Nuclear

Germany’s highest court ruled on November 6 that energy firms E.ON, RWE, and Vattenfall have a right to seek compensation as a result of the 2011 decision to prematurely shut down the country’s nuclear fleet. The Merkel government’s order in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, in which three Japanese reactors melted down as a […]

After a lengthy process of give and take, the Illinois Legislature approved the Future Energy Jobs Bill (SB 2814) on December 1, the last day of the state’s veto session. The bill will now go to Gov. Rauner (R) for his signature, which is expected. Once signed, it will take effect on June 1, 2017, […]

When a new administration arrives in Washington, business lobbying groups routinely assert that their interests mesh with those of the new political team in town. So it is with the nuclear power industry, where the Nuclear Energy Institute shortly after Donald Trump sealed his victory in the presidential race proclaimed their common interests. Maria Korsnick, […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority this week said it will pay a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) proposed $140,000 fine for security violations at its Browns Ferry nuclear station near Athens, Ala. According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Steve Bono, Browns Ferry site director, said that the giant regional power agency “accepts full responsibility” for the […]

[Note: This article first appeared online on November 1.] The discovery of widespread carbon segregation problems in critical nuclear plant components has crippled the French power industry—20 of the country’s 58 reactors are currently offline and under heavy scrutiny. France’s nuclear safety chairman said more anomalies “will likely be found,” as the extent of the contagion […]

China’s third nuclear reactor built for the export market, Chashma Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3, was connected to Pakistan’s grid in mid-October. Chashma 3 is one of two Chinese-designed CNP-300 pressurized-water reactors being built on the site in Punjab Province. Unit 3 is expected to enter commercial operation at the end of 2016 and Unit […]

The first nuclear reactor vessel at the Plant Vogtle expansion near Augusta, Ga., has been placed inside Unit 3, marking another major milestone for the much-watched project. Construction contractors Westinghouse and Fluor Corp. lifted the 306-ton reactor vessel into its permanent location inside the AP1000 unit’s nuclear island on November 23. The vessel, fabricated by […]

A mammoth, wide-ranging energy measure under consideration by the Illinois legislature that would provide billions of dollars in support for energy efficiency, microgrids, and—most controversially—the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear power plants made it out of a key committee on Nov. 29 and could see a final vote by the end of the week. The Future […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is beginning a comprehensive three-week inspection of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, Mass., as a result of the plant’s repeated performance deficiencies, the agency said in a November 28 statement. The inspection, planned for more than a year, is part of the NRC’s heightened oversight process, begun […]

Plans to repower NRG Energy’s coal-fired 435-MW Dunkirk power plant near Buffalo, N.Y., to natural gas that have been stalled for years owing to a legal challenge may finally be revived. NRG Energy mothballed the four-unit plant in January 2016. The company had filed to mothball the facility nearly four years earlier, in March 2012, […]

The latest attempt by Exelon Corp. to save two of its struggling Illinois nuclear power plants passed a critical hurdle late last week: the Future Energy Jobs Bill—known as SB 2814—was introduced in the Illinois state General Assembly, after passing the House Energy Committee by a 9–1 vote. Exelon claims the bill would save and […]

RESOLVED: Retaining nuclear capacity is necessary to secure a reliable, cost-effective, low-emissions supply of electric power in the United States. That was the proposition for a debate between two high-profile opponents in “A Square-Off on Nuclear Policy” on November 16, the last day of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) annual meeting in La Quinta, […]

While GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) confirmed it hasn’t made a formal decision to proceed with licensing or construction of a laser enrichment facility at Paducah, Ky., the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it has agreed to sell depleted uranium to the company over a 40-year period to help produce nuclear power plant fuel. The […]

The Vietnamese government has canceled the Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Plant project, after cost estimates for the plant nearly doubled, according to the Hanoi-based news agency dtinews. Le Hong Tinh, vice chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Science, Technology, and Environment, in an interview conducted with dtinews on November 10, said costs for the […]

