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Eight of 15 Ukrainian Reactors Remain in Operation After Three Weeks of War

March 20, 2022

Ukraine’s nuclear regulator informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 16 that eight of the country’s 15 nuclear reactors were in operation despite the ongoing Russian invasion. Of the four sites with operational units, two of six at Zaporizhzhya, three of four at Rivne, one of two at Khmelnytskyy, and two of three at South Ukraine were in operation.

At the Zaporizhzhya site, which Russian forces took control of on March 4, Ukrainian staff have continued to operate Units 2 and 4. The units are running at “slightly decreased” power supplies to the grid because some power lines had been damaged by the fighting. The plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant (NPP) in Europe, has four high-voltage (750-kV) offsite power lines. Two of the four were damaged earlier and a third line was lost on Wednesday. The station also has a standby line, which, with the one remaining power line, “were sufficient to ensure that all safety systems remained fully functional without limitations,” the IAEA said.…

Engineering Group: American Gas Turbines Will Remain Relevant But Need Advancement

February 13, 2020

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The post Engineering Group: American Gas Turbines Will Remain Relevant But Need Advancement appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Given current trends, the U.S. gas turbine industry is set to play a critically important role in power generation, aircraft propulsion, and the oil and gas industry “for decades to come,” but it could benefit from prioritized research and development (R&D) and technological leadership, a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concludes.

The publication, Advanced Technologies for Gas Turbines, released earlier this month, stems from a request from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine—a private, nonprofit institution that provides expert advice to the government on pressing challenges—form an ad hoc committee to identify high-priority opportunities that could create and improve advanced technologies into the design and manufacture of gas turbines to improve their efficiency and life-cycle costs.

The 14-member all-engineer committee assembled by the National Academies’ Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, which is part of its Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, met four times during 2018 and 2019.…

Despite Financial Hurdles, Utility Capital Spending to Remain Elevated

December 31, 2018

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Despite higher taxable income and pressure on balance sheets, capital spending by regulated utilities will remain elevated—and much of it will be dedicated to replacing aging infrastructure, hardening or efficiency-boosting measures, and on renewables and environmental projects, said Moody’s Investors Service in a recent sectoral briefing.

The credit ratings agency for the first time this June downgraded the regulated utility sector from stable to negative, pointing to a surge in financial risks as more individual companies funnel funds to debt. In a Dec. 14 briefing, Moody’s said utilities will claim less in depreciation expenses and have higher taxable income under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and most are starting to pay cash taxes as early as 2019 or 2020.

However, several utilities are still involved in extensive improvement projects, it said, warning: “This could put pressure on balance sheets depending on how much debt is used in the financing plans.”

An Unexpected Surge in Captial Spending

Capital spending for a group of 31 utility holding companies that the agency examined was expected surge to $ 100 billion in 2018, compared to $ 90 billion in 2017, Moody’s noted.…

West Virginia Coal Plant Will Remain Open Until 2022

October 23, 2018

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FirstEnergy on October 18 said its coal-fired Pleasants Power Station in West Virginia will stay open until June 2022, after earlier announcing the plant would close in January of next year.

FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said, “Keeping Pleasants in operation … allows the plant to fulfill current capacity obligations and provides additional time for evaluation of the long-term plan for the station prior to deactivation.”

The plant is operated by Allegheny Energy Supply (AES), a FirstEnergy subsidiary. Pushing back the closing date allows Pleasants Power to remain in operation until the transfer of the facility from AES to FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) is complete. The transfer is part of FirstEnergy’s bankruptcy settlement agreement with FES and the FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), Young said.

FirstEnergy in February of this year said it would close the 1.3-GW Pleasants Power Station by January 1, 2019. The company has been suffering steep losses in competitive markets. It announced a plan in November 2016 to exit competitive generation and become a fully regulated company.…