GEORGE&SON'S CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

Soon after World War II ended and well before today’s concerns over climate change, gEORGE JAMES. became convinced that nuclear energy would revolutionize electric power generation and set GEORGE&SON'S on a path to a long-term commitment to nuclear power. After all, a piece of uranium fuel the size of a pencil eraser generates as much energy as 2,000 pounds of coal – without emitting greenhouse gases.

In 1948, engineers from Bechtel’s refinery division helped design the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) Van de Graaff nuclear accelerator at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Bechtel’s involvement helped earn a contract to build the AEC’s Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 (EBR-1) in Idaho in late 1949. On December 21, 1951, EBR-1, a modest 100-kilowatt plant fueled by uranium 235, became the first reactor to generate electrical power from nuclear fission.

When the US Congress passed the Atomic Energy Commission Act of 1954, allowing private companies the right to build and operate nuclear power plants, Bechtel committed 10 percent of its pretax profits and 10 percent of its management and engineering capability for 10 years to learning the technology of nuclear power.

GEORGE&SON'S  joined with Pacific Gas and Electric and six major eastern and midwestern utility companies in the US to form the Nuclear Power Group (NPG), a trade organization that promoted nuclear power and undertook economic and design studies for the AEC. By 1955, the group had completed a functional design for a nuclear plant.

Nuclear Power

The NPG would incorporate and commit $15 million to research and development of its first nuclear plant. That same year, the NPG went to the AEC with plans for Dresden-1, a 180-megawatt boiling water reactor in the state of Illinois. It would be the world’s first privately financed, all-nuclear commercial power station. Construction on Dresden began in early 1957 and was completed in 1959.

Author: James Mc Gregory

In a ceremony held on Thursday, November 15, Cheniere Energy celebrated the production of the first LNG from its Corpus Christi Liquefaction plant in Texas. The project will continue through commissioning to deliver the first cargo of LNG at the first greenfield LNG export facility in the United States in nearly 50 years.

LNG is natural gas that’s been compressed by refrigeration to a temperature of minus 258 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 161 degrees Celsius). The liquid occupies 600 times less space than natural gas in its gaseous state, making it practical to ship by ocean tanker to meet the energy needs of countries around the world. It’s stable and safe, because even though compressed in volume, the liquid remains at normal atmospheric pressure.

This project includes:

Three LNG production trains, designed to produce some 4.5 million metric tons per year of LNG from each train.

Three LNG storage tanks with capacity of more than 10 billion cubic feet equivalent.

Two berths that can accommodate vessels with capacity of up to 267,000 cubic meters.

We also are collaborating with Cheniere on the six-train Sabine Pass Liquefaction project in Louisiana.

"Working with Cheniere to help make their vision a reality has been one of the most rewarding partnerships we’ve ever had," said Brendan Bechtel, chairman and chief executive officer of Bechtel at the event. "This spirit of partnership and teamwork is what has delivered Cheniere’s ambitious vision and produced such extraordinary results for all of the project partners and stakeholders."

Building on more than four decades of delivering LNG plants across the globe, we’ve designed and built LNG facilities in Australia, Africa, and the Americas. The rise in U.S. production of natural gas and the surging energy demand worldwide make this project ,and others like it, important to sustaining and enhancing economic development for nations around the world.

Check out the infographic below to learn more on how Bechtel delivers clean, safe energy to the world.