March, 2012

E.ON and RWE pack it in for Wylfa and Oldbury Two of Germany's biggest nuclear utilities slated to build Westinghouse 1100 MW AP1000 nuclear reactors at two sites in the U.K. have packed up and gone home. E.ON and RWE announced today (March 29) they will not be carrying out business plans...

A Gallup poll shows 57% of Americans favor its continued use A poll published by the Gallup organization shows that a majority of Americans continue to favor the use of nuclear energy as one of the ways to provide electricity for the U.S. According to the poll, the 57% who favor nuclear power...

Colorado regulators are red hot about the correspondence It is frequently the case that when a large regulatory agency stumbles, with help from someone with an agenda, that the news media will use a baseball analogy. It is called putting your foot in the bucket. Batting coaches refer...

The 97th carnival of nuclear energy bloggers is up at Next Big Future This post is the collective voice of blogs with legendary names which emerge each week to tell the story of nuclear energy. If you want to hear the voice of the nuclear renaissance, the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is where to...

Tubes found with excessive wear at Unit 2 The Los Angeles Times reported March 22 that excessive wear has been found on 129 tubes in the steam generator for Unit 2 at San Onofre. Previously, the problem of premature wear was limited to Unit 3. Both steam generators were supplied by Mitsubishi...

The utility is still in hot water over repairs for Crystal River This is my coverage from Fuel Cycle Week V11:N464 March 15, 2012, published by International Nuclear Associates, Washington, DC. Progress Energy ( NYSE:PGN ) is a consumer advocate's headache in Florida and a lightning rod for rate...

Setback on financing at Temelin in Czech Republic A report by an influential banking advisory firm has set back plans to build two new nuclear reactors at an estimated cost of $10 billion. The Prague-based firm of Candole Partners wrote in January the project, originally scoped to include...

It's tough being a nuclear plant operator in the land of extreme green politics Steam is generated in the secondary loop On February 1 Southern California Edison safely shut down Unit 3 at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station ( SONGS ) to begin dealing with what has turned...

Federal judge: State can’t shut down Vermont Yankee over spent fuel Federal District Court Judge J. Garvan Murtha ordered on Monday, March 19, that the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) cannot use the issue of spent nuclear fuel as a mechanism to deny a certificate of public good to the 40-year-old...

Legislation creating a favorable rate environment has better prospects for passage this year Efforts by MidAmerican Energy to convince the Iowa state legislature to enact a bill that would create new opportunities to build a small modular reactor got a boost this week. House File 561, which passed last...

From the U.S. perspective a low point is eight seconds of bull riding over Fukushima spent fuel pool #4 Image: Wikipedia The history of the Fukushima nuclear crisis will be significant in many ways, but perhaps two aspects of it stand out right now in terms of the U.S. response. The...

The carnival is up at ANS Nuclear Cafe This post is the collective voice of blogs with legendary names which emerge each week to tell the story of nuclear energy. If you want to hear the voice of the nuclear renaissance, the Carnival of Nuclear Energy Blogs is where to find it. ...

Experts will deal with incorrect statements about nuclear energy Prompted by recent published misstatements about nuclear energy, a group of technical experts have formed the Energy Information Center (EIC) to communicate technically-accurate information about energy issues to the public....

Free Industry Webcast: Setting a New Standard for Quality in Nuclear Power   Date: March 29, 2012 Time: 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 4 PM GMT Learn how standards developing organizations are using lessons learned over the last 30 years to account for existing and next generation nuclear power plants and...

Japan's new political leadership represents a sea change in the post Fukushima era Want to know what the difference is between the current Japanese prime minister is relative to his predecessor? The answer is how he deals  with the issue of nuclear energy and blame for ways TEPCO and the government...

Atomic Power Review tag cloud The 95th Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at Atomic Power Review This post is the collective voice of blogs with legendary names which emerge each week to tell the story of nuclear energy. If you want to hear the voice of the nuclear renaissance...

Now that the American Nuclear Society Fukushima report is out, here are a few additional notes First of all the full report is available either in sections or as an all-in-one PDF file from the special ANS Fukushima web site .  Second, you can watch the full one-hour long streaming video of the...

The American Nuclear Society Special Committee on Fukushima will issue its full report on March 8 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, at  10AM EST today, Thursday, March 8.  Live video of the press press conference will be available for viewing via this link . The event will also...

Cheap natural gas prices push back some projects by 10-20 years This is my coverage from Fuel Cycle Week V11:N462, for March 1, 2012, published by International Nuclear Associates, Washington, DC In the past year the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has pushed back the schedules for two early site...

Mexico steps on the gas and opens options for new reactors It wasn't too long ago that the Mexican government was cancelling plans for up to 16 new reactors to provide electricity due to the discovery of massive new amounts of shale-based natural gas. However, Mexican Energy Minister Jordy Herrera...

The Carnival of Nuclear Energy Bloggers is up at NEI Nuclear Notes This post is the collective voice of blogs with legendary names which emerge each week to tell the story of nuclear energy. This week it features 21 posts from 14 blogs, a new record. If you want to hear the voice of the nuclear...

March 8: 10-11 AM EST Live from National Press Club: free video feed Live Twitter feed via: @ans_org American Nuclear Society to Issue Report on Fukushima for One Year Anniversary LA GRANGE PARK, Ill., March 2, 2012 -- The nation's premier professional society for the nuclear...

No federal funding is involved, but it offers access to infrastructure, skilled workers, and potential customers I've been covering this development at Fuel Cycle Week. This is a significant step forward in terms of DOE support for SMRs. Tom Sanders, PhD, a former ANS president...

North Korea agrees to suspend uranium enrichment, nuclear tests U.S food aid is clearly marked for recipients The Washington Post and other mainstream news media report that North Korea said Feb 29 it would halt parts of its nuclear weapons program and allow IAEA inspectors back into...

Kundankulam nuclear project jammed in new controversies Months of protests that have significantly delayed the hot start of twin Russian built 1,000 MW VVER nuclear reactors in Kudankulam (KKNPP 1-2) located in Tamil Nadu, India's southern-most state. Soon after Valentine’s Day India’s PM Mammohan...