Power & Operations


NEA issues call to action in report on nuclear cost reductions

July 6, 2020, 10:52AMNuclear News

A new report from the Paris-based OECD Nuclear Energy Agency declares that nuclear power is needed for countries to meet their Paris Agreement decarbonization and energy security policy goals, but that governmental support for a rapid reduction in the cost of new nuclear capacity through the creation of certain policy frameworks is likely necessary.

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Murkowski, Manchin make case for AEIA

July 2, 2020, 2:01PMNuclear News

U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), the committee’s ranking member, put their rhetorical skills to the test earlier this week as the two urged colleagues to pass the American Energy Innovation Act (AEIA), a comprehensive piece of energy policy legislation introduced by the bipartisan pair in late February (NN, Apr. 2020, p. 14).

Dems’ climate action plan makes room for nuclear

July 2, 2020, 9:28AMNuclear News

House Democrats on June 30 rolled out a vision of what U.S. climate change policy might look like in the event the Democratic party holds its current House majority, retakes the Senate, and wins the White House in November. The vision was presented in the form of a sweeping 547-page majority staff report entitled Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America.

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Petition window opened for Oklo’s microreactor license application

July 1, 2020, 12:25PMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced a notice of opportunity to intervene in an adjudicatory hearing on Oklo Power’s combined license application (COLA) for construction of a microreactor at Idaho National Laboratory. The notice, dated June 24, was published in the Federal Register on June 30, opening a 60-day window for petitions.

France’s Fessenheim-2 closes permanently

July 1, 2020, 10:42AMNuclear News

Fessenheim nuclear power plant. Photo: EDF

After producing electricity generation for more than 40 years, Fessenheim-2 was disconnected from the grid on June 29, some four months after the retirement of its companion reactor, Fessenheim-1 (NN, Mar. 2020, p. 83). The action completes the closure of what had been France’s oldest operating nuclear power facility.

Both Fessenheim units are 880-MWe pressurized water reactors; Unit 1 began commercial operation in December 1977, with Unit 2 going on line in March 1978.

Nuclear power stats for 2019 now available

June 30, 2020, 3:00PMNuclear News

The International Atomic Energy Agency has released nuclear power status data for 2019 collected by the Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), the IAEA’s comprehensive nuclear power database. Developed and maintained by the IAEA for more than five decades, PRIS contains historical and current quantitative information on reactors in operation and under construction, as well as on units undergoing decommissioning.

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Summary of 19th WNA fuel report released

June 30, 2020, 12:40PMNuclear News

Now available from the World Nuclear Association is an expanded summary of its latest Nuclear Fuel Report, published last September. According to the WNA, “This expanded summary will provide readers with explanations of what factors are affecting the growth of nuclear power, what new concepts were introduced in the 19th edition, and what developments the industry may require between now and 2040.”

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IAEA seeks source of radioisotopes detected over Northern Europe

June 30, 2020, 9:19AMNuclear News

The International Atomic Energy Agency has emphasized that elevated concentrations of cesium-134, cesium-137, and ruthenium-103 recently detected over Northern Europe pose no risk to human health or the environment, even as the agency continues to investigate their origin.

Canadian province to open SMR-focused office

June 30, 2020, 7:01AMNuclear News

The government of Canada’s Saskatchewan province has unveiled plans to establish an office to coordinate nuclear policy and program work. The office, dubbed the Nuclear Secretariat, will have as its primary mission to develop and execute a strategic plan to deploy small modular reactors, according to a June 24 press release. The secretariat will be housed within the Climate Change and Adaptation Division of Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Environment.

NEA analyzes nuclear’s role post-pandemic

June 29, 2020, 12:11PMNuclear News

The Paris-based Nuclear Energy Agency recently issued four policy briefs on the role that nuclear energy can play in the post-COVID-19 recovery:

Nuclear power and the cost-effective decarbonization of electricity systems

Creating high-value jobs in the post-COVID-19 recovery with nuclear energy projects

Unlocking financing for nuclear energy infrastructure in the COVID-19 economic recovery

Building low-carbon resilient electricity infrastructures with nuclear energy in the post-COVID-19 era

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Lawmakers call for inclusion of nuclear in defense bill

June 26, 2020, 11:09AMNuclear News

Murkowski

Booker

A bipartisan group of 20 senators sent a letter last week to Sens. James Inhofe (R., Okla.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Jack Reed (D., R.I.), the committee’s ranking member, urging the inclusion of S. 903, the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA), in S. 4049, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021. The letter was spearheaded by Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Cory Booker, (D., N.J.). Murkowski and Booker introduced NELA on September 6, 2018 (NN, Oct. 2018, p. 39).

