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Siemens AG and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) announced on June 16 that they have submitted a proposal to Alstom, the French multinational conglomerate. The offer comes less than a week after the companies confirmed that they were considering a joint proposal and less than 2 months after General Electric (GE) made an offer to […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering the imposition of nationwide reporting requirements for chemicals and mixtures used in fracking operations. On May 19, 2014, the EPA published an Advanced Notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register seeking public input on the development of such a rule, including whether reporting should be mandatory […]

A make-shift explosive device found last week at a power plant south of Tucson, Ariz., caused a small, temporary fuel leak in a 50,000-gallon distillate oil tank—not a large explosion as previously reported in initial accounts.  However, the incident has triggered investigations by the FBI, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and […]

While General Electric (GE) waits for the French government to approve its bid for Alstom’s power and grid divisions, other companies are using the time to consider offers of their own. On June 11, Siemens AG and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) announced that they are joining forces to evaluate a potential proposal for Alstom. The […]

 Two workers were killed and at least 14 injured in an explosion at a coal-fired power plant in Kosovo last week. Plans to restart part of the damaged plant were underway on Thursday. The explosion, which could be heard six miles away in the capital, Pristina, occurred at about 10 a.m. on June 6 in […]

On the heels of the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions proposal for existing power plants, the Canadian government last week issued draft regulations to curb emissions from industrial boilers and heaters, stationary engines, and the cement manufacturing sector.   The Multi-sector Air Pollutants Regulations (MSAPR) proposed on June 3 are a part of the federal government’s […]

On June 9, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced six recommended actions designed to improve transparency of Department of Energy (DOE) uranium transactions. The recommendations were developed following a review of four transactions that took place in 2012 and 2013 between the DOE and USEC Inc. USEC is a supplier of nuclear fuel to […]

Duke Energy on Monday signed an agreement with the state of North Carolina and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to clean up the Dan River coal ash spill that occurred in February. Significantly, the agreement is financially open-ended in that it does not set a cost cap on the amount Duke must spend to […]

A report released this week by Moody’s Investors Service provides an interesting analysis of two companies knee-deep in nuclear plant construction projects. The peer comparison takes a look at Georgia Power Co.—a Southern Co. subsidiary—and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G)—a SCANA Corp. subsidiary. Georgia Power is adding two new units to its Alvin […]

Adopt a Science-based Approach: 
Use science, not hearsay, to understand your mercury capture and other effects.  Successful mercury control requires Contact, Conversion and Capture to occur to remove mercury from the system.  Each of these mechanisms must have a high degree of efficiency.  All three mechanisms must occur in as little as half a second up