Fuel

As required by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Dec. 21 launched a new office—the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations—to “supercharge” its work to demonstrate hydrogen, carbon capture, energy storage, and advanced nuclear technologies. The new office will leverage $21.5 billion of the combined $62 billion allocated to the DOE […]

December 16, 2021 – Framatome and the U.S. Department of Energy secure a new 4-year cooperative agreement valued at more than $150 million to continue the development of its PROtect enhanced accident tolerant fuel (EATF) technology. These technologies increase the safety performance of commercial nuclear reactors while providing operators more flexibility during normal operating conditions. […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information (RFI) on a planned temporary federal program to ensure enough high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) will be available to jumpstart deployment of a new fleet of advanced nuclear reactors.  Comments received over the next month in response to the DOE’s Dec. 14–issued RFI will inform […]

New England faces a precarious fuel supply risk that could necessitate emergency actions if a severe prolonged cold snap hits the region this winter, ISO New England (ISO-NE) has warned.  The regional grid operator expects power demand will peak at 19,710 MW during average winter weather conditions of 10F, but if temperatures plunge below 5F, […]

Potentially jumpstarting long-paralyzed efforts to address the federal management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Nov. 30 issued a request for information (RFI) that could determine where the agency will temporarily consolidate and store spent fuel from nuclear reactors across the nation. Under the RFI, the DOE is seeking […]

Fusion occurs when two atoms slam together to form a heavier atom, such as when two hydrogen atoms fuse to form one helium atom. A tremendous amount of energy is released in the process. This is the same process that powers the sun. In the sun’s core, where temperatures reach 15,000,000C, hydrogen atoms are in […]

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) is warning that much of the central U.S.—a region that stretches from the Great Lakes into southern Texas—may face critical power deficiencies during extreme winter weather conditions over the next three months. Natural gas supply disruptions and low hydropower conditions could also imperil power reliability in New England […]

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. 

Korea Western Power’s Taean Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Power Plant this year marked 4,000 hours of consecutive accident-free operations, setting a new world record for IGCC power plants

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given its green light to a license amendment filed by Centrus Energy Corp., approving the nuclear fuel and services firm’s efforts to demonstrate High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) production at its enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio.  The approval marks a “major milestone” in Centrus’s $115 million, cost-shared contract with the […]

Last December, two giant Virginia-headquartered firms—energy company Dominion Energy and food manufacturer Smithfield Foods—announced completion of a novel renewable natural gas (RNG) facility in Milford

Many advocates for a hydrogen economy believe “green” hydrogen, which is produced through electrolysis using renewable energy, will eliminate the need to curtail wind and solar generation. However, there

APRIL 29, 2021 — Valmet will deliver a multifuel boiler plant to Veolia Energie ČR, a.s. in Prerov in the Czech Republic. The new boiler will replace an old coal-fired unit and strengthen Veolia’s strategy to move toward more environmentally friendly production of district heat and electricity. The order was included in Valmet’s orders received […]

Siemens Energy and Canadian pipeline company TC Energy in February agreed to commission a novel waste-heat-to-power facility in Alberta by 2022 that captures waste heat from a gas-fired turbine operating a

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, says it expects to begin producing the advanced nuclear fuel material by June 2022 at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. Centrus President and CEO Daniel Poneman said on March […]

In a brief interview this February, Francesco Venneri, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. CEO, explained to POWER why the company’s development of its proprietary fully ceramic microencapsulated (FCM) fuel is significant for the future of advanced nuclear, and how the company plans to roll it out.  Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC), developer of the 5-MWe […]

Mitsubishi Power is developing a 40-MW class gas turbine that can directly combust 100% ammonia under an initiative that responds to heightened global decarbonization ambitions, as well as Japan’s recent roadmap for ammonia fuel.  The Yokohama–headquartered power equipment firm, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), on March 1 said it is targeting commercialization of […]

Tristructural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel has long been used in high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactors, but it is seeing a resurgence as a result of other applications. Modern TRISO fuel designs are

The plan to retire the last coal-fired units at a power plant in Colorado has moved a step closer to completion, with the announcement that Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) has chosen General Electric (GE) technology to keep the plant operating at least temporarily as a gas-fired facility. GE on Feb. 10 announced that six of […]

Honeywell is gearing up to reopen the Metropolis Works plant in Metropolis, Illinois—the U.S.’s sole uranium conversion facility—and restart production of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) by early 2023. The Charlotte, North Carolina–based global technology giant told POWER in a statement on Feb. 9 it has communicated to employees and officials its intent to reopen the facility, which […]