News

Officials from the west-African nation of Nigeria and Russia's nuclear power export giant Rosatom Overseas, a subsidiary of Rosatom, signed agreements in Abu Dhabi Monday for construction and operation of a nuclear power plant and research center housing a multi-purpose nuclear research reactor, the company announced.(read more)

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken the initial step in securing contracts for their first nuclear power plants, which could be the door opening on construction of two of the largest nuclear power facilities in the world.(read more)

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano on Monday opened the International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century with a call for greater use of domestic nuclear power in order to meet current economic and global greenhouse gas reduction targets.(read more)

Centrus Energy Corporation announced Monday it has signed a contract with UT-Battelle, LLC, as operator of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), to continue advancing the AC100, a U.S. gas centrifuge uranium enrichment technology, at the Oak Ridge, Tenn., facility.(read more)

A Westinghouse Electric Company official representing its interests in India said Friday that the struggling company would come out of bankruptcy in early 2018 and that its financial issues would not prevent the nuclear power builder from pursuing a six-reactor project in India.(read more)

The National Nuclear Security Administration on Wednesday published its comprehensive report on stipulations for bidders in pursuit of the contract to manage the Los Alamos National Laboratory. (read more)

AREVA Projets SAS, New AREVA's engineering subsidiary, has signed a contract with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) for the project management of waste recovery and packaging operations at the Marcoule site in France. The contract was won in partnership with Wood.(read more)

---Press Release--L3 MAPPS announced yesterday that the full scope simulator upgrade for Slovenia’s Krško Nuclear Power Plant was declared “Ready For Training.” The simulator upgrade was part of Nuklearna elektrarna Krško’s (NEK) Safety Upgrade Program (SUP) to modernize the plant in order to prevent severe accidents and to mitigate consequences consistent with the nuclear industry’s response after the Fukushima accident. (read more)

PJM Interconnection President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Ott said this week that the White House proposal to provide aid to the nuclear power and coal industries as a reward for their reliability in producing steady electricity is both illegal and unmanageable.(read more)

While the global additions to nuclear power included more than 9 GWe of capacity in 2016, the lion's share of that, 7 GWe of that was located in Asia, the World Nuclear Association (WNA) said this week in its World Nuclear Performance Report 2017 – Asia Edition released Tuesday.(read more)

The U.S. Department of Energy announced that it will provide $20 million through its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) with the funding available to developers of next generation nuclear power systems that are cost-effective and walkaway safe.(read more)

British media are reporting Monday that a government report expected to be released tomorrow will name a consortium lead by Rolls-Royce as purveyors of the most favored design for development of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR).(read more)

A fifth nuclear power plant in Europe has been installed with AREVA NP's Advanced Load Following Control (ALFC) technology that allows the nuclear reactor to adjust its power output automatically in response to the needs of the electricity grid, the company said.(read more)

The scheduled 1918 maintenance shut down for the Metsamor nuclear power plant in Armenia will be extended from 45 days to six months, allowing technicians to upgrade equipment and enhance security of the plant, the country's minister of energy infrastructure and natural resources said.(read more)

Derailed nuclear power plant construction projects in South Korea received an unexpected reprieve this week as a public survey that the government said it would respect, showed close to 60 percent of respondents in favor of completing the reactors.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company said Friday that it had received approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for two new analysis methodologies that will be used to upgrade Westinghouse- and Combustion Engineering-based nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) safety analyses.(read more)

The contract for the power transmission infrastructure for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant has been awarded to ABB, the company said.(read more)

A Chinese-developed steam generator is on the way to the Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant in Fujian province, where it will become a major component of the first Hualong One model nuclear plant, China's media are reporting.(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Wednesday that it had determined that an inspection finding at Duke Energy’s Catawba nuclear power plant has low to moderate safety significance, which will place the plant under increased NRC oversight until the regulator is satisfied that the issue has been rectified.(read more)

U.S. nuclear fuel development company Lightbridge Corporation said Monday that it had moved forward on plans to build a second irradiation testing rig for its fuel rods at the Halden research reactor in Norway operated by the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE).(read more)

Construction and engineering giant Bechtel said Tuesday it had been selected as part of a joint venture to provide liquid waste services at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the former nuclear weapons production facility.(read more)

An International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team leader commended the Institute for Energy Technology's (IFE) commitment to safety at the JEEP II 2000 kW reactor 20 miles north of Oslo, Norway, but also noted that further improvements were needed at the research plant.(read more)

Areva, sometimes referred to as “New AREVA,” representing the companies ongoing concerns after restructuring, said Monday that its decommissioning consortium had been selected by German utility EnBW to dismantle the reactor pressure vessel of the Philippsburg Unit 2 and Neckarwestheim II nuclear power plants.(read more)

The Department of Environmental Affairs in South Africa has granted permission for public utility Eskom to build a new nuclear power plant that would be built in close proximity to the existing nuclear plant at Koeberg.(read more)

Georgia Power announced today that the second steam generator has been safely placed for Unit 3 at the Vogtle nuclear expansion near Waynesboro, Georgia.(read more)

