September, 2011

Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced some welcome news this week, as the temperature within the last of three damaged reactor vessels at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant fell below boiling. Meanwhile, the Japanese government offered more details about the scope of contamination from the accident and the cleanup to come. Developments this week include ...

The Department of Energy continues to expand its efforts encouraging nuclear development and research in the Czech Republic and Poland. On Thursday, DOE announced it will join the Rez Nuclear Research Institute in the Czech Republic and other educational institutions to collaborate on a range of research programs ...

Making good on a promise by the Japanese government earlier this month that the country will continue to promote its nuclear technology abroad, Japan Atomic Energy Co. announced it will help Vietnam study possible reactor construction. On Wednesday, the company said it will conduct a study of the feasibility of building a nuclear power plant in Vietnam, Reuters reported. No country...

United States Enrichment Corp. has completed one of the final steps in transferring the 1950s-era Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant back to the Department of Energy. On Wednesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it approved USEC’s plan for the last part of the transfer and the eventual termination of the agency’s certificate of compliance for the plant.

The EDF Board has approved an order for 44 steam generators, to be installed in its 1300 MW nuclear power plants. Areva and Westinghouse are to undertake the supply of 32 and 12 generators respectively, for a total value in excess of 1.5 billion euros. As a result, suitably equipped and highly experienced industrial sites, particularly in the Burgundy region, will see a substantial demand for their...

TEPCO released the following video of inside the Reactor Building of Unit 3, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclaer Power Station.

On Tuesday the Nuclear Regulatory Commission began the first mandatory hearing for a new nuclear power reactor since the 1970s. Southern Nuclear Operating Co. submitted its application to build two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at its Vogtle site near Augusta, Ga., in 2008. Following years of studies on the project, the NRC commissioners will soon make a decision on the reactors’...

Areva subsidiary Transnuclear announced Tuesday that its partner Larsen & Toubro has delivered 13 dry cask nuclear waste storage containers to U.S. customers, with another 61 casks on order for facilities in the U.S. and Switzerland. “This delivery represents a significant milestone in Transnuclear Inc.’s ongoing effort to ensure a robust, high-quality, and cost-effective...

The Westinghouse AP1000 reactor design has passed one of the final steps toward regulatory approval, the company announced Monday. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards has agreed with NRC staff that changes to the reactor’s design allow it to operate without undue risk to public safety, Toshiba subsidiary Westinghouse reported in...

While the Columbia Generating Station’s reactor was shut down for refueling, operators inadvertently drained water from it three times. And although conditions at the plant did not threaten public safety, the mistakes have drawn a special inspection from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Columbia’s GE-5 boiling water reactor, located in central Washington state and operated...

Nuclear power will continue to play a role in China’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions, a government official said Thursday. "Currently and in the future, in a bid to control greenhouse gas emissions, China will rely chiefly on saving energy, enhancing energy efficiency, developing renewable energies and developing nuclear power on the premise of ensuring safety," said...

Babcock & Wilcox recently tapped GSE Systems to develop a simulator for B&W’s mPower small modular reactor design. The real-time, high-fidelity simulator will be used to validate plant systems, as well as to assist with design challenges that include human factors engineering and control and logic strategies, according to a GSE release.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. released this new video documenting recovery efforts at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Tuesday.

The reactor at the Columbia Generating station achieved criticality Monday and should return to the grid Saturday following a longer-than-expected outage. Energy Northwest powered down the plant in April for a scheduled refueling outage and a condenser replacement. The utility and contractor Babcock and Wilcox set an estimated completion date of June 23, but problems with the condenser...

After winning a contract two years ago to deliver replacement reactor vessel heads to a Swiss nuclear plant, Westinghouse on Wednesday announced a second contract to perform their installation. Valued at $35 million, according to a Westinghouse release, the work will take place on both 730 megawatt pressurized water reactors at Axpo AG’s Beznau nuclear plant north of Zurich...

After plans for new reactors among a number of African governments stalled following the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan, projects in Nigeria and South Africa are again gaining momentum. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan asked the Atomic Energy Commission of the continent’s most populous country to move ahead with plans to build its first nuclear plant. The Christian...

At least eight viruses infected servers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the company acknowledged Tuesday, with nuclear plant data believed to be among the targets of a coordinated cyberattack. MHI is a leading defense contractor in Japan and also provides a wide range of products and design services to the civilian nuclear industry. The viruses infected 45 servers and 38 individual...

Although the number of power reactors worldwide is expected to grow significantly, the International Atomic Energy Agency predicts rapid development in all forms of power generation will shrink nuclear’s share in the coming decades. On Tuesday the IAEA released projections that indicate the proportion of total electrical generation from reactors will, at best, stay the same...

A German magazine has reported that Europe’s largest engineering firm will no longer do work in nuclear energy. In an interview with Der Spiegel published Sunday, Siemens CEO Peter Loescher said his firm will withdraw from the sector. Siemens built Germany’s 17 existing power reactors and has provided parts for recent reactor projects in China and Finland, the BBC reported...

Missouri’s Callaway nuclear plant declared an alert Sunday after a leaking air conditioner disrupted access to part of an auxiliary building. Ameren Missouri declared the alert at 10:56 a.m. and exited it at 5:37 p.m., according to a company release. The reactor remained online throughout, and the event did not compromise public safety.

Brazil will continue to bank on new nuclear generation to support its rapidly growing economy, Energy Minister Edison Lobao said Thursday. Despite the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan, which prompted Brazil to evaluate its two operating reactors, Lobao said the country still plans to complete another five units. One is currently under construction at Brazil’s existing Angra...

The world’s top nuclear companies, including Westinghouse, Areva, GE-Hitachi, Mitsubishi, and Atomstroyexport, have agreed to a voluntary set of principles negotiated over three years with the assistance of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The Principles of Conduct, the first agreement of its kind in the history of the industry, addresses safety, security, accident...

Six months after the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami blacked out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, crews continue the painstaking task of cooling three damaged reactors, isolating four spent fuel tanks and treating tons of irradiated water that has accumulated in the plant's lower levels. In the last week those efforts continued with few surprises, as Tokyo Electric Power...

On Thursday, Areva announced it will provide services that include engineering, construction, component replacement and fuel design to the Tennessee Valley Authority as it completes the long-mothballed Bellefonte unit 1 reactor in Alabama. Among the upgrades to the plant, Areva will completely replace the control room using its Teleperm XS digital instrumentation and control system...

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has rejected efforts by environmental groups and the state of Massachusetts to stop licensing activities for more than 30 new and proposed reactors, as well as the Westinghouse AP1000 and GE-Hitachi ESBWR reactor designs. A memorandum and order released by the commission Friday dispensed with a number of petitions seeking to delay decision making at...