Nuclear

Despite hostilities that linger as a result of the 1986 nuclear nightmare at Chernobyl, Ukraine, and pressure from the European Union to shut down older-generation plants, Eastern European countries from the Baltic to Bulgaria are renovating existing nuclear plants or building new ones. If these projects become reality, the region will be able to secure its power supplies as well as cover the ongoing shortages in countries such as Greece, Macedonia, and Albania.

The future of high-level nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain remains uncertain as a new U.S. administration considers its nuclear agenda. The European Union’s policies remain just as unsettled. With new projects under construction in several countries and a nuclear ban in effect in others, no unified long-term storage approach is in sight.

The U.S. power industry’s story in 2009 will be all about change, to borrow a now-familiar theme. Though the new administration’s policy specifics hadn’t been revealed as POWER editors prepared this report, it appears that flat load growth in 2009 will give the new administration a unique opportunity to formulate new energy policy without risking that the lights will go out.

Though the resurgence of interest in nuclear power in recent years has spurred development of an assortment of reactor designs, emphasis has mostly been on those with capacities to produce thousands of megawatt-hours of baseload power, as is the case with designs from General Electric, AREVA, Westinghouse, and Mitsubishi that are under active review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Power projects using any of those designs will be developed at the cost of many billions of investment dollars.

The Bulgarian government this September announced the official launch of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, a project it has billed one as of the largest in the European Union (EU). Valued at €4 billion, Belene is now facing funding issues — though the government, which deems the plant vital to the country’s energy and economic […]

UniStar Nuclear Energy announced on Oct. 8 that it had awarded an AREVA-Bechtel Power Corp. consortium a multi-year contract to complete detailed design engineering for a proposed AREVA U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S. EPR) adjacent to Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power plant in Lusby, Md. The scope of work includes full plant specifications and […]

This summary of power generation projects is a web-only supplement to the November 2008 special report titled “Whistling in the dark: Inside South Africa’s power crisis.”

Top Plant: Nuclear plant owners understand the economic importance of squeezing every last megawatt-hour from their power generation assets and minimizing outage durations. When First Energy assumed operating responsibility for Beaver Valley, the plant’s operating record was unspectacular, but today the plant has established itself as a routine top-quartile performer, thanks in part to its Full Potential Program.

Top Plant: The team that handled this reactor vessel head and steam generator replacement project set a new industry standard for integrating a highly complex maintenance outage.

Courtesy: Platts Data source: Platts Energy Advantage and POWERmap. All rights reserved.

Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman spoke at the recent 2008 Nuclear Energy Summit that was convened to discuss the importance of nuclear power to a healthy U.S. economy.

The year 2008 is shaping up nicely for nuclear power in the U.S. Since September 2007, when NRG Energy and the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co. filed the first complete U.S. nuclear plant license application in 29 years with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a dozen more companies and consortia have followed suit. And […]

Cost hikes for all things nuclear in the U.S. and UK / North Americans plan liquid makeover for coal / California balloon bill deflates in legislative process / The Lego skyscraper / Of manure and methane / U.S. small wind turbine market moving slowly / Israeli desert center tests solar thermal tech for California desert / POWER digest / Correction

Australia considers seabed sequestration legislation / ElectraTherm installs its first commercial waste-heat generator / Mass. researchers achieve dramatic increase in thermoelectric efficiency / Nuclear power option for developing nations gaining steam / The great green wall of China / POWER digest / Correction

A familiar argument against building new nuclear power plants in the U.S. is that there’s no long-term solution to the used nuclear fuel storage problem. This situation was created in 1977 with the indefinite suspension of programs to reprocess commercial used nuclear fuel. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership’s announcement in February 2006 that it was reconsidering the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel represented a major shift in policy. It may even open the door to building new U.S. nuclear plants.

