Is TVA About To Get Scammed ???

Not long ago I wrote about TVA's planned auction of the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant. You can read my blog post here:

http://sainthoward.blogspot.com/2016/09/us-nuclear-power-plant-for-sale-cheap.html

Apparently there has been an initial round of bidding, and a final round is planned:

After fielding preliminary bids, the Tennessee Valley Authority has set a date for the final round of public auction on its unfinished, 1,400-acre Bellefonte nuclear site.

Qualified bidders are eligible to participate in the final live auction, set for Nov. 14 at 9 a.m. Qualified bidders are required to submit a comprehensive plan for the site.

The TVA earlier this year set a minimum price of $36.4 million. Phoenix Energy, a Nevada-company that's been targeting the site for months, in September submitted a preliminary $38 million bid for the site.

The company originally offered to buy the plant outright for the same amount as its bid for the site, but the TVA insisted the plant sell at auction instead. The company intends to use the facility for a new type of magnetic inductive power generation known as induction energy fuel conversion after investing a few hundred million dollars.

You can read the rest @
http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/news/2016/10/18/tva-sets-date-for-final-round-of-bellefonte.html

Here is a description of the Phoenix Energy conversion system:

http://peswiki.com/directory:induction-fueled-power-plant-design-by-phoenix-energy-of-nevada-penv-llc

The astute reader will note some astounding problems with the above description of the Phoenix Energy system:

1. First, and most obvious, the Bellefonte plant is NOT a boiling water reactor plant; it was designed and constructed to be a PRESSURIZED water reactor plant. It's more or less impossible to convert the one into the other.

2. But more fundamentally, the Phoenix design apparently uses electricity to generate steam, and that steam is then used to generate MORE electricity. Since its overall efficiency will be far less than 100% (i.e., it will generate less electricity than it uses), it will NOT be a net generator. It will be a net USER of electricity. How can this be called a "power plant"?

Someone is getting scammed BIG TIME on this deal.

My guess is that if the Phoenix bid wins, the plant will be used to generate distilled water (or some other product), but ultimately will be cut up for scrap.

And that's a shame for what appears to have been a well-constructed nuclear power plant.