FirstEnergy Corp.—one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric utilities, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York—has made the strategic decision to exit the competitive power business. “We have made our decision that over the next 12 to 18 months we’re going to exit competitive generation and become a fully […]

Russia and China have agreed to expand cooperation on nuclear energy, with Russia to build another two reactors in China in addition to expanding cooperation on fast-reactor technology and floating nuclear plants, Russia’s state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom said in a November 8 statement. The two nations, which share a 4,200-kilometer-long border, have worked together on […]

GE-HItachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Southern Nuclear Energy will collaborate to study the development and licensing of GEH’s PRISM sodium-cooled fast reactor design. Southern Nuclear Development, a subsidiary of Southern Co. company Southern Nuclear Operating Co. signed a memorandum of understanding to study the high-energy neutron reactor design, as well as to work together toward […]

Vattenfall to Convert Berlin Coal Plants to Natural Gas. Sweden’s state-owned power company Vattenfall is phasing out the use of coal in Germany’s capital Berlin. The company on September 28 said it would

Owner/operator: Rosenergoatom Fast-neutron reactors are pivotal to Russia’s ambitious nuclear power plans. The successful construction, grid-connection, and testing of the country’s first BN-800 reactor at its Beloyarsk nuclear plant is a major achievement in the right direction. Since the Soviet Union began its first experimental nuclear power projects in the 1940s, Russia has embraced nuclear’s […]

China is on an epic build-out of its nuclear generating capacity, and developing indigenous expertise and technology is central to that goal. The first completed plant leveraging the nation’s CPR-1000 design

Owner/operator: Exelon Generation and PSEG Nuclear/Exelon Generation When decision-makers choose to increase the maximum output of a nuclear power plant through an uprate, it sets in motion a process that can take many years and countless man-hours to complete. The success of Peach Bottom station’s extended power uprate project shows that all the long hours […]

To power generation professionals, the word “cavitation” typically has negative connotations, but a new process offers a way to control this normally destructive effect and deploy it as a cost-effective life-extension technique. As operators of commercial nuclear energy facilities consider subsequent license renewals and life extensions, finding new ways to safely maintain reactor components remains […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information to assess the future role of private consolidated interim storage facilities in the agency’s plans for an integrated nuclear waste management system. The DOE noted in an October 27 notice published in the Federal Register that since it unveiled a strategy for the […]

Nuclear power’s future—and its much-needed contribution to U.S. decarbonization efforts—may be hampered if eight pressing issues aren’t addressed within the next five years, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said at a recent event held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The issues Moniz outlined in his keynote speech at a six-hour event titled […]

After more than 43 years of service, the Fort Calhoun Station—a single-unit 478-MW nuclear power plant, which was the smallest operating reactor in the U.S. fleet—came offline for the final time at 12:55 p.m. CDT on October 24, 2016. Some said the mood at the plant was subdued, but professional. Many workers and other plant […]

A group of generators including Dynegy and NRG Energy filed suit in federal court on October 19 seeking to block an incentive program that would help three New York nuclear power plants remain economic over the next decade. An August decision by the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) approving New York’s Clean Energy Standard included a provision requiring […]

Watts Bar Unit 2 began commercial operation on October 19.

The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will award up to $80 million to a 10-MWe pilot project that seeks to advance the development and commercialization of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) Brayton power cycles. The plant will be managed by three research entities: the Gas Technology Institute (GTI), Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and […]

A surprising win in a Japanese prefectural gubernatorial race by the anti-nuclear, Communist Party–backed candidate Ryuichi Yoneyama—a 49-year-old doctor who has never held public office—makes the restart of the 8-GW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant a much taller task for owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). The election of Yoneyama (Figure 1) is also a setback for […]

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) voted unanimously to support Xcel Energy’s latest long-range plan, which will transform the company’s energy fleet. Xcel expects to more than double its renewable energy portfolio as a result, delivering greater than 60% carbon-free energy to its Upper Midwest (Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) customers by […]