The Power of Ping-Pong Balls :: essays research papers

The Power of Ping-Pong Balls Being assigned an I-Search paper, I was to acquire a question that was appealing to me, and that I did. It all started after mindless searches via the internet and some procrastination, to which I found myself to be in front of the television. While I knew I should be looking for a suitable question, I still sat there watching on. I happened to be flipping through the channels when a commercial for the Mythbusters brought about the question if one can raise a sunken vessel with ping-pong balls, to which I thought, â€Å"Why would anyone want to use ping-pong balls to raise a- hey, that could be my question!† It was so hilariously stupid that it caught my attention, so I used it. I started my search by contacting my grandfather, John Walker, whom has been a boating enthusiast for his entire life. I asked him if he thought it was possible to raise a boat with ping-pong balls, to which he replied, â€Å"Why in the [world] would you want to use ping-pong balls?† He went on to tell me that he had heard a myth saying that a man raised his unfortunate ship using ping-pong balls, made from a factory he worked at. He also told me that to do so, one would have to use a ton of ping-pong balls and that all of the openings would have to be sealed to prevent any balls from escaping. It seemed possible, but I still didn’t have a definitive answer to my question, so I kept on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After my not-so-definitive interview with my grandfather I used msn.com to search the internet for anything related to the question I had chosen. Doing so lead me to a site which told of a Danish engineer, Karl Kroyer, that had tried to patent such and idea but was denied by the German Patent Office because of an American comic strip which described his idea of using ping-pong balls to raise a ship. This really didn’t answer my question but it did give an idea to where the myth came from. So I went to aj.com where I found a site for The International Starch Institute in Denmark, where it told of Karl Kroyer but not what the first site I visited told of. The site for I.S.I. says that Karl Kroyer was enlisted to raise a two-thousand gross-ton freighter of the Persian Gulf floor and he decided to use a method described in a Donald Duck comic strip.

Essay Question: Examine How Steinbeck Presents the Character of Curley’s Wife in ‘of Mice and Men’

Essay Question: Examine how Steinbeck presents the character of Curley’s wife in ‘Of Mice and Men’ The famous novella ‘O Mice and Men’ was written by John Steinbeck, in which all characters play an immense role. Firstly the time in which this novel was written has a direct impact on the characters life style and personality. As we know, this novel was written during the time of the great depression, which was based in 1929. It was known as the great depression, because it lasted for up to 10 years. During this time women had no rights and were abounded and isolated from social activities.They were known to be the possession of their husband. In this novella Steinbeck shows us two view on the character of Curley’s wife, however our perception of her changes without herself actually changing. As a reader we know how she is without even seen her. She was first mentioned by Candy, as he was describing her to George. Through her description we know that â€Å"she got the eye†, meaning that she is a person who can cause danger to others. Furthermore Candy described her as a â€Å"tart†, â€Å"tramp† and a â€Å"bitch†.Before actually seeing her we know that she is the only women in the ranch and that she is a flirtatious person as well as a promiscuous person. Also Steinbeck describes her as a â€Å"girl† instead of a â€Å"woman†. This shows that he is informing the reader about her personality and how she is. Girls are mainly described as immature and innocent and that they don’t have enough knowledge about the world, where as a woman is a much mature person with a wider knowledge about the world and life. Curley’s wife is described as a girl, because she is being looks down at and not respected as she should be it also emphasises her vulnerability.

PRAN †the Largest Agro Food Processor in Bangladesh Essay

Introduction Agricultural Marketing Company Limited (AMCL) was set up at first in 1981 and then 1985 for farming and marketing of agricultural products for local and export market. Subsequently a modern fruit processing plant with bottling and earning facilities was added in 1993 to produce fruit juice, squash, sherbet, jam, jelly etc. the company processing unit started commercially production in July 1993 and launched its products in the market under the brand name â€Å"PRAN†. PRAN stands for Programme for Rural Advancement Nationally. The brand Pran has established itself in every category of food and beverage industry and can boost a product range from Juices, Carbonated Drinks, Confectionery, Snacks, and Spices to even Dairy products. Pran Group was born keeping in view the corporate mission of the group. Today Pran is the largest processors of fruits & vegetables in Bangladesh. Pran is the pioneer in Bangladesh to be involved in contract farming. They encourage contract farmers and help them grow quality crops with increased yields and to obtain fair prices. They procure raw material directly from the farmers and processes through the machineries at their several factories into hygienically packed food and drinks products. The Group comprises of 10 companies. The head offices are located at Dhaka with production facilities around the country. Their management is modern adapted to the environment & culture and Pran’s largest asset is their competent team of hands-on-mangers & dedicated employees. Pran is listed with the Dhaka and Chitttgong stock exchanges in 1996. Pran agriculture marketing company limited has controlled the nine individual Business Units on their umbrella. Agro Industrial Park Bangladesh’s first-ever agro-industrial zone, Pran Agro Industrial Park, was inaugurated in Natore. The park is comprised of automatic rice mill, spice, peanut, honey, tomato, pickle, jam and jelly processing units, fruit pulping units, pulses mill, puffed rice mill, cattle feed mill, plastic molding and milk collection units to produce wide range of products, which is using for  export. Plant in India: Now Pran is going for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in India by building its first foreign factory in India, taking advantage of the country’s recent decision to lift its ban on Bangladeshi investment. The plant will be built in the north-eastern Indian state of Tripura. It will initially produce jelly and drinks and is expected to come into operation by 2009 with an annual turnover of around Tk100 crore. It will supply the markets of northeast India -Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh -known as ‘Seven Sisters’, said a senior official of Pran Exports Ltd. The plant will initially produce jelly and drinks, which have already won popularity in those areas, said Paramuddin Hossain, senior manager of Export of Pran Group. Related and Supporting Industries Pran Food Limited produce different types of food products which require many other related and supporting products in their different stages of production and distribution. I.Mango and Other Fruits Industry: Pran’s mango juice is their most selling item and most of their earnings are earned by selling mango juice. So they need a large amount of mango as a raw material in mango juice production. They also need mango in producing Jam, Pickles and Mango Bar. Besides Mango they also need many other fruits like Orange, Pineapple, Apple, Litchi, Lemon and many other fruits to produce Juice, Jam, Fruit Bar and Pickles. At present they supply mango and other fruits from their own garden as well as import from other countries like India and Bhutan. But the importing amount is more than the amount of supply from their own garden. II.Sugar Industry: Sugar is an inevitable raw material for production process in Pran Food  Limited. They need sugar in juice production to candy production. They use our home countries sugar because they do not import sugar for high tariff rate. So sugar industry is a related and supporting industry for Pran Food Limited. There are many local sugar industries that depend on Pran. III.Dairy Firm: Pran has the country’s largest milk producing centre. Pran’s own dairy firm supplies milk to produce Ghee, Milk candy, Mango Milk, Chocolate Milk, and in many other production process. If supply from their own dairy firm can not satisfy the need of raw materials in future other dairy firms can give them the supply. IV.Wheat Industry: Pran needs a bulk amount of wheat to produce snacks, like Crackers & Chips, Bakery Items, Biscuit, Chanachur, Dal etc. They import wheat from other countries for their production process. V.Packaging Industry: To distribute all products Pran needs quality and colorful packaging. At present they are importing all packaging materials excluded the glass bottle from China and Korea. And they use local glass bottle to distribute juice and pickles. Organizational Structure of Pran The Pran agriculture marketing company limited constructed their organizational structure in standard way which could efficient for their production and job. The structure is given below: Marketing