News

AREVA announced that on Nov. 29 the first steam production was achieved at the concentrated solar power (CSP) plant it is constructing near Dhursar in the state of Rajasthan, India. The plant is Asia’s largest CSP installation and will be operated by Reliance Power. The 100-MW plant was approved for carbon credits in July under […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has extended the expiration date of the construction permit for the unfinished Unit 2 at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant (WBN) to Sept. 30, 2016. WBN is located about 10 miles south of Spring City, Tenn., and is owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). TVA requested the extension […]

Nine Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states on Monday urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to model state programs to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the market-based cap-and-trade regulatory program in which the states participate.  The EPA should recognize the RGGI model as an “effective system” of emission […]

Addressing climate change and improving air quality will be among the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) foremost objectives over the next four years, a draft strategic plan recently released by the federal agency shows. The 86-page Draft FY 2014-2018 EPA Strategic Plan was released for public review and comment on Nov. 19 as part of a […]

Georgia Power has completed placement of the basemat structural concrete for the nuclear island at the Vogtle Unit 4 site, where it is the second of two units currently under construction. Georgia Power says that the basemat concrete placement was completed in just under 41 hours, an efficiency it says matches the best time achieved […]

Integrating large quantities of variable energy resources into the North American bulk power system will require fundamental electricity system planning and operational changes to ensure continued reliability, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) says in a new report that it prepared in collaboration with the California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO). The assessment, “Maintaining Bulk-Power […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Monday directed agency staff to complete the long-delayed safety evaluation report (SER) for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) license application to build the Yucca Mountain permanent waste repository. Reflecting the Obama administration’s opposition to the repository, the DOE in 2010 withdrew from the NRC its June 2008–submitted application to […]

So long as the federal government has no viable alternative to Yucca Mountain as a repository for nuclear waste, nuclear power ratepayers should not be charged an annual fee to cover the cost of that disposal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled on Tuesday. Finding for petitioners that include the National Association […]

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) will hire a nuclear engineering consultant to investigate cost overruns associated with Xcel Energy’s Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant Life Cycle Management/Extended Power Uprate Project. The project, at an estimated cost of $320 million, was authorized by the MPUC in 2009 and included necessary upgrades to increase the 600-MW plant […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will retire more than 3 GW at eight coal units in Alabama and Kentucky to address “challenging trends” that point to lower power demand, a slow economy, uncertainty in commodity pricing, and tougher air pollution rules. The U.S. corporate agency’s board of directors on Nov. 14 approved plans to retire all […]

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced last week that the final shipment of low enriched uranium (LEU) derived from Russian nuclear weapons had departed from the port of St. Petersburg, Russia. “For two decades, one in ten light bulbs in America has been powered by nuclear material from Russian nuclear warheads. The 1993 United States-Russian […]

A communiqué drafted by participants from 22 coal-heavy countries at the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) that was held in Washington D.C. last week affirms that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an indispensable element of any effective response to climate change. Members of the ministerial-level international climate change initiative also urged acceleration of the […]

Presenters provided several perspectives on the emerging shale gas sector in North America and around the world at the World Shale Oil & Gas Conference & Exhibition in Houston, Texas, last week. One general takeaway is that a number of unpredictable factors could widely alter the sector’s “game-changing” outlook. Several forecasts, including the International Energy […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exceeded its authority under the federal Clean Air Act when it promulgated the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) in 2011, nine states argue in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court last week. The brief filed by a bipartisan group of attorneys general from Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, […]

The European Commission announced last week that safety standards applied in Taiwanese nuclear power plants are generally high and comply with international state-of-the-art practices. The peer review—performed by the European Commission and the European Nuclear Safety Regulators’ Group (ENSREG)—did, however, strongly recommend further improvements in view of Taiwan’s vulnerability to natural hazards, such as earthquakes, […]

Dan Utech has replaced Heather Zichal as Director for Energy and Climate Change at the White House Domestic Policy Council. Zichal filled the role for more than five years and was a trusted advisor to President Obama. She crafted his energy and climate change agenda in 2008, and was a strong advocate for policies that […]

