Power & Operations


Resurrecting Three Mile Island

January 24, 2025, 3:09PMNuclear NewsMatt Wald
(Photo: Used with permission from Constellation)

When Exelon Generation shut down Three Mile Island Unit 1 in September 2019, managers were so certain that the reactor would never run again that as soon as they could, they had workers drain the oil out of both the main transformer and a spare to eliminate the chance of leaks. The company was unable to find a buyer because of the transformers’ unusual design. “We couldn’t give them away,” said Trevor Orth, the plant manager. So they scrapped them.

Now they will pay $100 million for a replacement.

The turnaround at the reactor—now called the Crane Clean Energy Center—highlights two points: how smart Congress was to step in with help to prevent premature closures with the zero-emission nuclear power production credit of 0.3 cents per kilowatt-hour (only two years too late), and how expensive it is turning out to be to change course.

A series of firsts delivers new Plant Vogtle units

January 17, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear NewsDot Schneider
The reactor building and the turbine building seen in October 2024 as employees worked on Vogtle Unit 3’s first-ever refueling outage. (Photo: Dot Schneider)

Southern Nuclear was first when no one wanted to be.

The nuclear subsidiary of the century-old utility Southern Company, based in Atlanta, Ga., joined a pack of nuclear companies in the early 2000s—during what was then dubbed a “nuclear renaissance”—bullish on plans for new large nuclear facilities and adding thousands of new carbon-free megawatts to the grid.

In 2008, Southern Nuclear applied for a combined construction and operating license (COL), positioning the company to receive the first such license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2012. Also in 2008, Southern became the first U.S. company to sign an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for a Generation III+ reactor. Southern chose Westinghouse’s AP1000 pressurized water reactor, which was certified by the NRC in December 2011.

Fast forward a dozen years—which saw dozens of setbacks and hundreds of successes—and Southern Nuclear and its stakeholders celebrated the completion of Vogtle Units 3 and 4: the first new commercial nuclear power construction project completed in the U.S. in more than 30 years.

Reboot: Nuclear needs a success . . . anywhere

January 10, 2025, 3:03PMNuclear NewsSusan Gallier

The media have gleefully resurrected the language of a past nuclear renaissance. Beyond the hype and PR, many people in the nuclear community are taking a more measured view of conditions that could lead to new construction: data center demand, the proliferation of new reactor designs and start-­ups, and the sudden ascendance of nuclear energy as the power source everyone wants—or wants to talk about.

Once built, large nuclear reactors can provide clean power for at least 80 years—outlasting 10 to 20 presidential administrations. Smaller reactors can provide heat and power outputs tailored to an end user’s needs. With all the new attention, are we any closer to getting past persistent supply chain and workforce issues and building these new plants? And what will the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president mean for nuclear?

As usual, there are more questions than answers, and most come down to money. Several developers are engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or have already applied for a license, certification, or permit. But designs without paying customers won’t get built. So where are the customers, and what will it take for them to commit?

Article considers incorporation of AI into nuclear power plant operations

January 9, 2025, 3:12PMANS Nuclear Cafe

The potential application of artificial intelligence to the operation of nuclear power plants is explored in an article published in late December in the Washington Examiner. The article, written by energy and environment reporter Callie Patteson, presents the views of a number of experts, including Yavuz Arik, a strategic energy consultant.

NRC issues subsequent license renewal to Monticello plant

January 6, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News
Monticello nuclear power plant in Monticello, Minn. (Photo: NRC)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed for a second time the operating license for Unit 1 of Minnesota’s Monticello nuclear power plant.

How can the U.S. accelerate new nuclear builds?

December 13, 2024, 12:03PMNuclear News

Houghtalen

The promise of nuclear power—clean, dispatchable, and reliable—positions it to match the ambitions of tech, industrial, and utility giants. But how do we turn ambition into action?

Uncertainty around nuclear energy’s capital cost is daunting, and the financial risk of pioneering new builds must be addressed.

Reliable nuclear power has incredible lifetime value. The ultimate project cost will pencil out over 40 or more years. We must focus on reducing the key risk: construction cost uncertainty for new nuclear.

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NRC seeks public comment on V.C. Summer SLR

December 9, 2024, 3:00PMNuclear News
V.C. Summer nuclear power plant. (Photo: DJ Shaw)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asking for public feedback on the environmental report for a subsequent license renewal (SLR) request from Dominion Energy, the owners of V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in South Carolina.

Meta seeks nuclear power for AI, data center support

December 5, 2024, 9:36AMNuclear News
Image: Meta

Technology giant Meta this week issued a request for proposals from nuclear developers to support its AI innovation and sustainability objectives.

The California-based company, parent of social media site Facebook, is targeting between one and four gigawatts of nuclear generation capacity in the United States.

