Nuclear

Numerous energy facilities were afflicted by the major flooding event that inundated parts of Europe last week, and at least one major power generator has said the damage will likely mount into a “mid-double-digit million euro sum.” The flooding, which was caused by a cold, low-pressure area dubbed “Bernd,” crawled slowly across the continent over two […]

Construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant is moving forward, and a government official said the country plans to build “several” more reactors “in various regions” to help support economic development and increasing demand for power. Hesham Hegazy, who leads the nuclear fuel sector for Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA), made the comments during […]

Stricken by repeated extreme heat events, the prospect of a worsening drought, incremental resource delays, and the “unforeseen” loss of 300 MW in thermal resources, California has set out to secure additional energy resources to ensure reliability this summer. Responding to a June 29 letter from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California […]

Taiwan’s move to end the country’s use of nuclear power continues, with Unit 1 of the Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant being shut down. The reactor was taken offline July 1, six months ahead of its scheduled Dec. 27 retirement, with officials saying spent fuel-storage capacity constraints meant the unit could not be refueled. The closure, […]

The history books are littered with incidents that could have been prevented if people in the know had been empowered to speak up and decision-makers had acted differently based on the input. For example, the

GE Will Supply Finnish Wind Farm. General Electric (GE) in late May said it will deliver 16 Cypress onshore wind turbines for the 88-MW Puskakorpi wind farm in Finland. Each 5.6-MW-158 turbine will be

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has formally kicked off a pioneering project to partly re-power its 85-MW Abbott cogeneration plant with an Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) Energy System. UIUC on June 28 said it submitted a letter of intent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build […]

Utilities across the Pacific Northwest are bracing for exceptional stress on the grid as record-breaking temperatures continue to fester across the region, and at least one utility—Avista Corp.—this week began rolling outages as a measure to alleviate strain on the electric system. Despite pleas to customers to reduce their power consumption, Avista, which supplies power […]

June 30, 2021 – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Nawah Energy Company (Nawah), the subsidiary created by Joint Venture partners Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) to operate and maintain the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, signed a Maintenance and Engineering Services Agreement (MESA) with Framatome, an international leader in nuclear […]

The project will help OPG’s Darlington nuclear plant deliver reliable, carbon-free power generation for more than the next 30 years as part of its long-term refurbishment strategy Today the Darlington nuclear plant is responsible for generating over 20% of Ontario’s electricity needs, providing enough power for two million homes This latest project  builds on GE […]

Enercon Federal Services (ENERCON) was recently awarded a prime contract with Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), to provide engineering design work in support of the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) Demonstration of Operational Microreactor Experiments (DOME) project at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). ENERCON will be supporting the BEA’s objective to convert an unused, partially […]

June 28, 2021 – Framatome today announced a contract award with state-owned Public Limited Company for Radioactive Waste Management (PURAM) to upgrade the seismic monitoring and detaching system at its spent fuel interim storage facility in Paks, Hungary. This announcement marks the first contract signed byFramatome Kft., a subsidiary created following the acquisition of Evopro […]

Michigan’s largest energy provider Consumers Energy will stop using coal as a fuel source for power generation within the next four years—15 years earlier than previously planned. In an updated integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) on June 23, the CMS Energy subsidiary said the effort would lead Michigan’s […]

Nuclear energy’s future as a critical pillar in a decarbonized world will depend on its adaptability to rapid change, but the sector must focus on costs, certainty of outcome, reliability, and experience to cement its role beyond the transition, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) President and CEO Jay Wileman told POWER in an exclusive interview. […]

Duke Energy has kicked off an effort to renew the operating licenses of all its 11 nuclear reactors for 20 more years, starting with Oconee Nuclear Station, its largest nuclear plant. The utility on June 21 filed an application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a subsequent license renewal (SLR) for the three-unit 2.5-GW […]

A pioneering pilot project in Lulea, Sweden, designed to produce “fossil-free” steel has successfully completed test production of sponge iron, demonstrating it is possible to use hydrogen made with fossil-free power to reduce iron ore, instead of coal and coke. Swedish energy company Vattenfall, mining company LKAB, and steel manufacturer SSAB—companies that are collaborating under […]

This week marked two major milestones for fusion energy. On June 15, San Diego-based General Atomics (GA) said it was ready to ship the first module of the Central Solenoid—the world’s most powerful magnet—which will become a central component of ITER, the world’s largest experimental fusion facility that is under construction in France. And a […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given its green light to a license amendment filed by Centrus Energy Corp., approving the nuclear fuel and services firm’s efforts to demonstrate High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) production at its enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio.  The approval marks a “major milestone” in Centrus’s $115 million, cost-shared contract with the […]

Engineering experts and financial consultants involved with oversight of the two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia said the project’s startup now likely will be delayed until the summer of 2022. They also said the project faces more cost overruns. In testimony filed June 7 with the Georgia Public Service Commission, the […]

Construction of a 300-MW nuclear power unit showcasing a fuel specially developed for the reactor is underway in Siberia, a project that industry experts say could provide a dramatic leap forward in nuclear power technology. The project is being hailed as a way to provide a “practically inexhaustible” source of fuel for nuclear power, as […]

Many years of process engineering support during the qualification and commissioning of the second interim storage facility Delivery of components for one of the world’s largest hot cells, where radioactive waste is safely and remotely processed Technologically demanding and one-of-a-kind project: Disassembly of highly radioactive fuel elements using state-of-the-art sawing technology  Bilfinger subsidiary Bilfinger Noell […]

Bill Gates’ nuclear innovation startup TerraPower and Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary PacifiCorp are looking to site a federally backed demonstration of their 345-MWe Natrium advanced nuclear reactor system at a retiring PacifiCorp coal power plant in Wyoming. During a June 2  energy event in Cheyenne attended by Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer […]

PSEG Power retired its Bridgeport Harbor Station Unit 3 (BHS 3, Figure 1) on May 31. The unit, located in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was the last remaining coal-fired power plant in the company’s fleet. “The retirement of Bridgeport Harbor Station Unit 3 marks the end of an era for the City of Bridgeport and the citizens […]

In my job, I typically do a fair amount of traveling. Of course, that all changed last year due to COVID-19. I didn’t go anywhere for work-related events or meetings. It was kind of nice—at first—but

Governments and non-governmental organizations worldwide are clamoring for reduction in human-generated CO 2 emissions. Yet, America’s largest carbon-free energy source is regulated and demonized to the

Southern Co. has moved the startup date for the first unit of its two-reactor expansion at the Vogtle nuclear power plant to the first quarter of 2022, citing problems found during testing. The company on May 18 notified Georgia state regulators of the delay. Analysts with Mizuho Group, an investment banking company, on May 21 […]

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp.’s (USNC’s) 5-MWe (15 MWth) Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) has entered formal licensing review with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) as part of its proposed project spearheaded by Global First Power (GFP). The small modular reactor (SMR) is the first to mark that milestone.   Seattle-based USNC marked its newest milestone for […]

As multiple advanced reactor vendors enter the licensing process to build first-of-a-kind demonstration projects, the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA)—a nonprofit “think-and-do tank” that supports the nuclear power industry—has said issues with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) current user fee cost-recovery model could slow innovation. In a report released on May 19, the NIA identified how […]