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Regulations being proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could significantly affect the bulk power system’s reliability, a new report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) shows. The quasi-public agency recommends that the proposed rules provide sufficient time to procure replacement resources that would offset capacity reductions expected as a result of unit retirements and deratings from environmental control retrofits.

E.ON last week shelved plans to build its controversial Kingsnorth coal-fired plant in Kent, and it withdrew from the UK’s government competition to build the first of four planned large-scale pilot power plants to demonstrate carbon capture and storage (CCS). The company said the project could not meet “competition timescales.”

The Department of the Interior (DOI) on Monday approved the Blythe Solar Power Project—the largest solar energy project ever proposed to be built on public lands in the U.S.

Qinshan Phase II Unit 3—the first power station built during China’s 11th five-year plan period and the country’s 13th nuclear unit—started commercial operation last week. The unit is the second Chinese reactor to start up this year, following Ling Ao II, which began commercial operation this September.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Savannah River Nuclear Solution, a partnership comprising Fluor, Northrop Grumman, and Honeywell, have agreed to explore the potential of deploying a prototype of the Generation IV PRISM reactor at a proposed demonstration of small modular reactor technologies at the Energy Department’s Savannah River site.

Électricité de France (EDF) is to acquire Constellation Energy’s 50% share in the companies’ joint venture, UniStar, for $140 million under an agreement reached on Tuesday.

The Department of Energy (DOE) teamed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), and the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Tuesday to announce eight joint research awards totaling nearly $5 million to support siting and permitting of offshore energy facilities. The awards include projects harvesting power generated from offshore wind and waves, tides, currents, and ocean thermal gradients.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) on Thursday issued a recommendation to the electric power industry providing sensitive information about the so-called “AURORA vulnerability”—gaps in critical infrastructure protection concerning large motors and generators connected to the bulk power system.

The fight to keep the Yucca Mountain alive intensified last week as members of Congress demanded justification for an order by Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Gregory Jaczko that seeks to halt review of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) application to build the long-term nuclear waste repository in Nevada.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) on Friday said it would conduct a legal and technical audit of cases concerning Duke Energy Indiana’s $3 billion Edwardsport gasification facility in which a former administrative law judge had presided.