NationStates Jolt Archive

The Lankurian foreign secretary today announced that the recently founded nation of Lankuria (East Pacific)was selling a number of lucrative building contracts, to the highest bidder.

Contract #1: Road construction. At least 10,000Km of new roads are to be built in the Lankurian hinterland, with accompanying infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels in mountainous regions etc. The roads should be able to handle heavy goods vehicles travelling at speeds of over 80km/h in safety. All roads will be toll roads, so 10% of all toll profits will be sent to the highest bidding country for payment, for 20 years after construction is complete..

Contract #2: Mine excavation. Mineral sources have been discovered in the central mountain ranges and excavating them is of top priority. Around 80 lucrative new mine sites for coal, iron ore and copper have been designated.
10% of all excavated mineral will be sent to the highest bidding country, for 20 years after the mines construction.

Contract #3: Power facilities. Lankuria has currently an extremely primitive power network, and expansion on the densely populated southern coastal strip is a necessity. 9 new powerplants are required, as well as 3000km of power lines. Powerplants should preferably be fuelled by locally available resources. 10% of all power fee profits will be ceded to the highest bidding nations.

Contract #4: Harbour facilities. 3 new harbour facilities, complete with dry docks and bulk loading facilities are required on the nation's southern seaboard. Facilities should be capable of handling vessels of ocean-going size. 10% of all harbour tarriffs will be ceded to the highest bidding nation for 20 years after work completion.

To vote, simply state which contract (1, 2,3, 4) you want to bid for, and offer a price. The auction ends in 2 days.

OOC: Welcome to NS and nice, sensible posts. Well done you've made a good start keep up the good work.

IC:



To: Lankurian Foreign Secretary

The Imperial Guilder Empire would like to offer you greatings on your ascension to the International stage. You appear to be a young nation with much promise hence the Emperor Cutter has authorised an offer of Embassies to be made as well as the possibility of opening up trading ties between our two nations.

As for your offered contracts the Empire would glady take them and distribute them to our firms to deal with.

We would like to offer thus:

Contract 1: Road Construction: 20,000,000 USD

Contract 2: Mine Extraction 40,000,000 USD

Contract 3: Power Facilities 50,000,000

Contract 4: Harbour Facilities: 30,000,000 USD

Thank you for your time we shall await an answer,

For God and Saint Peter,

-Random Imperial Guilder Bureaucrat

We are willing to take on your bid for the contruction of nine new powerplants and three thousand kilometers of electrical wire. However, we should warn that our cost will most likely be above any other bidder. Regardless, the quality of our goods goes unmatched, and we re-assure you that your nation will be better served by us. But, before we make promises, perhaps we should explain to you what we plan to construct:

It is established that, until fusion power undergoes further research, nuclear power remains the most effective energy source in the world. Furthermore, any fears of potential nuclear meltdowns and other eventualities are negated by the simple fact that the radiation produced by said nuclear powerplants have halflifes of only a few minutes, consequently, there is little radiation buildup over the long run. Moreover, since your nation is not a hotspot of terrorism or war, and could be protected nonetheless, there would be any threat of external attack which may crack the containment buildings.

So, we would build nine nuclear power plants throughout your country, each powered by two pebblebed reactors, which work the following way. The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) is a new type of high temperature helium gas-cooled nuclear reactor, which builds and advances on world-wide nuclear operators' experience of older reactor designs. The most remarkable feature of these reactors is that they use attributes inherent in and natural to the processes of nuclear energy generation to enhance safety features. More importantly, it is also a practical and cost-effective solution to most of the logistics of generating electricity.

http://www.eskom.co.za/nuclear_energy/pebble_bed/image1_2.gif

To protect the reactor there are several infra-red detection devices around the uranium core, and at a note from a pressure sensor, either made by water or a man made collision, the Baldur nuclear reactor is automatically shut off, save for the coolant flow.

http://www.eskom.co.za/nuclear_energy/pebble_bed/coated_part.gif

The nature of the chain reaction that takes place in the PBMR is exactly the same as the one that takes place at Koeberg. (Refer to Koeberg experience - Fuel )

The fuel used in a PBMR consists of "spheres" which are designed in such a way that they contain their radioactivity. The PBMR fuel is based on proven high quality fuel used in Germany.

Each sphere is about the size of a tennis ball and consists of an outer graphite matrix (covering) and an inner fuel zone The fuel zone of a single sphere can contain up to 15 000 "particles". Each particle is coated with a special barrier coating, which ensures that radioactivity is kept locked inside the particle. One of the barriers,the silicon carbide barrier, is so dense that no gaseous or metallic radioactive products can escape. (it retains its density up to temperatures of over 1 700 degrees Celsius). The reactor is loaded with over 440 000 spheres - three quarters of which are fuel spheres and one quarter graphite spheres - at any one time. Fuel spheres are continually being added to the core from the top and removed from the bottom. The removed spheres are measured to see if all the uranium has been used. If it has, the sphere is sent to the spent fuel storage system, and if not, it is reloaded in the core. An average fuel sphere will pass through the core about 10 times before being discharged. the graphite spheres are always re-used. The graphite spheres are used as a moderator. They absorb and reduce the energy of the neutrons so that these can reach the right energy level needed to sustain the chain reaction.

Finally, as for the power lines, we would be willing to contruct them underground, and although this would be far more expensive, it's much more modern, much more desirable and much more effective. Now, we will give you a choice on the type of wire used:

Copper Semi-Conductor
Silicon Semi-Conductor
Ceramic Composite Super Conductor

Pricing goes as follows: [all prices include the powerplants]

Copper: 12 billion USD
Silicon: 9 billion USD
Ceramic Composite: 15 billion USD

[OOC: I really think that 30,000 USD is wayyy to cheap for construction and power..wayyy to cheap..even if using coal power generators.]

Lankuria is glad at the interest the contracts have generated, and are currently considering the offers made so far.

Esteemed leader of the guilder empire, Our nation is interested in improving diplomatic relations wherever possible, and therefore trading agreements are more than welcome. We have desiognated space in our capital where you may construct an embassy, if you wish.