By 2035, renewables will hold a 30% share of the global power mix but just 1% of the world’s fossil fuel–fired power plants will be equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS), reports the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its newly released World Energy Outlook (WEO-2013). The annual report presents a central scenario in which global […]

Legislative efforts to establish a federal renewable electricity standard (RES) kicked up last week with the separate introduction of two bills by Senate Democrats. Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) on Oct. 29 introduced the Renewable Electricity Standard Act of 2013 (S.1595), a bill that would create a national standard of 25% renewable energy […]

Eighteen carbon capture projects across the U.S. have been chosen to receive $84 million in federal funding to help improve the efficiency and drive down costs of carbon capture processes for new and existing coal power plants. The Department of Energy (DOE), which announced selection of the projects today, said funded research will focus on […]

South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G) announced the completion of another major construction milestone at its V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County, S.C. Having completed the first new construction nuclear concrete pour just seven months earlier, SCE&G finished the nuclear island basemat for Unit 3 on Nov. 4. “This successful basemat placement is […]

ABB and its consortium partner, Bondfield Construction, announced on Nov. 5 that they have won an order from Canadian Solar Solutions to supply a 100 MW turnkey photovoltaic (PV) solar project for the Grand Renewable Energy Park in Haldimand County, Ontario, southeast of Toronto. Ontario is in the final stages of a decade-long plan to […]

U.S. House Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) unveiled draft legislation on Oct. 28 to address Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules affecting electricity generation. The bipartisan legislation is intended to ensure America can maintain a diverse and affordable electricity portfolio, which includes the use of coal, natural gas, nuclear power, and renewables. Whitfield […]

An executive order signed by President Obama today requires federal agencies to promote the “dual goals” of a greater resilience to climate change and a removal of barriers to carbon-curbing measures, including carbon sequestration. Climate change impacts that include “prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, more heavy downpours, an increase in wildfires, more severe droughts, permafrost thawing, […]

A revised technical guidance released by the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday to bolster a key facet of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) declares an end to U.S. support for multilateral development bank (MDB) funding for new overseas coal projects except in “narrowly defined circumstances.” The updated guidance document is designed to be incorporated […]

Former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Hans Blix, made a pitch for the use of thorium in nuclear power generation at the Thorium Energy Conference 2013, which concluded this week at the Globe of Science and Innovation at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, Switzerland. The Swedish diplomat was the first […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued orders on Oct. 28 prohibiting two former employees of the Dresden Nuclear Power Station in Morris, Ill., from participating in nuclear work under its jurisdiction. The two were implicated in an incident involving violations of the Behavioral Observation Program. Even without the order, the workers in question are unlikely […]

Hannover Fairs USA to host International Pavilions at 2014 ELECTRIC POWER Rockville, MD, Tuesday, September 10, 2013–Access Intelligence announced today that it has created a strategic alliance with Hannover Fairs USA to produce international pavilions on their ELECTRIC POWER show floor, as well as contribute new, relevant content to the conference programs. ELECTRIC POWER 2014 […]

Norwegian energy company Statoil last week canceled its $120 million project to put four 3-MW wind turbines on floating spar-buoy structures 12 miles offshore of Maine’s Boothbay Harbor. The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) had in January 2013 approved terms of Statoil’s proposed Hywind Maine project, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management last year […]

NRG Energy will buy nearly 8,000 MW of generation capacity across the U.S. from bankrupt power firm Edison Mission Energy (EME) for $2.6 billion. The company entered into a plan sponsor agreement to acquire almost all EME’s assets, including EME’s generation portfolio and Edison Mission Marketing and Trading, a proprietary trading and asset management platform. […]

EDF Group and the UK Government have reached an agreement in principle on the key commercial terms for an investment contract for the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Finalization of this agreement and construction of the plant are subject to a final investment decision. The government and EDF will work together to address […]