Goes Nuclear
Who's going to pay for new reactors? You are!
— By Mariah Blake
January/February 2010

Unistar Nuclear Energy, which in 2007 became the first company in nearly 30 years to apply to build a new reactor in the US, bills itself as "the business model for a new generation of nuclear energy facilities." If that's so, taxpayers should be mighty concerned.

In addition to its proposed flagship plant in the tiny Chesapeake Bay town of Lusby, Maryland, UniStar plans to build three more reactors in Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania. But while UniStar estimates that these projects will cost up to $38 billion, the company, a joint venture between a French nuclear firm and US-based Constellation Energy, had only about $575 million in assets and capital as of early 2009. Its plans to jump-start a nuclear revival hinge on getting the government to underwrite the enterprise, via federally backed loans. As UniStar's president and CEO George Vanderheyden warned in 2007, "Without the federal loan guarantees, this whole thing will come to a stop."

<snip>

Part of NEI's strategy for getting the feds to hand out loan guarantees more freely has been to win over Democrats—who have traditionally been less friendly to nuclear power—by enlisting the help of organized labor. In mid-2008, the group added Michael Mathis and Charles Harple, previously top in-house lobbyists for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to its K Street bench. NEI also forged an alliance with the AFL-CIO. At NEI's annual conference in 2008, Mark Ayers, the AFL-CIO's president of Building and Construction Trades, said that in exchange for the industry's commitment to use union labor, his organization would work to "persuade the new majority in Congress about the need for extending and increasing the loan guarantee program."

<snip>

[Statistical]

21. So it is a quadruple win (win - win - win - win) in my book.

Clean reliable emission free energy.
Democrats taking this issue away from Republicans (the first new reactor in 30 years will be built under Obama administration)
Jobs that can't be outsourced when country needs every job it can get.
More power to labor unions maybe eventually means higher wages/benefits to more Americans.

[MadHound]

13. While the jobs are nice in the short run, we don't need anymore nuclear nightmares in the long run

We still can't safely deal with the waste, nor can we eliminate human error. It would be better to put these people to work building wind turbines, solar, etc.

[madokie]

14. I agree with that sentiment

No one and I mean no one has a plan for what to safely do with the highly dangerous waste from those nuke plants.

[Statistical]

17. Finland does.

Deep Geological Repository

For Finland's site it is 1700 ft into solid bedrock.



Sweden has a deep geological repository also.
They have selected a site (town lobbied to get it) and construction will begin next year.

[madokie]

24. Is this a done deal

or is it simply a pipe dream right now?

[Statistical]

15. Reactors don't rely on a lack of human error for safety. They rely on physics.

Negative void reactor can only sustain fission in narrow band on conditions. Pressure too low (cooling leak) fission halts. Temperature too high (fission halts). Neutron economy too low (control rods or neutron poison deployed) fission halts.

Human error would result in reactor shutting down. That is the point of passive safety.

[MadHound]

16. SCRAM's aren't the only point where human error comes into play

There are a multitude of points along the way where human error plays a factor, and can lead to horrible results.

Nor can we figure out a way to safely deal with the waste. Until we eliminate these two problems, nuclear should not be considered a viable alternative.

[ThomWV]

18. I worked on the building of a Nuclear Reactor back when I did construction work

You would not, could not, believe the care taken when one of them is being built. I can guarantee you that not one of us owns anything, anything at all, that was made built as well as one of those structures. By that I mean; attention to detail, engineering involved in the original design, adherence to good construction principles, regulation, and law.

[Mari333]

20. my husband worked on building nuke reactors, you better believe you have to use unions

he was trained and highly qualified to weld inside containment units..and he was a union man in Pipefitters local 597.
you do NOT use untrained low paid personnel to construct a nuke facility.

this was back in the 80s when he was doing this, they used unions back then too
you have to use union personnel or you are asking for trouble.

[Statistical]

22. Glad to hear it.

To bad so many of those union jobs vanished for 30 years when we stopped building reactors and took a step backwards building low tech coal plants.

[Mari333]

23. he and I saw it coming back then when Raygun started destroying the unions

we knew what would happen.

[Lance_Boyle]

25. Unions? In Texas? Wonders never cease. n/t

[upi402]

26. It's a rope-a-dope

Suckering them in - and then... BLOWW!

Hope this gets nixed, just a ploy in reality.
Cancel NAFTA and GATT and we're talkin'.