Nissan plant using methanol to power parts movers
SMYRNA, TENNESSEE - Nissan North America is cutting its electric bill and carbon dioxide emissions, starting at its plant in Smyrna, by using methanol fuel cells to power tugs that pull trains of dollies loaded with parts.
Executives at the plant near Nashville and the CEO of the methanol fuel cell provider, Oorja (Or-jah) Protonics of Fremont, Calif., said Nissan is the first automaker to make a commercial switch to the power cells that convert chemical energy in methanol into electrical energy without any combustion.
Nissan material handling manager Mark Sorgi (Sor-jee) said using the new OorjaPac system that will be powering 60 of the 4,400-pound "tugs" by October 1 will eliminate more than 70 electric battery chargers using almost 540,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. The net savings: $225,000 a year.
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Romania enhances safety at Cernavoda, IAEA reports
BUCHAREST - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said yesterday that the operator of Romania’s Cernavoda nuclear power plant had demonstrated "strengthened operational safety" by addressing the findings of an initial IAEA review in 2016. The Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) concluded a five-day follow-up mission on 8 March to the Cernavoda plant, which is on the Danube-Black Sea Canal, about 160 km from Bucharest.
The plant's two 706 MWe CANDU pressurised heavy water reactors came online in 1996 and 2007, respectively.
The OSART team was led by Fuming Jiang, a senior nuclear safety officer at the IAEA.
"We saw improvements in key…
