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The threats to power industry operations—and the reliable supply of power that we all depend upon for daily life—are no longer theoretical. A roughly 250% spike in reported industrial control system incidents over the past four years demonstrates that regulations alone will not protect power infrastructure. Everyone who works in this industry needs to develop […]

One of the persistent challenges for power sector cybersecurity is integrating operational and information technology teams and functions, especially when they include remote or third-party systems. A new military-grade security approach provides industrial control system security without compromising ease of daily operations. What do power generating companies have in common with The Boeing Co.? The […]

A combination of spent fuel pools reaching capacity, security concerns, and mostly nonexistent policies regarding long-term consolidated storage of nuclear waste is making dry cask storage the only way forward for most nations with nuclear power reactors. Around the world, demand for dry cask storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is on the rise. […]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires certain incidents to be recorded and reported, which generates a set of statistics that many companies use to gauge safety performance. However, other metrics may be better predictors. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires all employers with more than 10 employees, and whose establishments are not […]

American Electric Power, one of the premier generating utilities in the U.S., is caught between a deregulated rock—wholesale competitive capacity markets that don’t, in the company’s opinion, value solid equipment over ephemeral demand response—and a regulatory hard place of increasing federal government rules that devalue on-the-ground coal-fired generation. Add the competitive challenge of cheap natural […]

An increasing supply of low-cost higher-chlorine coal is prompting many U.S. generators to give the fuel serious consideration in spite of its reputation for causing corrosion. Though corrosion can be a consideration, it’s not always caused simply by the fuel switch. Understanding the various chemical interactions, as well as operational and emissions pros and cons, […]

Proposed U.S. standards for reducing carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants rely heavily upon generation-side efficiency improvements. Fuel, operations, and plant design all affect the overall efficiency of a plant, as well as its carbon emissions. This review of the fundamentals of coal plant efficiency, frequent problems that reduce efficiency, and some solutions for […]

Thomas H. Adams The American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) welcomed the publication on Dec. 19 of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Final Rule regulating coal ash disposal as a “non-hazardous”

The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the availability of more than $59 million in funding to support solar energy innovation. Of that total, $45 million is intended “to quickly move innovative solar manufacturing technologies to market” and more than $14 million is designated for 15 new projects to help communities develop multi-year solar deployment […]

More than six and a half years after the Department of Energy (DOE) submitted its license application seeking authorization to build a geologic repository, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff published the final two volumes of the safety evaluation report (SER) on the Yucca Mountain site. Released on Jan. 29, Volume 2 covers repository safety before […]