News

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Wednesday issued an air quality plan approval for a project to build the state’s first power plant to run at least partially on locally sourced Marcellus Shale gas. Moxie Energy’s proposed 936-MW plant in Asylum Township, Bradford County, uses two power blocks that will each consist of a combustion gas turbine and a steam turbine.

Czech utility ÄŒEZ on Wednesday told AREVA that a bid submitted to build two new EPR units at the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant—a site that already houses two VVER-1000 reactors built in 2000 and 2003—has been disqualified because it failed to fulfill “some other crucial criteria” defined in the tender. The decision, which AREVA said it would appeal, means only Westinghouse and an AtomStroyExport-led consortium remain as contenders for that project contract.

Global nuclear power capacity is expected to grow nearly 25% from current levels to 456 GW by 2030 according to low projections, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano told conference attendees in Kyoto, Japan, on Monday. The Fukushima Daiichi accident was a "big wake-up call" on nuclear safety, but it would not mean "the end of nuclear power," he said as he called on Japan to engage in dialogue about its stated policy to shut down all existing reactors by 2040.

Southern California Edison (SCE) last week outlined measures it had completed to correct issues identified in the steam generator tubes of its beleaguered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Units 2 and 3, as requested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). As part of a restart plan also submitted to regulators last week, the company proposed to restart Unit 2 at 70% power for a five-month trial period.

PPL Corp. on Friday said it was preparing to shut down Unit 1 of its two-reactor Susquehanna Nuclear Plant in northeastern Pennsylvania for additional turbine inspection and to confirm data provided by new instrumentation that could finalize a plan to resolve turbine blade cracking that has afflicted both reactors at the plant.

A bill introduced on Friday by a ranking member of the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee seeks to reform the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Science Advisory Board (SAB) and its sub-panels to deal with concerns about “balance, impartiality, independence, and public participation.”

California-based Sensorex has developed an industry-first mobile accessory for pH measurements. Compatible with Apple iPod, iPhone, and iPad devices, the PH-1 pH meter accessory measures and records pH values in the lab or field for use in environmental, education, and industrial applications. The patent-pending PH-1 accessory plugs into the standard Apple dock connector and uses […]

Sierra Instruments launched a new cryogenic version of its InnovaMass 240 multivariable mass vortex flow meter for advanced, more reliable measurement of liquefied gases, including liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, liquefied natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas, down to –330F. The InnovaMass contains no moving parts that will wear out or require service. This new meter […]

The Deltabar FMD72 Electronic Differential Pressure measurement system launched by Endress+Hauser uses two pressure sensor modules connected electronically to a single transmitter and eliminates the need for impulse lines or capillaries and their related issues of icing up, clogging, leaky taps, dry/wet leg inconsistencies, and problems with temperature changes. Ambient temperature changes cause measurement drift […]

Cato Institute senior fellows Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren in an Aug. 31 Forbes website blog suggest that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) carbon pollution standard for new coal-fired power plants (Standard) is a meaningless skirmish in President Obama’s “war on coal.” The Standard may have no tangible impact on the industry in the future, but it has great strategic benefit to the administration.

With the precarious descent of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity into the Red Planet’s Gale Crater a success, NASA now plans to gather geological and environmental data from the Martian surface to determine whether the planet has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for life—and collect data for a manned mission.

A microbial fuel cell technology developed at Oregon State University (OSU) promises to produce 10 to 50 times more electricity per volume directly from wastewater than most other approaches using microbial fuel cells. The breakthrough could reportedly have significant implications for waste treatment plants by replacing the “activated sludge” process that has been widely used for almost a century. The new approach could produce significant amounts of electricity while effectively cleaning the wastewater, OSU researchers say.

