In early 1980 I managed a project on behalf of a major European Power Generation Equipment Manufacturer to sell its coal fired technology know-how into the USA. This was some 9 months after Unit 1 Nuclear Reactor at Three Mile Island suffered a partial meltdown which rated 5 on the INES scale. Of the 104 reactors now operating in the U.S., ground was broken on all of them in 1974 or earlier and no new nuclear plants have since been granted planning permission. This marked the renaissance of coal fired power utilities and I could hardly believe that this old and empirical based technology was in such demand. At that time only 2 companies remained in business in the US that could supply coal ash and fly ash systems and it took only a matter of weeks before a lucrative licence was signed up. Just when it looked certain that Nuclear Power would make a […]