News

An international review of the Czech Republic's regulatory framework for nuclear power has been significantly enhanced in recent years, although some work remains regarding implementation of the country's new Atomic Act, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday.(read more)

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority cleared two more nuclear reactors for restart on Wednesday. Both reactors in the Fukui Prefecture could be restarted as early as this fall, if the restarts meet with local approval, according to Japanese media reports.(read more)

French utility EDF, which is majority owned by the state, used a Twitter account to deny a media allegation that it secretly intended to roll back the country's nuclear power reduction plan by 25 years.(read more)

A Nuclear Industry Association spokeswoman in Britain confirmed talks would take place with the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) of China and NuGen, which has plans to build three AP1000 reactors in Moorside, near Sellafield.(read more)

A referendum in Switzerland that included a provision forbidding construction of new nuclear power plants passed on Sunday. The referendum included support for renewable power sources and pitted the two energy supplies against each other. Thus, the bill, perhaps inadvertently, was a referendum against energy diversity.(read more)

Chairman of Ohio's House Public Utilities Committee Bill Seitz has closed down the hearing that was exploring the possibility of setting up financial support for FirstEnergy's two nuclear power plants in the state. Reportedly, FirstEnergy is continuing efforts to revive the discussion, which FirstEnergy Chief Executive Officer Chuck Jones said is “not a bailout.”(read more)

French utility EDF's board of directors on Wednesday approved the merger of its engineering division with that of AREVA NP to form nuclear island and reactor control systems business Edvance. The board approved the new entity, which would be responsible for nuclear island design, implementation and procurement issues, as well as manufacturing and commissioning support.(read more)

Voters in Switzerland on Sunday will have the option of banning nuclear power in the country and appear poised to do so, according to voter surveys. The binding resolution pits nuclear power against subsidies for renewable energy sources, leaving out the option that the two industries can compliment each other.(read more)

Presidents of China and Argentina on Wednesday ushered in a series of business agreements, including contracts for two nuclear power reactors, for which China is to provide about 85 percent of the financing.(read more)

The Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) in Japan announced Tuesday that it intended to restart the Takahama Unit 4 reactor on Wednesday, May 17. It expected the reactor to reach criticality on Thursday, May 18.(read more)

The Westinghouse Electric Company bankruptcy filing has provoked concern over a “construction work in progress” (CWIP) in North Carolina, namely the Lee Nuclear Station that has been proposed by Duke Energy.(read more)

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects a sharp drop in the role of nuclear power in the nation's energy mix by 2050, owing to the capacity represented by plant retirements vastly outnumbering the gains expected through new reactors being built and upgrades to existing plants.(read more)

Georgia Power and Westinghouse said they have reached an interim service agreement that would allow for the transition of the Plant Vogtle expansion project to management under Georgia Power. The deal allows for the timing of the transition of construction management from Westinghouse to Georgia Power to be decided by the bankruptcy proceedings. Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors on March 29.(read more)

She is young, stunning and bright. She is also a chemist and she works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Her name is Kate McCullough and her title, as of Sunday, is Miss USA.(read more)

Tokyo Electric and Power Company, owner of the Fukushima Daiichi generating station that suffered a triple-reactor meltdown after the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, said Thursday that is was seeking a partner to help re-establish itself in the nuclear power business.(read more)

The Department of Energy said Thursday that most of the 9,000 workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State had been informed they could return to work after a site emergency was declared following the discovery Tuesday morning of a collapsed storage tunnel that contained rail cars loaded with radioactive equipment.(read more)

Engineering and construction giant SNC-Lavalin announced Tuesday that it has been awarded a contract from Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company Ltd. (KHNP) for fuel channel inspections and a contract from China's Third Qinshan Nuclear Power Company (TQNPC) for fuel channel reconfiguration.(read more)

A collapsed tunnel at the Hanford Site in Washington State, overseen by the Richland's Operations Office under the Department of Energy, lead to the declaration of a “site area emergency” on Tuesday, after a worker checking one of two storage tunnels noticed a 20-feet section had caved in.(read more)

The Maritime Affairs Minister of Indonesia, Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, confirmed Thursday that Russian nuclear power corporation Rosatom has advanced the possibility of building a turnkey nuclear plant in the country, but he indicated the matter needed to be studied in detail before any offer would be accepted.(read more)

Argentina's energy deputy secretary Julian Gadano confirmed this week that China and Argentina will sign contracts on May 17 for construction of two nuclear reactors, comprising Atucha III, which will...(read more)

Progress at the V.C. Summer expansion project has reached 64.1 percent, SCE&G's latest report to the South Carolina Public Service Commission shows. The figure takes into account various phases, including engineering – now considered 96 percent complete – procurement at 88.2 percent complete, construction at 34.3 percent complete and start up activities, which are considered 8.6 percent complete.(read more)

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) confirmed Friday the start-up of the first reactor at the Barakah nuclear power plant would be put off for a year due to the lack of an operating license.(read more)

The Global Nexus Initiative (GNI), a policy group formed by the Partnership for Global Security and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), has released a report stating that the “significant changes are required,” in both technology and governance in order for the nuclear power industry to capitalize on its role as a carbon-free energy producer in a time of global warming.(read more)

