Nuclear

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) will close the 620-MW Hudson Generation Station in Jersey City, N.J., and the 632-MW Mercer Generation Station in Hamilton Township, N.J., on June 1, 2017. “The sustained low prices of natural gas have put economic pressure on these plants for some time. In that context, we could not justify the […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has reached another milestone in its effort to bring Watts Bar Unit 2 into commercial operation: The unit completed its final power ascension test—a 50% load rejection from full power—and safely returned to full power on September 30. The testing had been halted on August 30 due to a switchyard […]

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there are 60 nuclear reactors currently under construction around the world. China leads the way with 20 units in progress, followed by Russia with seven, and India with five. Twelve other countries, including the U.S., round out the list. The IAEA predicts that nuclear power generating capacity […]

Under a government decree published in early August, Russia will build up to 11 new nuclear reactors by 2030, including two BN-1200 sodium-cooled fast-neutron reactors. Russia already has 36 operating reactors

Oral arguments on the merits of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan were concluded before an en banc panel (10 judges, rather than the anticipated three) at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on September 27. West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 15-1363) is arguably the most important environmental case in nearly […]

A recently released International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) study predicts that nuclear power will continue expanding globally in the coming years, even as the pace of development slows due to low fossil fuel prices and the growth of renewable energy. The IAEA presents nuclear power generating capacity projections annually. The estimates were released just days […]

In a widely expected move, the Japanese government finally killed the ill-fated Monju breeder reactor project on September 21, but reasserted its faith in breeder reactor technology as a component of the nation’s future power mix. The Monju plant was an ambitious project that never came close to meeting its backers’ expectations. Launched in 1980, […]

The Heysham 2 nuclear power station broke a nearly 22-year-old record for continuous operation when it shut down Unit 8 on September 16 after 940 days online. The previous record—held by Pickering 7, a Canadian nuclear plant—was 894 days, set on October 7, 1994. EDF Energy said that the Heysham reactor—a 615-MW unit located on […]

States, regulators, and market participants have in recent years called attention to a trend concerning uneconomic baseload generation in organized wholesale markets, specifically in ISO New England, New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), MISO, PJM, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). Cheap natural gas, low power demand […]

In an effort to become a fully regulated power company, American Electric Power (AEP) has agreed to sell four Midwestern power plants—representing a total of 5.2 GW—to a newly formed joint venture of Blackstone and ArcLight Capital Partners for about $2.17 billion.  AEP will sell: the 1,186-MW natural gas–fired Lawrenceburg Generating Station in Lawrenceburg, Ind. […]

The $23.8 billion Hinkley Point C nuclear project has received the UK government’s green light, but the country wants to ensure that project’s ownership cannot change without government agreement. After a “comprehensive review” of the project and a revised agreement with French power generator EDF, the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial (DBEI) Strategy […]

In response to what was a record earthquake for the country, four of South Korea’s 25 nuclear power plants have been shut down as a precautionary measure.

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Massachusetts, limping toward retirement in 2019, suffered yet another unplanned shutdown on September 6 after operators were forced to power down the reactor because of high water levels in the core. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) event report, “operators initiated a manual reactor scram due to high […]

UK Abolishes Climate Change Department. As part of the major governmental shakeup triggered by Brexit—the UK’s momentous vote to leave the European Union—newly appointed UK Prime Minister Theresa May

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) this June approved 20-year license extensions for the aging Takahama 1 and 2 reactors, a first for the power-strapped country that has been conflicted about the future of its nuclear power plants since the Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe in 2011. A regulatory system established in the aftermath of Fukushima limits the […]

In an industry as slow-moving as power generation, where planning horizons are measured in decades and assets can remain in operation for the better part of a century, it’s rare that things happen fast enough to catch anyone by surprise. But that’s exactly what’s happened to the U.S. merchant nuclear business over the past four […]

The second World Nuclear Exhibition was held at a moment in time when the prospects for nuclear power are both tantalizing and frustrating. One thing is clear: The dynamics of the nuclear power industry have changed recently—and so have the solutions proposed for achieving greater certainty. One of the strongest arguments nuclear power has going […]

The U.S. nuclear power business is in trouble, and Exelon has six units totaling more than 5,300 MW of dependable capacity on the chopping block. How will the Chicago electricity giant respond? Perhaps by acquiring more nuclear capacity? Chicago-based Exelon Corp., the largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., is facing what could be the […]

P OWER Editor Gail Reitenbach interviewed King Lee of Lloyd’s Register on June 29 at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Le Bourget, France. The firm is a “non-profit distributing charity with a public benefit