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Nuclear Power Production Up for Fifth Year in a Row

August 21, 2018

Nuclear power generation increased worldwide in 2017 for the fifth successive year according to a report released by the World Nuclear Association (WNA). Production from nuclear plants reached 2,506 TWh in 2017, more than 10% of global electricity demand.

The average capacity factor for the world’s nuclear power plants increased year-over-year to 81.1%, continuing the high-performance displayed over the last two decades, during which average capacity factors have consistently hovered around 80%. In an August 15 press release announcing the publication of “World Nuclear Performance Report 2018,” the WNA noted that reactor performance has been “maintained irrespective of how long a reactor has been in operation.” It said there has been no evidence of “age-related decline.”

There were 59 reactors under construction at the end of 2017. Four reactors were connected to the grid during the year, with an average construction time of 58 months. Four projects were started during the year and two were halted, including two units at the V.C.…

2017 Will be the Year for North American CCS, Expert Says

February 13, 2017

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Carbon capture and storage (CCS) in North America is about to have its year, Julio Friedmann, senior adviser for energy innovation at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said during the February 8 Global CCS Institute’s annual Americas Forum.

“We are just now like fully deployed and hopefully that will finally quash the idea, the persistent pernicious meme that CCS is some kooky technology that isn’t ready for prime time,” Friedmann said.

Coming into 2017, two commercial-scale CCS projects were operational in North America: SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 coal-fired CCS retrofit in near Estevan, Saskatchewan (POWER’s Plant of the Year in 2015), and Shell Canada’s Quest CCS project on an oil sands upgrader in Alberta.

Just more than a month into the new year, an additional CCS project came online in Texas and another in Mississippi is reportedly days from reaching full operation.

Completion of the Petra Nova project, a massive CCS project near Houston, Texas, was announced in the first half of January.…

A Look Back at 2016: The Year of Transition

December 31, 2016

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A tumultuous election year that was marked by market turmoil, the events of 2016 clearly showed that big change is afoot for the power sector.

Many of POWER‘s bold predictions for 2016, such as that the near-simultaneous surge in U.S. natural gas production and recent enactment of environmental rules would reshape the U.S. power sector, and that clean energy drivers would prompt diversification have come to be. But some events that have characterized 2016 were unprecedented and so significant, they are sure to send ripples well beyond 2017.

High Drama on the Legal and Regulatory Front

Twelve months ago, the power sector was emerging from the volatility of 2015, a year that was characterized by landmark decisions and rules, most prominent among them, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) promulgation of the final Clean Power Plan. In 2016, the legal and regulatory front saw tempered, albeit highly significant, activity.

None was as dramatic as the divided U.S. Supreme Court’s issuance in February of an unprecedented one-page order to stay implementation of the Clean Power Plan, pending a decision on its legality in the D.C.…