News

The China National Nuclear Corporation said Monday that the most recent reactor in China to reach its first sustained fission reaction, the No. 2 unit at the Changjiang nuclear power plant had been synced to the electricity grid.(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Friday it had completed its review of the flood protection improvements at the Oconee Nuclear Plant 30 miles west of Greenville, S.C., and found that modifications completed by Duke Energy at the facility would adequately protect the plant from any possible failure of the Jocassee Dam, which is located 12 miles upstream on the Keowee River.(read more)

The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) board of directors announced Thursday that they had decided in a unanimous vote to close the Fort Calhoun Station nuclear power plant, a 482-MW pressurized water reactor 19 miles north of Omaha that is rated by generation capacity as the smallest nuclear power plant in the country.(read more)

A familiar Exelon Generation scenario is developing in New York, mirroring the recent standoff in Illinois that lead the decision to shut down the Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear power plants.(read more)

The Vattenfall's board of directors on Wednesday announced they would invest in independent core cooling for the Forsmark power plant's three nuclear reactors. The company said the decision was a direct response to the government's phase out of the nuclear power tax in Sweden, which was agreed to by parliament this week.(read more)

Noting that nuclear energy was “by far” the largest source of carbon-free energy in the United States, Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday announced $82 million in federal funding for nuclear energy research.(read more)

French nuclear group AREVA on Wednesday announced its five-year restructuring plan that pivots on a creation of new subsidiary, NEW CO, that will focus on cash-flow-generating nuclear fuel cycle businesses.(read more)

The final reactor coolant pump for Unit 3 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant expansion project has arrived at the construction site, Georgia Power announced.(read more)

Environmental groups in New Jersey lost their bid to force PSEG Nuclear to build two expensive cooling towers for the company's Salem Unit 1 and Unit 2 reactors in Hancocks Bridge, N.J., as the state's department of environmental protection granted the company a five-year permit to continue with their current open-loop cooling system that draws 3 billion gallons of water per day from the Delaware River.(read more)

Just days after the German cabinet endorsed policies that would slow down their aggressive support of renewable power sources, the Swedish parliament endorsed an about face on Sweden's crippling tax on nuclear power plants, approving a plan that would support renewable, but also allow for utilities to replace the existing nuclear fleet of 10 reactors.(read more)

Germany, which has been seen as a trend-setter in the move to renewable power sources, may be turning a corner by adopting policies that slow the growth of solar and wind power in order to stabilize electricity prices and allow transmission infrastructure to catch up to the changing generation landscape.(read more)

Ur-Energy said Wednesday that it would cut its workforce at three locations in Wyoming and re-assign staff as a response to depressed uranium market conditions.(read more)

Diplomats at a Nuclear Supply Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna this week – a working meeting ahead of the group's plenary meeting in South Korea on June 20 – are lining up their prospective cases on whether or not India or Pakistan should be invited to join.(read more)

Bruce Power on Wednesday responded to the new Climate Change Action Plan released by the provincial government of Ontario, stating that its multi-year investment program focused on keeping its nuclear power generation safe and productive was a critical factor in reaching Ontario's ambitious carbon emissions reduction goals(read more)

Exelon, which announced the premature closing of two nuclear power plants last week, said Tuesday that it would seek an additional 20-year operating license for the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.(read more)

A joint statement issued by the White House and India associated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington, said that preliminary work on a six-reactor deal involving Westinghouse AP1000 technology would commence forthwith.(read more)

Watts Bar Unit 2 shut down early Sunday afternoon two days after it was connected to the grid as start up testing ran into a glitch in the turbine control systems, according to reports.(read more)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said Monday there were no safety issues associated with the proposed Levy County, Fla., site for two AP1000 reactors.(read more)

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) said Monday that it had taken steps to form an operating subsidiary, Nawah Energy Company (Nawah) that would operate and maintain the four-reactor Barakah nuclear power plant once it is up and running.(read more)

The Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor began producing electricity for the first time on Friday, the Tennessee Valley Authority said. The plant is officially synced to the grid and licensed reactor operators...(read more)

Britain's Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) on Friday said it had granted its consent to allow the EDF Energy Nuclear Generation LTD to return the Sizewell B nuclear power station to service following...(read more)

Talen Energy, which owns 16,000 megawatts of electricity generation capacity, including the affiliate Susquehanna Nuclear LLC, has announced that it will merge with Riverstone Holdings LLC, a private investment firm based in New York City that specializes in energy companies.(read more)

A stalemate over labor reforms in France has the nuclear power industry caught up in rolling strikes by union workers, who fear the reforms make it easier for companies to lay off workers.(read more)

Blaming the lack of progress in the Illinois state legislature, Exelon Corporation on Thursday announced it would close two of its nuclear power plants in the state, the Clinton Power Station in Clinton, Ill., and the Quad Cities Generating Station in Cordova, Ill.(read more)

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has greatly expanded the production license for the McClean Lake uranium mill operated by AREVA. The Canadian regulator has allowed production at the mill to jump from 13 million pounds per year to 24 million pounds, AREVA announced.(read more)

