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Tough Conditions Change Prospects for New Reactors This is my updated coverage of the outlook for construction of new nuclear reactors in Texas as published in Fuel Cycle Week , V10:N443, 09/29/11, by International Nuclear Associates, Washington, DC. In 2007, Texas was the place to be for working on...

Utility will close Oyster Creek in 2019 ten years before the license is up Gov. Chris Christie (right) told a group of editors last week “he will decide by the end of the year” whether or not to require the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant to install $700 million in cooling towers in order reduce the...

Vogtle gets clean bill in NRC environmental review The NRC has issued a finding that there are no environmental impacts that stand in the way of licensing two new reactors at Southern’s Vogtle site. The draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement will be discussed during a public meeting Oct 6...

Costs, risks, and lack of a price on carbon all play in their decisions Two of the nation’s largest nuclear utilities are sounding a retreat from building new nuclear reactors in the near-term. In separate speeches Entergy ( NYSE:ETR ) CEO J. Wayne Leonard and Exelon ( NYSE:EXC ) CEO John Rowe said they...

Firm files with NRC for an Early Site Permit which is good for 20 years The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s idea of an Early Site Permit ( ESP ) is that it is a stepping stone to applying for a combined construction and operating license (COL) to build a commercial nuclear reactor. However, Chicago-based...

But that’s about all The citizens of Victoria, Texas , could be forgiven if they do not take kindly to questions about Exelon’s ( NYSE:EXC ) intentions to build two nuclear reactors there. After a whirlwind courtship, the nation’s largest utility backed out of the relationship and said it just wanted...

Environmental groups are not giving up on efforts to close the recently relicensed reactor A coalition of a half-dozen environmental groups, thwarted in their efforts to shut down one of the nation’s oldest operating commercial nuclear reactors, has a new tactic. The groups are pushing the State of New...

Texas sized uncertainties loom in the near-term Sometime in the next three months Exelon will file an Early Site Permit application with the NRC. The review process will take about two years. The action will keep the nuclear utility’s options open to eventually build a new nuclear power station near...

CEO John Rowe tells WSJ focus is on earnings Over at Atomic Insights Rod Adams has a long piece in which he  tries to figure out what Exelon’s John Rowe is really doing about the nuclear renaissance.  Adams has some strong opinions about where Rowe and Exelon are going.  Right now the...

It ain’t over until the fat lady sings A lot of people think Exelon at Victoria, TX,has taken its bat, ball,a nd glove, and hit the showers over its plans for twin GE-Hitachi 1,350 ABWR reactors there. This has been a hard luck site for the giant Chicago based utility. First, it spent tens of millions...

Exelon raises the stakes for its hostile takeover. NRG raises the costs of STP units 3 & 4. The nuclear industry in Texas more closely resembles the West of  oil wildcatting days than corporate, button down corner offices.  That's because Exelon, which is based on Chicago, is not going...

Exelon switches reactors but not vendors for the twin unit project A few months ago the nation’s biggest nuclear power utility dealt a devastating blow to the GE-Hitachi consortium that is developing the new Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor ( ESBWR ) a 1,550 MW unit. Because the design is still...

Exelon to NRG: I have you in my clutches my dear Chicago-based Exelon ( NYSE:EXC ), which exemplifies the spirit of a  city that will not take “no” for an answer, claims it now has 51%or a controlling interest in New Jersey-based NRG Energy ( NYSE:NRG ).  Although, most of what Exelon wants...

A big NRG shareholder says the all-stock deal isn’t worth it A major shareholder of NRG ( NYSE:NRG ), Solus Alternative Asset  Management LP, based in New York, has balked at selling its stake in NRG to Exelon ( NYSE:EXC ) as part of that firm’s all-stock effort to take over the utility. It will...

Exelon and NRG face uncertainties for new nuclear builds in the lone star state No one outside of NRG ( NYSE:NRG ) really knows what it will cost to  build the 3rd and 4th units at the South Texas Project ( STP ), but that hasn’t stopped NRG, the New Jersey utility that is building them, from seeking...

Hostile takeover effort is extended to Feb 25 The Wall Street Journal reports that Exelon Corp. ( NYSE:EXC ) will  extend its offer for NRG Energy Inc. ( NYSE:NRG ) by seven weeks to Feb 25 as a result of having acquired 45.6% or 106.5 million shares since November. NRG's stock closed at $28...

Advanced reactor design is out of the running for Victoria, TX, site GE Hitachi's latest product offering, an "economic simplified  boiling water reactor" ( ESBWR ) was dropped this week from further consideration for Exelon's planned greenfield nuclear reactor site at Victoria...

All stock offer for $6.2 billion is rejected in a heated exchange of letters After making an unsolicited $6.2 billion all stock offer for NRG  ( NYSE:NRG ), Chicago-based Exelon ( NYSE:EXC ) got a strong and unequivocal "no" from Princeton-based NRG.  The Wall Street Journal reports...

Holds out for a better deal. Will it get one? The Wall Street Journal reports NRG Energy Inc. ( NYSE:NRG ) has  rejected a $6 billion unsolicited takeover bid from Exelon Corp., ( NYSE:EXC ) saying that the offer "grossly undervalues" the firm. NRG said that despite its decision, it was...

Exelon's John Rowe wins Chicago "Daniel Burnham' award Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will  themselves not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will not die. ...

That's a really big deal The Wall Street Journal reports that Exelon Corp. ( NYSE:EXC ) said it made a $6.2 billion all-stock offer to buy power generator NRG Energy Inc., ( NYSE:NRG ) an indication that falling stock prices in the power sector are creating demand for deals like this one. An acquisition...

Exelon files with NRC, Luminant coming up soon Texas is the heart of the nation's oil industry, but it is in the Lone Star State that new nuclear reactors are being planned at a pace which only a few years ago would have seemed like science fiction.  There is an enormous amount of activity in...

NRC comes clean on dropping the ball The issue of sleeping guards at a nuclear power plant has reached the wholly predictable stage of a lashing for regulatory officials by Congress for blowing off the problem when first notified about it. The Associated Press reports the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory...

No power naps allowed at nuclear energy plants The New York Times and wire services report the Exelon Corporation ( NYSE:EXC ) said it would replace the nuclear services arm of the Wackenhut Corporation with an in-house security force at its 10 nuclear power plants after the discovery about two months...