News

The Tokyo Electric Power Company said Wednesday that it had developed water containment and treatment systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that are helping in the environmental recovery of the devastated site. “After years of preparation and discussion, a system designed to block...(read more)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the development of new emergency regulations for small modular reactors, which are generally defined as 300 MWe or smaller, which represents a radical departure from the 1,000 MWe reactors currently in use in the country. NRC commissioners voted...(read more)

The No. 1 reactor at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, returned to commercial operations at 10:30 a.m., local time on Tuesday, the Kyushu Electric Power Company said. The reactivation marks the first time a reactor has been fired up in Japan in more than two years. More...(read more)

Georgia Power on Monday announced the heaviest heave-ho of the Vogtle expansion project to date – the placement of the CA01 module for Unit 3. Along with assorted other equipment, the CA01 module, which is made entirely of steel, will house two steam generators for Unit 3, the second of which...(read more)

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission three-member adjudication panel late last week rejected arguments made by the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace that contended the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant should not have its operating licenses extended. The anti-nuclear power group argued at a hearing on...(read more)

Chinese media are reporting that a planned nuclear power project in Argentina his proving to be a magnet for businesses. Over 900 suppliers have registered to have a piece of the action in the Argentina, the Ministry of Planning announced, according to Xinhua, the official press agency of the People's...(read more)

French nuclear engineering and construction company AREVA announced Thursday they had been awarded a multimillion-dollar contract with South Carolina Electric and Gas, a subsidiary of SCANA Corporation, to fabricate and to install the integrated head assembly at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Jenkinsville...(read more)

--Press Release- - London, United Kingdom (06 August 2015) – Amec Foster Wheeler announces today the award of a contract by the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) to supply independent regulatory services across the entire spectrum of their activities...(read more)

Finnish Economy Minister Olli Rehn said Wednesday that investment in the Fennovoima Oy nuclear power plant project by three Finnish companies put the finances for the project at above 60 percent domestic backing, a threshold set by the government for plant approval. State-controlled utility company...(read more)

Southern California Edison, owners of the shut down San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, said Wednesday the company was disappointed with a ruling by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge regarding communications with state regulators that could result in millions of dollars...(read more)

[UPDATED] SCE&G said its partners closed out the second quarter of 2015 by achieving two milestones within one week for V.C. Summer Unit 3. The Unit 3 CA04 Module which is the reactor vessel cavity was placed on the containment vessel bottom head and they took delivery of the reactor vessel. And...(read more)

Paving the way for Vietnam's first nuclear power plant, Russian nuclear power giant Rosatom said its engineering subsidiary NIAEP-ASE United had signed an agreement with state-owned Electricity of Vietnam. The engineering plan covers the first construction requirements for the two-reactor Ninh...(read more)

The U.S. Energy Department announced a new round of funding to support research and development of advanced nuclear reactor projects. Using partnership funding, the DOE said two awards of up to $6 million would be allocated in the fiscal year 2015, which ends September 30. The available grants include...(read more)

[UPDATED] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday it had ordered a special inspection of Honeywell's Metropolis Works in southern Illinois after a nearly two hour leak of uranium hexafluoride on Saturday evening that the company say did not endanger the public or workers at the plant. Peter...(read more)

EDF Energy Customers, a subsidiary of French utility giant Electricite de France, has named preferred bidders for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Britain, although HSBC Bank criticized the lofty price tag for the project this week. Concerning contracts valued at $2 billion, EDF Energy...(read more)

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) announced a significant achievement in the decommissioning efforts at the devastated Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan on Sunday, two days after a citizen's panel announced it would override two previous decisions and pursue charges of negligence...(read more)

What do you use to inspect a tokamak, while it is still online? And what is a tokamak in the first place? A tokamak is a plasma confinement device that holds great promise for generating thermonuclear fusion, explained Energid Technologies in a statement released Thursday. Due to extreme temperatures...(read more)

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), operators of the stricken Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan, said Thursday it had completed a critical clean-up step by removing the last of the retained water from the underground trenches on the seaside of Units 2 and 3. Underground...(read more)

French nuclear build and engineering giant Areva on Thursday agreed to sell its nuclear division to utility company Electricite de France (EDF) for about $3 billion or about $1 billion shy of its asking price. EDF said Areva had signed a memorandum of understanding – a purchase offer –...(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant 13 miles south of Portsmouth, N.H., had been given a passing grade on its environment impact review needed to allow for a 20-year extension of its operating license. “ The supplemental environmental...(read more)

Edison International has filed a claim against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for $7.57 billion for losses incurred after defective steam generators were installed in the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in California, Mitsubishi said Tuesday. Mitsubishi, which says that its total liability for Edison...(read more)

Workers at the crippled Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan on Tuesday began removing one of six 136-foot covers placed on top of No. 1 reactor building to contain radioactive dust and debris. The No. 1 reactor building has been covered since October 2011, seven months...(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday that tests done on high level waste casks welds in late 2013 were done improperly at the Monticello Nuclear Power Plant 35 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minn. The federal watchdog said that two former contracted employees willfully falsified reports...(read more)

With 15 members of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority's staff on hand to monitor an emergency test scenario, a beefed up Kyushu Electric staff of 52 night workers began a simulation drill Monday that tested their ability to keep the reactor cool and maintain safe air pressure inside the containment...(read more)

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec) said it had installed a second fully operational APR-1400 training simulator at its learning center in Barakah, Abu Dhabi, which is up and running and ready for use by 116 enlisted reactor (RO) and senior reactor operators (SRO), 98 percent of whom are United...(read more)

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation and its partners did some heavy lifting Thursday, setting a 2.4 million pound CA01 module into place at the V.C. Summer construction site. The massive module will house a number of major components in the first of...(read more)

