Latest

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has sent a more proficient inspection team to Dominion’s quake-hit North Anna nuclear power plant in Mineral, Va., to further investigate effects of the Aug. 23 5.8-magnitude quake whose epicenter was only five miles away from the twin-reactor station in Mineral, Va., after Dominion told the NRC that initial reviews determined the ground motion resulting from the quake may have exceeded the plant’s design basis.

On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved changes to emergency preparedness regulations affecting existing nuclear power plants, those that might be licensed and built in the future, and research and test reactors.

The City of Alexandria, Va., and Houston-based GenOn on Monday agreed to shutter the company’s 482-MW coal-fired Potomac Generating Station (PRGS) by Oct. 2012. Community groups had fiercely opposed the 1949-built plant’s continued operation, citing concerns about its age and emitted pollution, but the plant has been seen as a key facility that maintains reliability for Washington, D.C.

Rural electric cooperative utilities in 14 states will receive up to $900 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Rural Development’s Rural Utilities Service to help them upgrade, expand, maintain, and replace power infrastructure in rural areas of the U.S. The funding, announced on Monday, is expected to support construction of nearly 1,500 miles of line and improve 1,700 miles of existing line.

Germany will not rely on reserve power from any of the seven nuclear power plants (with a total capacity of about 8,800 MW) that it shut down in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear crisis for this and the following winter, the country’s energy regulator said today.

The Department of Energy on Friday finalized a partial guarantee for a $852 million loan to support development of the Genesis Solar Project—a 250-MW parabolic trough concentrating solar (CSP) facility located on federal land in Riverside County, Calif., that is expected to increase the nation’s currently installed CSP capacity by about 50%.

Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda could push for use of existing nuclear reactors in Japan for a longer period than advocated by outgoing Prime Minister Naoto Kan.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) last week approved a transmission line on public lands that will connect a 250-MW solar power project to the grid in California. The line will connect to the Imperial Solar Energy Center West Project in Imperial County.

The Department of Energy on Friday finalized a $197 million loan guarantee to SoloPower Inc. for the construction and operation of thin-film solar module manufacturing facilities at sites in Portland, Oregon, and at an existing site in San Jose, California.

A recently finalized rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on regional and interregional electric transmission planning and cost allocation exceeds its authority under the Federal Power Act and “must be revised,” a coalition of seven utilities have told the commission.