Latest

  • Report: 8 Large-Scale CCS Projects On Track To Begin Operations Within Five Years

    Over the next five years, at least eight advanced large-scale demonstration carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects will enter operation—five in North America and three in Europe, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis shows. Leading the pack is Pennsylvania-based Air Products & Chemical’s CCS demonstration at a refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, a project that could be operational as soon as next year.

  • NRC Renews Pilgrim Nuclear Plant’s Operating License Despite Jaczko Opposition

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Tuesday said it renewed the operating license for the 1972-commissioned Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., for 20 more years despite objections by outgoing NRC Chair Gregory Jaczko.

  • Project Set-Up Issues Behind Chronic Watts Bar 2 Cost Overruns, Delays, TVA Inspector General Finds

    A three-year schedule delay and cost overruns of about $2 billion plaguing the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) project to build a second Watts Bar reactor are directly attributable to deficiencies in the “project set-up” and “ineffective management oversight,” the federal corporation’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said in a report last week.

  • Illinois Regulators Reject Ameren Smart Grid Plan

    Illinois regulators on Tuesday rejected Ameren Illinois’ $625 million plan to deploy smart grid improvements in its service territory, saying the company not only failed to show it could deliver a cost benefit to customers, but that the deployment plan was “vague and incomplete” and bordered on being more a “general statement of intention to install smart meters in some parts of its service territory.”

  • GAO: NRC Should Examine Requirement That Reactor Operators Conduct Probabilistic Risk Assessments

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should examine the benefits of mandating that nuclear plants in the U.S. add probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) to methods used to evaluate and prepare for natural hazards, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds in a new report.

  • Mercury and Air Toxics Standard, CSAPR Legal Pushback Mounts

    Two Environmental Protection Agency rules are facing legal challenges. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards is being challenged by half the U.S. states, while a decision in a case concerning the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule could be reached as soon as this summer.

  • Optimizing Your Coal Ash Recovery Operation

    Coal combustion products often can be recycled into a variety of construction and building materials. However, first you must be able to retrieve the wet ash from a holding pond before the ash can be dried and sold.

  • Climate Science From the Onion?

    The already low quality of scientific publication has now reached rock bottom. The Onion recently reported on three scientific studies that put illustrate how far quality scientific inquiry has fallen.

  • More Reasons to Question Whether Gas Is Cleaner Than Coal

    Is natural gas as clean a fuel as we are led to believe? A recent study by a Cornell University professor concludes that leaks of natural gas into the atmosphere may make coal the better choice.

  • The End Game

    The Obama administration often says that there is room for coal in our future fuels mix. However, the administration’s actions lead me to believe President Obama has something much more profound in mind.