Pepperl+Fuchs’ new KFU8-VCR-1 Transmitter Power Supply Signal Conditioners feature various inputs for standard voltage and current inputs. These 1-channel signal conditioners offer maximum installation flexibility to suit a wide range of application needs. Input and output signal ranges are selected by switches located on the front of the device. This enables fast, easy setup and […]

ABB says its newly introduced MNS-MCC motor control center is the first in the industry to address the causes of arc flash incidents while providing superior equipment and personnel protection. The product uniquely allows operators to remove a unit with the door closed, with no tools, and without disconnecting any wires. This easy “bucket removal” […]

New Rubber Disc Return Rollers from Elite Roller Manufacturing feature four tapered roller bearings (two in each hub) for smooth operation and a service life that is up to three times longer than traditional two-bearing roller designs. The patented “quad bearing” design also withstands more severe applications than traditional rollers, and it allows the reuse […]

Japan’s Cabinet on Wednesday refrained from endorsing a much-awaited, controversial recommendation made just days before by an advisory panel urging Japan to seek to close all its viable nuclear reactors by 2040 and increase its reliance on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and fossil fuels.

Spent nuclear fuel stored onsite at commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. will increase by about 2,000 metric tons per year and balloon to more than 140,000 metric tons by 2055, before it can be moved offsite when storage or disposal facilities are expected to have been developed, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a recently released report.

More than 300 state and national public interest groups on Friday asked U.S. senators to oppose a bill introduced in August by Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Max Baucus (D- Mont.) that they say will fail to protect public health and the environment because it encourages "unsafe dumping of toxic coal ash."

One of the best ways California would be able to endure another summer without power from Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station would be to convert the Huntington Beach Units 3 and 4 into synchronous condensers, allowing them to act somewhat like spinning flywheels to adjust grid conditions, experts from the California Independent System Operator Corp. (CAISO) told its Board of Governors at a meeting last week.

A panel of judges on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board last week denied a construction and operating license (COL) for a new reactor proposed at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant in Maryland by Unistar, ruling that applicant Électricité de France (EDF) was completely “foreign-owned.” The decision could have implications for two proposed reactors in Texas, which are partly owned by Toshiba America.

Dominion Virginia Power plans to convert its oldest coal-fired power plant, the 227-MW Bremo Power Station near Bremo Bluff, Va., to natural gas, the company said on Wednesday. The two-unit plant would be the ninth in its fleet to be closed or converted to alternative fuels.

Texas will have enough power to serve consumer needs within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) during the fall, a new seasonal assessment of resource adequacy (SARA) shows. The assessment, released on Tuesday, comes on the heels of announced plans by the state’s largest generator Luminant to mothball its coal-fired Monticello 1 and 2 units, each rated 582 MW, for at least six months.

Two workers suffered minor injuries on Wednesday when a blast of oxygenated steam escaped in an auxiliary building in the Fessenheim nuclear power station in eastern France and triggered a brief fire alert.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday issued Interim Staff Guidance (ISG) to U.S. nuclear power plants to ensure adequate implementation of three orders it issued in March in response to lessons learned from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Friday awarded more than $5 million to 14 new research projects across 11 states that will examine the potential of methane hydrates as a future energy supply. Interest in methane hydrates, the 3-D ice-lattice structures found both onshore and offshore with natural gas locked inside, has been mounting since the U.S. and Japanese researchers were able to extract a steady flow of natural gas from methane on the North Slope of Alaska earlier this year.

Final regulations that seek to tamp down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from new and end-of-life coal-fired power plants announced by Canada’s federal government on Wednesday, and which will become effective on July 1, 2015, apply a more relaxed performance standard than proposed in the draft rule.

Is your summer warmer than normal, or did your winter seem colder than in the past? We may perceive changes in weather patterns and draw conclusions, but personal experience is of limited value in science. It’s all about the data. Dr. James Hansen, a senior NASA scientist and long-time global warming apologist, first achieved notoriety […]

An innovative mini-grid in April turned on the lights for about 250 residents living in Ilha Grande, a tiny island on the northwest coast of Maranhão State in northeastern Brazil.

Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries in July began operation of a new power generation and megawatt-class storage system at its Yokohama Works site.

Thompson Pump’s new Compact pump series has all the benefits of the popular Thompson Pump JSC series but is lighter, has fewer parts, needs less maintenance, and has a lower price. The Thompson Compact pump is 35% smaller and 20% lighter but offers the same performance as a standard size pump with 24-hour run time […]