The U.S. Dept. of Energy is withdrawing its Nuclear Regulatory Commission application for a waste-storage facility in southern Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. The move comes after DOE spent decades and $38 billion researching and building at the site. Photo: DOE wasted energy The Energy Dept. on Feb. 1 said it would pull Yucca Mountain’s storage application by month’s end. Deep inside the mountain, DOE would have stored up to 77,000 tons of radioactive waste from 80 sites in 35 states. Spent fuel and defense waste was to go in special containers within a network of tunnels. Government estimates put the construction
Poor quality, often homemade concrete led to widespread building damage in Port-au-Prince following last month’s earthquake in Haiti, says Ken Hover, an engineering professor at Cornell University who had recently returned from the devastated city. Slide Show Photo: Ken Hover Some buildings suffered cracks rather than total failure from Haiti's devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 12. Hover made his remarks Feb. 3 at the World of Concrete tradeshow in Las Vegas. He had performed structural assessments for two university-backed Port-au-Prince health clinics from Jan. 20-25. The clinics consisted of 15 separate structures. Hover says he used California's post-earthquake investigation
Plans for a Southern Nevada national nuclear waste repository are all but kaput. The U.S. Energy Dept. said Feb. 1 it will withdraw its Nuclear Regulatory Commission application within 30 days. The move comes after DOE spent nearly three decades and $38 billion on waste repository tests and studies at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The agency planned to store up to 77,000 tons of radioactive waste there from 80 sites in 35 states. Spent utility fuel and high-level defense waste would be placed in specially engineered containers housed inside a network of tunnels built deep within
Plans for a Southern Nevada national nuclear waste repository are all but kaput. The U.S. Energy Dept. said Feb. 1 it will withdraw its Nuclear Regulatory Commission application within 30 days. The move comes after DOE spent nearly three decades and $38 billion on waste repository tests and studies at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The agency planned to store up to 77,000 tons of radioactive waste there from 80 sites in 35 states. Spent utility fuel and high-level defense waste would be placed in specially engineered containers housed inside a network of tunnels built deep within
The housing market is limping toward recovery. For planners, engineers and contractors whose business is driven by residential construction, the pace is painfully slow. That was a key message that emerged at the homebuilding industry’s largest trade show, Jan. 19-22 in Las Vegas. Predictably, attendance is about half of what it was in 2006 at the International Builders’ Show. One economist termed the builders that did attend “survivors.” The housing industry remains weighed down by foreclosures, unemployment, tightened lending standards and pricing instability. There were 3.95 million foreclosure filings nationwide at the end of 2009, with an additional 2.8 million
A funding delay, a cableway collapse and a death: Construction of the Hoover Dam Bypass is a challenge-filled saga that rivals the building of the historic dam itself. But the light at the end of the canyon is beckoning. North America’s longest single-arch concrete crossing, at 1,960 ft, now soars 870 ft over the Colorado River and is scheduled to open to traffic in November 2010. It will carry vehicles 1,500 ft downstream from Hoover Dam, spanning the Black Canyon at the borders of Nevada and Arizona and answering a need that dates back to the 1960s. Photo: Federal Highway
A subsidiary of one of Florida’s largest crane companies has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following lawsuits from creditors, suppliers and competitors accusing the firm of theft and other wrongdoing. The firm, Gulfstream Crane LLC, filed on Dec. 8 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Florida, Ft. Lauderdale, claiming over $100 million in liabilities against $79 million in assets. Its parent company, Pompano Beach, Fla.-based General Crane USA—which owns six subsidiaries in total—aggressively expanded during the last few years, spending $35 million for 60 Linden Comansa tower cranes in 2006 and $30 million for 16 Liebherr Nenzing crawler
A funding delay, a cableway collapse and a death: Construction of the Hoover Dam Bypass is a challenge-filled saga that rivals the building of the historic dam itself. But the light at the end of the canyon is beckoning. North America’s longest single-arch concrete crossing, at 1,960 ft, now soars 88 ft over the Colorado River and is scheduled to open to traffic in November 2010. It will carry vehicles 1,500 ft downstream from Hoover Dam, spanning the Black Canyon at the borders of Nevada and Arizona and answering a need that dates back to the 1960s. Slide Show Photo:
New York State Dept. of Transportation officials swiftly are preparing design concepts for a new crossing to replace the Crown Point Bridge, abruptly closed in October due to unexpectedly high levels of pier deterioration. Meanwhile, contractors are racing to build temporary vehicular ferry-terminal facilities at Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont as a stopgap measure. Photo: AP/Wideworld New York-Vermont crossing was shut down abruptly on Oct. 16 after inspectors found unexpectedly severe pier deterioration, possibly due to ice pressure. + Image NYSDOT, in conjunction with the Vermont Agency of Transportation, on Oct. 16 shut down the 80-year-old, 2,184-ft-long steel
Despite reports of stalled skyscraper projects across the globe, at least one super tall tower is moving forward: On October 21, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, New York City, unveiled its slender, cone-shaped design for what will become one of Asia’s tallest building. Image courtesy KPF Kohn Pedersen recently unveiled the design for Lotte Super Tower 123, planned for Seoul, South Korea. The Lotte Super Tower 123, named so due to its 123 stories, will be built over a transportation hub near the Han River in the Jamsil shopping and entertainment section of Seoul, South Korea. The light-toned glass and metal-accented
