Dundorf

[Drax]

NUCLEAR POWER BUDGET WILL NOT BE REDUCED
 
ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER
 
Science, Research and Technology Ministry, March 15, 5709: After Science, Research and Technology Minister Hermann Felder held a meeting with senior staff on medical research grants, ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER asked Felder if the governing coalition’s budget reductions would affect Nationales Konsortium fur Kernenergie (NKK) electricity pricing for the Bundesrepublik citizens, and he replied:
 

As it stands now no. As Chancellor Gimbel has pointed out, there will be no additional nuclear power plants built for the time being from budget surplus.
 
NKK is a government corporation overseen by several Ministries including mine. It has a budget for repairs, replacement equipment, maintenance, labor, construction and fuel components particularly uranium, and other costs and expenses which do rise as power plants grow older.  Since Nationales Bergbaukonglomerat, also a government corporation, supplies the uranium, that cost fluctuates little.
 
To a large extent utility bills fund the budget to pay those costs.  There is an appropriation to NKK by the Majlis which can be used to cover shortages should they occur or rolled over to a subsequent year if there are none.  Accordingly there is unlikely to be a need to raise utility bills simply because we are not building a new nuclear plant.  Including those which are subsidized for lesser income citizens.
 
NKK also is involved in sponsoring courses leading to a Master of Nuclear Power Engineering degree at Karl Ulrich Universitat in Unterscloss, Stadtuniversitat Lutzenkamp, Oberegg Universitat, and Stadtuniversitat Sudscloss-am-der-Czimnetz which will qualify recipients in all aspects of construction and maintenance and for that matter repair of a nuclear power station including the reactor, the steam generator the steam turbine and electric generator.  Proficiency in shutting down and reactivating in a safe manner is also taught whether done as a temporary measure meant to be safely undone or as a permanent closure.  An engineering degree is a prerequisite as well as courses in mathematics, chemistry and physics.
 
Additionally, there are training courses for NKK technical staff at Karl Ulrich Universitat and Stadtuniversitat Sudschloss-am-der-Czimnetz conduct their Schools of Engineering.
 
The programs for the Master’s Degree and the technical training are partially funded by tuition but interest on an endowment fund established through NKK many years ago pays for the bulk of the expenses associated with those programs.

 
Asked by ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER whether either NKK or the mining conglomerate are likely to be privatized any time soon thereby making higher bills more likely, Felder Responded:
 

The uranium and diamond mining by our mining conglomerate is done with subsurface drilling and mine shafts in accordance with the law of the Bundesrepublik.  This is much more environment friendly but much less profitable than open pit mining. Make no mistake, the conglomerate is solvent but the profit is not such that any venture capital is being attracted to the mining process itself.
 
As to NKK, the current plan calls for review and recommendations to the Majlis upon completion of the tenth power station of possible privatization perhaps in the form of partial or total conversion to private ownership. The current thinking to date is to allow preferred shares to be sold but not common stock.

 
Nuclear power plants are thermal power stations with the heat generated by nuclear reactors.  Fission in a reactor heats the reactor coolant which goes to a steam generator and heats water to produce steam that will drive a steam turbine connected to a generator of electricity.  The condensed steam is captured in the cooling tower and pumped back into the steam generator.
 
The fission in the reactor produces radioactivity so that a protective shield is necessary around the reactors together with a concrete layer to help contain the radioactivity and protect reactors from unexpected impacts.


Federal Minister Hermann Felder