nuclear
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Legal & Regulatory
NRC Begins “Wide-Ranging” Inspection of Pilgrim Nuclear Plant
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is beginning a comprehensive three-week inspection of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, Mass., as a result of the plant’s repeated performance deficiencies, the agency said in a November 28 statement. The inspection, planned for more than a year, is part of the NRC’s heightened oversight process, begun […]
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Legal & Regulatory
State-Level Nuclear Policy Elicits Strong Opinions at Regulators’ Meeting
RESOLVED: Retaining nuclear capacity is necessary to secure a reliable, cost-effective, low-emissions supply of electric power in the United States. That was the proposition for a debate between two high-profile opponents in “A Square-Off on Nuclear Policy” on November 16, the last day of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) annual meeting in La Quinta, […]
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News
Bellefonte Nuclear Plant Sold for $111 Million; Buyer Wants to Finish It
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) said on November 14 that it has sold the unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant at auction to a private holding company for $111 million. The two-unit Bellefonte plant sits on approximately 1,600 acres on a peninsula in the Tennessee River near Hollywood, Alabama. TVA began construction in 1974, but it halted the […]
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Nuclear
Russia and China Expand Nuclear Cooperation
Russia and China have agreed to expand cooperation on nuclear energy, with Russia to build another two reactors in China in addition to expanding cooperation on fast-reactor technology and floating nuclear plants, Russia’s state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom said in a November 8 statement. The two nations, which share a 4,200-kilometer-long border, have worked together on […]
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Nuclear
TOP PLANT: Ningde Nuclear Power Plant, Fujian Province, China
China is on an epic build-out of its nuclear generating capacity, and developing indigenous expertise and technology is central to that goal. The first completed plant leveraging the nation’s CPR-1000 design
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O&M
TOP PLANT: Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Delta, Pennsylvania
Owner/operator: Exelon Generation and PSEG Nuclear/Exelon Generation When decision-makers choose to increase the maximum output of a nuclear power plant through an uprate, it sets in motion a process that can take many years and countless man-hours to complete. The success of Peach Bottom station’s extended power uprate project shows that all the long hours […]
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O&M
Ultra-High-Pressure Cavitation Peening Offers New Way to Maintain Components in Operational Nuclear Reactors
To power generation professionals, the word “cavitation” typically has negative connotations, but a new process offers a way to control this normally destructive effect and deploy it as a cost-effective life-extension technique. As operators of commercial nuclear energy facilities consider subsequent license renewals and life extensions, finding new ways to safely maintain reactor components remains […]
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Coal
POWER Digest
Vattenfall to Convert Berlin Coal Plants to Natural Gas. Sweden’s state-owned power company Vattenfall is phasing out the use of coal in Germany’s capital Berlin. The company on September 28 said it would
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Nuclear
TOP PLANT: Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant Unit 4, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia
Owner/operator: Rosenergoatom Fast-neutron reactors are pivotal to Russia’s ambitious nuclear power plans. The successful construction, grid-connection, and testing of the country’s first BN-800 reactor at its Beloyarsk nuclear plant is a major achievement in the right direction. Since the Soviet Union began its first experimental nuclear power projects in the 1940s, Russia has embraced nuclear’s […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Generators Sue to Block Lifeline for New York Nuclear Plants
A group of generators including Dynegy and NRG Energy filed suit in federal court on October 19 seeking to block an incentive program that would help three New York nuclear power plants remain economic over the next decade. An August decision by the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) approving New York’s Clean Energy Standard included a provision requiring […]
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