POWER

For many energy analysts and policy makers, efficiency is the Holy Grail, the universal solvent, the way to effortlessly reconcile supply and demand while simultaneously serving the needs of the environment. Don’t build new power plants, says policy guru Amory Lovins; gather "negawatts" instead. President Obama says that Americans "can save as much as 30% of our current energy usage without changing our quality of life."

Hamworthy Peabody Combustion’s new Q-jet Low NOx Burner Optimization Kit can be retrofitted to practically any existing burner, regardless of manufacturer, to increase efficiency and reduce maintenance. In addition, the Q-jet Kit eliminates the need to replace complete burner assemblies just to meet emissions requirements, saving time and money. A key feature is that the […]

U.S. Supreme Court rulings in two recent cases further advance the rights of employees in disputes with employers, continuing a long-term trend in federal law on employment discrimination.

Valve-maker Conval announced that its popular Camseal zero-leakage ball valves now have forged bodies. These new forged ball valves are available in half-inch through 4-inch sizes with top entry, socket weld, butt weld, and flanged ends. Pressure classes range from ASME 900 through 4500. Camseal forged ball valves feature zero body leakage, zero seat leakage, zero seal […]

The devastation in Japan has focused new attention on supply chain issues and the impact of the partial collapse of that country’s manufacturing infrastructure on both Japanese imports and exports.

A renewed attack on nuclear power immediately followed the March 11 catastrophe at the six-unit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex in Japan. At least one legislator and a multitude of anti-nuclear groups have demanded that the U.S. cease approval of all new nuclear plants for the foreseeable future and/or close our Mark I boiling water reactor (BWR) plants. This knee-jerk response adds nothing substantive to the nuclear safety debate. (Be sure to read our cover story for more on this issue.)

The electric power generation landscape in both America and the rest of the world is poised to undergo a fundamental transformation in the next several decades. Global energy consumption is projected to rise dramatically by 2035, and the methods by which we generate electricity and the fuels we choose to use will begin to change as well.

John Hanger, who led Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection until January, talked with ProPublica earlier this year about the challenges of trying to regulate the expanding drilling industry.

Weeks after a massive magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent 14-meter-high tsunami devastated Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan, workers from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) were still struggling to regain control of four severely damaged reactors at the six-unit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Not complying with current law can be expensive in today’s legal climate. Employers should review their employee handbooks and employment-related policies to make sure they are up to date. More importantly, employers should draft their handbooks so that employees actually read them and follow their policies.

A Georgia administrative law judge has remanded an air permit for LS Power’s proposed 1,200-MW Longleaf coal-fired power plant to the state Environmental Protection Division (EPD). The judge found that the permit did not sufficiently limit pollution and ordered the regulatory body to amend the permit to include federally approved tests for five air pollutants.

Entergy Corp.’s Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant hit another hurdle on Tuesday as the Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) rejected a 20-year power purchase contract at below market prices.

An annual report released on Tuesday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) that assesses energy and technology market trends forecasts that if current laws and regulations remain unchanged, natural gas and renewables will see strong growth in the electricity sector. The report also suggests that expected regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will have an impact on the U.S. power sector, most notably on its fleet of coal-fired power plants.

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan on Tuesday approved construction of a C$1.24 billion project that will integrate and demonstrate carbon capture and storage (CCS) at an aging Boundary Dam Power Station unit near Estevan.

The nuclear crisis at Fukushima Daiichi could increase costs for existing and future nuclear power plants, increase scrutiny on relicensing procedures, and cause a reevaluation of the entire spent fuel management system, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said as they released a comprehensive report on the future of the nuclear fuel cycle.

Last week, lawmakers from Indiana approved a bill that could allow utilities to charge consumers costs incurred to extend the lives of nuclear reactors, and on Tuesday, Iowa legislators voted to begin the process of developing a new nuclear plant.

As much as 55% of Unit 1’s reactor core at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is thought to be damaged; Unit 2’s core is estimated to be 35% damaged, as is 30% of Unit 3’s core, the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said today. Seven weeks after the crisis began, the utility—which has also admitted damage of the spent fuel rods at Unit 4—continues all efforts to cool the affected reactors.

NRG Energy, the majority owner and operator of the South Texas Project, on Tuesday said it was pulling its financial support for a multibillion-dollar project to build two new advanced boiler water reactors (ABWRs) at its nuclear plant in Matagorda County, Texas, because the  Japanese nuclear crisis had “diminished prospects” for that project.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on Thursday said it would retire 18 older coal-fired units at three power plants starting next year as part of plans to idle or retire 2,700 MW of its 17,000 MW of coal-fired capacity by the end of 2017. The federally owned utility plans to replace the capacity with nuclear—proceeding with plans for Watts Bar Unit 2 and Bellefonte—as well as renewables, natural gas, and energy efficiency.

The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) unveiled a two-stage plan to put units at its quake and tsunami–crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into cold shutdown within six to nine months, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that if efforts go as planned, the amount of radiation may not increase.

Entergy Corp. on Monday asked a federal court to stop Vermont from closing its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant next year. Federal nuclear regulators last month extended the plant’s operating license by 20 years, but Entergy still requires a state permit.

Liberal and conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday skeptically met arguments that power plant owners that emit global warming–causing greenhouse gases (GHGs) can be sued for damages. Justices questioned the court’s jurisdiction to decide on emissions standards, the vast scope of the case, and factors to assess the best available technologies to curb GHG emissions.

An internal investigation has shown that hydrogen gas, which had not been fully purged from the generator during unit maintenance at the coal-fired L.V. Sutton Steam Electric Plant in New Hanover County, N.C., ignited and caused an explosion that killed one worker on March 15, Progress Energy said in a statement.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Monday announced a conditional commitment for a $2.1 billion loan guarantee to support Units 1 and 2 of Solar Trust of America’s Blythe Solar Power Project. The two-unit 484-MW concentrating solar thermal plant will be built near Blythe, in Riverside County, Calif.

Plans to build and operate the Cape Wind project nearly 5 miles offshore in Nantucket Sound, Mass., were approved on Tuesday by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE). Cape Wind Associates now says that construction of what could be the first U.S. offshore wind farm could begin as early as this fall, but the controversial project must still overcome several hurdles.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Charleston District, have completed the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Combined Licenses (COL) for the proposed V.C. Summer Units 2 and 3 reactors, concluding that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude issuing the COLs for construction and operation of the proposed reactors at the site, near Jenkinsville, S.C.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., April 19, 2011 – An article in the Washington Post last week highlights why it is folly for government to try to pick winners in complex, technological markets. In this case, it is the market for cars, where the Obama administration is betting – with your money and mine – […]

On Tuesday, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) provisionally raised the accident rating for three reactors at the crippled six-unit Daiichi nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture to Level 7—making it a “major accident” and putting in on par with the 1986 Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine. And today the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) confirmed damage to spent nuclear fuel rods stored in the Unit 4 building.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday told Unistar Nuclear Energy it could not issue the company an operating license for its planned reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland because it was fully owned by France’s Électricité de France (EDF)—a foreign entity.

Progress Energy Florida last week told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and state regulators that Crystal River Nuclear plant has been shut down indefinitely while the company conducts a “thorough engineering analysis and review” of a new gap in the reactor’s containment building wall that resulted from tendon retensioning work.