Re: Re[2]: Conn Yankee shuts down

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

At 04:05 AM 12/11/96 -0600, you wrote:
>     I believe that much of that cheaper power is hydroelectric from 
>     Canada.
>     
>     As far as total power supply to the northeast, what about summer time 
>     when you run those wonderful electric air conditioners.  Can anyone 
>     remember the term "brown-out".  Of course I may be speaking too early 
>     and perhaps their reliability of power will actually increase when 
>     they buy more from Canada.
>     
>     Maybe they'll just melt their transimissions like our friends out west 
>     this summer.
>     
>     It seems the deregulation effort is moving a little fast just to save 
>     a few cents on the dollar.
>     
Couldn't agree more. The deregulation process has the power industry,
nuclear and non-nuclear alike, in a cost cutting feeding frenzy. Every
power company is working its tail off to keep its rates as close as
possible to its neighboring utilities. In an open market, i.e., no more
monopolies on service areas, utilities can compete with each other only one
2 features: price and reliability. Unfortunately, these require opposite
forces from the utility. Cost cutting to keep rates down can have adverse
effects on reliability. Here in California, PG&E has been saving money by
reducing (perhaps eliminating) tree trimming around power lines for several
years. They are now reaping the benefits of this approach: any storm of
decent intensity off the Pacific now causes widespread power outages
(100,000+ people affected per storm) just in the San Fran area alone. All
from tree limbs taking out power lines. Makes me wonder where else they
have saved money by not doing maintenance, e.g., the nuclear program. My
fear is that some nuclear utility will find itself with a hardware failure
leading to a significant accident with offsite consequences because of
deferred/cancelled maintenance or absence of response capability due to
cost cutting measures.


Bob Flood
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
(415) 926-3793     bflood@slac.stanford.edu
Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are mine alone.