Strategy of Pran To achieve its marketing objectives Pran uses the customer centered orientation program to gain large bulk of customers. First  of all they set Segmentation Targeting Positioning (STP) for their products. I.Market Segmentation: Pran segment their market to divide the market into distinct groups of buyers who have distinct needs, characteristics, or behavior and who require separate products or marketing mixes. For example: they segment their mango juice to think about the people of different age and who have different taste. Like Pran Mango Juice-Classic for generalized group, Pran Mango Juice-Premium for the group who want thick mango juice, Pran Joy Juice for the young generation and Pran Junior Juice for the children. II.Target Market: Pran target the middle class people who wants verified taste of foods. As consumer percentage is high in this group they think that this target market is highly profitable for them. So, they don’t go for high priced product rather than they try to serve low price but competitive quality of product. That is why their main object is to serve quality product at a lower price and they do a lot of promotional activities for being the best in the competitive market. III.Market Positioning: Pran positioning their products in their customers mind by offering special features and benefits. To occupy a clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of their target market Pran tries to position their each and every product. For example; Pran tries to position the Mango Bar as a taste of the happiness of their childhood, in the mind of every consumer. IV.Marketing Mix of Pran: Pran has a set of controllable tactical marketing tools –product, price, place and promotion, which they blend to produce the response wanted by their target market. a)Product: Products act as customer solution for their demand. Pran has an extensive line of product which can easily satisfy the need for any food demand of the consumers. Consumers are getting all sorts of food products they need to consume from Pran. b)Price: Bangladesh has a huge shortage of fruit, vegetable, raw materials. So Pran make up this shortfall by importing from the neighboring and different countries like India, Bhutan, and China etc. But, for that, Pran needs a relaxed tariff structure to keep their products competitive. So, Pran follows competitive pricing strategy to compete in the market. But they also take care of the limitation of their customer. So they always try to keep the price low to compete in the market and to make their product’s price affordable for their consumers. c)Place: Pran has an extensive sales network throughout the country to reach their product to everyone. Their products are available even to the remote part of the country. Company appointed sales force to cover every part of the country. d)Promotion: Pran communicates with their consumers by various means of promotion. To maintain a good public relation they take intensive sales promotion. To promote Pran’s product to their customers, they are conducting some promotional activities. These include: Advertisement in print media such as news paper, magazine Advertisement in visual media with opinion leaders Free campaign Sponsoring in different cultural occasions V.Countrywide Sales and Distribution Network: Pran maintains the following distribution network Pran sales force comprises 137 Executives. Number of Sales Representatives is 1510. They are performing the responsibility of Selling to retailers all over Bangladesh through Distributors. At this moment company appointed total Distributors are 720. Mode of Transportation Pran use transportation in the following activities: I.To Import Raw Materials: To import the raw materials Pran use Freight on Board (FOB) and C&F both transportation system. On FOB the supplying company takes the responsibility to import raw materials up to Chittagong port and on C&F the supplying company imports the raw materials up to the factory. But Pran use the C&F system more than FOB system. II.To Export Processed Foods: Pran Food Limited uses the shipping system to export processed food to many other countries. To avoid the high transportation cost, they use shipping system instead of air. III.To Distribute In The Local Market: To avoid high freight Pran use their own distribution channel to distribute their products inside Bangladesh. They also take help of the local transportation agencies to distribute their products on payment. The names of some local transportation agencies that they use more frequently are given below: Haji Mostafa Transport Ananda Paribahan Shamim Transport Multi Star Transport Ltd. N. Mohammad Transport Packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging is very important part for the marketers because by looking at the packaging of product, consumers take the decision of buying a particular product. That is why Pran does colorful packaging which attracts customers a lot. Pran gives a lot of efforts in packaging. They are in a good position in doing  packaging compare to other companies in Bangladesh. Pran export their product in the international market, so comparing with the international market their process of packaging is not in a good pos ition at all. Pran is doing their best to compete with the international standard of packaging. For doing packaging they use foreign technologies to compete with the world market. They import package mostly from Thailand. Then they prefer China. They import different packing materials like- Aluminum Foil, Crown Cork, Flexible Packing material, Glass Bottle, Glass Jars, HDPE, Lug Cap (30, 53 & 63mm), PET, Shrink Labels, Shrink caps, Tin Can, U-Straw. Pran is doing packaging because of following reasons: i.Self-Service: Products should be packaging in such a process which is convenience for the consumers. Pran package their products in such a way that it is very convenience for the consumers to take products from one place to another. Pran do standardizing and grading their products according to different weight of their product. ii.Consumer Affluence: Pran always try to have bit more profit from customers. So Pran emphasize on appearance, dependability, and prestige of better package for having consumer affluence. iii.Company and Brand Image: Packages contribute to instant recognition of the company and brand. Pran packages their product in such a way that it’s become very easy for the customers to recognize their product. When Pran package their product, they emphasize a lot in few factors like- I.Physical Protection: Physical means the physical product. They emphasize whether products are secure after packaging or not. II.Barrier Protection: There are some problems that create product unhygienic, dust is one of them. To hygienic the product, Pran does their packaging very carefully. They concentrate on whether the packaging is protecting the products from different barrier or not. Pran use new types of technology for protecting these types of problem. III.Information Transmission: In packaging, Pran gives a lot of information about how to use products and what chemicals are their in the product. By doing these they do the work of information transmission which help a lot to the customers. IV.Security: There is possibility of damaging goods when products are going for shipment. Some time because of some defect in the packaging, products can not reach in there destination. For that reason companies loss their profit as well as their goodwill. That is why Pran emphasize a lot on security in packaging to prevent from these problems. Way of Packaging: The way that Pran packages their products can be shown in the following tables- Local Demand Condition Pran is the Bangladesh’s largest selling processed food company. The local demand for Pran’s product has increased day by day. The marketing officials explained that their current production volume even failed to satisfy the local demand condition in last year. The local demand condition of Pran’s product can easily determined by their sales volume. Here we examine Pran’s sales volume for last five years which shows that the local demand condition of their products has increased drastically. In 2004 the sales volume was worth of 50 crore taka which increased to 250 crore taka in 2008. That means the sales amount has increased by 40% in last five years. Foreign Demand Condition Like local demand condition Pran has a vast demand to the foreign market. They started to export from 2001 and from then on their foreign demand condition has just increasing and increasing. The foreign demand condition of Pran can be easily drawn by their exporting volume of last 8 years. We can see from the graph that at the beginning the only export worth 12 crore which increased by 16.67% in next year (2002). They had a slow increase in export up to 2005. Till then they had average increase of 17% each year in export. But they had a drastic change in export  from 2006 when their exporting volume rises by 55.55% from the previous year. They had exporting volume of 56 crore taka in 2006 and 80 crore in 2007. In last year they export worth 120 crore which break the all past record of increase in export. Market Access Issues Pran, Bangladesh’s largest agro process company produces and export different kinds of food products. Now they have access to many countries and have potential to export many other countries.

