A panel of judges on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board last week denied a construction and operating license (COL) for a new reactor proposed at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant in Maryland by Unistar, ruling that applicant Électricité de France (EDF) was completely “foreign-owned.” The decision could have implications for two proposed reactors in Texas, which are partly owned by Toshiba America.

Dominion Virginia Power plans to convert its oldest coal-fired power plant, the 227-MW Bremo Power Station near Bremo Bluff, Va., to natural gas, the company said on Wednesday. The two-unit plant would be the ninth in its fleet to be closed or converted to alternative fuels.

Texas will have enough power to serve consumer needs within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) during the fall, a new seasonal assessment of resource adequacy (SARA) shows. The assessment, released on Tuesday, comes on the heels of announced plans by the state’s largest generator Luminant to mothball its coal-fired Monticello 1 and 2 units, each rated 582 MW, for at least six months.

Two workers suffered minor injuries on Wednesday when a blast of oxygenated steam escaped in an auxiliary building in the Fessenheim nuclear power station in eastern France and triggered a brief fire alert.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday issued Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) to U.S. nuclear power plants to ensure adequate implementation of three orders it issued in March in response to lessons learned from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Friday awarded more than $5 million to 14 new research projects across 11 states that will examine the potential of methane hydrates as a future energy supply. Interest in methane hydrates, the 3-D ice-lattice structures found both onshore and offshore with natural gas locked inside, has been mounting since the U.S. and Japanese researchers were able to extract a steady flow of natural gas from methane on the North Slope of Alaska earlier this year.

The widespread transition from coal to natural gas for new generation is exemplified by the morphing fleets of some of the biggest U.S. generators. Figures show the amount of power generated by each company using coal (top) and natural gas (bottom). Sources: POWER, NextEra, Duke Energy, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Southern Co., American Electric Power […]

The electric power industry is a large water user and is dependent upon reliable water supplies. Adopting new water-conserving technologies for power production can help alleviate the impact of future water shortages. Several water use reduction technologies are available, each with different benefits and costs.

China in early July installed the 32nd and final turbine of its mammoth Three Gorges Dam, virtually completing the controversial 1994-initiated hydropower project on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

Droughts, unreliable gas imports, and protests against proposed projects have hampered the Chilean power sector and its largest economic driver, the copper-mining industry. Recent policies designed to foster more reliable supplies are a move in the right direction, but remaining obstacles are formidable.

Poland, a country that currently depends on coal power for nearly 85% of its electricity and plans to build another 11,300 MW of new coal-fired capacity by 2020, suffered a critical planning setback in mid-July as the European Union (EU) effectively blocked the country from using free carbon emission permits to build new coal-fired power plants.

The natural gas and electricity industries have entered into an increasingly codependent relationship as coal-fired electricity gives way to natural gas–fired generation. Both industries are firmly committed to providing reliable service, although each goes about its business in different ways. Utilities, regulators, and stakeholders are searching for ways to align interests and expectations.

An innovative mini-grid in April turned on the lights for about 250 residents living in Ilha Grande, a tiny island on the northwest coast of Maranhão State in northeastern Brazil.

Plentiful supplies of low-cost natural gas have changed unit dispatch orders across the U.S., led to thermal stress–induced maintenance issues at cycling coal plants, and resulted in management challenges at coal and gas units alike. This scenario is unlikely to change so long as gas holds its competitive edge over coal.

Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries in July began operation of a new power generation and megawatt-class storage system at its Yokohama Works site.

In much of the developing world, two essentials are often in short supply: potable water and reliable electricity. Some countries have invested heavily in desalination and combined cycle technologies to simultaneously solve both problems.

Several major power plants around the world began operations over the past months.