Yucca Mountain plan sent to NRC/ CPV cells get cooling chips from IBM/ StatoilHydro to pilot test first offshore floating wind turbine/ U.S. rivers next massive power source?/ Siemens delivers 500-MW gasifiers/ Algae: A green solution/ POWER digest

It is rare indeed to witness, at an otherwise staid industry forum, the public rebuke of the country’s most prominent supplier to the electric power industry. But at the Keynote session and Power Industry CEO Roundtable of the 2008 ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition in Baltimore this May, Milton Lee, general manager and CEO of […]

A week before the Preakness and two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, it was an atomic horse race in Baltimore. Reactor vendors trotted out their technologies at the ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition in sessions that filled the nuclear track’s 96-seat room at the Baltimore Convention Center. The reactor makers were also soliciting help from […]

National Grid divested of Ravenswood/ GE to sell Baglan Bay plant; From prairie grass to power/Renewables experience 40% growth/ The sustainable city/Solar recharger for developing countries/ Seeking CCS solutions/ Hoover Dam could stop generating/ Japan turns to fossil fuels/U.S. reactors produce record power/ POWER digest

The nuclear renaissance is likely to slow next year with a new tenant in the White House and many key regulatory positions in flux. Nuclear industry leaders are especially concerned that rules for construction loan guarantees will fall victim to the “wait and see” disease that infects those inside the Beltway every four years. If those rules aren’t in place before this November’s election, the nuclear renaissance may revert to the Dark Ages.

Dozens of intrinsically safe Generation III+ reactors are expected to be deployed in the U.S. in the coming years. Today, scientists already are looking over the horizon to Generation IV reactors that will be capable of producing hydrogen and process heat as well as electricity while generating much less radioactive waste.

DOE scraps FutureGen / U.S. nuclear plants have record year / Westinghouse wins TVA contract / UniStar Nuclear to file for COL / AEP ranks second in U.S. construction / China moving to the driver’s seat / New solar cycle poses risks / Dutch favor power from natural gas / POWER digest / Corrections

I was talking with a utility executive the other day about his recent vacation in India. It’s certainly not your usual holiday destination, but he’s the adventurous type, eager to mingle with different cultures and sample their cuisine. The exec did a lot more than tour the Taj Mahal and get a glimpse of endangered […]

FutureGen picks Mattoon, Ill./Duke applies for first greenfield COL/PPL to work with UniStar on another COL
/Areva seeks NRC certification of its reactor/Mitsubishi also in line at the NRC/PV project shines in Nevada/SunEdison commissions Colorado PV plant/Big concentrating solar plant proposed/Super Boiler celebrates first anniversary/Small fuel cell uses JP-8 jet fuel/POWER digest

  Early last month, Governor Eliot Spitzer and Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo—both New York Democrats—asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to reject Entergy Nuclear’s application to extend the operating licenses of Indian Point Units 2 and 3 for 20 years. The units, each rated at about 1,000 MW, are a major source of […]

Dominion applies for new Virginia reactor / ABB commissions world’s largest SVC / Google Earth adds air quality data / Alstom supplies integrated solar/CC project in Morocco / DOE updates coal plant database / Dam the Red Sea? / Complying with CWA Section 316

In our second annual report on the state and future of the U.S. power generation industry, we combine the considerable experience of POWER’s editorial staff with the market savvy of Industrial Info Resources Inc. (see next story) to preview the industry’s direction in 2008. We anticipate that the specter of carbon control legislation will hobble coal and make renewables the hot ticket while nukes continue to inch forward in a generation market that is basically treading water.

Industrial Info Resources’ strengths are tracking capital projects and cost projections and providing intelligence about the power generation market, among others. IIR has used its large industry databases and numerous industry contacts to develop its outlook for 2008. Here’s what you should expect and plan for this year.

In the U.S. today, there are continual discussions about energy independence, energy security, and ways to slow climate change. But meeting the nation’s projected 40% increase in electricity demand by 2030, while reducing overall power plant CO2 emissions, will require much more than talk. During the 1990s, American utilities increased their gas-fired generating capacity because […]

TVA may revive Bellefonte / GE’s globetrotting Jenbaches / Largest PV plant taking shape / When will PV be competitive? / Siemens goes to the wall with solar / Breakthrough in metamaterials / POWER digest