Re: And another DOE-led disaster...

[Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

>          Energy Dept. Warns of Power Outages
>
Like I've said before, one of the "benefits" of deregulation is no
institution is reponsible for ensure there is sufficient generating
capacity.

>          Earlier this week, Californians were urged to voluntarily reduce
>          their electricity use to avoid power outages because of concerns
>          about supplies during the heat wave that has struck much of the
>          West.

What's even more amazing to me is that PG&E had a substantial fraction of
its generating capacity offline in SCHEDULED maintenance outages, plus a
smaller amount in forced outage. When the weather turned hot (who could have
guessed THAT would happen in June?), the outages led to the power shortage.
>          California and the Northwest have been ``barely able to avoid
>          rolling blackouts,'' said Richardson.

I could criticize the wnnabeVP about being better informed, but perhaps it's
not his fault. California didn't avoid rolling blackouts. They just did them
so badly they may not have been recognizable as deliberate. PG&E cut the
power with no warning in several towns around the San Francisco bay area -
traffic lights went out (with accidents as a direct result), hospitals and
nursing care facilities lost power (and a few nursing home deaths are being
investigated as a result), etc. When PG&E went to restore power, in most
cases they couldn't. The several-hour blackouts turned into overnight and a
few 24-36 hour outages.

Tell me again how many people have been killed by operating nuclear power
plants? And why are these blackouts better than having "nuculer"
electricity?
============================
Bob Flood
Dosimetry Group Leader
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
bflood@slac.stanford.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Muckerheide <jmuckerheide@delphi.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 11:06 AM
Subject: And another DOE-led disaster...


>...wondering is surprised and who will point fingers.  Still while saying
>nothing to the public about the need to provide energy sources - and maybe
not
>all natural gas!  :-(
>
>Regards, Jim
>muckerheide@mediaone.net
>========================
>
>June 28, 2000
>
>          Filed at 12:26 p.m. EDT
>
>          By The Associated Press
>
>          WASHINGTON (AP) -- Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, already
>          trying to address the problem of high oil and gasoline prices,
>          warned Wednesday some parts of the country face an ``imminent''
>          threat of electric power outages.
>
>          ``We're concerned about the reliability of the electricity grid
this
>          summer,'' Richardson told the House Commerce Committee. He
>          said New England, California and the Pacific Northwest were in
>          greatest jeopardy.
>
>
>          Generator problems in other states had limited the amount of
>          electricity being shipped into the state from other regions,
>          including the Northwest.
>
>          At the same time, Richardson said he was concerned about
>          possible power interruptions in the Northeast because of problems
>          at the Seabrook nuclear power plant in New Hampshire.
>
>          He said while concerns have eased in New England because of a
>          turn to cooler weather, 100-degree heat across much of the West
>          means both California and the Northwest ``remain very vulnerable
>          to power outages'' during peak demand periods.
>
>
>          In May, the industry-sponsored North American Electric
Reliability
>          Council said in a review of potential power problems this summer
>          that most of the country appeared to have sufficient electricity
>          supplies.
>
>          But the council said there were areas of concern in the
Northeast,
>          the Southwest and California. It said utilities have procedures
in
>          place ``to deal with capacity shortages.''
>
>          Nationwide, the council said that this summer's peak demand for
>          electricity is expected to be 1.7 percent higher than last
summer.
>          It said that additional generating capacity has been put into
place
>          in Illinois, Texas and the Southeast, where power interruptions
>          were a problem last year.
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