Essay on Chinese historyEssay Writing Service

Essay on Chinese historyEssay Writing Service Essay on Chinese history Essay on Chinese historyThe role of archaeology in changing and enriching our knowledge of Chinese history is hard to overestimate. On the one hand, archaeologists and historians receive unlimited resources for their scientific research. On the other hand, common people also get access to the enigmatic world of the bygone times.For example, the earliest Chinese vessels made of bronze tell much about the people who lived in the Yellow River valley about two thousand years before Christ. The complexity and elegance peculiar to the first simple wine cup testifies that the level of Chinese development in the second millennium B.C. was unsurpassed and seldom achieved by other cultures. The state of culture studied by other important archaeological findings proves that the first Chinese civilization culminated due to a strong centralized government. It has been also found out that the society was discretely stratified; architecture was elaborate with palaces prevailing; the system of writi ng was distinctive; religious rituals were numerous, and art forms were sophisticated. What is more, bronze was actively used even when the Iron Age began, and the majestic vessels made of bronze show how high technical accomplishments of the Chinese were. The vessels of exclusive beauty and complexity were applied during religious rituals and indicate wealth and honor of the Chinese rulers.Further on, the effect of life-sized terracotta figures buried with the Qin ruler is even more petrifying and challenging our knowledge of Chinese history and art. In the second century B.C. the lands of China were united together under the leadership of the First Emperor of Qin (Wilkinson 183). The latter constructed his own mausoleum employing about 700,000 laborers, and an army of about 7,000 clay warriors were buried with the Emperor. In this way, archaeology brings to life those who lived thousands of years ago and makes them talk with us in a whisper.

Assessing Strategic Planning In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay Essay Example

Assessing Strategic Planning In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay Essay Example Assessing Strategic Planning In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay Essay Assessing Strategic Planning In The Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay Essay The rapid development in the cordial reception industry which has lead to importance of strategic planning required in order the houses can hold a steady rise in the industry. The life criterions of people have been improved due to globalization which in title contribute to the development of the cordial reception industry. The variegation was a most of import precedence of the houses in order to use the high profiled client base which they possessed.It is easy to aim the clients who are in your door measure and this lead to assorted preparation of strategic programs to aim them. Strategic planning is an organisation frame work of specifying its scheme, or way, and doing determinations on apportioning its resources to prosecute this scheme, including its capital and people. Assorted concern analysis techniques can be used in strategic planning, including SWOT analysis ( Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats ) and PEST analysis ( Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis ) or STEER analysis ( Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, and Regulatory factors ) and EPISTEL ( Environment, Political, Informatics, Social, Technological, Economic and Legal ) . Strategic planning is the official consideration of an organisation s future class. All strategic planning trades with at least one of three cardinal inquiries: TheA cordial reception industryA consists of wide class of Fieldss within the service industry that includesA housing, A eating houses, A event planning, A subject Parkss, A transit, A sail line, and extra Fieldss within the touristry industry. The cordial reception industry is a several billion dollar industry that largely depends on the handiness of leisure clip and disposable income. A cordial reception unit such as a eating house, hotel, or even an amusement park consists of multiple groups such as installation care, direct operations ( waiters, A housekeepers, porters, kitchen workers, A barmans, etc. ) , direction, selling, and human resources. The cordial reception industry includes a broad scope of organisations offering nutrient service and adjustment. The cordial reception industry is divided into sectors harmonizing to the skill-sets required for the work involved. Sectors include adjustment, nutrient and drink, meeting and events, gambling, amusement and diversion, touristry services, and visitant information. ( wikepedia n.d. ) Strategic planning for the cordial reception industry ( 1 ) The increasing popularity of strategic planning in recent times is attributed to speed uping alterations in industries and economic systems and increasing planetary competition. ( 2 ) The rapid development of strategic-planning that executives find utile. Firms that engage in strategic be aftering tend to hold higher public presentation. ( 3 ) A recent survey of hotels in the United Kingdom found that concern public presentation was positively associated with the thoroughness, edification, engagement, and formality of strategic-planning procedures. ( 4 ) Strategic analysis the systematic probe of a house and its environment is the foundation of the strategic direction procedure. STRATEGIC PLANNING IN JACK IN THE BOX Jack in the Box late announced programs to open 100 to 150 eating houses combined with convenience shops over the following five old ages. The shops will have life-size eating houses and besides sell gasolene and other typical convenience shop points such as staff of life and milk. How did Jack in the Box arrive at this determination? Harmonizing to the company s CEO, Bob Nugent, an analysis of the convenience-store market indicated that there was plentifulness of chance, chiefly because no single company dominates. The largest participant in the convenience-store industry which dominated the market, 7-Eleven, Inc. , controls somewhat over 4 per centum of the market. Compare this to fast nutrients, where McDonald s controls 43 per centum of the market and Jack in the Box a mere 4.6 per centum. Nugent besides justifies his determination on the footing of research which indicates that a convenience-store client is twice every bit likely to eat fast nutrient as a non-convenience-store client. ( 5 ) Strategic analysis can supply first-class information on which to establish long-range determinations such as this one. Knowledge is one of the most of import competitory arms a house can possess. ( 6 ) As the Jack in the Box illustration illustrates, detailed cognition about a house and its environment can be used to bring forth new thoughts for businessA and to measure the feasibleness of thoughts before they are really implemented. Strategic analysis besides allows a house s directors to go more cognizant of the company s strengths and failings and to understand the grounds behind successes and failures. Knowledge about the competitory environment can assist to expect and be after for alterations and foretell how rivals or other stakeholders such as clients or providers will react to new schemes or other organisational activities. Strategic analysis can open up channels of communicating between high-level directors and subsidiaries, leting them to portion thoughts and positions. The participative procedure will assist subsidiaries to accept alterations more readily after determinations are made. ( Harrison April, 2003 ) STRATEGIC PLANS AT FelCor LODGING TRUST For FelCor Lodging Trust, one of the largest hotel existent estate investing trusts ( REITs ) in the United States, a strategic planning exercising led the company to rethink its scheme. Naming itself the New FelCor, the house has made dramatic stairss toward shifting itself. The house concern scheme is to dispose of nonstrategic hotels, including all of its Holiday Inn Hotels located in secondary and third markets. After the sale, it will hold lower exposure to markets with low barriers to entry. Other elements of the new concern scheme are ( 1 ) To get hotels in high barrier to entry markets ( 2 ) To better the competitory placement of nucleus hotels through aggressive plus direction and the wise application of capital in the industry ( 3 ) To pay down debt through a combination of operational hard currency flow and the sale of nonstrategic hotels. The company will go a lower leveraged company with a stronger and to the full renovated