Category Archives: Life Extension

Bruce Power Life-Extension Program ranked top infrastructure project of 2017 southwesternontario.ca TIVERTON The Bruce Power site is about has become an even busier place since its Life-Extension Program began on Jan. 1, 2016. Recently, the Top 100 Projects (top100projects.ca/2017filters/) ranked Bruce Power's Life-Extension Program No. 1 on its ...

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Bruce Power Life-Extension Program ranked top infrastructure project of 2017 - southwesternontario.ca

Patient Care Bay (Bigfoot dewar being filled with liquid nitrogen), Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. October 2006. From The Prospect of Immortality Murray Ballard

As his project goes on show at Newcastle's Side Gallery, we republish an article on Ballard's eye-opening series first printed in BJP's July 2011 Ones to Watch issue

As debut projects go, Murray Ballard could scarcely have chosen a more intriguing subject than cryonics. The practice of preserving dead bodies at very low temperatures, in the hope of bringing them back to life far in the future, is commonly thought to exist only in science fiction, where it is generally known by its technically inaccurate name of cryogenic freezing.

Yet as Ballard (no relationto his namesake, the sci-fi author JG) discovered during his five- year investigation, hundreds of people around the world have alreadyinvested in what he has calls The Prospect of Immortality.

The 27-year-old began documenting cryonicists while studying photography at the University of Brighton, after he discovered there was a group of British believers based just along the Sussex coast in Peacehaven. He was soon making much longer excursions, his work taking him to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Arizona three times, the rival Cryonics Institute in Michigan twice, and the burgeoning Kriorus facility just outside Moscow on a further two occasions.

Portable perfusion kit. Home of Alan and Silvia Sinclair. Peacehaven, East Sussex, UK. May 2007. From The Prospect of Immortality Murray Ballard

Having worked as an assistant to Magnum photographer Mark Power for four years, Ballard is now looking at biotechnology for his first commission, which will be shown as part of the British Science Festival. He revels in the honesty that working with a large format camera allows.

Youre not saying, Look at this bit of the picture, youre saying all of it is equally as important, and all of the details are there to piece together meaning and narrative, he explains.

Power was on hand last month to formerly open Ballards first major solo exhibition at Impressions in Bradford, featuring Ballards images of the people involved in this pursuit of real-life resurrection, and the equipment to which they are entrusting their dreams of everlasting life.

Margaret Kiseleva, holding a photograph of her mother, Ludmila, KrioRus facility, Alabushevo, Moscow. September 2010. From The Prospect of Immortality Murray Ballard

The Prospect of Immortality by Murray Ballard is on show at Side Gallery from 0 March 30 April. The images in the exhibition are taken from a larger touring show, which was originally commissioned by Impressions Gallery and curated by director Anne McNeill. http://www.amber-online.commurrayballard.comBallard also published a book of the project last year with GOST Books

This textwas originally published as part of the Ones to Watch series of articles on emerging photographers in July 2011. This issue is now sold out, but other back issues can be bought atwww.thebjpshop.com

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Murray Ballard shoots cryonics in The Prospect of Immortality - British Journal of Photography

Rio Tinto has thrown fresh doubt on the future of its Argyle mine in the Kimberley, slashing the resources at the iconic diamond mine as part of a review of its future.

The updated reserves and resources statement, released by Rio along with its annual report on Thursday, shows the global mining giant has cut Argyles resources by two-thirds from 44 million tonnes of ore at the end of 2015 to 15 million tonnes this year.

Rio said the cut follows the ongoing review of potential mine-life extension options and restricts reported resources to that component of the known mineralisation which may be developed, mined and processed within the current operational mine life.

Aside from depletion from mining last year, no cut was made to Argyles reserves ore Rio can economically access under current plans. The company also confirmed that its existing mine plans, taking Argyle production through to 2021, remain in place.

About 29 million tonnes of ore remains in Argyles reserves, after the company processed 5.1 million tonnes last year.

The decision to slash Argyles resources all but rules out any extension to the existing operations beyond 2021, and even that end date could be brought forward.

