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Candu Wins China’s Backing to Develop AFCR Projects. Candu Energy and the China National Nuclear Corp. on Nov. 10 signed a framework joint venture agreement to build Advanced Fuel CANDU Reactor (AFCR)

The trial operation of a steam loop for more than 17,000 hours at temperatures exceeding 760C (1,400F)—the highest ever tested at a pulverized coal plant—have wrapped up at Plant Barry Unit 4 in Alabama

Through 2014, 47 GW of new wind power capacity will be installed in China, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, and other emerging markets, marking a sharp recovery for the global wind industry after four years of

Renewables’ share of the global power mix is slated to overtake coal to become the largest source of electricity by 2040, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects in its 2014 edition of the World

Operators at Entergy’s Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (VY) took the plant offline permanently on Dec. 29 at 12:12 p.m. EST, ending a 42-year operational history. The shutdown is the first step in what is expected to be a decades-long decommissioning process for the plant. VY follows several other nuclear plants that have begun the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced on Dec. 23 that Stephen G. Burns will replace Allison Macfarlane as chairman, effective Jan. 1, 2015. Burns, a 33-year veteran of the agency—became a commissioner in November. He began his career at the NRC as an attorney in the Regional Operations and Enforcement division in 1978, later serving […]

A major U.S. solar manufacturer will shutter a manufacturing plant in Tennessee in part due to ongoing challenges presented by global trade disputes.  Polycrystalline silicon–maker Hemlock Semiconductor, a company majority owned by Dow Corning Corp., on Dec. 17 said it would close a facility in Clarksville, Tenn., owing to “sustained adverse market conditions.” “As difficult […]

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) on Dec. 18 approved Florida Power & Light’s (FPL’s) request to invest in natural gas wells in Oklahoma. NextEra subsidiary FPL, one of the largest natural gas consumers in the country—it burns more gas than any other electric utility, about 2 Bcf/d—filed the request this past June. The plan […]

The growth in natural gas–fired generation in the U.S. since 2007 has overwhelmingly displaced coal-fired generation, according to a report from the Breakthrough Institute released Dec. 15. Consistent with the impressions of power sector observers, but in contrast to previous claims by environmental groups that growth in gas is offsetting renewables and nuclear while coal […]

Computer systems at Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP)—the operator of South Korea’s 23 commercial nuclear reactors—were hacked and information divulged via blog posts and posts on Twitter, according to the company. The first leaks on Dec. 15 were of personal information obtained from some of the 10,799 employees of the company, but later […]