News

BWX Technologies, Inc., said Monday that that its subsidiary BWXT Canada Ltd. (BWXT) has been awarded a $48CA million amendment to its existing steam generator purchase agreement from Bruce Power. The amendment reflects the addition of steam drums to Bruce Power’s steam generator agreement with BWXT Canada previously announced July 2016.(read more)

The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that a review of Japan's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station by an international team of experts recommended more work should continue on safety improvements at the plant, but that many of the recommendations and suggestions made in a 2015 review had been addressed.(read more)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that it had approved new steps in the process of reviewing Yucca Mountain site, Nevada, as a potential site for a national repository for high level nuclear waste, reopening the process that could resolve the critical and long-standing issue for the nuclear power industry: What to do with the build up of spent nuclear fuel.(read more)

The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog group, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said this week that the growth potential for nuclear power remains high, taking the long view, even though global expansion “is projected to slow down in coming years.”(read more)

The sale of state-owned Santee Cooper is one of the options South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is considering in an effort to revive the suspended two-reactor expansion project at the Virgil C. Summer nuclear power plant, media reports indicate.(read more)

In an effort to keep the Nuclear Waste Fund intact, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) this week filed a legal brief in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to block Texas from being awarded restitution and disgorgement from the Nuclear Waste Fund based on the government's long delays in setting up a national repository for spent nuclear fuel.(read more)

GE Power Services, a division of GE Power headquartered in Baden, Switzerland, has signed a 12-year agreement with Daya Bay Nuclear Power Operations and Management Co. of Shenzhen, China, for the provision of services to steam turbines, generators and auxiliary systems at its Daya Bay, Ling Ao and Ling Dong nuclear power plants(read more)

Wisconsin company SHINE Medical Technologies said it had begun construction of Building One at its new Janesville, Wis., campus that will be used to produce the medical isotope molybdenum-99 that is critical in imaging to detect such conditions as cancer and heart disease.(read more)

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday, Southern Co. said that it would cost an additional $1 billion to $1.7 billion to complete construction of two new AP1000 Westinghouse-designed reactors at the Vogtle expansion project in Waynesboro, G(read more)

Virginia-based BWX Technologies announced Thursday that its subsidiary BWXT Nuclear Energy Inc. had been awarded an $18.8 million contract from NASA to initiate conceptual designs for a nuclear thermal propulsion reactor. The aim of the project, the company said, was to support “a possible future manned mission to Mars.” That would be a 54.6 million kilometer journey – 33.9 million miles.(read more)

The early June radiation exposure accident at the Oarai Research and Development Center in the Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan involving five workers has been designated a level 2 accident by the country's Nuclear Regulation Authority. Using the international scale for accidents, the incident is on the low end of the 1-7 scale of accident intensity with 7 being the most severe accidents and 1 being the least severe.(read more)

When you throw a stone in a pond, there's a ripple effect. But if your project is large enough, when you stop throwing rocks in the pond, there is also a ripple effect. Such is the case with the decision by South Carolina Electric and Gas Company and partner Santee Cooper to stop construction of two new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville, S.C.(read more)

The Spanish government said Tuesday that it would close the Santa Maria de Garona power plant, which, as the country's oldest nuclear power plant, was commissioned in 1971 and has been idled since July 2013. The apparent reason for the closure is the lack of political will to return the plant to active service.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company Chief Executive Officer Jose Emeterio Gutiérrez.said the company was “extremely disappointed” at the decision by Santee Cooper and the South Carolina Electric and Gas Company to back away from its commitments to the V.C. Summer power plant expansion project, which was to deploy two AP1000 reactors designed by Westinghouse.(read more)

The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said Monday that it had connected the fourth unit at the Fuqing nuclear power plant to the grid. According to the World Nuclear Association, the new reactor, a 1087 MWe CPR-1000 model, is China's 37th power plant in operation.(read more)

The plummeting price of natural gas, a lack of political will power, the nation's – indeed, the globe's – romance with renewable power sources and the improved light bulb were among...(read more)

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation (SCANA) (NYSE:SCG), announced today that it will cease construction of the two new nuclear units (Units) at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville, SC and will promptly file a petition with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina seeking approval of its abandonment plan.(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a confirmatory order to the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has agreed to an extensive list of corrective actions to address safety conscious work environment issues.(read more)

British engineering, research and construction consultancy Amec Foster Wheeler said Friday it had been awarded a $3.8 million contract from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to run a UK Digital Reactor Design partnership.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company on Friday announced that it will load fuel assemblies containing lead test rods of its accident tolerant fuel solution, EnCoreTM Fuel, in Exelon Generation’s Byron Unit 2 in spring of 2019.(read more)

Progress on the Plant Vogtle expansion project in Waynesboro, Ga., continues unabated despite the shift in project management that was granted approval by the Department of Energy on July 27, Georgia Power said on Friday.(read more)

With a Memorandum of Understanding signed, officials at the China General Nuclear Power Corp. confirmed that the company is targeting Poland as a potential market for nuclear power exports.(read more)

U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics released this week showed that nuclear power plant operators are the highest paying jobs in the country among jobs that do not require a college degree, but the number of openings expected through 2024 are sparse compared to other jobs.(read more)

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) said Tuesday that technicians had completed Cold Hydrostatic Testing for Unit 2 at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant located in the Al Dhafra Region of Abu Dhabi.(read more)

