February, 2011

Legislative action taking place in Missouri, Indiana, and Iowa The promise of carbon emission free electricity may be realized in three states that previously had few prospects for pursuing it. On Feb 23 a Missouri House committee endorsed legislation that would allow utilities to charge customers for...

The 41st Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is up at CoolHandNuke .  It  is "a weekly round-up  of the best blog posts from  the leading U.S. nuclear bloggers.  If you want to hear the voice of the nuclear  renaissance, the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is where to...

New  York Times cites alarmist statements from U.S. nonproliferation experts The New York Times reports that Iran's commercial Bushehr nuclear reactor is having problems with start-up. According to the newspaper, Iran told the IAEA last week it is planning to unload the fuel from the reactor...

Three utilities are interested, but production may fall short of demand A very big "if" in the equation to measure the potential success of NNSA's MOX $4.6 billion MOX fuel plant being built in South Carolina is whether the fuel can be delivered to customers when they need it. The "when"...

Government renews three of eight reactors for another ten years A long-standing Spanish government policy of phasing out the nation's 7.5 GWe of nuclear  powered electricity (18% of total electricity) is being reversed both in the form of new policy and in renewal of the operating licenses for...

Former NRC official says the time has come revive long-dormant reprocessing program Failure to pursue a program for recycling spent nuclear fuel has put the U.S. far behind other countries. It represents a missed opportunity to enhance the nation's energy security and influence other countries. These...

The nuclear fuel cycle is a frequent topic in the nuclear blogsphere The 40th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is up at ANS Nuclear Cafe .  The carnival  features blog posts from the leading U.S. nuclear bloggers and is a roundup of featured content from them. If you want to hear the voice...

Westinghouse and Holtec offer “passively safe” light water reactor designs Two new small modular reactor designs were announced this week, both using scaled down light water reactor (LWR) designs. The use of conventional reactor technologies well understood by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission may speed...

A ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of appeals may weigh in the balance New York may lose it lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NY state attorney general sued the NRC claiming it needs to conduct an environmental impact assessment on spent fuel storage at the Indian Point...

Russia and Japan will build the first 4 of 16 planned reactors Flying under the radar of global market intelligence reports, Vietnam has quietly inked deals with Russia and Japan to build 4 GWe of nuclear power generating capacity.  A total of eight sites in five provinces are being considered for...

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman gets two other states to join him New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman (right) announced Feb 15 that he is suing thel Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) over storage of spent nuclear fuel for up to 60 years after the Indian Point reactors are taken out of...

Video and slides Idaho Samizdat ~ http://djysrv.blogspot.com ...read more

What does DOE want in return for a loan guarantee? This is my coverage, as published, by Fuel Cycle Week V10:N410 of 2/3/11; International Nuclear Associates, Washington, DC. Financially challenged USEC ( NYSE:USU ) could succeed in building the new American Centrifuge Plant (ACP) by 2015, if all of...

The battle for market share is tough no matter what era you are in Guest blog post by Tamar Cerafici A few weeks ago I wrote about the SEC’s bird dogging activities in the nuclear industry. NuScale and its primary investor, Michael Kenwood Capital Management, found themselves under the SEC’s microscope...

Poland launches nuclear contracts bid process ( NucNet ) Polish electricity company Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) has launched two tender awards for the country’s new nuclear programme, according to a Feb 6 company statement. The state-owned power company said that for Poland’s first nuclear power...

Brazil plans expansion to uranium enrichment Brazil plans to invest $1.8 billion to expand its capability to enrich uranium for commercial nuclear reactors.  A conservative estimates is this level of investment could add at least 1-1.5 million SWU/year to its production rate. Brazilian Energy minister...

AECL’s ACR-1000 Clears Final Phase Of Pre-Project Design Review ( NucNet ) The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has completed the final phase of its pre-project design review for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s (AECL) advanced Candu reactor, according to a summary of the Commission’s report...

It is a pilot for a commercial fast breeder NucNet: The Moscow division of Russian nuclear engineering company Atomenergoproekt ( AEP ) released design documents for the construction of a pilot industrial fast reactor, SVBR-100 , ( conceptual image right ) according to parent company, the Russian state...

Negotiations with South Korea failed to produce a deal The Financial Times reports that Toshiba is “confident” it will seal a deal to build a 5.4 GWe nuclear energy power station on a Black Sea coastal site near Sinop. According to the FT, Norio Sasaki, Toshiba’s president, told the newspaper terms and...

Minnesota and Kentucky open options to secure their long-term energy security Winds of change are blowing for the better for nuclear energy in two states – Minnesota and Kentucky. Both states rely heavily on coal which makes what is happening all the more significant. Coal from North Dakota that fires...

The first known nuclear energy blog post is chalk talk at EBR-1 in Idaho on December 21, 1951 The 38th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is up at Canadian Energy Issues.  The carnival  features blog posts from the leading U.S. nuclear bloggers and is a roundup of featured content from them....

The penny stock firm that wants to build a $6 billion nuclear reactor is back in business The improbable fortunes of Alternative Energy Holdings Inc ( OTC:AEHI ) took another surprising turn this week when U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge lifted the freeze on $7 million in assets held by the firm...

EdF and Areva have to get organized at home The United Kingdom currently has 19 nuclear reactors producing just under 20 percent of the nation's electricity. All but one of the reactors has to be replaced by 2023. Development of new coal-fired power stations isn't an option, given the challenges...

The reason is you are not looking at the right country when it comes to progress with nuclear reactor technology The New York Times reported Feb 1 that during the great recession of 2008 the nuclear renaissance in the U.S. went into hibernation. It looks like it is going to stay there for a long time...

Transparency is good, but making it a success requires more than just one way communication The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has decided that having a blog is a good idea.  To that end it has started publishing one at:  http://public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov/ The agency said in a prepared...