Georgia Power said Wednesday that the last of the "Big 6" modules had been placed in the nuclear island for Unit 3 at the Vogtle expansion project near Waynesboro, Ga. The modules – CA02 and CA03 -- weigh 52 tons and 237 tons respectively, and are critical components and part of the In-Containment Refueling Water Storage Tank (IRWST).(read more)

In a quarterly report on conditions and cleanup progress at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said that soil temperatures at more than 90 percent of the measuring points in a circumference surrounding four-reactor buildings were below zero degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit.(read more)

A six-unit nuclear power plant project in India is changing locations from the western coastal district of Gujarat to the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh in the district of Srikakulum, due to opposition from local farmers, sources in the country are saying.(read more)

Horizon Nuclear Power Ltd., in Britain, said that its Board of Directors Chairman Tatsuro Ishizuka is standing down to take on a new role as Chairman of the Hitachi Research Institute. He will be replaced by Masahide Tanigaki, who has been with Hitachi Ltd since 1975.(read more)

The world's first Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants moved a step closer to commissioning this week with completion of the cold hydrostatic tests (CHT) at Sanmen Unit 1 in Zhejiang Province, China.(read more)

AEM-technology JSC, a member of Rosatom's component division Atomenergomash announced completion of the manufacturing of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant's Unit 2.(read more)

Exelon Corporation said Wednesday that its Quad Cities and Three Mile Island nuclear plants in Cordova, Ill., and Middletown, Pa., did not clear in the PJM capacity auction for the 2019-2020 planning year...(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company on Wednesday announced it had signed a contract with Forsmark Kaftgrupp AB to upgrade the non-safety related information and control systems at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant's Units 1 and 2 in Sweden.(read more)

Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday it had approved the transfer of the license for the La Crosse Nuclear Plant in Genoa, Wis., from its owner Dairyland Power Cooperative to La Crosse Solutions LLC, a subsidiary of radioactive waste disposal specialist Energy Solutions LLC.(read more)

Global Nuclear Fuel, a joint venture with Hitachi Ltd., and Toshiba Corporation, said Thursday that it would work with TVEL Fuel Company toward licensing, marketing and fabrication of fuel for U.S. power plants operating Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs).(read more)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that it would go ahead with amending its regulations to establish separate fees for small modular reactors. The agency said it was establishing a separate fee structure because it anticipated it will soon receive SMR license applications.(read more)

Britain's Horizon Nuclear Power said Friday that it had created a joint venture called Menter Newydd that would be the lead build team for the Wylfa Newydd project. “Menter Newydd, meaning New Venture in Welsh, is a joint venture of Hitachi Nuclear Energy Europe, Ltd., Bechtel Management Company, Ltd., and JGC Corporation (UK) Ltd., and will be responsible for the construction of Wylfa Newydd, overseen by Horizon Nuclear Power,” the company said.(read more)

Nuclear Energy Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Marvin Fertel called for federal action "sooner rather than later," to help incentivize nuclear power plants that are under economic pressures, most notably from low natural gas prices.(read more)

Egypt and Russia have taken a financial step forward in development of a four-reactor nuclear power plant in Dabaa, Egypt, announcing that Russia had granted Egypt a $25 billion loan that is to cover 85 percent of the construction cost of the advanced facility.(read more)

French nuclear industry mainstay AREVA said this week that it had been awarded three patents for employee inventions that were developed “to enhance the safe operations of existing nuclear reactors and to recycle rare materials form used control rod assemblies.”(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it had reached a settlement with nuclear plant operator Entergy involving mitigation actions in response to a 2011 leak that allowed an estimated 80 gallons of radioactive water to reach Lake Michigan. The NRC said, however, that it “agreed to disagree” on a whether or Entergy's response to the leak's discovery also included willful disregard of procedures at the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert, Michigan.(read more)

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) said it had submitted its Early Site Permit Application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to assess the potential for construction and operation of small nuclear reactor units at its Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tenn.(read more)

Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has presented the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with a plan intended to “immediately begin the removal of hypersaline water” from the Turkey Point Powder Plant cooling canal system and, the company said, retract an artificial saltwater plume in the canals within the next 10 years.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company said Tuesday it had signed a contract with Teollisuden Voima Oy in Finland to deliver new feedwater spargers to the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2.(read more)

Susquehanna Nuclear said Tuesday that Unit 2 at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant had been reconnected to the grid after a four-day manual shut down that took the reactor off line on Friday.(read more)

AREVA NP said it had been chosen by German utility E.ON Kernkraft to decontaminate the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant, a pressurized water reactor located south of Schweinfurt on the river Main.(read more)

This week, Georgia Power said that the it had placed more than 760 tons of major components in place within the turbine island for Vogtle Unit 3 – namely, the stator assembly and the 303-ton deaerator.(read more)

Senior management at the Omaha Public Power District have recommended the company shut down the Fort Calhoun Station (FCS) nuclear power plant by the end of 2016 and begin decommissioning, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Burke has told the board of directors.(read more)

Electricite de France's head of new nuclear projects Xavier Ursat told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting that the company was “working hard” to present India with technical and financial proposals that would culminate in six new reactors in India.(read more)

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), a branch of the Department of Energy, has predicted “significant growth in worldwide energy demand over the 28-year period from 2012 to 2040,”...(read more)