POWERnews

Officials from Wolf Creek Generating Station, a 1,200-MW nuclear plant located northeast of Burlington, Kan., met with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Jan. 22 to review actions the company has taken in response to the NRC’s issuance of a chilling effects letter on Aug. 19, 2013. The NRC defines a “chilled work environment” as […]

A former chemistry manager at a nuclear power facility was fined $500 and sentenced to 18 months’ probation on Jan. 16 for engaging in deliberate misconduct in connection with a matter regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Daniel Wilson pleaded guilty to felony charges of fabricating chemical test results regarding diesel fuel used to […]

The Democrat-controlled Colorado Senate on Jan. 15 blocked a bill that would have reversed the state’s controversial renewable energy mandate for rural electric cooperatives. Colorado has had a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) since 2004, when it became the first state in the U.S. to mandate a percentage of renewable generation in retail electricity sales, but […]

Witnesses from four federal agencies, including Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy, answered pointed questions about the president’s June 2013–released Climate Action Plan (CAP) and associated rules at an oversight hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works today.  Committee Chair Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) began the hearing to review President Obama’s […]

Three Wyoming coal-fired power plants will be required to install costly controls to curb nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions under a regional haze rule that was finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week. The agency disapproved parts of a state implementation plan (SIP) submitted by Wyoming in January 2011 to address regional haze. It […]

A years-long drought afflicting California could put financial pressure on a number of the state’s hydropower generators, a ratings agency warns.  Fitch Ratings on Friday said that while the financial impact could be manageable, utilities that depend on hydropower generation for the most part may be forced to use more expensive generation and purchased power […]

A new bill authored by state Sen. James Merritt, R-Indianapolis, is designed to promote nuclear power development in Indiana, which doesn’t currently have any operating nuclear power plants. Senate Bill 302 provides that projects involving the construction of nuclear energy production or generating facilities qualify for the financial incentives available for clean energy projects. Current […]

With 16 reactors providing roughly 18% of the UK’s electricity needs, nuclear power is a vital part of the country’s energy supply. The trouble is that all but one of the aging reactors is expected to be permanently shutdown within the next 12 years. Recent developments, however, indicate that there is no reason for the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will today miss a legally set deadline to issue finalized standards for cooling water intake structures for all existing power generating facilities under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act.  The EPA’s 2004 Phase II Cooling Water Intake Structure rules were suspended in July 2007 in response to the Second […]

The EPA published the latest version of its new source performance standards (NSPS) for carbon pollution from new power plants in the Federal Register on Jan. 8, setting in motion a 60-day public comment period. The action stems from the 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA that defined greenhouse gases as an air […]