News

Westinghouse Electric Company said it had extended an agreement with FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. that includes a five-year provision for outage services for the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station's pressurized water reactors.(read more)

Georgia Power's latest video clip from the Vogtle expansion project in Waynesboro, Georgia, shows what has been accomplished in six years in a two-minute visual sprint from 2010 until 2016(read more)

British-based engineering consultancy Amec Foster Wheeler and nuclear power plant builder China Nuclear Engineering & Construction Corporation (CNECC) announced they had signed an agreement to collaborate on wide-ranging nuclear power facets of the nuclear power industry. The agreement focuses, in part, on deployment of high-temperature reactors in the UK and internationally.(read more)

The European Commission has come up with a price tag for its nuclear power industry's clean up bill in the European Union, estimating that nuclear waste management and decommissioning cost will total about $287 billion.(read more)

Ohio's electrical rate deal approved last week by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, provides the rate stability that will “keep a diverse set of fuel sources available to generate electricity, rather than risking more plant closures,” FirstEnergy Corp. said.(read more)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday signed a bill that ended the state's moratorium on building new nuclear power plants, which had been on the state's statutes since 1983. The laws that ended...(read more)

French nuclear power giants EDF, AREVA and CEA (the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique) said they would form a high-powered consulting team that would meet four times a year to discuss the “major challenges facing the French nuclear sector.”(read more)

GE Hitatchi (GEH) said that the company's new, high-tech water filter system called the Feedwater Debris Strainer (FWDS) has been successfully installed at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Forsmark, Sweden.(read more)

AREVA Inc. and NuScale Power announced Thursday that they had used NuScale's tri-annual Advisory Board meeting in Corvallis, Oregon, to give a name to the modified fuel adapted for small modular reactors. The modified AREVA HTP-2 fuel designed for Nuscale technology will be named NuFuel HTP2, the companies announced.(read more)

The long-awaited frozen, underground wall that is expected to greatly reduce water flow in and through radioactive areas of a four-building block at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Generating Station was activated Wednesday, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said Wednesday.(read more)

--Press Release-- AREVA Inc. and NuScale Power announced today that the modified AREVA HTP-2 fuel design for NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) technology will be named NuFuel HTP2TM. The announcement was made this week during NuScale’s tri-annual Advisory Board meeting (NuAB) in Corvallis, OR, and follows an agreement signed by the companies in December 2015 for AREVA to design and manufacture the fuel assemblies.(read more)

Nuclear power industry leaders on Wednesday sent the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit a joint statement stressing their commitment to nuclear security, safety and cooperation with governments.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company on Tuesday announced a new contract with National Nuclear Energy Generating Company (NNEGC) Energoatom to license the Westinghouse BEACON Core Monitoring System for use a the Zaporzhia nuclear plant's Unit 5.(read more)

An independent task force of nuclear power experts, the Nuclear Reform Monitoring Committee, which was set up by TEPCO in 2012, toured the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Tuesday and reported impressive improvements at the devastated facility.(read more)

Work has resumed in two areas of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) repository mine that had been on hold due to air quality safety concerns, the plant's operator said. The work stoppage – called a “safety pause” – began Feb. 22 at the underground facility outside of Carlsbad. But the troubles began two years ago, in February 2014, when radiation leaked from an improperly packed drum of waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory.(read more)

High-tech metal alloys are widely used in important materials such as the cladding that protects the fuel inside a nuclear reactor. But even the best alloys degrade over time, victims of a reactor’s high temperatures, radiation, and hydrogen-rich environment. Now, a team of MIT researchers has found a way of greatly reducing the damaging effects these metals suffer from exposure to hydrogen.MIT metals(read more)

FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company said that the current refueling and maintenance shutdown of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station n Oak Harbor, Ohio, would include replacement of two out of four of the plant's 50-ton reactor coolant pump motors, which are capable of pushing more than 100,000 gallons of water per minute.(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said late last week that it had issued a “Chilling Effect Letter” to the TVA – the Tennessee Valley Authority – based on the perception that operators at the plant “may not have felt free to raise safety concerns, and some licensed operators may have been unduly influenced and directed by sources external to the control room."(read more)

Just ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit of 2016, which is scheduled include 50 world leaders visiting Washington, D.C. March 31 to April 1, reports from Brussels indicate that the two suicide bombers involved in the deadly terrorist attack in Brussels this week may have initially targeted a nuclear power plant in Belgium.(read more)

The Vogtle 3 and 4 nuclear expansion project continues to progress with multiple milestones achieved over the past 30 days, said Georgia Power, noting the project was now 60 percent complete based on contractual milestones of significant construction steps and placement of major components.(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Wednesday that it was seeking public comment on proposed changes to its licensing, inspection, special project and annual fees that would reflect the agency's diminished budget in era that has been marked by a slowdown in new construction projects.(read more)

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a process for removing the toxic element of americium from nuclear waste pools – a problem that has puzzled the scientific community for decades.(read more)

As of Tuesday this week, 140 extra Belgian troops were guarding the Doel and Tihange nuclear power plants, while the county was put on the maximum Level 4 heightened security status following two deadly terrorist attacks in Brussels that left 34 dead on Tuesday.(read more)

