Fuel

A number of companies in the power industry revealed new projects and other interesting developments this week. The following are some the more noteworthy announcements that POWER has been monitoring. BWXT to Provide Nuclear Reactor Engine and Fuel for DARPA Space Project BWX Technologies Inc. (BWXT) announced on July 26 that its reactor and fuel […]

There are many reasons to be excited about the U.S. nuclear power industry and its potential for growth. For activists focused on climate change, its carbon-free attribute makes it a viable long-term power resource. Additionally, its around-the-clock generating capability makes it a vital option in a world increasingly filled with intermittent renewables. Furthermore, new technology […]

Efforts by Japanese nuclear fuel manufacturers to develop accident tolerant fuel (ATF) materials are making progress, and their commercialization is currently expected between 2030 and 2035 after key

Advanced nuclear reactor technology firm Oklo will build its second and third commercial 15-MWe Aurora Powerhouse reactors on land owned by the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI), a community reuse organization tasked by the Department of Energy (DOE) to re-industrialize land around the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) just south of Piketon, Ohio. Oklo on […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted Holtec International a license to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico, despite the state’s opposition. Granted on May 9 after an eight-year process, the NRC’s license allows Holtec to “receive, possess, transfer, and store” 500 canisters holding […]

Texas officials on May 4 warned that peak demand for electricity could—for the first time—exceed the amount the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) can generate from on-demand dispatchable power, forcing the grid operator to rely on renewables to keep the lights on this summer. During an annual public update ahead of summer 2023, Peter […]

A pioneering 21-MW power project that economically produces geothermal power with co-produced hydrocarbon fluids from an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operation is now commercially operating in Alberta, Canada

On the east side of Greenville, South Carolina, sits a 413-acre site with more than one and a half million square feet of manufacturing space and another 70,000 square feet of labs. This is one of the locations where GE Gas Power is working to improve gas turbine technology and repair processes, among other things. […]

April 25, 2023 – Framatome received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to apply the company’s suite of Advanced Codes and Methods to operating conditions with uranium-235 enrichments above the industry standard of 5 weight percent (wt%). This approval is a critical step toward the company’s goal of reload readiness by 2027 for nuclear […]

It’s no secret that leaders around the world are searching for ways to decarbonize their electric power grids. While solar panels and wind turbines have been the main options utilized in this effort in recent years, both are intermittent resources. Therefore, backup generation is required to keep power grids reliable. In many situations, that means […]

NTPC, India’s largest energy conglomerate and its largest coal generator, in March commissioned the country’s first supercritical coal-fired plant equipped with an air-cooled condenser (ACC). The effort

Last Energy, a U.S.-based micro modular nuclear technology firm and project developer, has secured power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 34 PWR-20 small modular reactor (SMR) units with four industrial partners in the UK and Poland. The deals, which represent a combined $18.9 in power sales, mark “the largest pipeline of new nuclear power plants under […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing more stringent discharge standards for three types of coal power plant wastewater as part of an update to its Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs). However, the agency also proposed compliance flexibilities, and in a separate direct final rule, moved to extend a deadline to allow more coal plants to […]

A 1.2-GW hydrogen-capable combined cycle power project that Entergy Texas has proposed to build in Orange County, Texas, will be spearheaded by an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) consortium led by Mitsubishi Power, Sargent & Lundy, and TIC. Construction of the $1.19 billion Orange County Advanced Power Station (OCAPS), which received the Public Utility Commission […]

As of December 2022, the Department of Energy (DOE) CHP Installation Database recorded 4,674 combined heat and power (CHP) installations in the U.S., with a combined capacity of 80.4 GW. Installations were all sizes, from large industrial systems that are hundreds of megawatts to small commercial microturbine and fuel cell systems that are tens of […]

Marking a major milestone, Centrus Energy—a firm under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) with domestic technology—on Feb. 9 said it completed construction and initial testing of its advanced uranium enrichment centrifuge cascade as well as most of its associated support systems. Once the company […]

Japanese power generator JERA has launched commercial operation of the first of three liquefied natural gas (LNG)–fueled 650-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) units that will modernize the Anegasaki Thermal Power Station, a mammoth 3.2-GW, six-unit gas and oil power plant in Chiba Prefecture.  The new Anegasaki Thermal Power Station Unit 1, opened on Feb. […]

Distributed generation stands out in the Cuban power system, where there are hundreds of units dispersed throughout the country. In times of contingency, and as usually happens when a hurricane hits the country, distributed generation ensures the vitality of electrical service through interconnected systems in the form of “islands.” Of the slightly more than 6,000 […]

Spun out of Exelon Corp. a year ago, Constellation Energy’s competitive generation and customer-facing energy businesses represent a new power company paradigm that conforms to decarbonization. But the company that today holds the largest nuclear fleet in the U.S. will still face a unique array of challenges.

In July 1968, the U.S. Army sent the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, the Sturgis, to the Panama Canal to help overcome a regional hydroelectric power plant shortage, which was driven by a severe

The recent shake-up in natural gas markets and their ensuing impact on energy security, and geopolitical tension, dramatically altered the trajectory of global coal-fired generation, sending it soaring to

Oklo has kicked off regulatory activities for a first-of-its-kind nuclear fuel recycling facility that could produce commercial material from used light water reactor (LWR) fuel before the decade’s end. The advanced nuclear technology firm in December submitted a licensing project plan (LPP) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its Fuel Recycling Technologies facility. The […]

Many experts believe small modular reactors (SMRs), which are generally classified as nuclear power reactors with an electrical output of 300 MW or less, offer great promise for supplying the world with carbon-free energy. Several SMR designs are under development by companies around the world including NuScale Power, GE-Hitachi, Terrestrial Energy, TerraPower, Toshiba, X-energy, and […]

VGB, the international association of energy plant operators, has just released a new standard VGB-S-150-29-2021-10 for fuel particle fineness measurement that includes the laser-based EUcoalsizer (ECM) mobile system developed by combustion specialists of German EUtech Scientific Engineering GmbH. The standard extents the ISO Standard 9931 and recommends to apply the ECM mobile system in combination […]

The world is on a quest for solutions to decarbonize its economy. More than 70 countries and over 1,200 companies have set a net-zero target, according to the United Nations. To limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, emissions of hundreds of gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) would need to be prevented and removed from […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has accepted Abilene Christian University’s (ACU’s) construction permit application for a 1-MWth nuclear non-power Molten Salt Research Reactor (MSRR) facility planned for the university’s campus in Abilene, north-central Texas. The acceptance—which essentially marks the NRC “docketing” of the application—formally kicks off the regulatory agency’s review of ACU’s proposed Nuclear Energy […]

Power shortfalls could be rife over the next three months across a large portion of the North American bulk power system (BPS), particularly during extreme and prolonged cold conditions, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) has warned. The nation’s designated Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) in its latest Winter Reliability Assessment, issued on Nov. 17, said […]

Marking intent interest from the power sector in hydrogen’s decarbonization potential, six major utilities—Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Louisville Gas & Electric Co. (LG&E), Kentucky Utilities Co. (KU), Southern Co., and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)—have announced they will jointly pursue federal financial support for a Southeast Hydrogen Hub. The utilities, along with Battelle, an independent […]

Baltimore Gas & Electric set out to build the 1.8-GW Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in 1967 because fossil energy was becoming expensive and controversial. Over its nearly 50 years of operation

A company that has corporate roots that go back to the Colonial era, Dominion Energy has been shaped by acquisitions and market forces. It is now in the midst of an extraordinary transformation to expand its