The world's largest vitrification melters are now installed at the Hanford Site's Low Activity Waste Facility, officials at the government complex on the Columbia River in Washington state announced Thursday.(read more)

The government of Armenia will send to the country's parliament a draft of a law that would allow for dismantling of the country's first nuclear power reactor, which has been shut down since 1988, when the country was rocked by a major earthquake.(read more)

Utility giant EDF told French nuclear power regulator ASN on Wednesday that repairs on pumping station pipes in 20 different reactors were in need of repairs, as “thinning of the metal in certain sections” had put the cooling systems in the plants at risk. The immediate concern was the pipes' ability to withstand pressures associated with sudden seismic activity – in a word: earthquakes.(read more)

Jacob Engineering Group Inc. said Wednesday that it had been awarded a four-year framework agreement from Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd., to provide mechanical, electrical, control and instrumentation services for the decommissioning effort at the experimental dome reactor that was closed in 1977.(read more)

The top nuclear energy officer in Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that contracts for the first nuclear power plant in the country would be signed sometime in 2018.(read more)

The Fukushima Disctrict Court on Tuesday held the government of Japan and the Tokyo Electric Power Company liable for the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Generating Station, holding that the government should have ordered the utility to improve safety standards before the event.(read more)

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission said Friday that a team of experts has completed an advisory mission in Germany with the impression that the country's nuclear security framework "is well established and incorporates the fundamental principles of the amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material."(read more)

Georgia Power on Friday touted continued progress continues at the Vogtle nuclear expansion site near Waynesboro, Georgia with recent latest milestones achieved over the past week including a 71-hour continues concrete pour the company deemed a "super placement."(read more)

The governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie said that the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant in Ocean City, N.J., is ahead of schedule regarding its planned 2019 shut down.(read more)

The University of Wake Forest news department has announced a new method for scrubbing radioactive iodide from used nuclear fuel rods that has higher efficiency measures than current industrial practices.(read more)

Financial considerations are continuing to hold up progress with the NuGen nuclear power plant project slated for Moorside in northwest England, Chief Executive Officer Tom Samson has said.(read more)

Five commissioners at Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday voted unanimously in favor of a restart of units 6 and 7 at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest...(read more)

With a donation of a little over $1 million from Japan ($1.17 million), the International Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday said it had secured the $5.52 million it needed to construct a new second laboratory in Seibersdorf, Austria, which will support global health and development efforts and pair up with a second United Nations program for work on agricultural concerns.(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday it had launched a special inspection into the failure of a high pressure coolant injection discharge valve on Unit 3 of the Browns Ferry nuclear plant.(read more)

Georgia Power on Monday announced a significant and potentially nerve-calming financial milestone, saying that the company had received the first tranche of a settlement from ailing Japanese conglomerate Toshiba, owner of Westinghouse Electric Company, which declared bankruptcy on March 29, 2017.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company announced Thursday that it has signed an extended Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ukrainian company PJSC Turboatom, in partnership to coordinate and cooperate on increasing the capacity of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.(read more)

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation (SCANA) (NYSE: SCG), announced Wednesday that it, along with Santee Cooper, has sold to Citibank, N.A. (Citibank) all future guaranty settlement payments, due after the October 2017 payment of $150 million ($82.5 million for SCE&G's 55% share) from Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba). (read more)

Georgia Power announced Friday that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a conditional commitment of approximately $1.67 billion in additional loan guarantees for the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Ga.(read more)

BWX Technologies, Inc. said Wednesday that its BWSR, LLC joint venture with APTIM has been awarded a two-year extension by Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation (BMPC) that will be inclusive of a $14 million option anticipated to be awarded in 2018.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company on Wednesday announced they have signed a contract with Jadrová a vyraďovacia spoločnosť (JAVYS) for the dismantling of the reactor coolant systems of two VVER-440 units at the Bohunice V1 Nuclear Power Plant in Slovakia. The project is financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).(read more)

Santee Cooper, owner of 45 percent of the canceled two-reactor expansion project at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville, S.C., said it was considering sale of its portion of a settlement with Toshiba Corporation, the Japanese conglomerate that owns Westinghouse Electric Company.(read more)

The government of Japan has approved a revised Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) cleanup plan that delays the start of fuel rod removal from Units 1 and 2 at the crippled plant, but maintains a target of 2018 as the start for removal of stored Unit 3 spent fuel.(read more)

Lawmakers in South Carolina have asked a state investigative team, the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), to look into potential criminal aspects of SCANA Corporation and South Carolina Electric and...(read more)

Citing strong interest from the United States and inquiries from Russia and Indonesia, the head of the South Africa Nuclear Energy Corporation (Nesca) said that it was working towards the restart of its pebble bed modular reactor fuel production by sometime next year.(read more)

The District Court of Chiba on Friday ruled that the government of Japan did not have to compensate evacuees form the Fukushima area affected by the 2011 triple meltdown at the nuclear power station there, but that the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) was liable.(read more)