Nuclear

A long-term energy strategy unveiled by leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in early January suggests that the federation on the Arabian Peninsula will increasingly rely on renewables to power its soaring economic growth. The UAE’s energy strategy was unveiled by Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is prime minister of […]

Construction of four AP1000 units—the first new nuclear reactors in the U.S. in decades—is moving along at Vogtle 3 and 4 in Georgia and at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in South Carolina. In January, Westinghouse, which is spearheading construction of the units, marked a key milestone as it placed the first steam generator […]

Full operation of CGN Power’s Taishan nuclear power plant, an $8.7 billion effort to construct two EPR reactors in Guangdong province, China, has been pushed back six months, the company said in an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange February 20. Completion of Taishan Unit 1 had been expected in the first half of […]

Financially hemorrhaging in 2016 due to uneconomic power plants in its fleet, FirstEnergy Corp. said it may exit the competitive generation business by mid-2018, and shutter its nuclear plants in Ohio, even though it will back legislation to subsidize nuclear power. In a fourth quarter earnings call on February 22, officials from the Akron, Ohio–based […]

A group of power companies have filed a federal lawsuit against the State of Illinois, challenging a recently enacted law that creates subsidies for Exelon’s uneconomic nuclear power plants. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed on February 14 in the Northern District of Illinois are the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA), Dynegy, Eastern Generation, NRG […]

An explosion at EDF Energy’s Flamanville nuclear power station in France has been controlled, the utility said. The blast, which rocked Unit 1 at the nuclear plant on France’s northern coast at around 9:45 a.m. local time on February 9, stemmed from a fire originating from a fan located under the generator, EDF Energy said […]

What do we know as of February 1 about key Trump appointees responsible for administering White House policies affecting the power generation industry? Not much. As the Trump administration settles in, how his teams at energy and environment agencies will implement his policy agenda remains unclear, as does his agenda. At the end of January, […]

A superconducting tokamak at the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) in South Korea has achieved a world record of more than 70 seconds in high-performance plasma operation. Researchers hailed the achievement as a “huge step forward for the realization of fusion power.” According to NFRI, researchers used a fully non-inductive operation mode—a “high poloidal beta […]

Uranium oxide, the basic fuel for nuclear power plants, has recently sold at prices not seen in the past 13 years. In fact, the price is less than the cost of production in many cases. That could be a problem, because little is being done to increase the fuel supply, even though the world is […]

The board of French utility EDF has approved a compensation package for the closure of France’s oldest nuclear reactor, the 39-year-old Fessenheim nuclear plant, but it delayed making a final decision on the closure until after the presidential election this spring. Closure of the 1,800-MW Fessenheim plant in northeastern France, near the German border, has […]

A crane boom collapsed under heavy winds at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Japan, landing on the Unit 2 reactor building and fuel handling building at around 9:50 p.m. local time on January 20. Plant operator, Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO), reported that no injuries and no adverse environmental effects resulted from the accident. […]

As part of its ongoing drive to exit competitive power markets, FirstEnergy Corp. said on January 23 that it has agreed to sell four natural gas–fired power plants in Pennsylvania and its competitive share of a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant in Virginia to private equity firm LS Power Equity Partners III. FirstEnergy announced last year that […]

The Trump administration will scrap executive actions to curb U.S. carbon pollution from power plants and other climate measures outlined in the Obama administration’s landmark Climate Action Plan, according to an “energy plan” published by President Donald Trump’s White House minutes after he was inaugurated January 20. Under the White House’s plan, the Trump administration […]

As France’s grid operator Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE) warned the public that they need to start taking measures to conserve energy as temperatures plummet or face rolling blackouts, the nation’s nuclear watchdog, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), has given the go-ahead to restart all but three of the 12 nuclear reactors that have […]

Although AREVA recently disclosed that 17 U.S. nuclear power plant units have installed components that were forged at the Le Creusot facility in France—a forge that has been under scrutiny due to questionable quality assurance documentation and carbon segregation irregularities in some parts manufactured at the site—the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) does not consider the […]

Non-utility generators urge FERC to overturn state actions in New York and Illinois that the generators claim distort FERC’s wholesale electricity markets.

NuScale will submit the nation’s first application for design certification of a small modular reactor (SMR) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Thursday. The Corvallis, Ore.–based company, which is majority owned by the Fluor Corp., has been developing its light-water reactor nuclear technology for more than 15 years. Development of the NuScale power module […]

Beyond major reliability events that have prompted regional blackouts in the past, the U.S. grid faces “imminent danger from cyber attacks,” warns the second installation of the Obama administration’s Quadrennial Energy Review (QER). Here are other key trends outlined in the comprehensive study of the nation’s electricity system. The QER, available on the DOE web site, identifies the threats, […]

Entergy Corp. and the state of New York have reached an agreement that will see the Indian Point nuclear power plant retired by 2021. “Key considerations in our decision to shut down Indian Point ahead of schedule include sustained low current and projected wholesale energy prices that have reduced revenues, as well as increased operating […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has submitted documents that suggest its plan to permanently store low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste close to its Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, at an underground site near the eastern shore of Lake Huron, is the best option for disposal. Responding to a February 2016 request for information by the […]

Just as the election of Donald J. Trump could result in redirected energy policy in the U.S., 2017 elections in France and Germany could reshape plans for electricity infrastructure on the European continent. Also on both continents, some factors and trends will be out of elected officials’ control. “Difficult to see. Always in motion is […]

A digital roundtable with four senior members of diverse generating companies reveals that regulations aren’t the top concern at the moment. Instead, decisions are being driven both by customer desires and

How do you get generating company executives and those who interact with the power industry to think outside the box when planning for the future? The answer may involve a board game. Humans are pre-programmed to prefer routine, tradition, and regularity, without questioning whether longevity equals good. Fear of the unknown, and the power of […]

China has officially begun construction of its first offshore nuclear power plant, a demonstration project that will employ the domestically developed ACPR50S small modular reactor (SMR). China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN) on November 4 told reporters at a press conference that the project (Figure 6) is a “top priority” that will further the country’s […]

Japanese Firms Poised to Build Two 540-MW IGCC Plants Based on Nakoso Technology. A consortium of Japanese firms on December 1 said they had received full-turnkey orders for two integrated gasification

As our January 2017 cover image of a dynamic Rubik’s Cube suggests, the power industry, especially in the U.S., is dealing with something akin to solving a 3-D puzzle whose pieces are being added and subtracted as the game is being played. Although shares of traditional, regulated electric utilities remain some of the most predictable […]

A tumultuous election year that was marked by market turmoil, the events of 2016 clearly showed that big change is afoot for the power sector. Many of POWER‘s bold predictions for 2016, such as that the near-simultaneous surge in U.S. natural gas production and recent enactment of environmental rules would reshape the U.S. power sector, […]

POWER‘s monthly infographic sheds light on power sector trends globally, and in 2016, it highlighted water issues, future coal fleet technologies, U.S. power plant retirements, energy storage technologies, China’s power glut, global emissions limits, and more. January 2016: Future Coal Fleet What the world’s future coal fleet will look like by technology. February 2016: GHG […]

Toshiba Corp.—the parent of Westinghouse Electric Co.—said it might book huge losses as a result of Westinghouse’s acquisition of the nuclear construction and integrated services business CB&I Stone & Webster Inc. (S&W). Westinghouse closed on its agreement with CB&I in December 2015. When the deal was made, Toshiba estimated that the amount of “goodwill” resulting […]