Reality Check ?? As Joe Friday once said " JUST THE FACTS MAM"
This was a comment left on a blog I posted several days ago?
Please accept my apology in advance for responding in kind, but some times that’s all some individuals understand? This Pickens Plan Army is the greatest assembly of talent for collaboration and exchange of philosophy I have seen in 25 years in the Power Generation and Energy business. We can accomplish so much if we stay on track, be totally realistic and include all aspects of Proven Power Generation methods in a comprehensive plan model to achieve our end goal of Energy Independence...
Comment by Mark Hedtke 2 hours ago
Should I say right up front that the so called "Energy Experts" for the past forty years have failed miserably! Yes I should. Should I refer to them as "professionals"? Naw! There is little common ground to agree upon except for that fact! So I certainly thank you for your response. It is always interesting to hear from people so deeply entrenched in some of the problems that have brought us to the situation we are in today. In one breathe you attempt to berate those who recognize the intelligent choice of the most plentiful energy sourses on the planet, then include your own hype of a "Nuclear Solution" with it's particular undesirable effects. This actually causes me pause to think that you really consider that "nuclear" is a reasonable effective cost solution. Perhaps you are the one who needs to be factual and realistic. My own personal knowledge of the history of the government's attempt to find a "nuclear dump site" for the spent core material, etc. is a nightmare that NO community wants in their back yard. I have seen the results of nuclear contamination and the disasterous effects of prolonged radiation poisoning. So who is being real here? Your attitude is cavalier when it comes to equating public safety to dollars and cents of what must happen. Am I expressing my disagreement with your continuation of a failed energy plan and am I being unreasonable, you are damn right! People who are committed to making real change here don't hide behind a professional moniker. When people like you tell me that there is no way we can get the zoning, building codes, etc within the next ten years, then that fires people like myself up to reply with, " Don't tell us what we can or can not do!" This is in fact no different than what President Kennedy did with landing a man on the moon. So stand aside disbeliever and so called "energy expert", let the people's will show you what can be done and what we don't want from government, utilities or those who can't see the forest for the trees. The citizens of America are motivated and business efforts to quash this movement will not work this time. Perhaps you would best explore another venue for your wares, as the public just isn't willing to pay the horendous price you want mankind to pay!
My not so professional response
Mark,
Thanks for your comments and I do respect your personal opinion, but let me be clear there is no hiding on this end by me from any aspect of the energy issues past, present or future... I take personal offense at the name calling which seems to be SOP (standard operating procedure) for the politically correct, uninformed hate professors of
mis-information if one does not agree with their philosophy. . I am a New England Boy from a very Blue Collar Family consisting of A Dad Cross Country Truck Driver for 40 years and a Mom who worked in Shoe Factories. Not quite the definition of Silver Spooned professional moniker with an attitude that is cavalier. To the contrary, I worked and paid my own way through school without subsidy assistance from anyone, just the determination to be the best I could in the energy industry, My first job was at the MIT Bates Linear Accelerator for the DOD, which I am sure you would also have had objections too then without realizing that the majority of Radiation Therapy for Cancer treatments today came from this venue of my wares. I am also sure if you were to comment on the project in 1968 that in your opinion the public would not have been willing to pay the horrendous price that I worked diligently on and that thousands of cancer patients and mankind is paying for today!
THE Fact’s are that the failure of a national energy policy lies on the shoulders of those who professed and continue to profess the "Jane Fonda” and "Jimmy Carter" theories approach because it makes them feel good and because their views are scud from the rose colored glasses they refuse to take off to see things as they truly are.. (What color is the tint of your Glasses? ) I would also like to challenge you to provide me with ANY documentation where you have seen and witnessed the results of nuclear contamination and the disastrous effects of prolonged radiation poisoning in the United States from Nuclear Power Generation.
IT DOES NOT EXIST!
As for the disposal site that was fully funded 15 years ago by the electric utilities to guess who? Our Government. They had and have the responsibility to vuild it by law. They are only 15 years behind schedule and 700% over budget. These are the people you believe are going to change energy as we know it today in io years?? This site has been tested and designed for years for the YUCCA Mountain nuclear storage; the only reason that it is not operational is due to a self-serving individual named Harry Reid and his list of campaign contributors. Have you ever been to the area? Have you ever spoke to the residents of the area? I have and the majority are ALL for it… Being even more Clear, the only reason we even need the Yucca Mountain facility is due to the Jimmy Carter failure to negotiate a non-proliferation treaty for the benefit of the USA not Russia... I have not heard you mention the French Power Generation Model of almost 80% Nuclear power generation, WHOM reprocesses 70% of the waste, and OH YES DID I MENTION THEY ARE ENERGY INDEPENDENT FROM IMPORTED OIL???
