Fuel

The first complete accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) assembly is now operational at Exelon’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 in Maryland, bringing an industry-led quest to accelerate commercialization of the new nuclear technology closer to fruition. Inserted during the plant’s recent spring refueling outage, the lead fuel assembly (LFA) features a Framatome PROtect fuel design […]

Construction of the 10-MWe Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) pilot plant, a public-private collaboration to demonstrate and test supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power generating technology, is making marked progress toward a mid-2022 startup date.  Attendees from Experience POWER, HydrogeNext, and the Distributed Energy Conference, three of POWER’s annual in-person events, which took place last week in […]

Palo Verde Generating Station, a 4-GW nuclear power plant in Arizona, is gearing up to produce hydrogen from a low-temperature electrolysis (LTE) system, and that hydrogen will then be used to fuel a natural gas–fired power plant owned by Arizona Public Service (APS). The innovative power-to-power demonstration led by PNW Hydrogen is set to receive […]

Coal-fired power plant decommissioning and remediation work is not typically a utility company’s core business. That’s why having the right partner and implementing a sound plan to ensure both

The first Russian-made nuclear reactor fuel bundles with experimental ATF (Advanced Technology Fuel) rods have been loaded into Unit 2 at the Rostov nuclear power plant (NPP) in southwest Russia. The reactor resumed operations earlier this month after a scheduled maintenance and refueling outage. The Rostov site is home to four VVER-1000 reactor units (Figure […]

There are a handful of reasons why coal-fired power plant managers may want to blend fuel, but often the driving factor is economics. While the cost of the delivered coal is an important aspect, there could be

Marking a notable milestone for nuclear component additive manufacturing, four 3D-printed fuel assembly channel fasteners have been installed and are now operational at Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Athens, Alabama. Channel fasteners are a type of bracket that attaches to the top of the nuclear fuel assembly to hold […]

Marking another milestone in an industry-led accelerated quest to commercialize accident tolerant fuels (ATF), nuclear fuel test rods containing Westinghouse’s EnCore technologies that completed their inaugural cycle at Exelon’s Byron nuclear plant have shipped to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). While initial visual inspections show “no signs of degradation,” the irradiated fuel will now be […]

West Virginia’s only remaining coal refuse–fueled facility, the 80-MW Grant Town Power Project, is a 2021 Top Plant winner for powering on, despite challenges, to remediate 530,000 tons of coal refuse annually while reclaiming roughly 30 acres of land per year.