T he Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday that there were no environment issues that precluded a 20-year renewal of an operating license for the Byron Station Nuclear Power Plant in Illinois. Ten days ago, the NRC said there were no technical issues related to safety to impede a 20-year...(read more)

The smallest commercially operating nuclear power plant in the United States is the Fort Calhoun plant in Nebraska that uses one reactor with the generating capacity of 502 megawatts. By contrast, the Palo Verde plant is the country's most powerful. The three reactors at that facility have a combined...(read more)

Luminant Generation Company has awarded Irving, Texas-based Fluor Corporation a five year contract for engineering, maintenance, and modification serves for its two-unit Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, which is in Somervell County, Texas, 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. In a statement, Fluor...(read more)

PG&E released this video explaining the seismic qualification of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. (Please visit the site to view this video) ---Video Transcript--- Diablo Canyon Power Plant plays a major role in helping PG&E generate and deliver some of the nation’s cleanest electricity...(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that UniStar has retracted its application for a third reactor at the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Md. The NRC said Tuesday that it had approved of the retraction as of last Friday, SoMDNews reported. With the withdrawn application, UniStar...(read more)

The Canadian Nuclear Association has given a nod of approval to the Canadian Energy Strategy, which was released by the country's provincial leaders Friday. “The Canadian Nuclear Association congratulates Canada's premiers for their release of the Canadian Energy Strategy,” the...(read more)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has notched back emergency preparedness concerns at the Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Wa., that arose during a plant inspection in May, dropping the status of the problems cited from white to green, the lowest status in the watchdog agency's scale. ...(read more)

Industrial giant General Electric has offered “remedies” to European regulators to mitigate concerns regarding its $17 billion acquisition of French conglomerate Alstom. Few details have been made public. The European Commission is expected to push back its deadline on responding to the...(read more)

President Barack Obama has nominated the current acting chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Jessie Hill Roberson to take the final slot on the five-member U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Obama received a quick endorsement from the Nuclear Energy Institute. “The Nuclear...(read more)

India intends to build up a strategic uranium reserve that could keep the country supplied with up to 10 years of fuel for nuclear power plants, a senior government official said. Currently, Indian Cabinet is scheduled to review a proposal to establish a uranium reserve of 5,000 metric tons, but the...(read more)

With EDF Energy publishing its Japanese Earthquake Response Programme ONR Recommendation Closeout Report in mid-June, concerning nuclear plant safety enhancements in Britain, it turns out the Office of Nuclear Regulation wants more from the company. The Closeout Report documents three years of work...(read more)

Proving that U.S. firms can get into the action in China, Fort Worth, Texas-based galvanizing giant AZZ Inc. said Friday it had been awarded a contract from China Nuclear Power Engineering Company to provide two circuits of 550kV 2000A Gas Insulated Line (GIL) for the Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant located...(read more)

--Press Release-- L-3 MAPPS announced today that it has received a contract from Nucleoeléctrica Argentina S.A. (NA-SA) to upgrade the Embalse full scope simulator. Work will commence immediately and the upgraded simulator is expected to return to service in the third quarter of 2016. “L...(read more)

Michigan-based DTE Energy has awarded outage services work to GE Power & Water through GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and GE Power Generation Services (PGS) for the utility’s Fermi 2 Nuclear Power Plant, the company said Thursday. GEH will provide a host of outage and inspection services...(read more)

French engineering and nuclear power contractor Areva said Wednesday it had signed two significant contracts, including one to perform outage and maintenance services for five U.S. nuclear power plants and one involving decommissioning at 12 sites in Britain. Beginning in 2016, AREVA will provide...(read more)

The Indian Point Nuclear Plant Unit 3 safely and automatically shut down as designed following a failure of one of two main electrical transformers at the plant on May 9, 2015. Following the transformer failure an automatic sprinkler system, along with trained onsite personnel, extinguished the fire...(read more)

--- Press Release --- The PIECAL 850 Multifunction Process calibrator is a new design for your older 10-50mA instruments. Unique features include built-in troubleshooting tools patented by Practical Instrument Electronics. It also has an internal 42V power supply which is able to drive transmitters...(read more)

An inspection team from the International Atomic Energy Agency has told the Tokyo Electric Power Company to update its emergency manual at its idled Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant to reflect changes that have come about as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi accident of 2011. Otherwise, its initial...(read more)

Twenty months of negotiations between Iran and six of the world’s strongest nations – The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – came to a close Tuesday with a deal that would reportedly extend Iran’s nuclear bomb breakout time to one year, while lifting import...(read more)

There are no technical issues that stand in the way of 20-year license renewals for two Exelon Generation Company nuclear power plants in Illinois, the Byron and Braidwood plants that house two reactors each, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Exelon submitted applications in May 2013 to have...(read more)

Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies LLC, a division of Honeywell International, has been awarded a 10-year, $9 billion contract, to manage and operate the National Nuclear Security Administration’s campus in Kansas City, Mo., which handles non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons...(read more)

India will extend its nuclear fuel cooperation with Kazakhstan with a deal struck during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit last week for 5,000 metric tons of nuclear fuel to be delivered 2015 through 2019. Currently, India has seven nuclear power plants (representing 21 reactors) with six...(read more)

EnergySolutions announced the successful completion of the first large commercial reactor vessel segmentation in the United States with the ZionSolutions decommissioning of the Unit 2 Reactor Vessel at the Zion Nuclear Power Plant. Unit 2 began commercial operation in September 1974, about a year...(read more)

Russian nuclear power giant Rosatom said Friday in its annual corporate report that it was in discussions to build 30 nuclear reactors in other countries. The state-owned corporation said the discussions for the 30 units were above and beyond what was already under legal contract. “Besides the...(read more)