Nuclear

China’s power sector reforms represent perhaps the world’s largest industrial reform program, with important consequences on both domestic and global levels. In 2015, Erdaoqiao, a settlement in southwest

India’s 220-MW Kaiga 1 nuclear power plant, an indigenously designed pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR), on Dec. 31 became a world record holder for running 962 unbroken days. The previous record for

BHEL Completes India Coal Plant in 46 Months. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) in January said it successfully built and commissioned the single-unit, 800-MW Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS), in

Power generators continue to expand their use of digital technologies. Data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are all part of a rapid transformation in how utilities are improving the

An Electric Power Research Institute-led collaborative utility project, called I4Gen (Insight through the Integration of Information for Intelligent Generation), is exploring new technologies for digitally

The Connected Plant Conference is a forum designed for professionals in the power generation and chemical process industries who are leading digital adoption at all stages. Sessions are tailored to offer

Brutally cold temperatures in the midwestern and northeastern U.S. spurred grid operator alerts as natural gas demand has surged, power prices have soared, and there have been forced generator outages.  The polar vortex, an extreme cold event characterized by back-to-back cold fronts, has so far prompted states of emergency in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. On […]

January 31, 2019 — The Department of Energy has awarded four Virginia Tech researchers a $1.8 million grant to reduce the stress renewable energy sources put on the U.S. power grid. The Virginia Tech Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) and the Power and Energy Center (PEC) will partner with Siemens to tackle this challenge. […]

COMMENTARY Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E’s) bankruptcy underscores the need for an independent advisory board to monitor, and help San Luis Obispo and the surrounding community navigate through, the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant decommissioning process. The existing panel—the Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel (DCDEP)—was created by PG&E to serve as a “public relations […]

California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 29, as the company faces as much as $30 billion in potential liabilities for its role in a series of wildfires in the state. The filing was expected after the company notified its workers two weeks ago it was preparing a […]

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are becoming a technology of choice among those who continue to push nuclear power as a zero-emissions source of generation. The collapse of plans to build new large reactors in the UK has meant companies there are looking at SMRs in an effort to keep that country’s nuclear power program viable. […]

A final rule the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plans to publish this spring to replace pivotal actions it issued after the Fukushima accident will require U.S. nuclear generators to ensure they can mitigate severe events at reactors within a two-year compliance timeframe. More than three years after it was proposed, the NRC’s five commissioners on […]

Shares of beleaguered California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) soared on Jan. 24 after a state agency said the company bore no responsibility for a 2017 wildfire in the state. A statement from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) on Thursday said, “After an extensive and thorough investigation, Cal Fire […]

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has again told New Jersey officials it needs subsidies to continue operating its three nuclear power units in the state, reiterating that without financial help it will begin closing its Hope Creek Generating Station and Salem Nuclear Power Plant as early as 2022. The three reactors are the only remaining […]

Power companies worldwide are struggling to balance talent shortages with changing skills needed for an increasingly digitalized business, the newly released Global Energy Talent Index (GETI) suggests.  The Jan. 22–released annual energy recruitment and employment trends report by Airswift, a global energy workforce provider, and Energy Jobline, an online jobsite dedicated to the energy and […]

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) on Jan. 23 said a federal judge’s proposal that the utility mitigate fire danger in its service territory by trimming trees, along with inspecting and repairing thousands of miles of power lines, could cost the company as much as $150 billion this year. William Alsup, a judge in the U.S. […]

French labor unions on Jan. 22 said U.S.-based General Electric (GE) will cut 468 jobs at its units in France, including some staff at Alstom Power Systems (APS). GE confirmed to Agence France Press (AFP), a French news service, that talks with its unions on staff reductions are underway. The unions said 229 jobs would […]

Berkeley, CA – On Wednesday 16 January, Deep Isolation, a California-based private company, demonstrated publicly that prototype canisters built for nuclear waste can be successfully placed and retrieved thousands of feet underground. With over 40 observers from multiple countries, attendees included representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, nuclear and oil & gas industry professionals, […]

WILMINGTON, North Carolina—January 22, 2019—GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) announced today that it has completed the segmentation of reactor internals at Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant (OKG) Unit 2 in Oskarshamn Municipality in Sweden. Employing cutting edge technology, GEH dismantled, segmented and packed reactor internals of OKG Unit 2, a boiling water reactor that began operating […]

PORTLAND, Ore. (Jan. 15, 2019) — NuScale Power announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC), to evaluate NuScale’s small module reactor (SMR) nuclear power plant for use in Jordan. The agreement continues to showcase the immense international interest in NuScale’s innovative nuclear technology. JAEC is […]

California utility PG&E Corp. on Jan. 14 gave its workers the state-required 15-day advance notice of its intent to file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company on Monday said its electric and natural gas service to customers should not be impacted during its reorganization, which comes as PG&E faces billions of dollars in liabilities related […]

Reports on Jan. 13 said giant California utility PG&E Corp. could notify its workers as soon as Jan. 14 that it’s preparing to file for bankruptcy. Bloomberg on Sunday said the San Francisco-based utility, which faces billions of dollars in liabilities as investigations into its role in a series of deadly wildfires continues, will notify […]

Hitachi may cancel its plans for a $20.5 billion nuclear power project in Wales, according to several media reports from the UK and Japan. The Japanese company is expected to determine the fate of the project at a board meeting this week. The Guardian newspaper was among those that in recent days reported an impasse in […]

The Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel (DCDEP) on Jan. 8 released its recommendations for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and surrounding lands after the plant ceases operations in 2025. The panel—created to foster open and transparent dialogue between members of the local community and the plant’s owner Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E)—suggested a […]

To propel interest and bolster development of advanced nuclear reactor designs, the Department of Energy (DOE) will demonstrate—by October 2020—the production of high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel in a first-of-its-kind $115 million project at the agency’s uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio.  HALEU is nuclear fuel that is enriched to a higher degree […]

Operators of the Columbia Generating Station have set a new generation record at the nuclear plant 12 miles north of Richland, Wash., sending more than 9.7 million MWh to the Pacific Northwest power grid during 2018.  The single 1,207-MW single GE-built Mark-2 boiling water reactor that is owned and operated by Energy Northwest—which comprises 26 […]

Glancing back to the 1970s, those of us in the power sector can remember when polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were the cooling liquid of choice for transformers in locations where fire risk was a critical consideration. Then it happened — PCBs were classified as carcinogenic and persistent organic pollutants. A safer replacement liquid was needed, and […]

A new study from an economic research group shows that U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) rose about 3.4% last year, including a 1.9% rise in emissions from power generation. The New York-based Rhodium Group, which released its findings on Jan. 8, said its study used data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and […]

Kevin McIntyre, who briefly served as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), died Jan. 2 at age 58. He had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2017 and had surgery to remove a tumor. President Trump nominated McIntyre, a Republican, in August 2017 to serve as FERC chairman. He was confirmed by the […]

Renewable energy sources increased their share of the UK’s electricity supply in 2018, with new wind farms and biomass plants helping renewables contribute a record 33% of the country’s power in the past year. Coal-fired units, meanwhile, saw a 25% drop in their output, with coal providing about 5% of the country’s total generation. The […]