Rio booked a $US241 million before-tax impairment on Argyles value at the end of 2016, and chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques confirmed to WestBusiness last month that Rio was still to decide whether it would invest the capital needed to build a second underground block cave at Argyle.

500 local jobs in doubt as Rio prepares to cut deeper

Walshs $1.6m bonus on hold amid Rio probe

Rio has talked up Argyles contribution to its understanding of block cave mining, a technique it also uses at the massive Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia.

The technique, which involves mining under an ore body to allow it to progressively collapse under its own weight, lowers operating costs but requires substantial up-front capital.

Rio has not disclosed the cost of building a second cave at Argyle, but its 40 per cent share of pre-production construction of a new block cave at the massive Grasberg copper-gold mine in Indonesia is about $US200 million, according to Rios annual report.

Last year Rio Tinto booked net earnings from its diamond operations including Argyle and its 60 per cent holding in Canadas Diavik diamond mine of $US47 million, down 40 per cent from $US79 million in 2015.

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Rio cut takes the shine off Argyle - The West Australian

Dec 4, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) reacts after the Raiders rushed for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills in the third quarter at Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders defeated the Bills 38-24. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

The Oakland Raiders Should Move On From D.J. Hayden by Gagan Aujla

AFC West: Chiefs To Let Jamaal Charles and Dontari Poe Hit Free Agency by Nick Hjeltness

Oakland Raiders franchise quarterback Derek Carr recently made an appearance on Mad Dog Sports Radio on Sirius XM, hosted by Adam Schein. When asked about his future contract extension, Carr made his loyalty to the team that drafted him perfectly clear.

Im a Raider. Im a Raider for life. I dont want to play anywhere else, Carr told Sirius XM Mad Dog Radios Adam Schein. When I got drafted, this is where I wanted to be anyway. And so, I dont want to go anywhere, ever. They told me they dont want me to go anywhere, ever. Now its about two people who want to be together, and how do we make that happen? So well see.

Im a Raider for life is certainly a statement that will register loud and clear with Raider Nation, and will only further the love and enthusiasm that the fan base has for their franchise quarterback.

With Carr expected to receive a contract that will be on par with Andrew Luck somewhere in the neighborhood of $24 million annually that obviously will be the firststep in making that for life statement hold true.

McKenzie told CSN Bay Area back in January that extending Carr and Khalil Mack were priorities.

You can say that, McKenzie said last week. The good thing is we do have time, but Im not the type to wait until the last minute. Those two guys are not only great players but they are great men. They are true Raiders and I want to make sure we do the best that we can to make sure that they stay Raiders.

Carr said that his agent, Tom Younger, and the team are working on a deal. But that he just wants it to be done and to not be a distraction:

The biggest thing for me is that I dont want it to distract my teammates. They know me, that I really dont care. I just like to play ball, but I dont want people asking them questions. I would want it done so they dont have to deal with it, but Im always going to do whats best for my family and whats best for the team all in one.

Carr has been asked about the possibility of taking a hometown discount in the past, and somewhat alluded to that in the final sentence of the above quote, when he said he is always going to do whats best for his family. Its unreasonable for a player about to enter his prime, especially a quarterback, to take a discount, so dont expect Carr to. Nor should he.

If he signs a new deal somewhere in the range of 6-years, $140M, hell deserve every penny of that. And itll be up to McKenzie to continue to find ways to keep the team competitive.

The full interview with Mad Dog Radio can be heard by clicking here, and is wellworth the 20 minutes.

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Derek Carr on Contract Extension: I'm a Raider for life - Just Blog Baby (blog)

Artificial intelligence is already gaining steam as one of the most-talked-about tech trends of 2017.

Its one of those umbrella terms thats easy to throw around. But away from the big conferences and debates about techs role in society, the hard work to develop the predictive technology is happening.

One of those spots is theEastern Campus of the Emerging Technology Centers, where Insilico Medicine is working to develop algorithms that can help select and develop the right drugs. The company sees artificial intelligence as apath to reduce the use of animal testing in developing pharmaceuticals, and is even working on a virtual human to simulate how drugs affect the body.