Over the past 7 years the nuclear power generation industry has done its part to reduce CO2 emissions in an effort to help save the planet by it massive investment of Power Up Rate projects increasing the output by almost 20,000 MGW without constructing one new nuclear facility or adding additional waste for storage. That is enough electricity from "BASE LOADED GENERATION to supply 4,000,000 homes... What you also failed to state is that currently under design & construction in the USA are two nuclear waste reprocessing facilities and one MOX Fuel facility that will reprocess approximately 70% of the existing waste material..
These are all due to new technologies and forward thinking by us Nuclear cubicle rats who are also good family men and women, who cherish the earth that we were bless with, and want just as much as anyone for our children and grandchildren to live in a safe and prosperous environment.
As far as President Kennedy placing a man on the moon, it was a very different time, with a very different culture in America from both a work prospective and a political and social prospective... I was a product of that culture that added value in supporting placing that man on the moon. If you think for one minute that the current administration and political machine in Washington have the same un-selfish interest and fortitude to accomplish this task in 10 years, you sir, are untruthful to yourself as well as to others and hinder the movement in going forward.. I am a firm believer in Wind Power and Solar Generation, but I am also a realist with the experience to back up what I say. I actually am part of the team that designs & build these projects. I know the good, the bad and the ugly of all of the components of generation.
The first and largest issue you fail to identify is the ageing work force, along with the failure of the education system over the past 25 years to produce the number of qualified young people to perform this work, The key word is ENGINEERS & TECHNICIANS as well as qualified skilled craft labor. In 2010 we are facing a shortfall of over 270,000 workers to support the projects that are currently on the books nationwide never mind supporting a new bold initiative of Alternative Energy Projects...
As I state in my personal Quote; "Everything in Moderation" use the current nuclear, coal, wind and solar available now while in parallel moving forward with the new initiatives. Just the T&D infrastructure to support the new projects will take 10 years to construct from the day they are funded, designed and issued for construction.... $650B dollars is required to perform this task... Our team currently sees $20B on the books right now in the Phase I design phase...
Now that I have responded in a less than professional manor to your comments, and have also relieved We can get there by 2025 if and only if we utilize all the components of generation in a synergistic approach.
Now that I have responded in a less than professional manor to your comments, and have also made my views as clear as I can, I welcome your challenges and intellectual engagement of words as the checks & balances necessary for all of us to ponder our own
Missions to insure we are on the right track for the good of our nation, our families and children, and fellow residence of this great earth we reside on. So in closing I am one of the team of guys that will be telling you what we can or cannot do because I will be one of the many that will actually be responsible to have to Engineer, Procure, and Construct these projects not just write about it
Regards,
Ralph Branscomb
Please accept my apology in advance for responding in kind, but some times that’s all some individuals understand? This Pickens Plan Army is the greatest assembly of talent for collaboration and exchange of philosophy I have seen in 25 years in the Power Generation and Energy business. We can accomplish so much if we stay on track, be totally realistic and include all aspects of Proven Power Generation methods in a comprehensive plan model to achieve our end goal of Energy Independence...
Comment by Mark Hedtke 2 hours ago
Should I say right up front that the so called "Energy Experts" for the past forty years have failed miserably! Yes I should. Should I refer to them as "professionals"? Naw! There is little common ground to agree upon except for that fact! So I certainly thank you for your response. It is always interesting to hear from people so deeply entrenched in some of the problems that have brought us to the situation we are in today. In one breathe you attempt to berate those who recognize the intelligent choice of the most plentiful energy sourses on the planet, then include your own hype of a "Nuclear Solution" with it's particular undesirable effects. This actually causes me pause to think that you really consider that "nuclear" is a reasonable effective cost solution. Perhaps you are the one who needs to be factual and realistic. My own personal knowledge of the history of the government's attempt to find a "nuclear dump site" for the spent core material, etc. is a nightmare that NO community wants in their back yard. I have seen the results of nuclear contamination and the disasterous effects of prolonged radiation poisoning. So who is being real here? Your attitude is cavalier when it comes to equating public safety to dollars and cents of what must happen. Am I expressing my disagreement with your continuation of a failed energy plan and am I being unreasonable, you are damn right! People who are committed to making real change here don't hide behind a professional moniker. When people like you tell me that there is no way we can get the zoning, building codes, etc within the next ten years, then that fires people like myself up to reply with, " Don't tell us what we can or can not do!" This is in fact no different than what President Kennedy did with landing a man on the moon. So stand aside disbeliever and so called "energy expert", let the people's will show you what can be done and what we don't want from government, utilities or those who can't see the forest for the trees. The citizens of America are motivated and business efforts to quash this movement will not work this time. Perhaps you would best explore another venue for your wares, as the public just isn't willing to pay the horendous price you want mankind to pay!