portfolio of hotels. STRATEGIC Thinking AT STARWOOD When Starwood idea of spread outing their concern to a field which is relevant and easy to pull clients.They in hotel industry and had a close association with the luxury section clients so they thought Expansion through Diversification scheme in order use their same luxury client base to sell their freshly introduced Heavenly Bed . Westin Hotels A ; Resorts, with 169 hotels and resorts in more than 31 states and districts, is owned by Starwood Hotels A ; Resorts Worldwide, Inc The Heavenly Bed, foremost launched by the Westin trade name of Starwood Hotels A ; Resorts, has transformed the bed, a basic characteristic of any hotel room, into a epicurean object of desire, heightening the grosss of the concatenation and go forthing many hotel operators to follow suit with imitator linens and usage bedclothes of their ain. The strategic procedure at Starwood began with consumer analysis and merchandise testing. First, Westin conducted a survey affecting 600 concern executives who travel often. The consequences showed that 84 per centum said a epicurean bed would do a hotel room more attractive to them to bask the comfort. What is more, 63 per centum said a good dark slumber is the most of import service a hotel can supply. Half of those surveyed said they sleep worse in hotels than at place. After proving 50 beds from 35 housing ironss, Westin developed its paradigm all white Heavenly Bed with a usage designed pillow top mattress, goose down sympathizers, five pillows, and three chip sheets runing in yarn count from 180 to 250. Once the merchandise was designed and tested, the house introduced the bed with a carefully planned selling scheme are USA Today ran a narrative on the front page of its concern subdivision. The same twenty-four hours, 20 pristine white Heavenly Beds lined Wall Street up to the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. Inside the Stock Exchange, Barry Sternlicht, the so Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels A ; Resorts rang the gap bell and threw out chapeaus proclaiming, Work like the devil Sleep like an angel. Meanwhile, at New York Grand Central Station, 20 more beds graced one of the rotundas at that place, and commuters debarking the trains were invited to seek them out. Similar events were staged the same twenty-four hours at 38 locations across the United States, tailored to each metropolis. Savannah s event featured a bed drifting on a flatboat down the river with a landing skydiver. Seattle s event took topographic point atop the Space Needle. To reenforce the message, a coincident advertisement run asked, Who s the best in bed? AN EMERGING RETAIL STRATEGY FOR THE HEAVENLY BED In the early phases of presenting the heavenly bed.In the first hebdomad of establishing the Westin Heavenly Bed, 32 invitees were interested to purchase the bed. A light bulb went on. Westin executives put order cards with a toll free figure in every room. They started puting catalogs by bedsides and desks and put up a web site. By June of 2004, Westin had sold 20,000 pillows $ 75 for the male monarch sized version and 3,500 bed/bedding jazz band, at $ 2,965 each, plenty to distribute the thought throughout Starwood, with the Sheraton, St. Regis, and W lines all turning into retail merchants. The unforeseen success of the Heavenly Bed has spawned a new concern companies that help hotels run their retail weaponries. Boxport, a spin off of San Francisco based hotel pimp Higgins Purchasing Group, operates web sites and catalogs for several ironss that now sell bedclothes. In order to find where it is traveling, the organisation needs to cognize precisely where it stands, so find where it wants to travel and how it will acquire at that place. The resulting papers is called the strategic program. It is besides true that strategic planning may be a tool for efficaciously plotting the way of a company ; nevertheless, strategic be aftering itself can non announce precisely how the market will germinate and what issues will come up in the approaching yearss in order to be after your organisational scheme. Therefore, strategic invention and puttering with the strategic program have to be a basis scheme for an organisation to last the turbulent concern clime.

A Study of the Conversion Options for the Bataan

T. S. undertook a study of the options for converting the Bataan Nuclear Power Station to fossil fuel (coal or natural gas) combustion. One aim of the study was to find another market for Philippine and Australian coal or natural gas (LNG). The essential question regarding the Bataan Reactor is: how to obtain a financial return from a very expensive power station that * has never produced electricity; * is costing the Philippinec State a sizeable sum in interest; and * has environmental, safety and social concerns over its use as a nuclear power station. The retrofitting of the turbine generator with a fossil fuel fired steam raising system was suggested as a means of utilising part of the plant, and obtaining some return for past and future expenditure. The report/proposal examined some options for fossil fuel firing, and compared those options with nuclear operation. Background The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was completed in 1984, whilst construction commenced in 1976. It is a Westinghouse light water reactor, that uses pressurised water as it heat exchange medium between the reactor and the steam generators. Its design thermal capacity is 1876MW(t), whilst its rated power output is 621MW(e)1. The technology that is incorporated into the plant is essentially early seventies, but has been modified to incorporate more recent safety devices, such as those recommended by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after evaluation of the Three Mile Island incident. The plant, which was in the process of commissioning at the time of the EDSA revolution, has not been fired, although nuclear fuel was delivered to it storage facilities. Maintenance has continued, with the integrity of the plant and ancillaries being ensured. Conclusion of Study The Philippine Government has previously stated that the Philippines will have nuclear power, but that power will come from new plant and not the Bataan reactor. President Ramos announced on the 8th October 1994 that the Reactor would be converted to a 1000MW combined cycle gas plant. (Although an announcement for a specific conversion scheme has been made, it is still considered that there is time for other options to be considered. ) We found that conversion is technically possible, but economically unwise. New and dedicated coal or natural gas fired power plants would give much higher efficiencies, and thus would give the Philippines much better value per peso spent on fuel consumed. The M. E. T. T. S. ‘s study concluded that the only way of obtaining a reasonable return from the Bataan ‘machine’ is to use it as a nuclear power plant. Our report specifically came to the following conclusions: * That the use of the present ‘nuclear’ turbine/generator in a fossil fired system would be highly wasteful of energy (fuel), A new pulverised coal power station and/or combined cycle natural gas power stations at other site(s), would be a better investment in terms of fuel efficiency and levellised power costs, * The Bataan site is inappropriate for coal fired plant, due to environmental constraints and materials (coal and ash) handling problems, * More assessable sites could be found for co mbined cycle natural gas fired plants around Manila Bay, and Batangas, * The Bataan reactor has been maintained in a good condition since mothballing, and The reactor is of basically sound design and construction, and could with modest expenditure become one of the most modern and safest light water reactors in East Asia. To fire the plant as a nuclear facility, the sea water intakes to the condensers would need to be cleaned (with some equipment being replaced), some of the reactor monitoring systems would need to be further upgraded, whilst the second power transmission system would need to be reconstructed. Staff would need to be retrained and re-licenced. A description of the study is presented in the attached article by Clarke, Ebeling and Cordero. The article was presenred at The First Philippine International Conference on Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management, Manila, January 1995. Options for the Conversion of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant to Fossil Fuel Firing Dr. Michael C. Clarke, Director, M. E. T. T. S. Pty. Ltd. , Sydney, Australia Mr. Douglas R. Ebeling, Associate, M. E. T. T. S. Pty. Ltd. , Sydney, Australia Eng. Donato L. Cordero, Engineering Manager, Bataan Nuclear Power Plant The