News

NuScale Power is the winner of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) March 2013–announced funding opportunity to help design, certify, and commercialize small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.S.  The DOE’s long-awaited second award announcement means the government will invest up to half of the total project cost required to help NuScale Power’s 45-MWe SMR design […]

No environmental impacts would preclude renewing the operating licenses for two pressurized water reactors (PWR) at the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Bay City, Texas, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concluded on Friday.  The federal regulatory body issued a final environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the proposed renewal of operating licenses for Units 1 […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a solicitation on Dec. 12 that makes up to $8 billion in loan guarantee authority available to support “innovative advanced fossil energy projects that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gases.” The loan guarantees are authorized by Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and are intended […]

As the Supreme Court heard arguments on the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), eight Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force nine “upwind” states to slash their emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which contribute to the formation of ozone to the north and east. EPA […]

Coal power plant retirements could potentially increase energy prices by $3–4/MWh for on-peak hours and $1–2/MWh for off-peak hours, but if natural gas prices also rise, energy prices could rise by as much as $9–11/MWh for on-peak hours and $5–6/MWh for off-peak hours, a new report from The Brattle Group suggests.  The report, “Coal Plant […]

The U.S. must first develop unsubsidized, cost-effective energy storage technologies, validate reliability and safety, establish an “equitable” regulatory environment, and boost industry acceptance before it will see the widespread deployment of energy storage systems, says a report released today by the Department of Energy (DOE) to members of the U.S. Senate.  Commissioned by Sen. Ron […]

Arkansas Nuclear One Unit 2 was taken offline the morning of Dec. 9 due to a transformer fire in the site switchyard. Operators at the plant declared an “Unusual Event” at 8 a.m. CST and notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of the situation. An Unusual Event is the lowest of four nuclear emergency classifications […]

Duke Energy submitted its decommissioning plan to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) this week for the company’s retired Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida. The 860-MW plant, located about 85 miles north of Tampa, went into service on March 13, 1977. It has been shutdown since September 2009 when engineers discovered a delamination, or separation […]

With an electrical efficiency of 45.95%, the Lünen hard-coal-fired power plant, located on the Datteln-Hamm Canal in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, is Europe’s cleanest and most efficient. The 750-MW unit is owned by Trianel Kohlkraftwerk Lünen GmbH und Co. KG and has been online in continuous operation since Dec. 1. The plant had […]

“No industry stays static over time. Change is inevitable,” said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) John Norris in a house subcommittee hearing today. For the electric sector, he said in prepared remarks, “The time of incremental change is clearly over.” The Dec. 5 hearing before the House Energy & Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Energy and Power was […]

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 […]