The U.S. will attempt to regain its international standing as a world leader in nuclear energy through a three-pronged strategy that will essentially seek to strengthen the full domestic nuclear fuel cycle, possibly deny imports of nuclear fuel fabricated in Russia or China, and promote advanced reactor technologies. The strategy is outlined in the White […]

To help nuclear generators manage worker fatigue amid the intensifying COVID-19 pandemic, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has so far granted individually requested exemptions from work-hour controls to seven U.S. nuclear power plants. As described by NRC Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Ho Nieh in March 28 letters sent to at least three industry leaders, […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC’s) motion to defer implementation of seven reliability standards—including for grid cybersecurity—that were slated to become effective this year. In an April 17 order, FERC approved NERC’s April 6 requested motion to defer the implementation of the standards, which have effective […]

The latest version of the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council’s (ESCC’s) resource guide to assess and mitigate COVID-19 suggests the U.S. power sector continues to grapple with key concerns involving control center continuity, power plant continuity, access to restricted and quarantined areas, mutual assistance, and supply chain challenges. In its fifth and sixth versions of the […]

John Lammas, GE Power’s chief technology officer and vice president of generation technology, an innovator who championed breakthroughs in gas turbine technology both for jet travel and power generation, died suddenly on April 12. GE commemorated Lammas in an emotional tribute to his 35-year legacy at the technology conglomerate, noting his work could be seen […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   April 16, 2020 Featured Vogtle Workforce Reduced by 20%, but Other Projects Strong in March The COVID-19 outbreak and efforts to halt the spread of the virus are having a real impact at the Vogtle nuclear expansion construction site, but project starts […]

The U.S. nuclear power fleet last year achieved its lowest recorded average total generating costs in two decades—$30.42/MWh—though it ran at a record-high 93.4% average capacity factor. Total generating costs were 7.6% lower last year compared to the prior year, and have fallen nearly 32% since 2012. The numbers, highlighted in the Nuclear Energy Institute’s […]

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to delay the implementation of seven reliability standards that relate to cybersecurity, training, disturbance monitoring and reporting, generator relay loadability, and coordination of protection systems for performance during faults. In an April 6 filing to FERC, NERC noted the rules […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   April 9, 2020 Featured World’s First HL-Class Gas Turbine Starts Successfully Siemens Energy completed “first fire” at Duke Energy’s Lincoln Combustion Turbine Station near Denver, North Carolina, on April 6. The accomplishment is a major milestone for the world’s first SGT6-9000HL… Power […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) latest annual energy flow chart suggests that in 2019, for the second year in a row, wind and solar made up the largest increases in U.S. energy supply, but American consumption of energy fell after a record year in 2018. The national lab’s annual U.S. energy flow chart, or Sankey […]