The latest news from the company shows how itswork could help other companies pick out what works and what doesnt. Insilicos research on aging (one study was published in the journal Aging) showed how artificial intelligence could help show the specific molecules that influence the aging process.

This was interesting to 37-year-old Life Extension, a company that makes anti-aging supplements. The natural supplement, or nutraceuticals, market is big, but its a place where other research studies have questioned whether the supplements actually prevent disease.

Life Extensions Ageless Cell. (Courtesy photo)

InSilcos algorithms were used at the early stage of development of a new product to screen for the right compounds to help slow or reverse aging, said Insilico Medicine COOQingsong Zhu.

Some of the compounds they identified were used inAgeless Cell, a new product in Life ExtensionsGeroprotect line that was released this week.

Our collaboration with Insilico Medicine fostered a novel approach to formulating anti-aging supplements utilizing artificial intelligence and sophisticated biologically-inspired algorithms and resulted in the very first AI formulated supplement,Andrew G. Swick, Life Extensions senior vice president of scientific affairs, discovery research and product development, said in a statement.

Talk of AI and extending human life seem to go hand-in-hand around tech circles. Both are in play for Insilico Medicine.

Stephen Babcock is the lead reporter for Technical.ly Baltimore. A graduate of Northeastern University, he moved to Baltimore following a stint in New Orleans, where he served as managing editor of online news and culture publication NOLA Defender. While there, he also wrote for NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune. He was previously a reporter for the Rio Grande Sun of Northern New Mexico.

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How this Baltimore company is using AI to make supplements smarter - Technical.ly Brooklyn

Wednesday, March 1, 2017 Tiverton | by Craig Power

Project named number one of the Top 100 Infrastructure Projects in Canada for 2017.

The world's largest nuclear power generating facility is just over a year into their highly technical life extension program and they're already turning a few heads.

Bruce Power's Life Extension Project has been named number one of the Top 100 Infrastructure Projects in Canada for 2017.

Part of that is the major component replacement project slated to begin in 2020, something spokesperson John Peevers calls a massive undertaking and also an historic effort for Bruce Power.

The project is a $13 billion dollar private investment that remains both on time and on budget.

Peevers says Bruce Power's Major Component Replacement is extremely vital to not only the region and surrounding communities but to the province as well.

Bruce Power's Life Extension Program will sustain an estimated 22,000 jobs directly and indirectly across Canada, it will inject an estimated $4 billion dollars into the province's economy and it'll also ensure that low-cost, reliable and carbon free nuclear electricity is there for families and businesses across Ontario when they need it.

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Bruce Power Life Extension Project On Top - Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre

Derek Carr was emphatic abouthis loyalty to the Raiders in an interview Tuesday on SiriusXM.

Im a Raider. Im a Raider for life. I dont want to play anywhere else, Carr told Sirius XM Mad Dog Radios Adam Schein. When I got drafted, this is where I wanted to be anyway. And so, I dont want to go anywhere, ever. They told me they dont want me to go anywhere, ever. Now its about two people who want to be together, and how do we make that happen? So well see.

Carr is entering the final year of his rookie contract and Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie has expressed strong interest in signing the quarterback to an extension.

I think theyve been talking even since through the season, keeping a line of communication together and always keeping in touch with one another, Carr said of his agent, Tim Younger, and McKenzie. Now that its getting on down the line and getting serious, I think that theyre trying to figure out a way to (get) it done. If we can do that, great. If not, I can assure you Im just going to be out there playing football.

The biggest thing for me is that I dont want it to distract my teammates. They know me, that I really dont care. I just like to play ball, but I dont want people asking them questions. I would want it done so they dont have to deal with it, but Im always going to do whats best for my family and whats best for the team all in one.

I just want to play ball and I want to do it wearing a silver-and-black jersey.

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Derek Carr passionate about Silver and Black: 'I'm a Raider for life' - The Mercury News

Mount Tam With Anti-Aging Drug Is Secretly Preparing For Trump's New FDA ValueWalk The term geroprotection is replacing life extension among scientists. One reason is that many people associate life extension with pseudosciences and health fads. Many also assume it means prolonging the frailty and suffering that comes at the ...