FERC rejects interconnection deal for Talen-Amazon data centers

November 4, 2024, 3:00PMNuclear News
The Susquehanna nuclear power plant. (Photo: Talen)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has denied plans for Talen Energy to supply additional on-site power to an Amazon Web Services’ data center campus from the neighboring Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania.

Fighting fatigue and maintaining 10 CFR Part 26 compliance

November 1, 2024, 3:02PMNuclear NewsClaire Pieper and Dan Scholz
A fatigue management program is used at Xcel’s Monticello nuclear plant. (Photo: Indeavor)

Fatigue has been identified as a major risk factor in industrial accidents. According to the National Safety Council, 13 percent of workplace injuries can be attributed to fatigue.1 Other research indicates that working 12 hours per day is associated with a staggering 37 percent increase in risk of injury.2 Considering fatigue was a contributing factor to major nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, it makes sense that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission imposes hefty fines to ensure strict adherence to its fatigue management regulations—particularly, Code of Federal Regulations Title 10, Part 26, “Fitness for Duty Programs.”

Legislators call for SMR at Fort Drum

October 31, 2024, 12:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe
Photo: U.S. Army

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state officials met in August with officials at the U.S. Army’s Fort Drum in upstate New York to discuss deployment of a small modular reactor to supply the installation’s energy needs. According to local CBS affiliate WWNY, two congresspersons have called on the secretary of the army to place an SMR at Fort Drum, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that an SMR would be “the optimal option” for the site’s energy purposes.

Jamaica, Canada partnering to bring nuclear to island nation

October 28, 2024, 7:01AMNuclear News

Holness

The Jamaican government last week signed a memorandum of understanding with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories to bring nuclear power to the island nation.

Addressing the signing ceremony at Jamaica House on October 22, Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness said the partnership reflects the government’s unwavering commitment to diversify the country’s energy portfolio with new, clean, and sustainable alternatives.

“[It] marks a pivotal moment in Jamaica’s energy transformation as we take a bold and forward-thinking step by signing this memorandum of understanding," he said. "This move is about reducing your cost of living, a major part of it being the cost of energy."

A proactive approach to reactor vessel aging management

October 25, 2024, 2:58PMNuclear NewsGeoffrey Campbell and Christopher Koehler
The clevis bolt replacement team working in parallel off of the refueling bridge. This team is working directly on the reactor vessel clevis with a first-of-a-kind docking station. (Photo: Westinghouse)

Unit 2 at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant near Red Wing, Minn., underwent an outage in fall 2023, which included extensive work on the reactor vessel using a novel approach to replace baffle-former bolts and lower radial clevis insert bolts. The work relied on extensive analysis beforehand to determine which bolts to replace such that only the new bolts were structurally credited for performance of their safety function. This proactive approach eliminated the need for costly contingencies associated with inspections.

Are Civil Nuclear Credits still relevant? DOE is asking nuclear operators for input

October 21, 2024, 12:44PMNuclear News

Interest in new reactor deployments and existing reactor life extensions is surging, encouraged by production and investment tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act and led by electricity demand from tech companies. Last week alone saw Google and Amazon investing in Kairos Power’s fluoride salt–cooled reactor and X-energy’s high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor, respectively. On October 16, the DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations issued a solicitation to award $900 million to support the initial domestic deployment of light water–cooled small modular reactor technologies.

How can outage planning ensure plant maintenance goals are met?

October 21, 2024, 7:00AMNuclear NewsNatalie Yonker

Natalie Yonker

It’s all about finding the sweet spot: performing the correct maintenance at the correct interval (that is, the longest possible) with the correct resources (people, parts, and plant conditions) in a safe and efficient manner.

When engineering and maintenance teams adjust periodic maintenance (PM) intervals for plant components, they must take into consideration operating history, industry experience and guidelines, and vendor recommendations. This data, in conjunction with risk assessment, can be used to stretch maintenance intervals. If a valve fails before the scheduled PM, for example, the PM interval may be too long. But if a valve is overhauled during every refueling outage and the soft parts still look new each time, extending the PM interval would save money via man-hours, parts, and scope. A smaller outage work scope results in shorter outages, which results in less money spent on replacement power for the utility. That’s the real savings.

The Wolf Creek refueling outage approach: Creating a culture of coaching, appreciation, and respect

October 18, 2024, 2:23PMNuclear NewsMichael Peters
Master Chemistry Technician Tolbert Livingston in Chemical Controls. (Photo: Wolf Creek)

Sam Lochmann is a well-respected sergeant in the security department at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington, Kan. The plant, a 1,200-MWe Westinghouse pressurized water reactor operated by Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (WCNOC), had its 26th refueling outage this past spring.