POWER

Have you seen too many eyes-glazed-over expressions betraying a lack of interest at your employee meetings? Getting folks to pay attention at meetings is important, and there are ways to make it happen.

The global nuclear industry is moving forward at a brisk pace, only slightly slowed by the Fukushima Daiichi accident. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s most realistic estimate is that 90 new nuclear plants will enter service by 2030. Ten new nuclear plants went online over the past two years. We profile four of them as POWER’s nuclear Top Plants for 2011.

In our September article about the global profusion of natural gas, we based a portion of our discussion on the latest, vastly increased natural gas reserve estimates reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Since our article was published, the EIA has adjusted its estimates downward. We want you to be aware of those lower recoverable reserve estimates. We also want you to know that the conclusions reached in that article do not change with the new estimates of natural gas reserves.

In many quarters, nuclear power generates enthusiasm. A single pound of reactor-grade uranium oxide produces as much electricity as 16,000-plus pounds of coal—enough to meet the needs of the average U.S. household for more than one year. And whereas burning coal emits carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, nuclear power generation is virtually emissions […]

Selecting the most economical tube for a new condenser, or the retrofit of an existing one, is much more complex than mere price shopping. Each material has unique performance characteristics that affect the operating economics of the entire plant. A case study illustrates the importance of carefully choosing the tube material that is right for your plant.

BIRNS introduced what it is calling the “world’s most advanced, seismically qualified (per IEEE-344) emergency lighting solution” for nuclear containment: the BIRNS Emergency Light Fixture-LED. The slim-profiled, wall-mounted system provides in excess of 24 hours of continuous, brilliant LED light in the case of power loss in nuclear power facilities and is capable of withstanding […]

With its powerful new renewable portfolio standard, California will boost the market for small renewable technologies. The key is the reverse auction mechanism, which fine-tunes the regulatory regime.

Building on the success of the Fluegas 2700 combustion gas analyzer, the new SERVOTOUGH FluegasExact integrates Servomex’s unique Flowcube flow sensor technology to give users even more confidence in their combustion gas measurements. The analyzer features a patented zirconium oxide cell for oxygen measurement and a thick film catalytic sensor for measuring carbon monoxide (CO) […]

Cybersecurity of U.S. electric infrastructure has become a major issue on the national agenda, posing challenges to how we structure, construct, and regulate our power system. This is the first of a two-part article looking at legal and regulatory issues surrounding electric system cybersecurity.

E Instruments International launched the E8500 combustion analyzer, a complete portable tool for EPA compliance-level emissions monitoring and testing. The E8500 is ideal for regulatory and maintenance use in boiler, burner, engine, turbine, furnace, and other combustion applications. The analyzer includes electrochemical sensors for oxygen, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides (measuring both low and true values), […]

The power generation industry is a highly competitive one in which players continue to change and the race for profits is a tough one with the challenge of heavy environmental regulations. One of the most overlooked areas for cost savings is safety. Notwithstanding the moral and legal responsibilities that power plant management has for creating a workplace where everyone can work without injury, reducing and eliminating workplace injuries and illnesses is good for business.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently concluded that the agency failed to follow prescribed policies in its peer review of the technical support document that provided the justification for its 2009 “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gases. The OIG report is timely, but in an unexpected way.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently concluded that the agency failed to follow prescribed policies in its peer review of the technical support document that provided the justification for its 2009 “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gases. The OIG report is timely, but in an unexpected way.

A large swath of Southern California, parts of Arizona, and Northern Baja Mexico was blacked out on Sept. 8—leaving seven million people in the dark—after an Arizona utility worker fixing faulty equipment near Yuma reportedly tripped the 500-kV North Gila–Imperial Valley transmission line, causing the outage. The blackout prompted two units at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station to go offline, stranded many people in elevators and trains, shut down airports, cut air conditioning on a day well above 90F, and caused damages of $97 million to $118 million, according to early estimates from the National University System’s Institute for Policy Research.

An intellectual property battle between Massachusetts-based American Superconductor Corp. (AMSC) and China’s giant wind turbine maker Sinovel in late September culminated with an Austrian court conviction of a former AMSC employee, who was arrested in Austria and who pled guilty to corporate espionage charges. The court charged Dejan Karabasevic, a 38-year-old Serbian engineer, with stealing AMSC’s software, modifying it, and secretly selling it to Sinovel.

