News

South Korea will reportedly invest 37 trillion won ($28.5 billion) over the next 13 years in several new nuclear, coal, and natural gas power plants to improve fuel efficiency and cut emissions.

Nearly a 100 projects around the world—with more than 80 of them in the U.S.—are assessing various aspects of carbon capture and storage (CCS), a database released last week by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) shows.

Power plants in Pennsylvania must be prepared to meet the ozone and fine particulate emissions standards established by the newly reinstated Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) as of Jan. 1, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PDEP) said Monday.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has vowed to clean up the 5.4 million cubic yards of wet coal ash—enough to flood more than 3,000 acres one foot deep—that spilled last week when the earthen retaining wall of an ash pond at the Kingston Fossil Plant, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, failed.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week admitted it would not finalize two air pollution rules that would have eased restrictions on coal power plants before the incoming administration takes office on Jan. 20.

Steven Chu, the 1997 Nobel physics laureate who now directs the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, will be President-elect Barack Obama’s energy secretary. Lisa Jackson, chief of staff for New Jersey’s governor, will head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, will lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Monday approved by a 5-0 vote the licensing and installation of the nation’s first commercial hydrokinetic power station.

A subsidiary of Germany’s RWE Group, the UK’s Peel Energy, and Denmark’s DONG Energy have formed a joint venture partnership to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration project in the UK.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), a global alliance of GE and Hitachi that was formed last year, said on Monday it had notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of its intent to renew design certification for its Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR).

The U.S. coal power industry saw a spate of important announcements this week.