My not so professional response
Mark,
Thanks for your comments and I do respect your personal opinion, but let me be clear there is no hiding on this end by me from any aspect of the energy issues past, present or future... I take personal offense at the name calling which seems to be SOP (standard operating procedure) for the politically correct, uninformed hate professors of
mis-information if one does not agree with their philosophy. . I am a New England Boy from a very Blue Collar Family consisting of A Dad Cross Country Truck Driver for 40 years and a Mom who worked in Shoe Factories. Not quite the definition of Silver Spooned professional moniker with an attitude that is cavalier. To the contrary, I worked and paid my own way through school without subsidy assistance from anyone, just the determination to be the best I could in the energy industry, My first job was at the MIT Bates Linear Accelerator for the DOD, which I am sure you would also have had objections too then without realizing that the majority of Radiation Therapy for Cancer treatments today came from this venue of my wares. I am also sure if you were to comment on the project in 1968 that in your opinion the public would not have been willing to pay the horrendous price that I worked diligently on and that thousands of cancer patients and mankind is paying for today!
THE Fact’s are that the failure of a national energy policy lies on the shoulders of those who professed and continue to profess the "Jane Fonda” and "Jimmy Carter" theories approach because it makes them feel good and because their views are scud from the rose colored glasses they refuse to take off to see things as they truly are.. (What color is the tint of your Glasses? ) I would also like to challenge you to provide me with ANY documentation where you have seen and witnessed the results of nuclear contamination and the disastrous effects of prolonged radiation poisoning in the United States from Nuclear Power Generation.
IT DOES NOT EXIST!
As for the disposal site that was fully funded 15 years ago by the electric utilities to guess who? Our Government. They had and have the responsibility to vuild it by law. They are only 15 years behind schedule and 700% over budget. These are the people you believe are going to change energy as we know it today in io years?? This site has been tested and designed for years for the YUCCA Mountain nuclear storage; the only reason that it is not operational is due to a self-serving individual named Harry Reid and his list of campaign contributors. Have you ever been to the area? Have you ever spoke to the residents of the area? I have and the majority are ALL for it… Being even more Clear, the only reason we even need the Yucca Mountain facility is due to the Jimmy Carter failure to negotiate a non-proliferation treaty for the benefit of the USA not Russia... I have not heard you mention the French Power Generation Model of almost 80% Nuclear power generation, WHOM reprocesses 70% of the waste, and OH YES DID I MENTION THEY ARE ENERGY INDEPENDENT FROM IMPORTED OIL???
Over the past 7 years the nuclear power generation industry has done its part to reduce CO2 emissions in an effort to help save the planet by it massive investment of Power Up Rate projects increasing the output by almost 20,000 MGW without constructing one new nuclear facility or adding additional waste for storage. That is enough electricity from "BASE LOADED GENERATION to supply 4,000,000 homes... What you also failed to state is that currently under design & construction in the USA are two nuclear waste reprocessing facilities and one MOX Fuel facility that will reprocess approximately 70% of the existing waste material..
These are all due to new technologies and forward thinking by us Nuclear cubicle rats who are also good family men and women, who cherish the earth that we were bless with, and want just as much as anyone for our children and grandchildren to live in a safe and prosperous environment.
As far as President Kennedy placing a man on the moon, it was a very different time, with a very different culture in America from both a work prospective and a political and social prospective... I was a product of that culture that added value in supporting placing that man on the moon. If you think for one minute that the current administration and political machine in Washington have the same un-selfish interest and fortitude to accomplish this task in 10 years, you sir, are untruthful to yourself as well as to others and hinder the movement in going forward.. I am a firm believer in Wind Power and Solar Generation, but I am also a realist with the experience to back up what I say. I actually am part of the team that designs & build these projects. I know the good, the bad and the ugly of all of the components of generation.
The first and largest issue you fail to identify is the ageing work force, along with the failure of the education system over the past 25 years to produce the number of qualified young people to perform this work, The key word is ENGINEERS & TECHNICIANS as well as qualified skilled craft labor. In 2010 we are facing a shortfall of over 270,000 workers to support the projects that are currently on the books nationwide never mind supporting a new bold initiative of Alternative Energy Projects...
