Power Protection Notes

Fukushima: the political fallout in Australia

Several months after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, we’re beginning to get a sense of the likely long-term impacts.

Radiation has spread across much of the northern hemisphere and parts of the southern hemisphere, including northern Australia.

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency estimates the radioactive release at 770,000 terabecquerels in the first week of the crisis.

Total radiation releases will probably fall somewhere between 10−40% of those from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Radiation releases have not been stopped and will continue for some months.

At the Fukushima Daiichi site, at least four reactors will be permanent write-offs, and the other two are unlikely to be restarted.

The long-term cancer death toll will probably be somewhere between several hundred and several thousand. For comparison, a reasonable estimate of the Chernobyl death toll is 30,000.

Allowable radiation dose limits in Japan have been thrown out the window, both for emergency workers and for the general public.

Estimates of the economic costs of the disaster range from $50 billion to $130 billion − but it wouldn’t surprise if the true costs are considerably greater.

Between 100,000 and 150,000 people cannot return to their homes because of radioactive contamination. Some may be able to return before the end of this year but permanent relocation is a likely outcome for those who lived in the most contaminated regions. Legal and political battles will take decades to play out.

TEPCO, the company that owned and operated the Fukushima plant, will be bailed-out by Japanese taxpayers as per the golden rule of capitalism: privatise the profits and socialise the losses.

Globally, the nuclear power “renaissance” has taken a big hit. Germany, Italy and Switzerland have decided to abandon nuclear power in favour of renewable energy sources.

Plans to introduce or expand nuclear power in many other countries have taken a big backwards step.

Before Fukushima, a reasonable estimate was an 18-36% global expansion of nuclear power from 2010-2030.

In the wake of Fukushima, there will be little if any expansion of nuclear power in the next 20 years. In the 2030-2050 window, roughly 300 of the 430 currently-operating reactors will be permanently shut down so the industry will have to build new reactors at a cracking pace just to stand still.

The Business Case for Power Conditioning | Autoblogging Information

Waukegan, IL (PRWEB) May 19, 2011

POWERVAR launches industry white paper on how power quality can deliver ROI and unburden service costs from the bottom line.

POWERVAR, Inc., a global leader in power management systems and power conditioner manufacturing, has today launched its new industry white paper outlining how power quality technology can deliver demonstrable cost savings and measureable return on investment (ROI) for businesses.

‘The business case analysis for power conditioning: An ROI study of unburdening service costs from the bottom line’ highlights how the highly competitive power quality and UPS market, which has been largely driven by price, has done little to demonstrate to customers how much power disturbances are costing their business and how power quality technology can deliver cost savings directly to the bottom line.

“Power quality is a topic that most people pay lip service to,” according to POWERVAR’s Director of Marketing, Chris Walsh, “but very few have been able to accurately nail down what the benefits are when implementing different power quality technologies, especially when it comes to delivering real cost savings. We have looked into this topic in-depth, and worked with many prominent companies around the world to help customers better understand the issues and make more informed choices.”

The key focus is the so-called ‘service burden rate’ – a proportion of the price of a product allocated to cover ongoing maintenance and equipment repairs during the warranty period. Based on POWERVAR’s research of thousands of pieces of equipment installed by customers, the range of the service burden rate by manufacturers was around 4 to 8 per cent of the sale price of the equipment or solution. The statistics showed a reduction of between 43 and 88 per cent in warranty service costs when a POWERVAR solution was part of the installation and an ROI of between 154 and 1,148 per cent.

According to the new white paper, the benefits are not just financial – there is a ‘softer ROI’, such as a reduction in warranty costs and the number of service calls, improved customer satisfaction, greater customer loyalty, competitive industry advantage and repeat business for the manufacturer.

POWERVAR’s Chris Walsh adds: “For most organisations, power quality problems are ‘out of sight, out of mind’. The reality is that in today’s business environment, driven by high tech equipment incorporating sensitive electronic components, the impact of poor power quality can have a profound effect on a company’s systems. It may not be today, or tomorrow, or even in a year’s time, but cumulative damage over time can cause sudden system failure or lock ups without warning.

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