Nuclear

By Kennedy Maize A divided federal appeals court today ordered the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to resume action on licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project in Nevada. in a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said inaction by the commission at the direction of the Obama administration early in […]

In an apparent legal victory for the states of Washington and South Carolina, a divided federal court on Tuesday directed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to continue its legally obligated review of a license application to build the proposed permanent nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain, Nev. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. […]

A revised settlement agreement reached between Duke Energy Florida, the Office of Public Counsel, and other consumer advocates addresses cost recovery issues related to a retired nuclear reactor, a proposed nuclear project, and two coal units. Under the settlement agreement, Duke Energy will address cost recovery issues for the retired Crystal River 3 plant and […]

Two VVER-1000 reactors built and designed by Russian state firm Atomstroyexport under a $3 billion contract are slated to be commissioned this summer in the State of Tamil Nadu in India.

South Korea, the world’s fourth-largest producer of nuclear power, in June warned of “unprecedented” power shortages this summer after it shut down two reactors due to faulty safety equipment and delayed the start of operations of another last month.

In Japan, where all but two of 50 reactors remain shuttered for safety checks following the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe, at least four major utilities were gearing up to apply for safety screening of 12 reactors across six plants.

An amendment signed by USEC subsidiary American Centrifuge Demonstration to a June 2012 research, development and demonstration (RD&D) cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy gives the uranium enrichment technology firm an additional $29.9 million in government cost-shared funding, enough to fund the American Centrifuge program through September.

Électricité de France (EDF), the world’s largest nuclear generator, began its withdrawal from U.S. nuclear on Tuesday, citing market changes spurred by cheap natural gas.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released July 24 makes several “observations” about management challenges at the Department of Energy (DOE). Though most concern weapons program issues, one problem area touches the nuclear power industry.

An updated energy flow chart released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that visually depicts the relative size of primary energy resources and end uses in the U.S., with fuels compared on a common energy unit basis, shows the nation consumed more natural gas and renewables but less coal in 2012.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) International Energy Outlook 2013 (IEO2013) released today projects that renewable energy and nuclear power will each increase 2.5% per year through 2040, but fossil fuels will continue to supply almost 80% of world energy use by 2040.

Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in the Manomet section of Plymouth on Cape Cod Bay, Mass., was on Tuesday forced to reduce power to 85% after its salt service water inlet temperature exceeded technical specifications.

Three companies vying for a $452 million cost-sharing funding opportunity through the Energy Department to help commercialize their small modular reactor (SMR) designs made major announcements over the past weeks.

Masao Yoshida, a nuclear engineer who served as plant chief during the March 11, 2011, catastrophe at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (TEPCO’s) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, died on Tuesday from esophageal cancer. He was 58.

Cheap natural gas is being blamed for many of the nuclear industry’s current predicaments. But is gas truly the culprit?

An agreement signed by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this May could pave the way for the world’s first ATMEA 1 reactors to be built in Turkey in the 2020s.

Even though it enjoys sizeable coal and natural gas reserves, Indonesia struggles to provide electricity to its growing economy. Geography is its most obvious challenge. Others include evolving international markets and an energy sector that remains highly politicized.

It’s easy to see why technologists fall in love with high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs). These nuclear machines are remarkable inventions, at least on paper. But few have actually seen the real world for any length of time, and their real-world experience has been mixed.

As the book title Too Dumb to Meter: Follies, Fiascoes, Dead Ends, and Duds on the U.S. Road to Atomic Energy implies, nuclear power has traveled a rough road. For the conclusion of POWER’s exclusive serialization of the book, we offer the “Epilogue: Some Dumb Ideas Never Die.” The first 12 installments are available in the POWER online archives.

President Obama’s highly anticipated Climate Action Plan (CAP) released today outlines a wide variety of executive actions founded on three pillars: slashing U.S. carbon pollution through stringent rules for new and existing power plants while doubling renewables deployment and promoting fuel switching from coal to natural gas; preparing the U.S. for impacts of climate change; and leading international efforts to combat global climate change.

President Barack Obama’s landmark speech on Tuesday outlining executive actions to combat and prepare for climate change backed the growth of natural gas and renewable power in lieu of carbon-heavy coal power, but he mentioned nuclear power only once—and only in the context of energy security.

Amid the deluge of reactions to President Obama’s June 25 speech announcing wide-ranging executive actions to curb carbon emissions and prepare for climate change effects were some unexpected statements.

An update to the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Tuesday finds that possible impacts on aquatic life from the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York still do not bar it from receiving a license renewal.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) last week indefinitely delayed new construction on its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Alabama, saying it had slashed the project’s budget by 64% and would reduce staff by 75%.

In a marked energy policy shift away from a complete nuclear phase-out, Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) on Wednesday adopted new safety standards that Japan’s 48 shuttered nuclear reactors must meet before they can restart.

The fiscal year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill released by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee this week slashes $1.4 billion in funding to Department of Energy renewable energy and scientific research programs, including an 80% spending cut on the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday advanced a set of four bills that it said would "improve" environmental regulations and increase state authority, including legislation that would task states—not the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—with the responsibility to set up coal ash disposal rules.

A report recently released by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) identifies policy goals—and their fundamental differences—identified in the 2012 presidential election and as highlighted in recent energy-related legislation. Among the nation’s energy priorities are to stabilize oil and gas markets, create natural gas pipeline infrastructure, dispose of nuclear radioactive waste, and replace conventional energy resources with renewables.

Southern California Edison (SCE) announced on Friday that it has decided to permanently retire Units 2 and 3 of its San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), which have been shut down since January last year.

South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) last week announced that startup of the $6.3 billion nuclear extension under construction at its V.C. Summer plant could be delayed by up to a year owing to delivery issues. The SCANA Corp. subsidiary, which last year identified six coal-fired units that would be retired or switched to natural gas to comply with looming Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), also said it plans to accelerate retirement of two units by the end of this year.