Nuclear

State Regulator Reacts To Vogtle Approval

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Stan Wise, Chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission, welcomed today’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission vote as bringing “certainty” to a project that is “$2 billion in the ground and $13 billion to go.”

The project structure Georgia Power and its parent, Southern Company, have set up, with Shaw as constructor and Westinghouse as nuclear vendor under contracts specifying schedule and budget, is vital to ensuring there are no cost overruns as there were in the 1980s when Georgia Power built Vogtle-1 and -2, he said. Keep reading →

 /  Published February 9, 2012 at 1:40 PM

New Nuclear Plants Under Cost, Deadline Scrutiny

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The first new nuclear plants to be licensed in the US since 1978 will be under a financial and operational microscope as investors, regulators and customers watch for any delay that could add to costs or impact the planned start date.

The nuclear energy industry’s leadership gathered in New York City today for a briefing of financial analysts, but their timing had extra weight as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission met in the afternoon and approved Southern Company’s Vogtle plant project in Georgia in a four to one vote as the first new build nuclear facility in the US in more than 30 years. Keep reading →

 /  Published February 9, 2012 at 1:20 PM

Judge Murtha: “The harm to public interest from even a temporary shutdown of #Vermont Yankee would be significant” – http://bit.ly/zdUwTp

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Judge Murtha: “The harm to public interest from even a temporary shutdown of #Vermont Yankee would be significant” – http://bit.ly/zdUwTp N_E_I

 /  Published January 20, 2012 at 11:45 AM

Old King Coal Stays On World Energy Throne

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China has the world’s largest-ever program to build new nuclear generating plants, the world’s largest-ever program to build renewables, government mandates to vastly improve efficiency – and the world’s largest coal building program.

China’s situation was used by International Energy Agency experts to illustrate why their first report on coal’s prospects over the next five years, the Medium-Term Coal Market Report 2011, has concluded coal will remain the world’s dominant fuel, despite growing worries about climate change. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 12, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Natural Gas Assets Play Key Role In Middle East Conflict

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The Arab Awakening and Iran’s continued pursuit of a nuclear program dominated the conversation in the Middle East in 2011. But a longer view calls for greater attention to a seemingly obscure but potentially pivotal issue: the discovery of large natural gas deposits in the Eastern Mediterranean, known as the Leviathan Basin. Shared economic interests should compel the nations of the Middle East and Europe to set aside their differences and quickly exploit Leviathan. But as tensions among the United States, Israel, and Iran increase and unrest in the region persists, this valuable resource could become a casualty – or even driver – of an international row, scuttling a key opportunity for European and global energy consumers.

When a US energy company discovered new areas of the Leviathan basin between Israel and Cyprus in mid-2011, regional players weighed in decisively. Turkey deployed a naval mission to explore deposits in the waters off Turkish Cyprus. A demonstration of Turkey’s discomfort with a closer relationship between Israel and Cyprus, this alone nearly sparked a conflict between Israel and Turkey. Iran also weighed in, offering to help Lebanon explore its own waters and supporting Lebanon’s claim that parts of the basin lay within its territory. The US quickly sided with Israel and Cyprus, creating the appearance of further Turkish alignment with Iran and a division between two diametrically opposed camps. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 11, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Nuclear Power Decline In Numbers (INFOGRAPHIC)

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Nuclear power has more than just an image problem.

With huge up front development costs, it is increasingly seen as dangerous and governments are responding to people’s fears by closing plants, blocking new construction and even halting reactor construction mid way. In its latest Vital Signs Online (VSO) report, Washington DC-based think tank Worldwatch Institute documented the numbers for falling nuclear power usage across the globe. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 3, 2012 at 2:30 PM

Is Indian Point Nuclear Plant Safe For Another 20 Years?

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Even as global nuclear power prospects have been overshadowed by events in the past year, US nuclear power has remained relatively steady. But controversy following the Fukushima disaster is starting to impact operations at existing nuclear units as well as permitting for proposed facilities.

Particularly controversial has been upstate New York’s Indian Point nuclear plant run by Entergy in Buchanan, New York. As the plant reaches its fortieth year and Entergy applies for a new 20-year license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, several key stakeholders are trying to block the way. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 29, 2011 at 7:00 AM

Sixty Years Of Nuclear Power

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It’s been sixty years since Argonne National Laboratory director Walter Zinn scribbled into his log book, “Electricity flows from atomic energy. Rough estimate indicates 45 kw.”

At 1:23pm on December 20, 1951 nuclear powered electricity worked for the first time, lighting four light bulbs in the lab. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 20, 2011 at 4:00 PM

EU 2050 Energy Roadmap Neutral On Nuclear Power

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Even as Canada withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol this month–during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa–the European Union set an aggressive energy roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 80%-95% below 1990 levels by 2050.

The transformation will make Europe less dependent on external energy supplies. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 16, 2011 at 9:30 AM

Gregory Jaczko Stands His NRC Ground At Hearings

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Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko rejected Republican calls for his resignation Wednesday after the other four commission members publicly accused him of threatening NRC’s ability to act as the nation’s nuclear safety watchdog.

“If you do the right thing for your country, you will resign,” Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said at the hearing. Keep reading →

 /  Published December 15, 2011 at 10:00 AM
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