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Mount Tam With Anti-Aging Drug Is Secretly Preparing For Trump's New FDA - ValueWalk

The Trident IID5, first fired in the1990s, is an upgraded version of the1970s-eraTrident I nuclear weapon; the Trident IID5swere initially engineered to serve until 2027, however an ongoing series of upgrades are now working to extend its service life.The Navy is modernizing its arsenal of Trident IID5nuclear missiles in order to ensure their service life can extend for 25 more years aboard the Navys nuclear ballistic missile submarine fleet, service leaders said.The 44-foot long submarine-launched missiles have been serving on Ohio-class submarines for 25 years,service leaders explained.

The US Navy is accelerating upgrades to the nuclear warhead for its arsenal of Trident II D5 nuclear-armed submarine launched missiles -- massively destructive weapons designed to keep international peace by ensuring and undersea-fired second-strike ability in the event of a catastrophic nuclear first strike on the US.

The Navy has been working on technical upgrades to the existing Trident II D5 in order to prevent obsolescence and ensure the missile system remains viable for the next several decades.

The Navy has modified an existing deal with Charles Stark Draper Laboratory has to continue work on the missile's MK 6 guidance system, an agreement to continue specific work on the weapon's electronic modules. The modification awards $59 million to the firm, a DoD statement said.

As part of the technical improvements to the missile, the Navy is upgrading whats called the Mk-4 re-entry body, the part of the missile that houses a thermonuclear warhead. The life extension for the Mk-4 re-entry body includes efforts to replace components including the firing circuit, Navy officials explained.

Navy and industry engineers have been modernizing the guidance system by replacing two key components due to obsolescence the inertial measurement unit and the electronics assembly, developers said.

The Navy is also working with the Air Force on refurbishing the Mk-5 re-entry body which will be ready by 2019, senior Navy officials said.

Navy officials said the Mk-5 re-entry body has more yield than a Mk-4 re-entry body, adding that more detail on the differences was not publically available.

The missile also has a larger structure called a release assembly which houses and releases the re-entry bodies, Navy officials said. There is an ongoing effort to engineer a new release assembly that will work with either the Mk-4 or Mk-5 re-entry body.

The Trident II D5, first fired in the 1990s, is an upgraded version of the 1970s-era Trident I nuclear weapon; the Trident II D5s were initially engineered to serve until 2027, however an ongoing series of upgrades are now working to extend its service life.

The Navy is modernizing its arsenal of Trident II D5 nuclear missiles in order to ensure their service life can extend for 25 more years aboard the Navys nuclear ballistic missile submarine fleet, service leaders said.

The 44-foot long submarine-launched missiles have been serving on Ohio-class submarines for 25 years,service leaders explained.

The missiles are also being planned as the baseline weapon for the Ohio Replacement Program ballistic missile submarine, a platform slated to serve well into the 2080s, so the Navy wants to extend the service life of the Trident II D5 missiles to ensure mission success in future decades.

Under the U.S.-Russia New START treaty signed in 2010, roughly 70-percent of the U.S. nuclear warheads will be deployed on submarines.

Within the last several years, the Navy has acquired an additional 108 Trident II D 5 missiles in order to strengthen the inventory for testing and further technological development.

Trident II D5 Test:

Firing from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida several months ago, a specially configured non-armed test version of the missile was fired from the Navys USS Maryland. This was the 161stsuccessful Trident II launch since design completion in 1989, industry officials said.

The missile was converted into a test configuration using a test missile kit produced by Lockheed Martin that contains range safety devices, tracking systems and flight telemetry instrumentation, a Lockheed statement said.

The Trident II D5 missile is deployed aboard U.S. Navy Ohio-class submarines and Royal Navy Vanguard-class to deter nuclear aggression. The three-stage ballistic missile can travel a nominal range of 4,000 nautical miles and carry multiple independently targeted reentry bodies.

The U.S. and UK are collaboratively working on a common missile compartment for their next generation SSBNs, or ballistic missile submarines.

