In 1991, a utility owned a nuclear plant that was online 95% of the year, the oil burning plant was only out for unscheduled maintenance on the air pollution system 15% of the time, and the gas-fired turbines were online 15% of the time
The nuclear plant is rated at 1000 MW, the oil plant at 940 MW, and the turbine at 200 MW. (See Fig. 8.15.) a. What is the total cost of running these three plants for the utility?
b. How much would the utility have to charge per kWh to make a profit?
a. If the nuclear plant was online for 95% of 8760 hours, it was available 8322
hours. The oil-burning plant was available 85% of the time, 7446 hours. The gas turbine
was online 1314 hours. Reading from the graph, the nuclear plant cost about $45/kW, the
oil-burning plant about $55/kW, and the gas turbine, about $37/kW.
The nuclear plant cost 1000 MW x $45/kW = $45.0 million to generate 8,322,000 MWh
of electricity; the oil-fired plant cost 940 MW x $55/kW = $51.7 million to generate
6,999,240 MWh, and the gas turbine cost 200 MW x $37/kW = $7.4 million to generate
282,800 MWh.
b. The total cost is $45.0 million + $51.7 million + $7.4 million = $104.1 million. The
total electricity generated is 8,322,000 MWh + 7,410,960 MWh + 282,800 MWh =
15,604,040 MWh. The cost of generating the electricity was then $104.1 million/15,604,040
MWh = $104.1/15,604,040 Wh = $104.1/15,604 kWh = $0.0067/kWh. Anything over
this amount makes a profit.
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If two atoms appear in the same column of the periodic table they will
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A ray of light enters an equilateral prism made of material with n = 1.45. What angle of incidence, 
will cause the internally refracted ray to be parallel to the base of the prism?
A. 46.5
B. 30.0
C. 20.2
D. 5.70
E. this cannot happen
Three particles are placed in the xy plane. A 30-g particle is located at (3, 4) m, and a 40-g particle is located at (?2, ?2) m. Where must a 20-g particle be placed so that the center of mass of the three-particle system is at the origin?
A. (?3, ?1) m B. (+1, +3) m C. (+3, ?1) m D. (?1, ?3) m E. (?0.5, ?2) m