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The nuclear renaissance has been in play for several years yet not a shovel of dirt has been turned. Why should anyone believe that Nuclear 2.0 will be an improvement?

What’s in a name? Would coal ash labeled as “special” hazardous waste be as easily recycled as that labeled nonhazardous waste?

The 3,600-MW West County Energy Center, with two recently commissioned power blocks and a third just entering start-up, is the first “greenfield” combined-cycle plant constructed by FPL since the 1970s. Thanks to FPL’s long history with repowering projects, the project team commissioned Unit 2 seven months early, with no operator errors during start-up. At just over $600/kW, the cost of the plant was a bargain.

Feed-in-tariffs (FITs)—above-retail rates paid for renewable power that producers "feed" into the grid—are gaining momentum all over the world as a means of driving project growth. Here are some of those established and proposed FITs.

As state regulators examine whether the smart grid benefits consumers, a federal agency is looking at what information consumers need to take advantage of the technology.

The enforcement mechanisms of the environmental statutes in the 1960s were both cumbersome and ineffective.

Renewable electricity generation has many environmental advantages, but adding large amounts of far-flung renewable resources to a grid requires increased operating flexibility from dispatchable generators when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine. One promising option: A combined-cycle plant based on Alstom’s GT24/GT26 combustion turbine can be “parked” at approximately 20% plant load while producing emissions comparable to those during baseload operation—with little loss in thermal efficiency. When demand returns, the combined cycle can return to baseload within minutes.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week released a report that deemed the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel facility at the Savannah River site near Aiken, S.C., safe. The 568-page document essentially allows licensing to proceed for the plant to make nuclear reactor fuel from plutonium waste.

Dealing with whistleblowers can be human relations quicksand, where unseen errors that could cost a company millions lay in the path to resolution of employee complaints. Recent legislation makes dealing with whistleblowers an even bigger challenge.