Vast amounts of low-level radioactive waste could be transported to a new West Texas disposal site if a two-state commission, largely appointed by Gov. Rick Perry (R), allows it to accept waste shipments from 36 or more states. The Texas Low-Level Waste Disposal Compact Commission, one of several U.S. compacts set up to encourage state collaboration on low-level waste disposal, consists of six Texas members and two from Vermont to govern disposal in those states. Their waste, now sent to Utah, would be disposed at the Texas site, likely by next spring. The panel could also decide as early as
BP is fighting battles on multiple fronts. It’s battling the oil gushing out of the well after the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drill rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Related Links: Oil-Spill Battlefront Spreads From Gulf to Washington, D.C. Setting Oil Spill Liability Limit: Is $10 Billiion Too High? Resentment Flares Against Dutch Proposal To Mobilize Huge Dredging Fleet in Gulf It’s fighting what it claims is misinformation about the oil spill’s extent and environmental impacts. And in the latest skirmish, BP is defending itself against claims that its engineering documentation may have led to the blast
While a variety of groups from utilities to environmental organizations are clamoring for a climate-change bill that can pass the Senate, construction industry sources say prospects for the bill—rolled out on May 12 by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I- Conn.)—look slim. They unveiled the 987-page American Power Act without the support of Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who had worked with Kerry and Lieberman for several months to craft a bipartisan bill but who in recent weeks dropped out of the discussions. Photo: AP/Wideworld “We’re closer than ever,” says Sen. John Kerry (at podium) with Sen. Joe Lieberman (right).
In the latest round of a heated dispute between McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. and the owner of the distressed McGuire Apartments, a 25-story tower in Seattle, the St. Louis-based contractor maintains the concrete frame’s corroding post-tensioned slab system can be fixed for less than $2 million. McCarthy calls the local owner’s refusal to make “simple” repairs, its ejection of tenants and its proposed dismantling of the nine-year-old building “irresponsible acts.” + Image Image: Whitlock Dalrymple Poston & Associates Pitting Contractor’s summary of pitting corrosion on tendons of 25-story building’s post-tensioning. Photo: Whitlock Dalrymple Poston & Associates Samples Tendon failure tests
Writers of standards—both for general structural design and, in particular, structural steel design—rolled out their 2010 versions this month, completed in time to be referenced in the upcoming 2012 edition of the model “International Building Code.” An overriding goal, say the engineers responsible for the revisions, is to make the standards simpler to understand and use. Illustration: AISC Weld-access-hole geometry is included in steel standard, despite a patent issue. The major editorial change to ASCE/SEI 7-10 “Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures” from the 2005 standard is a “complete” reorganization into a multiple-chapter format—first introduced for seismic loads
In another congressional reaction to the Gulf Coast oil spill, six Senate Democrats from the West Coast have introduced a bill that would permanently ban new oil and gas drilling off the shores of California, Oregon and Washington state. The measure, introduced May 13, would reinstate--only for the West Coast--a longstanding congressional and White House prohibition on Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas exploration. That nationwide drilling ban had been lifted in 2008. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and was co-sponsored by her California colleague Dianne Feinstein, as well as Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden
A contractor’s value-engineering suggestion shaved $2 million off Idaho’s first single-point urban interchange (SPUI), now nearing completion over Interstate 84 near the Boise airport. Photo: Idaho DOT Single-point urban design and value engineering saved money Designer Stanley Consultants, Meridian, Idaho, recommended a SPUI instead of a diamond interchange because it requires less land, moves traffic more quickly and permits wider sidewalks and new bike lanes, says Bob Jacobs, Stanley’s chief transportation engineer. The smaller footprint saved $600,000 by eliminating the need to acquire two buildings. The $17.8-million cost is funded by the federal stimulus bill. Stanley faced a tight timetable
Morocco’s state railroad company, ONCF, has awarded a design management and supervision contract for 49 months of civil construction of the estimated $2.3-billion, 200-kilometers Tangiers-Kentira high-speed line to Paris-based Systra S.A., with local partners. The project, backed by the French government and companies, is part of the plan for 1,500 km of fast track by 2030.
As the California High Speed Rail Authority gains a new chief operating officer, a May report released by the state auditor warns of potential delays in the authority’s planned $45-billion project due to inadequate planning, oversight and contract management. The report warns that the authority hasn’t identified enough non-state matching funds, which are required to access the $9.9 billion OK’d in the voter-approved 2008 California bond that launched the project. The project has received $2.25 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Construction plans call for 2.5 times more state and federal funding to be spent by 2013 than
With steelwork fabrication about to start, designers for the world’s largest offshore wind farm are scrambling to redesign the first 175 turbine foundations. A generic foundation fault at several European wind farms is the latest squall the U.K.’s 1,000-MW London Array must navigate. Image: London Array Ltd. The U.K’s massive offshore wind project survived financial troubles. It now requires design tweaks. + Image U.K. Offshore Wind-Farm Projects Related Links: Building Cape Wind Won’t Be a Breeze “We have been asked to change the design,” says Jasper Jacobsen, project director at ABJV, the development’s construction joint venture. The team includes Denmark’s
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