A new study in the publication Nature Energy says that an increasing number of water basins in Europe could suffer from resource stresses due to global warming, which in turn will strain generation capacities of power plants.(read more)

The Tokyo Electric Power Company in Japan (Tepco) has confirmed the discovery of molten debris suspected to include melted and resolifidied fuel at the bottom of the Unit 3 containment vessel at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Generating Station.(read more)

Eight months after reaching an accord -- the first of its kind for Japan with a country that is not a signer of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- a landmark agreement between India and Japan on nuclear power cooperation goes into effect Friday.(read more)

Horizon Nuclear Power on Thursday said it would partner with Tecnatom, a global nuclear training services provider, as it looks to grow the future operational workforce for the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant project in Anglesey, North Wales.(read more)

A wind turbine plant in Tillsonburg, Ontario, announced it was closing its doors in 2018, telling 300 employes their jobs would be gone, including 206 who were told to no longer come in for work.(read more)

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, owner of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Generating Station in Japan, has deployed a swimming robot, dubbed the Little Sunfish, that is exploring conditions inside flooded areas of the No. 3 reactor.(read more)

Wang Shoujun, president of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said that commercial production of high-temperature, gas-cooled nuclear fuel (HTGR) had begun at the China North Nuclear Fuel processing plant in northern China.(read more)

Holtec International and SNC-Lavalin have reached a partnership agreement designed to accelerate Holtec's Small Modular Reactor program “to develop and deply SMR-160 power plants around the world,” the companies said Tuesday.(read more)

An interview in Japan given by Tokyo Electric Power Company Chairman Takashi Kawamura is causing a stir, as the chairman said the company is waiting for the government's approval to dump tons of tritium-tainted water into the Pacific Ocean. (read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company on Friday said it was partnering with General Atomics to produce an “accident-tolerant” nuclear reactor fuel that would use a ceramic matrix composite cladding that promises to provide enhanced safety characteristics over the currently established metal cladding.(read more)

After a series of setbacks and budget overruns, French utility EDF said Thursday that the Flamanville Unit 3 construction project, cleared provisionally by regulators in late June regarding pressure vessel steel integrity, would remain roughly on schedule, naming May 2019 as the first date for grid connection and November of the same year as the date for the unit to reach 100 percent power output.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) had selected the company and university research partners to receive a total of $7.5 million to advance nuclear innovation in several areas.(read more)

News that the French government has targeted 17 nuclear reactors – out of the country's 58 operating fleet – for closure by 2025 has meet with resistance similar to that of South Korea, where a nuclear power phase out is planned: Experts are lining up against the idea.(read more)

French nuclear engineering and construction firm Areva said Wednesday it had signed a contract with decommissioning specialist NorthStar, a New York-based firm, to break down, package and transport core components of the Vermont Yankee Boiling Water Reactor in Vernon, Vt.(read more)

French Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot on Monday said that the country could close 17 nuclear reactors within the next eight years, continuing with a commitment made by the previous national administration to reduce nuclear power from 77 percent to 50 percent of the country's electricity generation mix.(read more)

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak pointed to a symbolic and logistical completion date for the first unit of Turkey's planned Akkuyu power plant. The minister, responding to reporters, said the first commercial power plant in the country would begin operations in 2023.(read more)

Hungary's third International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS) mission, conducted by the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has been concluded with a report that cited the country's strong commitment to nuclear safety, the watchdog agency said.(read more)

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have issued a joint report indicating that a recent round of cyber attacks included malicious activity targeting energy-oriented businesses, including nuclear power plants. The one nuclear power business revealed in the report was the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corp., which operates Wolf Creek 1, a Westinghouse Four-loop pressurized water reactor located near Burlington, Kan.(read more)

Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) said Wednesday that two of its ships – the Pacific Heron and the Pacific Egret – had departed the port of Cherbourt in France on a two-month trip to Japan laden with MOX fuel that is designated for the Kansai Electric Power Company's Takahama Unit 4.(read more)

Finland's nuclear fuel waste disposal company Posiva has chosen to use software from New Zealand firm Aranz Geo to model the geological aspects of the deep repository that is expected to hold radioactive waste for tens and even hundreds of thousands of years.(read more)

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday lauded Bangladesh for the political support, public appreciation and international cooperation for nuclear power in the country that is proving to be a productive atmosphere for progress in the country's first nuclear power plant.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company said Wednesday that the newly developed Zephyr eddy current testing system deployed at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Wintersburg, Arizona “surpassed all expectations,” in reaching two separate milestones for the nuclear industry.(read more)

With start of construction of the first new Hinkley Point C reactor still two years away, French utility EFF said this week that the estimated cost for the project had risen by close to $2 billion and that the initial start up for the first reactor would be in 2027, two years behind schedule.(read more)

A trial of three former Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) executives began in Tokyo on Friday with opening statements that went right to the core issue at stake: Did the defendants ignore warnings that a huge tsunami event could devastate the plant – an even that occurred in March 2011 causing the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.(read more)

The Delaware Supreme Court closed out much of the monetary dispute between Westinghouse Electric Company and Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. this week, ruling that historical accounting practices at CB&I were not material in a cost adjustment case between the two companies.(read more)

Georgia Power said Thursday it was prepared to assume management of the Vogtle nuclear expansion project, taking the reins from Westinghouse Electric Company in late July under the service agreement finalized earlier this month.(read more)