following Executive Summary of a major report formed the basis of a paper presented at the 1st Philippine Conference on Energy Efficiency and Demand-side Management, Manila, January 1995. ) Capital costs and power generation costs are summarised in Table 1, for one coal conversion option, and the conversion of the plant to natural gas fired, combined cycle operation. For comparison purposes figures are also presented for the refurbishm ent, commissioning and running the plant as a nuclear power station. Electricity costs from nuclear operation are considerably cheaper than for ither the two conversion options. If power costs was the only criteria for operating the plant then nuclear firing would clearly win. Both coal and natural gas conversions will have environmental consequences for the region. By the installation of best available technology and the application of best available practice, the impact will be minimised. The cost of technology and practice however will increase the cost of electricity produced by the plant. Table 1. SUMMARY TABLE, FOSSIL FUEL CONVERSION OPTIONS, BNPP – Revision, March 1995 CONVERSION TO COALCONVERSION TO N. GASNUCLEAR COMPARISON POWER OUTPUT MW(e)8001700 620 ENERGY OUTPUT GWH5,600 (With FGD – 5400)12,2004,613 CAPITAL COST $USm750 (With FGD – 1070)1385380 (UPGRADE) Electricity Cost ? US/kWH4. 82 (With FGD – 5. 94) 5. 24, 4. 34 (FP $230/170)3. 50 Electricity Cost P/kWH1. 21 (With FGD – 1. 49)1. 31, 1. 09 (FP $230/170)0. 88 CAP. COST/POWER OUT0. 94 (With FGD – 1. 34)0. 810. 61 CONSTRUCTION TIME42 MONTHS4218. 24 FGD Flue Gas Desulphurisation (+ Selective Catalytic Reduction) FP Fuel Price, Natural Gas ($US230 /tonne for LNG, $US170 /tonne piped gas) – (Coal $US 55 / tonne) Notes on Table 1 For comparison purposes, the two fossil fuel conversion options and the nuclear comparison have each had the electricity cost based on a pay-back period of twenty years. In each case (for the table) it has been assumed that the full capital cost has been borrowed. When financing packages are being considered, different pay-back periods are likely to be used. The periods are likely to increase with increasing debt. With the natural gas conversion option, an equity contribution would probably be included, since a BOT financing scheme may be used, that ties gas production, reticulation and use into one commercial package. The electricity costs for coal and natural gas conversion are based on a reasonably optimistic scenarios, where no excessive ancillary capital works are charged against the plant. If environmental or other factors require such works, then increase in the electricity cost would occur. It is further considered that the plant required for conversion would be sourced from low cost countries; China, India, Australia, the Philippines etc, as far as possible. The costings for conversion are further premised on the use of the site allocated for construction of PNPP 2, in that it is supplied at no cost, and is geologically stable. If the time required for the construction and commissioning is crucial, then the upgrading of the plant as a nuclear station is clearly the preferred choice. Further, the financial analyses indicate that the nuclear firing of the plant offers the cheapest electricity. Given that the nuclear fuel price is likely to remain stable over the foreseeable future (as against likely rises for coal and natural gas), the nuclear upgrading# and operation offers greater financial certainty to investors. # M. E. T. T. S. ‘s estimate for upgrading the nuclear plant to 1997/8 standards is $US380m. It is backed by further external assessment, and includes new safety features. $US300m is the cost of a basic upgrading based on calculations carried out by the National Power Corporation. SUMMARY – COAL FIRING The conversion of the PNPP I plant to coal firing has some advantages. Coal technology is well proven, and only a small variation in the normal use of that technology is required to convert the plant. The power station will have a capacity similar to the design capacity for the nuclear plant, and will not be the largest plant in the new echelon of Luzon’s power facilities. The plant of 800 MW(e) capacity will be relatively inexpensive at a capital cost of $US505m – without Flue Gas Desulphurisation, Selective Catalytic Reduction, or excessive expenditure on coal or ash handling and ignoring the previous expenditure on the nuclear system. A construction and commissioning period of 42 months is envisaged. The coal option however offers unique co-economic opportunities. The ash waste product would be valuable if used in ancillary industry. By using the Lahar produced by the Pinatubo eruption as an aggregate, with the ash, iron oxide and cement, valuable building materials could be produced. The disadvantages include designing and fitting an environmentally acceptable coal fired power station into the Bataan region. The materials handling alone will create many environmental, management and operational difficulties. The infrastructure requirements for materials handling will also raise engineering and environmental questions that will need to be solved before construction begins. Other environmental questions concerning emission reduction and control must also be answered before work can commence. Another major disadvantage is the requirement for premium fuel, that is expensive in 1994, and in all probability will become relatively more expensive as the demand for ‘clean’ coal increases in the future. SUMMARY – NATURAL GAS FIRING (COMBINED CYCLE, GAS TURBINE) Natural gas provides the cleanest option for the conversion of the Bataan power station to fossil fuel firing. It further offers the most flexible power output to the grid. Options exist for running a part (or whole) of the plant as a single cycle peak load provider, or running the whole plant as a base load facility. The environmental hazard that would be created by such a plant is low compared to coal. Thermal pollution to the sea would be greater than the nuclear option, in that if a 1700MW(e) plant was built with 46% efficiency, the waste heat would be 2000MW(t). This heat would be partially dissipated into the atmosphere (250MW) as against to the sea (1750MW). The additional heat discharge to the sea would be about 500MW(t). NOx emissions can be successfully controlled by modern technology. Steam or water injection, ammonia addition or innovative combustion designs will produce acceptable (but not zero) NOx emissions. At 1700MW(e), the power station would be the largest in the Philippines, and would certainly require a review of the Luzon energy plan. The total consumption of natural gas over a twenty five year period would be 2. 5 TCF; over half the entire Philippine projected resource from Palawan. Over a billion dollars in capital would be needed to build the plant, plus an additional substantial sum to supply the fuel; either as LNG or pipeline gas. The security of a large gas holding area would need to be addressed. Such a holding area and power station would make a relatively easy target when compared to a coal fired plant with coal yards or nuclear facilities. The installation of the gas turbines could be achieved in eighteen months, but the construction of the steam generators and carrying out modifications to the existing plant would take a further twenty four months. From the preliminary financial analysis, the construction of a new combined cycle power station makes better financial sense. A NUCLEAR COMPARISON Under the four headings (Technology, The Environment, Social and Political Concerns, and Economy) that were used to examine the coal-conversion option, a brief summary has been made of the nuclear option for comparison purposes. Technology Light water reactors are a very common type of nuclear reactor. They have good safety records, and most have high capacity factors. There development has been continuous, with technology now being available from Japan, Korea, France, the United Kingdom as well as the United States. They are used in close proximity to the Philippines (Japan, Korea and Taiwan) and have been armarked for use in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Bataan unit is 1970/80’s technology. It is however essentially the same as new units, and could be readily upgraded to 1990’s standards. The Environment The reactor will produce thermal pollution (waste heat) that will be disposed of, off Napot Point to the South China Sea. An environmental impact assessment cleared the plant for its designed heat disposal, and found that localised heating of the sea would not be excessive, given the strong currents that would ensure dispersion of the hot water. No other polluting emissions could be expected from the nuclear power plant. (Accidental emissions of radioactive material, are most unlikely. Once the plant was upgraded to 1997 standards, one accident in a million years could be expected. ) Social and Political Concerns The perceived problems at the Bataan power plant are its greatest liability. These problems include seismic instability, claims of faulty workmanship and the lack of experience of the operators. Many geological and seismic inspections have been carried out on the site, with the result being that no significant risk is apparent. To convince Philippine Society of the seismic safety of the plant, an educational programme would need to be carried out that emphasised the sites stability, and the high seismic safety factor of the plant (0. 