As I state in my personal Quote; "Everything in Moderation" use the current nuclear, coal, wind and solar available now while in parallel moving forward with the new initiatives. Just the T&D infrastructure to support the new projects will take 10 years to construct from the day they are funded, designed and issued for construction.... $650B dollars is required to perform this task... Our team currently sees $20B on the books right now in the Phase I design phase...
Now that I have responded in a less than professional manor to your comments, and have also relieved We can get there by 2025 if and only if we utilize all the components of generation in a synergistic approach.
Now that I have responded in a less than professional manor to your comments, and have also made my views as clear as I can, I welcome your challenges and intellectual engagement of words as the checks & balances necessary for all of us to ponder our own
Missions to insure we are on the right track for the good of our nation, our families and children, and fellow residence of this great earth we reside on. So in closing I am one of the team of guys that will be telling you what we can or cannot do because I will be one of the many that will actually be responsible to have to Engineer, Procure, and Construct these projects not just write about it
Regards,
Ralph Branscomb
Views: 2
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Lee Taylor on -
Mr. Branscomb:
The loudmouths of the world who never saw any good in the wheel will always be with us----we need every available energy source to supply that part of the picture, there is no single answer.
Boone's been striving for exactly that all along--PP is a BRIDGE to help us get to the final answer, whatever that final answer will be. All resources will gang up on the problem, each method/way of producing the needed power, without reducing a finite and foreign resource that both cannot be depended on, will not last forever, and is the single worst pollutant that the world has.
The only reason that we are using oil as an energy source is that, way back when, before there was solar, wind, water, nuclear, electricity, and all the other BETTER energy sources, we started BURNING OIL, which was about the only reasonable transportable power we had BACK THEN. And the infrastructure to continue doing that grew as the demand did. Pretty soon, it was a chicken/egg question, one fed on the other, and no one ever considered that there were better answers, as burning oil was simple and already available.
Those of us working for a better world had better learn that there is no one answer to our energy problem, there are many, and all those TOGETHER will make the actual answer.
Until that Final Answer is arrived at, Boone's plan gets us started in the right direction. Now. That is so important, when all the other pieces of the Answer are so far off in the future.
Let's work on getting Boone's plan into effect, so that we can AFFORD to work on the Final Answers. All of the individual pieces of it.
Lee Taylor -
-
Permalink Reply by Ralph J Branscomb on -
Good Morning Mr..Taylor,
Very eloquently said !!! I am in total agreement with your thought process on getting us to a solution... Mr.. Pickens Plan is a GREAT catalyst to ignite American Ingenuity for which I have full confidence will get us there. As we travel the road towards Energy Independence we will need to utilize every available USA source of generation that is viable beginning today. Further down the road as the new Alternative sources are developed, refined and proven. Then at that time ,we can begin to wean off of some of the resources that are not as eco-friendly as others....
Thank you for your time to respond to my Posting
Regards;
Ralph Branscomb
Yankee Atomic Energy Consultants -
-
Permalink Reply by W. Dan Chance on -
Hi Ralph, I have been told that there are nuclear fuels for which reactors have been designed that are virtually impossible to melt-down and thus do not present the kind of risk that was present at Three-mile-island. Is that correct? I was also told that they require something like one fourth as much shielding and thus the reactors are must less expensive to build Is this being acted on? If not why not?
-
-
Permalink Reply by Ralph J Branscomb on
-
Good Morning Dan,
YOU ARE RIGHT ON TARGET AGAIN !!!It is amazing how some individuals continue to profess their ignorance by the relationship of Nuclear Bomb to Nuclear Generation
I make every attempt not to sell what I am personally involved in as I believe I am bias toward these new technologies. I would like to refer you to the WEB site of www.Hyperionpowergeneration.com
I am working with the team that has developed a "Mini-Reactor" 30 MGW that has a Hydrogen moderator. That means that in order for the fuel to burn in this Newly designed reactor, It requires a constant feed of pressurized Hydrogen, If the sealed system of the unit leaks for any reason, the unit shut down immediately. RE: NO POSSIBLE MELTDOWN..... It is small enough to fit in your garage and can supply 100,000 homes with electricity for 30 years without the typical refueling requirements as the old design larger units...
Check it out Dan and see for your self... This is a designed, Tested and built device that we are now testing at the Los Alamos National Test Labs , in New Mexico
Keep in touch Dan, We need you on this Team
regards
Ralph -
© 2013 Created by PickensPlan.
Powered by
Badges | Community Guidelines | Report an Issue | Terms of Service