NEI holds virtual event on future of nuclear industry

June 26, 2020, 9:00AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Energy Institute on June 24 hosted The State of the Nuclear Energy Industry 2020, a three-segment webinar featuring remarks from Maria Korsnick, president and chief executive officer of NEI; an interview with Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), conducted by Jason Grumet, founder and president of the Bipartisan Policy Center; and a panel discussion moderated by Rich Powell, executive director of ClearPath.

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U.K. group adds support for nuclear in net-zero movement

June 25, 2020, 3:47PMNuclear News

On the heels of a report from Energy Systems Catapult making the case for more nuclear energy to help the United Kingdom fulfill its net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 comes a new assessment from the Nuclear Industry Association to further buttress the argument. The 12-page assessment, Forty by ’50: A Nuclear Roadmap, was published on June 24.

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Georgia Power resequencing Vogtle-3 and -4 planned activities

June 24, 2020, 4:07PMNuclear News

From left: Vogtle-3 and -4. Photo: Georgia Power

Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power, primary owner of the Vogtle nuclear power plant, announced on June 23 that it is resequencing certain planned activities at Vogtle-3 and -4, the two Westinghouse AP1000 units under construction at the site near Waynesboro, Ga.

NRC accepts Centrus Energy’s application for HALEU license expansion

June 24, 2020, 3:06PMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review Centrus Energy Corporation’s application to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium at its facility in Piketon, Ohio, the company announced on June 23. HALEU-based fuels will be required for most of the advanced reactor designs currently under development and may also be utilized in next-generation fuels for the existing fleet of reactors in the United States and around the world.

NRC amends fees for FY 2020

June 24, 2020, 8:57AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees that it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2020. The FY 2020 final fee rule, published in the June 19 Federal Register, includes fees required by law to recover approximately 90 percent of the NRC’s annual budget authority. A proposed rule was published for public comment on February 18 of this year, with a March 19 due date. The final rule goes into effect on August 18.

More nuclear a good choice for U.K., but costs must fall, report says

June 23, 2020, 3:18PMNuclear News

A report published last week by Energy Systems Catapult, a U.K.-based clean energy nonprofit, concludes that adding double-digit gigawatts of new nuclear is a “low-regrets option” for the United Kingdom as it strives to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. (Legislation establishing the 2050 target date was signed in June of last year, making the United Kingdom the first of the world’s major economic powers to take that step.) The report also stresses, however, that costs for new nuclear must decrease significantly for the technology to meet its potential.

Making the case for advanced reactors in Puerto Rico

June 23, 2020, 10:03AMNuclear News

The ANS Young Members Group and the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) on June 18 presented a webinar on the rapidly developing prospects for advanced nuclear in Puerto Rico. Behind those bright prospects is the Nuclear Alternative Project (NAP), which led a Department of Energy–funded study on the feasibility of using small advanced reactors to meet the island’s power needs.

U.S., Poland to talk nuclear later this week

June 22, 2020, 3:08PMNuclear News

Duda

Energy, including nuclear energy, will be among the topics discussed at a June 24 meeting in Washington between President Donald Trump and Polish President Andrzej Duda, according to remarks by Duda at a June 18 news conference. “We will definitely talk about cooperation between Polish companies and Polish authorities, and companies and authorities from the United States, over conventional nuclear energy and its use,” he said. The meeting will take place just days before Poland’s June 28 presidential election.

Rosatom, Framatome, and GE partner on proposed Bulgarian nuclear plant

June 22, 2020, 11:38AMNuclear News

Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned atomic energy corporation, announced on June 18 that it has teamed up with France’s Framatome and General Electric’s GE Steam Power to participate in a tender to construct the Belene nuclear plant in northern Bulgaria. The Belene project would involve the construction of two AES-92 units, similar to the reactors that Rosatom supplied to India.