Nuclear | EnergyNorthwest.com

Vogtle Receives First Shipment of Nuclear Fuel

December 11, 2020

The post Vogtle Receives First Shipment of Nuclear Fuel appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia reached another milestone as Georgia Power received the first shipment of nuclear fuel for Unit 3 of the project.

The utility on Dec. 9 said receipt of the fuel follows completion and inspection of several construction areas at the site in Waynesboro, Georgia. Those areas included the fuel vault and spent fuel pool. The fuel handling area of Unit 3 has been turned over to the operations staff; Georgia Power said the Vogtle site has “implemented specific and comprehensive policies, procedures and security measures to safely receive, handle and store the nuclear fuel.”

The Vogtle expansion is adding two, 1,100-MW AP1000 reactors to the nuclear plant, where two other reactors—Units 1 and 2—have operated since 1987 and 1989, respectively. The team leading the expansion, a project which would provide the U.S. with the country’s first new large-scale nuclear reactors in more than 30 years, earlier this year successfully completed the pre-startup review process conducted by the World Association of Nuclear Operators.…

Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Boost Advanced Nuclear, Preserve Existing Nuclear

November 23, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Boost Advanced Nuclear, Preserve Existing Nuclear appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Legislation introduced on Nov. 17 by a bipartisan group of senators on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) will seek to strengthen the nuclear fuel supply chain, help incentivize commercial deployment of new reactor designs, and create a credit program to preserve existing nuclear reactors at risk of premature shutdown.

The American Nuclear Infrastructure Act (ANIA) of 2020, introduced by U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), EPW chairman, and Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), follows the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA), which President Trump signed into law in January 2019.

NEIMA, sponsored by the same senators, requires the Nuclear Regulatory (NRC) to develop a rule to license advanced reactors, as well as greater clarity into the process by which the commission develops its budget and recovers its costs through fees.…

FirstEnergy Fires CEO as Nuclear Bailout Probe Continues

November 1, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post FirstEnergy Fires CEO as Nuclear Bailout Probe Continues appeared first on POWER Magazine.

FirstEnergy Corp. President and CEO Charles “Chuck” Jones was fired late Thursday after an internal review found Jones and two other company executives violated company policies in connection with an alleged bribery scheme.

The case is connected to a legislative bailout of the state’s nuclear power plants that occurred in 2019. The law, known as House Bill 6 (HB 6), meant state electricity ratepayers would pay more in their bills to subsidize the state’s nuclear plants, along with two coal-fired power plants jointly owned by the state’s utilities.

Thursday’s action came after two of the four lobbyists charged in the federal racketeering probe entered guilty pleas in the case.

Federal agents in July arrested Larry Householder, an Ohio Republican lawmaker and former Speaker of the House, and four other men, including lobbyists for FirstEnergy and its former subsidiary FirstEnergy Solutions, now known as Energy Harbor.…

Exelon Makes Plans to Retire Byron and Dresden Nuclear Plants in 2021

August 28, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Exelon Makes Plans to Retire Byron and Dresden Nuclear Plants in 2021 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a stunning announcement, Exelon Generation, which operates the largest U.S. fleet of nuclear plants—21 reactors at 12 facilities in Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania—said it will retire the Byron and Dresden generating stations next fall for economic reasons.

“Although we know in our heads that shutting down the uneconomic Illinois plants is necessary to preserve even more jobs elsewhere, our hearts ache today for the thousands of talented women and men that have served Illinois families for more than a generation and will lose their jobs because of poorly conceived energy policies,” Christopher Crane, president and CEO of Exelon, said in a statement. “But we are only about a year away from shutdown and we need to give our people, the host communities, and regulators time to prepare.”

Massive Clean Energy Generation

The Dresden Generating Station (Figure 1) has two operating boiling water reactors that combine for a total net generating capacity of 1,845 MW.…

Assembly Phase Underway for ITER Nuclear Project

July 28, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Assembly Phase Underway for ITER Nuclear Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Officials with the ITER project in France said work has started on the assembly of giant components needed for construction of an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, a project designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy for peaceful use.

The ITER group, in a ceremony July 28 that was broadcast online (see video below), marked the start of the machine assembly of the international experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. Countries involved in the project include the United States, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and member states of the European Union, with a total of 35 countries participating. The project (Figure 1), being built in Cadarache, France, is expected to start up in 2035.

The project has had large budget overruns, as well as several delays as the partner countries have tried to coordinate financing and cooperation on technical issues. The exact price tag is not known, as participating countries have not divulged their commitments, but Bernard Bigot, the project’s director, on Tuesday said the estimated budget for the European Union is about 20 billion euros ($ 23.5 billion).…

Another Court Challenge for Nuclear Waste Storage Site

June 10, 2020

| No Comments

| Industry News

The post Another Court Challenge for Nuclear Waste Storage Site appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Another legal challenge has been filed against the ongoing effort to build a storage site for U.S. nuclear waste in the New Mexico desert.

Beyond Nuclear, among the environmental and other groups opposed to the project that would be built by Holtec International, on June 4 filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The group has asked the court to review the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) rejection of their earlier petitions against the project.

Holtec International, a private company that specializes in spent nuclear fuel storage and management, wants to build what it calls its HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) in southeastern New Mexico. The site in the desert near Carlsbad has been the subject of opposition from several groups, including state lawmakers and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

Supporters of the storage site have said it would bring an estimated $ 3 billion in capital investments to the region, and create about 100 jobs.…