The UN-accredited World Energy Council (WEC) has warned that water shortages, which could reach critical levels as soon as 2030, will have a heavy-handed impact on power plants, many of which rely on large quantities of water to generate electricity.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company noted an ongoing positive relationship with British nuclear plant design reviewers, who deemed quarterly progress in a Generic Design Assessment (GDA) for the AP1000 design was “disappointing,"(read more)

Nuclear plant operator Exelon said it operators at the LaSalle County Generating Station 11 miles southeast of Ottawa, Ill., had removed Unit 1 from Service on Saturday to replace seals on two pumps that were not performing at optimum level.(read more)

The Nuclear Energy Institute said it had asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for limited rule changes that would cut cost and increase efficiency in the process of transitioning a power plant from active, operational status to one that is closed down and preparing for decommissioning.(read more)

For the first time since Gallup began polling on nuclear power in 1994, a majority of Americans said they opposed use of the power source.(read more)

Britain's Department of Energy and Climate Change said Thursday that it had opened up a funding competition for $360 million for developers of small nuclear reactors (SMRs).(read more)

A 60 percent increase in order backlogs to $75 million for nuclear power plant simulations and training systems company GSE Systems has bumped share values 4 percent, contributing to a month-long shares value bump of 23 percent, according to a stock market news Web site.(read more)

The U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating fraud as a domestic follow-up to the accounting scandal that has enveloped Westinghouse Electric Company's Japanese parent company Toshiba.(read more)

China's two largest nuclear power companies, China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN) and China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) announced the official launch of a joint venture designed to combine forces in order to construct third generation Hualong One nuclear reactors at home and to export the same design to foreign markets.(read more)

South African utility Eskom has submitted site applications for nuclear power plant projects for two sites, one in Thyspunt in the Eastern Cape and one in Duynefotein in the Western Cape.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company said Wednesday that it had been selected by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to provide inspection and maintenance services for steam generators at the Watts Bar Units 1 and 2 and Sequoyah Units 1 and 2 for a five-year stretch covering 2016 through 2021.(read more)

--Press Release-- L-3 MAPPS announced announced last week that it has signed a contract with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to provide replacement trip computers for the second shutdown system (SDS2) and display/test computers for both the first shutdown system (SDS1) and SDS2 on the four generating units at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. The design phase is underway and the final production computer equipment for the four generating units is expected to be delivered by the second quarter of 2019. (read more)

Germany's highest court will hear two days of testimony this week on whether or not the government owes three utility giants, Vattenfall, EOn and RWE, compensation for the 2011 decision to phase out the country's nuclear power plants.(read more)

AREVA TN said Tuesday it had signed two long-term contracts worth more than $200 million with U.S. utilities for the supply of used fuel storage solutions.(read more)

EDF Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy confirmed he is negotiating with the French government in order to secure more funds for the Hinkley Point C project, which faces a new hurdle with a financial report that called EDF “uninvestible,” due to the precarious situation it would put itself in by going ahead with the project. But Levy also said he was sure that the challenges would be met for the project to eventually be given a green light.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company said it had signed a critical memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ukrainian turbine builder PJSC Turboatom to explore the potential of increasing the capacity of Ukraine's nuclear power plants and consider options for joint projects elsewhere.(read more)

The European Commission has stepped in for a second time, clearing the way for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project that is still awaiting a green light from the primary project team at French...(read more)

Georgia Power has completed a 45-hour continuous pour that filled the walls of the CA20 module with 1,800 cubic yards of concrete, calling the achievement a key step in the vertical construction of the shield building at the Vogtle Unit 3 construction project near Waynesboro, Ga.(read more)

The Canadian government this week, backing up campaign pledge, announced $206 million in support of clean technology initiatives, including a $18.5 million in grants for next-generation nuclear power companies Terrestrial Energy and General Fusion.(read more)

Five years after the 9.0-magnitude Great East Japan Earthquake, with its epicenter 45 miles offshore, hit the island of Japan it is time to brace yourself for an onslaught of bad news.(read more)

The Kensai Electric Power Company in Japan said it would begin shutdown operations for the online Takahama nuclear power plant Unit 3 in order to comply with a court order issued Wednesday. The shutdown process would commence on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. and be completed within 12 hours, the company said.(read more)

Bowing to international pressure, French utility EDF said it would close down the two oldest nuclear power reactors in France, which are situated on the border with Germany and are close to Switzerland...(read more)

The $25.6 billion Hinkley Point nuclear plant project for Britain, which has a tentative construction start date of 2019, has been hit with another headline-provoking controversy as the chief finance director for French utility EDF has quit his post over rising project costs, French and British media are reporting.(read more)

The Arizona Public Service-operated Palo Verde Generating Station produced more than 30 million megawatt-hours of carbon-free electricity for the seventh consecutive year in 2015 and for the 11th time overall, the company said Tuesday.(read more)

Seasoned engineering and construction firm Bechtel said it would join forces with BWX Technologies to accelerate development of a factory-built nuclear reactor with the goal of producing the world's first commercially viable Generation III plus plus modular power plants.(read more)

All but three of the 99 operating U.S. nuclear power plants are in the highest two safety categories according to the country's industrial regulator. Seven, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said, have issues of low significance that require attention, while three have more significant concerns to resolve.(read more)

Westinghouse Electric Company said Thursday that all four reactor coolant pumps (RCPs) at Sanmen Unit 1 construction site in China have been installed ahead of the current milestone schedule.(read more)