The number of companies pulling out of the nuclear business continues to grow. Just weeks after Louisiana-based engineering firm The Shaw Group announced it would sell its 20% stake in the nuclear company Westinghouse back to partner Toshiba, German engineering conglomerate Siemens said that, prompted by the German government’s decision to phase out nuclear power by 2022, it would quit the nuclear business.

A German finance court in September questioned the constitutionality of a controversial tax on fuel used in nuclear power plants, a decision that could influence rulings in various finance courts around the country that are reviewing complaints by nuclear operators regarding the levy.

Procrustes the metal worker—not to be confused with Krusty the Klown—was an important figure in Greek mythology. A son of Poseidon, Procrustes was an iron smith, thief, murderer, and inn keeper. He offered hospitality to strangers passing his place on the sacred byway between Athens and Eleusis. For a price.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in southern France, the world’s biggest nuclear fusion research project, is seeing a revival. After a budget shortfall last year and cost projections that continue to escalate, in September, the project got the European Parliament’s (EP’s) backing for an autonomous budget that seeks to guarantee transparent and reliable financing while limiting cost overruns. Japan also announced that it would increase its budget for ITER by 50% (the current ITER director-general is Japanese). Also in September, scientists announced that after an 18-month shutdown to upgrade the Joint European Torus (JET)—the world’s largest magnetic fusion device—the machine is ready to test materials to be used inside ITER (Figure 5).

A companion bill to the U.S. House’s recently passed Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (H.R. 2273) was last week introduced in the Senate by Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

A new rule enacted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday orders organized wholesale power market operators to pay “just and reasonable rates” for providers of regulation service, an ancillary transmission service that protects the grid by correcting deviations in grid frequency and balance on transmission lines with neighboring systems.

An Alberta court on Friday rejected an environmental group’s challenge to the August-issued Alberta Utility Commission approval of a planned 500-MW supercritical coal-fired addition at the 150-MW H.R. Milner Generating Station in the Grande Cache area. The court’s decision paves the way for Maxim Power to begin construction of the controversial unit—the first coal plant built in the province in a decade.

After three years of development, dozens of public workshops, and hundreds of meetings with stakeholders, the California Air Resources Board (ARB) on Thursday adopted a final rule to cap California’s greenhouse gas emissions and put a price on carbon. The cap-and-trade program starts in 2013 for electric utilities and large industrial facilities.

Florida’s Public Service Commission (PSC) on Monday approved cost recovery amounts for construction of new nuclear power facilities and additions to existing nuclear plants planned by Progress Energy Florida and Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL). The decision would help secure “a diversified and stable energy future for Florida,” regulators said.

Surging coal prices have continued to prompt generators to displace some coal used for power generation with natural gas, and gas demand is again expected to jump this winter, which could pose some supply restraints, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in its Winter 2011-2012 Energy Market Assessment.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking contenders for a three-year-long funding opportunity for applied scientific research to advance novel concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies. The $60 million investment is part of the DOE’s SunShot Initiative, a collaborative effort to reduce the cost of solar energy 75% and make it cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2250) by a vote of 275-42 .The bill, which seeks to limit the federal agency’s rules limiting toxic air pollutants from commercial and industrial boilers and thwart the EPA from proposing a new standard for at least 15 months after enactment, now heads to the Senate, where it is unlikely to pass, industry analysts say.

On Friday, following passage of a bill to delay Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)–promulgated Boiler MACT rules, the U.S. House of Representatives also passed the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act (H.R. 2273), legislation that would impede the federal agency from proceeding with its May 2010 proposed rule to regulate coal ash residuals.

An association of 41 European transmission system operators (TSOs) from 34 countries last week warned that adequacy margins in the coming winter could dip dangerously and threaten power supply for most of the continent.

A coalition of seven U.S. manufacturers of solar cells and panels today petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to investigate whether Chinese manufacturers are illegally dumping crystalline silicon solar cells into the U.S. market and receiving illegal subsidies from China. The measure follows a string of bankruptcy filings by several U.S. solar manufacturers in the past few months.

New variants of Stuxnet—the sophisticated computer virus designed to attack control systems and which was used last year to sabotage the Iranian Bushehr nuclear power plant—has been detected in European computer systems. The malware, dubbed “Duqu” is “essentially the precursor to a future Stuxnet-like attack,” computer security firm Symantec said on Tuesday.