Southern Co. Chief Executive Officer Thomas Fanning has said that the company is seeking $3.7 billion in guarantees from Toshiba Corporation, parent of bankrupt Westinghouse Electric Company, to allow completion of the Plant Vogtle expansion project in Georgia.(read more)

IAEA said Thursday that it had completed development of an upgraded SARIS tool that makes it easier for countries to check their regulatory mandates against international standards.(read more)

KSB Group, makers of pumps and valves, has signed on as a supplier to the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant project in Somerset, England, with orders valued at about $32.75 million.(read more)

China National Nuclear Corporation's third-generation ACP100 nuclear reactor, called the Linglong One, has been approved for construction and is on track to become the first small reactor built for commercial purposes in the country.(read more)

Dominion Virginia Power (Dominion) said Monday that the carbon footprint for a typical customer would drop by as much as 25 percent over the next eight years, contributing to an carbon emissions drop of 46 percent between 2007 and 2027(read more)

The Tennessee Valley Authority said they had seen a quick economic benefit with the addition of the Watts Bar 2 nuclear reactor to its generation mix, noting the new reactor had enabled the company to keep costs down while a drought lowered output from its hydroelectric generators.(read more)

The Plant Vogtle expansion project in Waynesboro, Ga., remains in financial limbo this week as Georgia Power agreed to extend a 30-day interim agreement to keep construction moving forward, saying Friday that they had added another two weeks to the current interim agreement. Another decision on whether or not to keep the project going will be announced May 12, the company said in a press statement released after the close of business day on Friday.(read more)

Georgia Power Co. lawyers filed an objection in court this week protesting the use of Westinghouse Electric Company's intellectual property as collateral for an $800 million bankruptcy loan mean to shore up Westinghouse's profitable companies while it seeks Chapter 11 protection from creditors.(read more)

A privately funded company in Britain, Tokamak Energy, said Friday it had turned on its third reactor in five years, the ST40 fusion reactor, which has achieved its first plasma and has a goal of reaching 100 million degrees, far hotter than the center of the sun.(read more)

The managing director of the Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (Niasa) said Thursday that this week's High Court ruling that derailed the country' nuclear ambitions was based on procurement...(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it had begun a special inspection at the LaSalle Unit 2 reactor in Marseilles, Illinois, in reference to the failure of a valve that could have caused one of the plant's safety systems from failing.(read more)

The plate-type uranium-molybdenum nuclear fuel developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has been found to be stable and reliable after testing at the research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, the Institute said.(read more)

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has been awarded an outage services contract from Exelon Generation, operator of the largest fleet of nuclear power plants in the country in a deal valued at $140 million, the companies said.(read more)

In a whistle-blower case, a company that supplied rebar to the government for construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication and Reactor Irradiation Services facility in Aiken, South Carolina, has agreed to pay $4.6 million to a settle a lawsuit alleging that it failed to provide the quality controls for the rebar stipulated in the contract.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company parent Toshiba Corp. of Japan said Monday it would spit itself into four wholly owned subsidiaries by the end of the year in reaction to severe losses in its nuclear power division and as a way to “support maximization of their business value.”(read more)

UK-based engineering giant Amec Foster Wheeler said Monday it had been awarded a five-year contract with U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command to clean up and restore Navy properties contaminated with low-level radiation materials and industrial waste.(read more)

The governor of the Saga Prefecture in the northwestern side of the island of Kyushu, has consented to the restart of Units 3 and 4 at the Genkai power plant operated by Kyushu Electric Power Company.(read more)

The French Academy of Sciences said Thursday that the country's policy of reducing its dependence on nuclear power was a step in the wrong direction considering the country's goal of reducing harmful carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.(read more)

The United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had reached an agreement with Rosatom, the Russian Federation’s State Atomic Corporation, aimed at strengthening IAEA assistance to Member States that are considering introducing nuclear power or expanding an existing program.(read more)

FORATOM, the nuclear power trade association associated with the European Union this week published a position paper that stressed the importance of nuclear power in Europe's future energy mix, while calling out what it sees are flaws in the proposed “Clean Energy for All Europeans” legislative package that includes a plethora of policy initiatives on energy.(read more)

French nuclear power regulator Autorite de Surete Nucleaire (ASN) said Wednesday it had outlined conditions for the restart of Areva NP's Creusot Forge in France that has been closed down since the discovery of quality control problems.(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority in Japan on Wednesday approved plans to decommission five shuttered nuclear power plants that fell, due to their age, into an undesirable category after new standards were adopted in reaction to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident.(read more)

FirstEnergy Corp. is now technically the sole owner of both reactors at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station in Shippingport, Pennsylvania.(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday gave the owners of the soon-to-close Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Massachusetts a pass on several post-Fukushima Daiichi safety requirements, causing a stir among local residents and triggering quick backlashes from the state's two U.S. Senators, Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren.(read more)

Four Green Party candidates in Finland, acknowledging their party's long-standing opposition to nuclear power, called for a reversal on that stance last week, noting that the government's “current bio-energy policy is … a disaster for both the climate and the Finnish nature.”(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it would increase oversight of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in the Lacey Township of New Jersey, owning to a low to moderate safety concern which puts the plant in the white bracket in their color-coded assessment method.(read more)

Rosatom subsidiary Rosenergoatom said Friday that functional testing – known as cold and hot tests – had begun for the newest unit at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, the unit designated Phase II, Unit 1, which has been in development in western Russia.(read more)