DOE

Global demand for the 17 periodic table elements—15 within the chemical group called lanthanides, plus yttrium and scandium—has soared in recent years as they become increasingly integrated in new technologies. Some major end uses include generators for wind turbines, permanent magnets and rechargeable batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, automotive catalytic converters, fluid cracking catalysts […]

While GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) confirmed it hasn’t made a formal decision to proceed with licensing or construction of a laser enrichment facility at Paducah, Ky., the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it has agreed to sell depleted uranium to the company over a 40-year period to help produce nuclear power plant fuel. The […]

Nuclear power’s future—and its much-needed contribution to U.S. decarbonization efforts—may be hampered if eight pressing issues aren’t addressed within the next five years, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said at a recent event held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The issues Moniz outlined in his keynote speech at a six-hour event titled […]

The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will award up to $80 million to a 10-MWe pilot project that seeks to advance the development and commercialization of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) Brayton power cycles. The plant will be managed by three research entities: the Gas Technology Institute (GTI), Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and […]

A strategy rolled out by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of the Interior (DOI) to enable 86 GW of offshore wind capacity in the U.S. by 2050 highlights a number of key hurdles, including those related to technology, regulations, the environment, and markets. The DOE’s and DOI’s September 9–released joint document, “National Offshore […]

If wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) penetrations in the Eastern Interconnection were amped up to 30%, they would decrease coal, combined cycle, and combustion turbine capacity factors by 30% to 50%, a new study from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) suggests. The study, NREL’s Eastern Renewable Generation Integration Study (ERGIS), was released on August […]

Fourteen research and development projects to scale up coal-based advanced combustion power systems and gasification processes and improve costs and endurance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have won investments of more than $28 million from the Department of Energy (DOE). The Energy Department on August 24 announced it has selected the projects to help […]

Three projects to advance turbine systems for gas-fired power plants SAN ANTONIO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is a member of three teams awarded funding by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory to develop technologies to advance the state-of-the-art in power generation. The three projects total about $18.2 million in DOE and private […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has pulled back funding for two proposed offshore wind demonstration projects spearheaded separately by Dominion Virginia Power and Principle Power, bolstering its support instead for projects it says demonstrate more progress or potential. The funding decision stems from the agency’s 2012 selection of seven offshore demonstration projects, which initially received […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on May 6 released a final environmental impact statement (EIS) supplement for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, a court-obligated finding that may revive the comatose project. The final supplement evaluates the potential environmental impacts on groundwater and other impacts associated with the discharge of contaminated groundwater from the […]