Top Story

• Fla. nuke plant's $5B-plus repair tab has ripple effects
  Duke Energy and its subsidiary Progress Energy must decide whether to shut down the Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida or spend $3.5 billion to repair a "botched" maintenance project and hundreds of millions more to buy energy from other sources. Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited -- the company that insures all 104 nuclear plants in the U.S. -- has only $3.6 billion to cover claims. That means other nuclear facilities and projects could be affected -- as could rate payers across America. Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.) (12/30)     

Infrastructure Watch

• Pressure mounts for Congress to pass Sandy aid bill
  House and Senate lawmakers face increasing pressure to pass legislation to fund reconstruction and other expenses resulting from superstorm Sandy. A $60.4 billion funding plan recently won Senate approval, but House Republicans want to cut the amount to roughly $27 billion. Projects such as transit and community development are the focus of the Senate proposal to help New York, New Jersey and other storm-ravaged states. The Hill (12/30), Politico (Washington, D.C.) (12/28), Reuters (12/28)     

• $5B worth of projects to change Boston skyline
  Twenty-two projects worth $1.6 billion were started this year in Boston, while 37 more -- worth $3.4 billion -- have been approved, according to Mayor Tom Menino's office. This slide show profiles seven of the largest projects, including the $350 million state-of-the-art Longwood Center research facility, the $625 mixed-use Millennium Tower and the $500 million global headquarters of New Balance. BostInno (Boston) (12/28)     

• Construction update: Seattle's $1.8B light-rail tunnel project
  Work continues on the $1.8 billion light-rail tunnel between the University of Washington and downtown Seattle. Crews have excavated and crushed 28,000 truckloads of dirt and rock so far. The tunnel has been completely excavated and wall panels have been installed using high-precision lasers and computers. Crews will start placing trail rails in March. KIRO-TV (Seattle) (12/29)     

• Ind. finalizes $763M deal to build part of Ohio River Bridges Project
  The Indiana Finance Authority has completed an agreement with WVB East End Partners, a 24-member group of firms that will "finance, build, operate and maintain the eastern bridge" of the Ohio River Bridges Project for $763 million. The project includes completion of Interstate 265 between Utica, Ind., and Kentucky's eastern Jefferson County. The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.) (12/28)     

Trends & Technology

• Smallest population growth since Great Depression expected in U.S.
  The U.S. is headed for a decade of population growth at the slowest rate since the Great Depression, according to Census Bureau estimates. The population is expected to expand 7.3% in the current decade, compared with 7.25% between 1930 and 1940. Bloomberg (12/31)     

Sustainable Development

• Stadium with domed roof doubles as storm shelter in Texas
  A $2.5 million stadium with a domed roof in Edna, Texas, will function as a storm shelter when hurricanes sweep through the area. The structure is designed to withstand winds up to 200 miles per hour and has steel-reinforced, double-block walls and concrete piers extending 30 feet below. The ceiling has several "layers of concrete, insulation and rebar." The arena is the second hurricane dome in Texas, and more are planned. The New York Times (tiered subscription model)/The Associated Press (12/29)     

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by ASCE SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• China builds world's largest stand-alone structure (Google)

• N.Y. names HNTB as owner's engineer for Tappan Zee project (Engineering News-Record)

• 8 best practices for making suburbs more compact (American City Business Journals)

• 2012's top "mindblowing" buildings (FastCoExist)

• New high-speed rail shaves 14 hours off route in China (The Business Times (Singapore))

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Advancing the Profession

• Want to be perfect? Get ready for a lifetime of disappointment
  Good leaders don't aim for perfection, writes Mike Henry Sr. It's simply impossible to be perfect, so striving to be leads to inauthenticity and disconnect. "When we face our imperfection and still do what needs to be done, that's genuine character-based leadership," Henry writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (12/20)     

News from ASCE

• Kick off 2013 by getting inspired to be a mentor
  Happy New Year! January is National Mentoring Month. Through ASCE's Mentoring Program, members have an opportunity to shape the future of younger civil engineers -- or professionals at any career stage -- while sharing their passion for and dedication to the profession. Why not use your wealth of leadership, experience, and management skills to help others become the best that they can be? You'll not only make a difference in the lives of younger professionals, but you'll also benefit by forming meaningful relationships with colleagues. To get started, visit www.asce.org/mentoring, where you'll find the tools and resources to be a great mentor.     

• Last chance to take $125 off ASCE webinars' rates for individuals
  Today’s the deadline to take advantage of a $125 discount off the individual engineer’s rate for ASCE’s continuing education webinars. Delivered by leading experts, ASCE webinars are the most comprehensive and specialized online learning in the industry. Select from the largest catalog of civil engineering webinars for quality continuing education in your specialty area, and members of ASCE save $125 on 60- or 90-minute live webinars. For the discount, use promo code 125GEN. This offer is valid for single users only who are registering for a 60-minute or 90-minute live webinar. It does not apply to sites with multiple engineers attending. Don’t miss today’s deadline for this offer!     

Position Title Company Name Location Associate Civil Engineer - Subdivision City of Orange, a municipality in Orange County, CA US - CA - Orange Senior Bridge Engineer Buckland & Taylor US - NY Senior Bridge Engineer Buckland & Taylor New York, NY Assistant/Associate Professor Wayne State University Detroit, MI Tunnel Design Engineer Jacobs Associates New York, NY Engineer or Geomorphologist Inter-Fluve, Inc. Madison, WI Civil Engineer Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Washington, DC Professor of Structural Engineering and Structural Concrete Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich Zurich, Switzerland

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Editor's Note

• SmartBrief will not publish Tuesday
  In observance of New Year's Day, SmartBrief will not publish Tuesday. Publication will resume Wednesday. Enjoy the holiday!     

SmartQuote

Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty." --John Selden, English jurist and scholar