4g). Part of the process of refurbishment and upgrading, would be quality assurance on all systems and components of the plant. Modern QA techniques would need to be used to provide the certainty that all significant parts of the plant meet the highest safety and operational standards. Initially foreign experts would be needed to run the plant. The retraining of Philippine staff would take considerable time and money, with the retrained staff spending a number of years assisting in operating similar plants in neighbouring countries. Economics By comparison with the costs of conversion to coal or natural gas, the refurbishment and upgrading of the plant for nuclear operation would be significantly cheaper. A maximum price of $US300m (including staff training) is a fair limit, compared to fossil fuel conversion alternatives. The nuclear option should have the shortest lag time in terms of upgrading and commissioning. If foreign staff were used to initially man the plant then a period of eighteen to twenty months would be needed for full operation. This relatively short period, may be valuable in that the some of the expensive, old or temporary oil fired power plant could be retired early. Fuel costs, plus operation and management costs for LWRs should cost no more than ? US 2/kWH (0. 54 Centavos/kWH). If the interest on the $US 300m was 12%, with a pay-back period of twenty years for the capital, then a further 0. 9? US/kWH would be added to the power cost. The total power cost would be 2. 9? US/kWH (0. 78 Centavos/kWH). If consideration was given to running the Bataan power station as a nuclear plant, then the environmental and economic benefits (as well as safety) should be emphasised, to overcome social and political opposition. THE PHILIPPINES AND THE NUCLEAR CYCLE The Philippines would be an importer of nuclear fuel and an exporter of spent fuel. The fuel that the reactor would use would be lightly enriched. As the uranium 235 is consumed, some plutonium is formed, part of which is also used up as fuel. The spent fuel rods contain a depleted amount of uranium 235, a little plutonium but mostly non-fissile uranium 238. These fuel rods can be reused in heavy water type reactors (CANDU) that are running in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, as primary fuel. All the wastes would be processed by those countries, whilst the Philippines would receive a financial return for its used nuclear fuel. This is a win-win situation. The sale of the used fuel rods could bring the net production cost of electricity (fuel plus operations and management) to under ? US 1. 5/kWH. PLANT SECURITY AND THE NUCLEAR OPTION Unfortunately there is an ongoing insurgency situation in the Philippines. The insurgency problems are no longer major, and in all probability will recede. All major plant however does need a security system. The Bataan plant was constructed with good external, perimeter and internal security systems. There are commonly perceived notions that Nuclear Plants are susceptible to terrorist attack. These notions are based on a lack of understanding of the compact nature of nuclear plants, and the presence of very considerable containment structures for the reactor and fuel stores – especially American designed LWRs. The plant is easy to guard, and would be able to resist attack with light weapons, including rocket propelled grenades etc. The damage from such an attack would be limited to the knocking out of ancillary plant and structures, including the transformer yard, the auxiliary fuel tanks and administration building. Notes 1. The above power cost figures are based on 1997 projected fuel prices, 12% interest, 85% availability, and 20 years amortisation.. The price of coal and natural gas are considered to be more liable for major increases, than nuclear fuel. The Asian demand for both coal and gas is expected to outstrip supply in the coming decade. 2. The estimated construction time includes planning and design, equipment construction, site modification, plant erection and commissioning, and staff training (coal and natural gas conversion). If major ancillary works are required (eg. major wharves, ash and coal pipelines, shipping channels etc), then both an increase in the construction time and costs could be expected. A Study of the Conversion Options for the Bataan T. S. undertook a study of the options for converting the Bataan Nuclear Power Station to fossil fuel (coal or natural gas) combustion. One aim of the study was to find another market for Philippine and Australian coal or natural gas (LNG). The essential question regarding the Bataan Reactor is: how to obtain a financial return from a very expensive power station that * has never produced electricity; * is costing the Philippinec State a sizeable sum in interest; and * has environmental, safety and social concerns over its use as a nuclear power station. The retrofitting of the turbine generator with a fossil fuel fired steam raising system was suggested as a means of utilising part of the plant, and obtaining some return for past and future expenditure. The report/proposal examined some options for fossil fuel firing, and compared those options with nuclear operation. Background The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was completed in 1984, whilst construction commenced in 1976. It is a Westinghouse light water reactor, that uses pressurised water as it heat exchange medium between the reactor and the steam generators. Its design thermal capacity is 1876MW(t), whilst its rated power output is 621MW(e)1. The technology that is incorporated into the plant is essentially early seventies, but has been modified to incorporate more recent safety devices, such as those recommended by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after evaluation of the Three Mile Island incident. The plant, which was in the process of commissioning at the time of the EDSA revolution, has not been fired, although nuclear fuel was delivered to it storage facilities. Maintenance has continued, with the integrity of the plant and ancillaries being ensured. Conclusion of Study The Philippine Government has previously stated that the Philippines will have nuclear power, but that power will come from new plant and not the Bataan reactor. President Ramos announced on the 8th October 1994 that the Reactor would be converted to a 1000MW combined cycle gas plant. (Although an announcement for a specific conversion scheme has been made, it is still considered that there is time for other options to be considered. ) We found that conversion is technically possible, but economically unwise. New and dedicated coal or natural gas fired power plants would give much higher efficiencies, and thus would give the Philippines much better value per peso spent on fuel consumed. The M. E. T. T. S. ‘s study concluded that the only way of obtaining a reasonable return from the Bataan ‘machine’ is to use it as a nuclear power plant. Our report specifically came to the following conclusions: * That the use of the present ‘nuclear’ turbine/generator in a fossil fired system would be highly wasteful of energy (fuel), A new pulverised coal power station and/or combined cycle natural gas power stations at other site(s), would be a better investment in terms of fuel efficiency and levellised power costs, * The Bataan site is inappropriate for coal fired plant, due to environmental constraints and materials (coal and ash) handling problems, * More assessable sites could be found for co mbined cycle natural gas fired plants around Manila Bay, and Batangas, * The Bataan reactor has been maintained in a good condition since mothballing, and The reactor is of basically sound design and construction, and could with modest expenditure become one of the most modern and safest light water reactors in East Asia. To fire the plant as a nuclear facility, the sea water intakes to the condensers would need to be cleaned (with some equipment being replaced), some of the reactor monitoring systems would need to be further upgraded, whilst