Thompson Pump’s new Compact pump series has all the benefits of the popular Thompson Pump JSC series but is lighter, has fewer parts, needs less maintenance, and has a lower price. The Thompson Compact pump is 35% smaller and 20% lighter but offers the same performance as a standard size pump with 24-hour run time […]

Belgian Cabinet Votes to Prolong Tihange 1 Reactor Life. Belgium’s cabinet in early July approved plans by GDF Suez subsidiary Electrabel to keep the 1975-built Tihange 1 reactor operating until 2025—almost a decade longer than planned—but it rejected a proposal to delay by a year the planned 2015 closure of Electrabel’s two 1975-built reactors at […]

Endress+Hauser introduced the Liquiline CM44 Series, multichannel transmitter models for monitoring and controlling processes in water, wastewater, chemical, power, and other industries. CM44 models accept inputs from up to eight Endress+Hauser Memosens digital analytical sensors, including nitrate, spectral absorption coefficient, pH, ORP, conductivity, oxygen, turbidity, and ion selective electrode sensors. (Memosens sensors are lab-calibrated devices […]

In the following case study, Aquatech International Corp. discusses a water treatment system designed to minimize water usage and waste discharges, both liquid and solid, at a gas-fired combined cycle plant in California.

Dust Control Technology launched a family of tower mounts for the company’s atomized misting equipment, which extends droplet hang time and range while providing more precise aiming capability during slag-handling, aggregate-progressing, recycling, and coal-handling operations. Complementing a product line that already includes wheeled carriages and skid mounts, by delivering millions of 50- to 200-micron droplets […]

In December 1973, President Richard Nixon explained to the American people his administration’s critical initiative to confront the “energy crisis” du jour (precipitated by the 1973–74 Arab oil embargo): “Many [energy savings measures] require inconvenience and sacrifice. But daylight saving time… will mean only a minimum of inconvenience and will involve equal participation by all. […]

Success in life and business is all about seizing the right opportunities at the right time. Opportunities abound today in the electric utility business. Our industry is in the midst of an extraordinary period of transformation and investment that will affect how we produce and deliver electricity—and what customers pay for it—for decades. By 2020, […]

The 1,309-MW Claus C power plant showcases the successful repowering of an existing steam power plant by upgrading it and adding a highly efficient combined cycle plant that doubles the original plant’s power output for just a 35% increase in fuel consumption. In addition, the newly retrofitted plant is cutting CO2 emissions by 40% compared with a simple-cycle gas-fired plant of equal capacity.

The Dutch utility Eneco and the Danish energy group DONG Energy recently collaborated in building the 870-MW Enecogen Power Station that has a thermal efficiency above 59% and is designed for maximum operational flexibility. As part of Eneco’s strategy to lower emissions across its fleet, the combined cycle plant is designed to quickly compensate for intermittent power produced by the utility’s wind turbines.

Glow Energy’s 382-MW Glow Phase 5 power plant in Thailand exceeded early expectations by packing into a tightly constrained space more capacity than anyone thought possible. The plant’s engineering feat earns it recognition as a POWER Top Plant for 2012.

Bonneville Power Administration is torn between delivering the tremendous amount of inexpensive hydroelectric power produced in its region and a rapidly growing wind energy industry that has been ordered to reduce generation when hydroelectric plants are dispatched to protect fish habitats. Which renewable energy asset will win?

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is known for its large fleet of coal-fired plants. With TVA’s renewed emphasis on nuclear power and gas-fired generation, the organization will soon fulfill its new goal: “to be one of the nation’s leading providers of low-cost cleaner energy by 2020.” Construction of the 880-MW John Sevier Combined Cycle Plant puts TVA one step closer to achieving that goal.

As the book title Too Dumb to Meter: Follies, Fiascoes, Dead Ends, and Duds on the U.S. Road to Atomic Energy implies, nuclear power has traveled a rough road from its origin as a tightly controlled military program to civilian applications meant to benefit society as a whole. In this POWER exclusive, we present the fourth and fifth chapters, “What Friendly Atom?” and “The Atomic Chimera.”