January 1, 2012

Editors Select Top Five Stories of 2011

POWER editorial staff

POWER's editorial staff research and write dozens of articles each year, ranging from highly technical articles focused on plant design and operation that have industry archival value to breaking news stories that may impact your work that very day. Our work appears in our family of publications: the monthly POWER in print and electronic versions, bimonthly electronic magazines COAL POWER and MANAGING POWER, and the weekly email newsletter POWERnews.

Each staff member was asked to provide a list of the most significant stories of 2011. Their selections reflect individual interests and "beats," yet each story was significant to the industry in its own way.

Let us know if your top five list matches ours by using the Comment tab below or sending us an email.

Editor-in-Chief Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

1. "The U.S. Power Industry 2011: The Sequel." Where else can you find a comprehensive review of the past year, by fuel group plus a preview of important trends to watch in the coming year?

2. "Chernobyl: Twenty-Five Years of Wormwood." Nuclear power will always have to deal with the ghosts of Chernobyl and Fukushima.

3. Special Report-"The Future of Coal." How much coal-fired capacity will the industry retire in the coming years? Two reports arrived at the same estimate using different evaluation tools. See "Predicting U.S. Coal Plant Retirements"  and "Added Regulatory Hurdles Will Accelerate Coal Plant Retirements"

4. "Global Gas Glut." Natural gas is the fuel of the future, if we can agree on the amount of our reserves.

5. "The U.S. Spent Nuclear Fuel Policy, Part 2: Playing Hardball." The cancellation of the Yucca Mountain Repository project was part political drama and part pure absurdity. 

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