the second power transmission system would need to be reconstructed. Staff would need to be retrained and re-licenced. A description of the study is presented in the attached article by Clarke, Ebeling and Cordero. The article was presenred at The First Philippine International Conference on Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management, Manila, January 1995. Options for the Conversion of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant to Fossil Fuel Firing Dr. Michael C. Clarke, Director, M. E. T. T. S. Pty. Ltd. , Sydney, Australia Mr. Douglas R. Ebeling, Associate, M. E. T. T. S. Pty. Ltd. , Sydney, Australia Eng. Donato L. Cordero, Engineering Manager, Bataan Nuclear Power Plant The following Executive Summary of a major report formed the basis of a paper presented at the 1st Philippine Conference on Energy Efficiency and Demand-side Management, Manila, January 1995. ) Capital costs and power generation costs are summarised in Table 1, for one coal conversion option, and the conversion of the plant to natural gas fired, combined cycle operation. For comparison purposes figures are also presented for the refurbishm ent, commissioning and running the plant as a nuclear power station. Electricity costs from nuclear operation are considerably cheaper than for ither the two conversion options. If power costs was the only criteria for operating the plant then nuclear firing would clearly win. Both coal and natural gas conversions will have environmental consequences for the region. By the installation of best available technology and the application of best available practice, the impact will be minimised. The cost of technology and practice however will increase the cost of electricity produced by the plant. Table 1. SUMMARY TABLE, FOSSIL FUEL CONVERSION OPTIONS, BNPP – Revision, March 1995 CONVERSION TO COALCONVERSION TO N. GASNUCLEAR COMPARISON POWER OUTPUT MW(e)8001700 620 ENERGY OUTPUT GWH5,600 (With FGD – 5400)12,2004,613 CAPITAL COST $USm750 (With FGD – 1070)1385380 (UPGRADE) Electricity Cost ? US/kWH4. 82 (With FGD – 5. 94) 5. 24, 4. 34 (FP $230/170)3. 50 Electricity Cost P/kWH1. 21 (With FGD – 1. 49)1. 31, 1. 09 (FP $230/170)0. 88 CAP. COST/POWER OUT0. 94 (With FGD – 1. 34)0. 810. 61 CONSTRUCTION TIME42 MONTHS4218. 24 FGD Flue Gas Desulphurisation (+ Selective Catalytic Reduction) FP Fuel Price, Natural Gas ($US230 /tonne for LNG, $US170 /tonne piped gas) – (Coal $US 55 / tonne) Notes on Table 1 For comparison purposes, the two fossil fuel conversion options and the nuclear comparison have each had the electricity cost based on a pay-back period of twenty years. In each case (for the table) it has been assumed that the full capital cost has been borrowed. When financing packages are being considered, different pay-back periods are likely to be used. The periods are likely to increase with increasing debt. With the natural gas conversion option, an equity contribution would probably be included, since a BOT financing scheme may be used, that ties gas production, reticulation and use into one commercial package. The electricity costs for coal and natural gas conversion are based on a reasonably optimistic scenarios, where no excessive ancillary capital works are charged against the plant. If environmental or other factors require such works, then increase in the electricity cost would occur. It is further considered that the plant required for conversion would be sourced from low cost countries; China, India, Australia, the Philippines etc, as far as possible. The costings for conversion are further premised on the use of the site allocated for construction of PNPP 2, in that it is supplied at no cost, and is geologically stable. If the time required for the construction and commissioning is crucial, then the upgrading of the plant as a nuclear station is clearly the preferred choice. Further, the financial analyses indicate that the nuclear firing of the plant offers the cheapest electricity. Given that the nuclear fuel price is likely to remain stable over the foreseeable future (as against likely rises for coal and natural gas), the nuclear upgrading# and operation offers greater financial certainty to investors. # M. E. T. T. S. ‘s estimate for upgrading the nuclear plant to 1997/8 standards is $US380m. It is backed by further external assessment, and includes new safety features. $US300m is the cost of a basic upgrading based on calculations carried out by the National Power Corporation. SUMMARY – COAL FIRING The conversion of the PNPP I plant to coal firing has some advantages. Coal technology is well proven, and only a small variation in the normal use of that technology is required to convert the plant. The power station will have a capacity similar to the design capacity for the nuclear plant, and will not be the largest plant in the new echelon of Luzon’s power facilities. The plant of 800 MW(e) capacity will be relatively inexpensive at a capital cost of $US505m – without Flue Gas Desulphurisation, Selective Catalytic Reduction, or excessive expenditure on coal or ash handling and ignoring the previous expenditure on the nuclear system. A construction and commissioning period of 42 months is envisaged. The coal option however offers unique co-economic opportunities. The ash waste product would be valuable if used in ancillary industry. By using the Lahar produced by the Pinatubo eruption as an aggregate, with the ash, iron oxide and cement, valuable building materials could be produced. The disadvantages include designing and fitting an environmentally acceptable coal fired power station into the Bataan region. The materials handling alone will create many environmental, management and operational difficulties. The infrastructure requirements for materials handling will also raise engineering and environmental questions that will need to be solved before construction begins. Other environmental questions concerning emission reduction and control must also be answered before work can commence. Another major disadvantage is the requirement for premium fuel, that is expensive in 1994, and in all probability will become relatively more expensive as the demand for ‘clean’ coal increases in the future. SUMMARY – NATURAL GAS FIRING (COMBINED CYCLE, GAS TURBINE) Natural gas provides the cleanest option for the conversion of the Bataan power station to fossil fuel firing. It further offers the most flexible power output to the grid. Options exist for running a part (or whole) of the plant as a single cycle peak load provider, or running the whole plant as a base load facility. The environmental hazard that would be created by such a plant is low compared to coal. Thermal pollution to the sea would be greater than the nuclear option, in that if a 1700MW(e) plant was built with 46% efficiency, the waste heat would be 2000MW(t). This heat would be partially dissipated into the atmosphere (250MW) as against to the sea (1750MW). The additional heat discharge to the sea would be about 500MW(t). NOx emissions can be successfully controlled by modern technology. Steam or water injection, ammonia addition or innovative combustion designs will produce acceptable (but not zero) NOx emissions. At 1700MW(e), the power station would be the largest in the Philippines, and would certainly require a review of the Luzon energy plan. The total consumption of natural gas over a twenty five year period would be 2. 5 TCF; over half the entire Philippine projected resource from Palawan. Over a billion dollars in capital would be needed to build the plant, plus an additional substantial sum to supply the fuel; either as LNG or pipeline gas. The security of a large gas holding area would need to be addressed. Such a holding area and power station would make a relatively easy target when compared to a coal fired plant with coal yards or nuclear facilities. The installation of the gas turbines could be achieved in eighteen months, but the construction of the steam generators and carrying out modifications to the existing plant would take a further twenty four months. From the preliminary financial analysis, the construction of a new combined cycle power station makes better financial sense. A NUCLEAR COMPARISON Under the four headings (Technology, The Environment, Social and Political Concerns, and Economy) that were used to examine the coal-conversion option, a brief summary has been made of the nuclear option for comparison purposes. Technology Light water reactors are a very common type of nuclear reactor. They have good safety records, and most have high capacity factors. There development has been continuous, with technology now being available from Japan, Korea, France, the United Kingdom as well as the United States. They are used in close proximity to