POWERnews
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News
NRC’s Decommissioning Cost Formula Is Faulty, GAO Report Says
A new study from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should reevaluate the formula with which it calculates nuclear reactor decommissioning costs. In an analysis of 12 of the nation’s 104 reactors, decommissioning costs calculated for five reactors were 76% less than what would be required, Congress’ investigative arm says.
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News
Duke, Progress Agree to Curtail Merger Costs to Retail Customers
Duke Energy and Progress Energy customers would not shoulder charges for costs of about $450 million related to the utilities’ proposed $26 billion merger if the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) speedily approves the deal, according to an agreement between the companies and the state regulatory body that was disclosed Monday.
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News
D.C. Circuit Hears Case Challenging NRC Inaction on DOE’s Yucca Application
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard oral arguments last week in a case that examines whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should be required to continue the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository proposed for Nevada.
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News
Jaczko: No Timetable Set for San Onofre Restart
No timetable has been set for the restart of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) despite “erroneous reports” in the media that referred to June dates, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Gregory Jaczko said on Monday.
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Coal
Wisconsin Public Service Proposes Installation of New Multi-Pollutant Control Technology
Integrys Energy Group subsidiary Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (WPS) on Monday filed for a Certificate of Authority (CA) from the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) to install Regenerative Activated Coke Technology (ReACT) at its 321-MW Weston 3 plant.
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Wind
Gamesa Scraps U.S. Offshore Wind Prototype Project
Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa on Monday said it would start the permitting process for the installation of its first offshore prototype, the 50-Hz G128-5.0 MW at Arinaga Quay in Spain’s Gran Canary Island—not Cape Charles, Va., as it had initially proposed. The decision was driven by technical and wind resource considerations, offshore market trends, and investment return criteria, the firm said.
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News
Costly Canadian CCS Demonstration Project Is Latest to Have the Plug Pulled
Canadian energy firms TransAlta, Capital Power, and Enbridge last week scrapped plans for the much-watched Project Pioneer, a joint effort the companies were to undertake with the Canadian federal government and Province of Alberta to demonstrate commercial-scale viability of carbon capture and storage technology (CCS).
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News
Duke, Indiana Consumer Groups Agree to Cap Edwardsport IGCC Project Costs at $2.6 B
Duke Energy and some of the Indiana’s key consumer groups on Friday reached a settlement agreement that resolves a disagreement concerning the utility’s consumer-paid cost overruns for its 618-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant at Edwardsport, Ind. The $3.3 billion coal-fired plant is almost complete and on schedule to begin operations this fall.
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News
ASCE: Nation’s Aging Grid Needs $566 B, Funding Gaps Could Prove Costly
The nation’s complex, patchwork system of regional and local power plants, power lines, and transformers is in the worst shape it has ever been, with 70% of transmission lines and power transformers aged more than 25 years, and 60% of the nation’s circuit breakers currently more than 30 years old, suggests new report from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). At least $566 billion will be needed to revitalize the grid through 2020, the group warns.
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News
DOE, Japan Say Small-Scale Methane Hydrate Technology Tests Are Successful
Small-scale technology tests by the U.S. and Japan in the North Slope of Alaska have extracted a steady flow of natural gas from methane hydrates, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said on Wednesday. If new research efforts to conduct long-term production tests in the Arctic and Gulf Coast are successful, they could unlock a “vast, entirely untapped resource” that would hold significant enormous potential for U.S. energy security, the agency said.