POWERnews

The Department of Energy has released a report on current and potential impacts of climate change on the energy sector, including power plants.

American Electric Power (AEP) has opted to retire—instead of refueling with natural gas—its 585-MW coal-fired Muskingum River Plant Unit 5 in Beverly, Ohio, in 2015.

Gina McCarthy moved closer to a Senate confirmation as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator after Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) confirmed he wouldn’t further block a long-delayed vote on her nomination.

Entergy’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in the Manomet section of Plymouth on Cape Cod Bay, Mass., was on Tuesday forced to reduce power to 85% after its salt service water inlet temperature exceeded technical specifications.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week gave Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) six more months to decide on the future of its 2-GW coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant near Farmington, N.M., recognizing "uncertainties" posed by Arizona’s recent move to consider deregulation of the state’s electric sector.

A bill approved by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday could prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from finalizing new rules that cost more than $1 billion if the Energy Department determines they will hurt the economy.

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld an earlier district court decision that Clean Air Act liabilities do not transfer to new owners when a facility is sold, while the Third Circuit upheld an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule to limit sulfur dioxide emissions from a Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant on request of New Jersey, a downwind state.

Masao Yoshida, a nuclear engineer who served as plant chief during the March 11, 2011, catastrophe at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (TEPCO’s) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, died on Tuesday from esophageal cancer. He was 58.

A bipartisan Senate bill introduced on June 27 seeks to break gridlock over a permanent nuclear waste repository by establishing a new nuclear waste administration and creating a consent-based process for siting nuclear waste facilities.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said on June 27 that President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate Ronald Binz as FERC commissioner. It had been widely anticipated that Binz would be named the new chair of the regulatory body.