the Philippines (Japan, Korea and Taiwan) and have been armarked for use in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Bataan unit is 1970/80’s technology. It is however essentially the same as new units, and could be readily upgraded to 1990’s standards. The Environment The reactor will produce thermal pollution (waste heat) that will be disposed of, off Napot Point to the South China Sea. An environmental impact assessment cleared the plant for its designed heat disposal, and found that localised heating of the sea would not be excessive, given the strong currents that would ensure dispersion of the hot water. No other polluting emissions could be expected from the nuclear power plant. (Accidental emissions of radioactive material, are most unlikely. Once the plant was upgraded to 1997 standards, one accident in a million years could be expected. ) Social and Political Concerns The perceived problems at the Bataan power plant are its greatest liability. These problems include seismic instability, claims of faulty workmanship and the lack of experience of the operators. Many geological and seismic inspections have been carried out on the site, with the result being that no significant risk is apparent. To convince Philippine Society of the seismic safety of the plant, an educational programme would need to be carried out that emphasised the sites stability, and the high seismic safety factor of the plant (0. 4g). Part of the process of refurbishment and upgrading, would be quality assurance on all systems and components of the plant. Modern QA techniques would need to be used to provide the certainty that all significant parts of the plant meet the highest safety and operational standards. Initially foreign experts would be needed to run the plant. The retraining of Philippine staff would take considerable time and money, with the retrained staff spending a number of years assisting in operating similar plants in neighbouring countries. Economics By comparison with the costs of conversion to coal or natural gas, the refurbishment and upgrading of the plant for nuclear operation would be significantly cheaper. A maximum price of $US300m (including staff training) is a fair limit, compared to fossil fuel conversion alternatives. The nuclear option should have the shortest lag time in terms of upgrading and commissioning. If foreign staff were used to initially man the plant then a period of eighteen to twenty months would be needed for full operation. This relatively short period, may be valuable in that the some of the expensive, old or temporary oil fired power plant could be retired early. Fuel costs, plus operation and management costs for LWRs should cost no more than ? US 2/kWH (0. 54 Centavos/kWH). If the interest on the $US 300m was 12%, with a pay-back period of twenty years for the capital, then a further 0. 9? US/kWH would be added to the power cost. The total power cost would be 2. 9? US/kWH (0. 78 Centavos/kWH). If consideration was given to running the Bataan power station as a nuclear plant, then the environmental and economic benefits (as well as safety) should be emphasised, to overcome social and political opposition. THE PHILIPPINES AND THE NUCLEAR CYCLE The Philippines would be an importer of nuclear fuel and an exporter of spent fuel. The fuel that the reactor would use would be lightly enriched. As the uranium 235 is consumed, some plutonium is formed, part of which is also used up as fuel. The spent fuel rods contain a depleted amount of uranium 235, a little plutonium but mostly non-fissile uranium 238. These fuel rods can be reused in heavy water type reactors (CANDU) that are running in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, as primary fuel. All the wastes would be processed by those countries, whilst the Philippines would receive a financial return for its used nuclear fuel. This is a win-win situation. The sale of the used fuel rods could bring the net production cost of electricity (fuel plus operations and management) to under ? US 1. 5/kWH. PLANT SECURITY AND THE NUCLEAR OPTION Unfortunately there is an ongoing insurgency situation in the Philippines. The insurgency problems are no longer major, and in all probability will recede. All major plant however does need a security system. The Bataan plant was constructed with good external, perimeter and internal security systems. There are commonly perceived notions that Nuclear Plants are susceptible to terrorist attack. These notions are based on a lack of understanding of the compact nature of nuclear plants, and the presence of very considerable containment structures for the reactor and fuel stores – especially American designed LWRs. The plant is easy to guard, and would be able to resist attack with light weapons, including rocket propelled grenades etc. The damage from such an attack would be limited to the knocking out of ancillary plant and structures, including the transformer yard, the auxiliary fuel tanks and administration building. Notes 1. The above power cost figures are based on 1997 projected fuel prices, 12% interest, 85% availability, and 20 years amortisation.. The price of coal and natural gas are considered to be more liable for major increases, than nuclear fuel. The Asian demand for both coal and gas is expected to outstrip supply in the coming decade. 2. The estimated construction time includes planning and design, equipment construction, site modification, plant erection and commissioning, and staff training (coal and natural gas conversion). If major ancillary works are required (eg. major wharves, ash and coal pipelines, shipping channels etc), then both an increase in the construction time and costs could be expected.

Ethical Concerns in Health Care Disparities Research Paper

Ethical Concerns in Health Care Disparities - Research Paper Example The U.S. policy makers had been vigilant in seeking resolutions to address issues on health care disparities in order to uphold justice and respect to the people. This paper presents the general concepts about health care disparities, focusing on the issues concerning ethics raised commonly raised by the people, as well as on the management of these issues that confronts the health care system of the U.S. First, it is important to convey a unanimous thought of the commonly used terms in this study. According to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (2011), â€Å"health care seeks to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease and to improve the physical and mental well-being of all Americans.† In the 2003 National Healthcare Disparities Report, â€Å"disparity† means â€Å"the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree†, synonymous with the word inequality, unlikeness, disproportion, and difference. It shall be noted that â€Å"health dispar ities† and â€Å"health care disparities† are two different terms, though both have close association in concept (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2004). ... favorable health conditions that exist among specific population groups, including racial and ethnic minority groups† (American Society of Clinical Oncology 2009). Health care disparities, on the other hand, refers to â€Å"different people’s access to insurance, preventive services, and medical care or lack thereof,† while health status disparities refers to â€Å"the individual differences in disease prevalence, habits, and risks factors between various races and ethnicities† (National Business Group on Health 2011, p. 5). Differences in race are base on the physical (such as skin color, facial features, etc.) and genetic aspects among subgroups while differences in ethnicity consider the subgroups’ cultural, religious, political, and socioeconomic variables (Tobin 2010). The four major ethnic/racial groups frequently noted in literatures are the African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian Pacific Islander, and together with the poor, the mentally retarded, and the immigrants, these groups have experienced unequal burdens in health and health care observed from high morbidity and mortality rates (Baldwin 2003). To delimit the broad scope of disparities in health, this study focuses on health care disparities, per se, more specifically on the issues of ethical concerns. Furthermore, the World Health Organization or WHO (2011) presented the determinants of health that affect the individual or the community’s healthy status and these include: (1) the social and economic environment (income, culture, social status); (2) education; (3) physical environment; (4) social support networks; (5) health services; and (6) the person’s individual characteristics (genetic, gender) and behavior (lifestyle, exercise, eating patterns). Evidence showing the