The 130,000-pound Trident II D5 missile can travel 20,000-feet per second, according to Navy figures. The missiles cost $30 million each.

The "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" futher describes the weapon -- "The Trident D5s carry three types of warheads: the 100-kiloton W76/Mk-4, the 100-kiloton W76-1/Mk-4A, and the 455-kiloton W88/Mk-5 warhead, the highest-yield ballistic missile warhead in the U.S. arsenal."

This first appeared in Scout Warrior here.

Image Credit: Creative Commons.

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The U.S. Navy's Most Powerful Weapon (Designed to Destroy Whole ... - The National Interest Online (blog)

Dr. Magdalena Kurkowska

Wind turbines are typically designed for a 20 years services life. In fact, many of them remain operational beyond this age. Industry experts believe, if carefully planned, the life of a wind farm can be extended even up to 40 years. Such an extension can increase assets value, maximize the revenue and reduce the Levelized cost of energy. In practice, the lifetime of the wind power project is most often determined by the length of the subsidy scheme which usually lasts 15 years.

Life extension may generate much less regulatory and permitting hurdles than repowering, which in many markets involves reapplying for a permit to operate.

Beyond that point, the decision what to do with the end-of-life assets must be carefully weighted. Dismantling and disposing of functional turbines does not sound like a good business practice, but on the other hand turbine components, as their age, are becoming increasingly failure-prone, resulting in high O&M costs, greater risks of structural failures, and associated health & safety hazards. How to minimize these risks and keep the project going? Lifeextension can be the answer. wind-farm-lifecycle.iqpc.de With the ageing fleet, an increasing number of wind farm operators face a dilemma which end-of-life strategy to pursuit. Can life-extension be the optimal option? What are the pros and cons? What is the market opportunity for life extension programs? What approaches can be taken to assess the suitability of wind farm for life extension?

In prequalification tests, commonly used standards are generally based on laboratory testing procedures, and it is important to know that these test procedures cannot often determine the true corrosion prevention potential of a coating system. No overall laboratory test exists which considers all the different stresses and includes the appropriate acceleration factor in order to relate an accurate number of hours in an accelerated test to lifetime in years in real file. Within a structure erected in a maritime environment (sheet pile walls, oil platforms or wind energy structures), there are generally different zones with different intensities of corrosive attack: bottom or sea floor, immersion and low water zone, tidal and splash zone and last but not least, the atmospheric zone. Therefore, it is necessary to consider different intensities of corrosion in any test procedure to be developed or applied.

Furthermore, a continuous mechanical stress from waves, floating matter and ice movement in winter that can attack coatings, and coatings also commonly suffer from mechanical impact during transport and erection, which can lead to localized damage and coating detachment.

Life extension exposes operators to lower risks than repowering, but there are also drawbacks. Replacing single components rather than full repowering seems to deliver less added value.

The study, conducted by National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Denver, Colorado, compared two scenarios: the full repowering versus replacement of the turbine drivetrain and rotor only using an existing tower and foundation.

Until recently, due to generous subsidies, market seemed to favor repowering over life extension. This trend, however, may change in the near future. As the governments gradually lessen or completely withdraws support for wind power projects, the life-extension option becomes increasingly attractive. A shift from repowering toward life extension was observed in Spain in 2013, when the government removed the feed-in-tariffs (FiT) support for wind energy developments.

Under a new scheme, the generators are offered 7.5% rate of return calculated over the plant lifetime. Many older wind farms have already received such amount through FiT and were not eligible for any further subsidies.

This change has left operators relying entirely on the sales of produced energy for their income, typically insufficient to allow investing in full repowering. Life extension can be achieved at a fraction of the cost the full repowering demands. Replacing a rotor hub or blades will obviously cost less than replacing the entire turbine structure. At present, the cost of extending the life of an operating turbine in Europe is about 100,000/MW comparing to one million for a new turbine required for repowering.

Moreover, life extension may generate much less regulatory and permitting hurdles than repowering, which in many markets involves reapplying for a permit to operate.

Register here and read the full report: http://bit.ly/Download_Report_Here

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A business case for wind farm lifetime extension - Windpower Engineering (press release)