Nuclear Street - Nuclear Power Plant News, Jobs, and Careers

Exelon Corporation on Thursday applauded the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling that said this week that the state’s Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) energy strategy did not run afoul of federal statutes.

BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BWXT) announced Friday that its Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) subsidiary was awarded a contract valued at $505 million for the downblending of 20.2 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) to produce low enriched uranium (LEU) suitable for use as commercial nuclear reactor fuel and for national defense programs.

Engineering firms Balfour Beatty Bailey, Cavendish Nuclear and Doosan Babcock said Thursday they had formed a partnership, officially called MEH Joint Venture, to deliver the erection sequence for the two-reactor Hinkley Point C project.

The co-owners of the two-reactor Plant Vogtle expansion project in Waynesboro, Georgia, have arrived at a joint agreement meant to put the brakes on cost increases or shift more of the burden onto principal owner Georgia Power if costs continue to soar.

On September 20, Framatome and the China National Nuclear Corporation, through their joint venture CAST, has delivered on time and on scheduled, the first batch of fuel cladding tubes for Fuqing nuclear power plant unit 5 “Hualong-1”, the companies said.

While delays have pushed back the expected start date for the Olkiluoto 3 reactor in Finland to 2019, the two predecessors at the power plant, Olkiluoto 1 and 2, have been granted license extensions that will allow them to operate until 2038, the plant’s operator has said.

Framatome said Tuesday it had signed a contract with Talen Energy’s Susquehanna Nuclear, LLC, to supply its advanced ATRIUM 11 fuel design.

Next generation reactor developer NuScale Power said Tuesday that it had chosen Virginia-based BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) to start the engineering work to manufacture the company's NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) after a rigorous selection process that included interest from 83 companies from 10 different countries.

Oglethorpe Power, a 30 percent stakeholder in the Plant Vogtle two-reactor expansion project said Monday that its board of directors had approved of completion of the project under a conditional vote that included several cost control options designed to cap costs that continue to rise.

Belgian nuclear power regulator FANC (Federal Agency for Nuclear Control) said power plant operator ENGIE Electrabel had inspected Doel 4 and Tighange 2 reactors and conformed concrete aging problems in both of the buildings that house secondary emergency response systems for the two units.

Russian nuclear construction giant Rosatom said Monday that the state-owned corporation’s engineering division Atomstroyexport Group has completed initial earthworks phase associated with the reactor building for the Bushehr –2 nuclear reactor in Iran. The work was completed ahead of schedule, Rosatom said.

French nuclear power supply and engineering contractor Framatome, formerly Areva, said Thursday it would be upgrading the Instrumentation & Control (I&C) system on EDF's 900 MWe reactor fleet in France, a service contract that involves upgrades at 32 reactors.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Monday that it had renewed the operating licence for the Indian Point nuclear power plant Units 2 and 3, located in Buchanan, New York, for operations through April 30, 2024 (for Unit 2) and April 30, 2025 (for Unit 3), respectively.

The British government on Tuesday announced the third funding tranche coming from a $236.6 million nuclear power research and development fund, awarding $4.7 million to a partnership involving Rolls-Royce, The National Nuclear Laboratory, Jacobsen Analytics and two universities.

In a public conference taking place in Vienna concurrent with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 62nd General Conference, Agneta Rising, the head of the World Nuclear Association, challenged the United Nations and the nuclear power industry to counter the threat of climate change with nuclear power.

The board of directors of the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), owners of the retired Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in Nebraska have investigated the option of moving decommissioning to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission designated Decon approach, foregoing the Safstor option it had previously indicated would be the approach to take.

The oldest nuclear power plant in the United States, the Oyster Creek Generating Station , nine miles south of Toms River, New Jersey, was taken offline Monday for the final time, making it the seventh nuclear plant to close in the past five years.

French nuclear giant Orano --- formerly Areva – said it had launched its $1.33 billion uranium conversion plant at the Tricastin site in Drome, France, with a ceremony involving 60 international customers and representatives of French and European Union administrations.

U.S.-based Centrus Energy Corp., a nuclear fuel-supply and engineering company, said Monday that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with South Korean conglomerate Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction to work towards development of the “next generation of commercial nuclear reactors.

Lawsuits filed in Florida and Georgia Wednesday could make or break the Plant Vogtle expansion project where costs were recently estimated to have gone up significantly.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it would be out in force reviewing safety and security protocols required by several nuclear power plants to prepare themselves for and withstand the blunt force of a powerful hurricane headed towards the southeast coast of the United States.

A storm with 135 mph winds – Hurricane Florence – is potentially threatening as many as sixteen of the nation’s nuclear power plants that sit in its path, according to media reports.

Nuclear engineering and project management concern Nuvia, based in Britain, said it had been awarded a contract to design, supply, integrate and commission plant and equipment for the Dungeness Waste Transfer Area Facility (WTA).

The Bolivian Republic of Venezuela (Venezuela) and the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency have signed a framework accord that covers technical cooperation for the pursuit of nuclear power projects for the years 2018 and 2025.

China National Nuclear Corporation said last week that it had reached a construction milestone at the Karachi nuclear power plant in Pakistan, where workers installed the plant's Unit 3 pressure vessel on Sept. 5. It was the fourth major component lifted into place in the past three weeks.