How Did the MOX Project Get So Expensive?
Over the past week or so, I’ve engaged in a “root cause analysis” project to determine why the US is having so much difficulty implementing a plan to take 34 metric tons of nearly pure plutonium 239 —...
View ArticleSouth Africa’s Rapid Energy Transition Derails its Giant Nuclear and Coal...
Gouda wind farm, South Africa (Photo: Discott) South Africa shows how quick an energy transition can be. In four years, the country’s renewable energy program has mushroomed, while the building of...
View ArticleHow Nuclear Safety Undermines Nuclear Economics
Fukushima Disaster. (Photo: Fukushima Watch) Failed EPR and AP1000 reactor projects have brought giant energy companies to their knees, and even pro-nuclear lobbyists now acknowledge that the industry...
View ArticleFlagship reactor projects delayed in U.S. and China
Commercial operation dates for Vogtle Units 3 & 4 in Georgia (1150 MW Westinghouse AP1000s) have been pushed back again this time to December 2019 and September 2020 respectively. The units are now...
View ArticleOne Toshiba Lesson: Organizations With Venerable Corporate Names Can Be Risky...
Westinghouse Sign Over New York City 1972. Photo Credit: Wikimedia free content There are numerous reasons why Toshiba, formerly an enormous and successful Japanese electronics manufacturer, is...
View ArticleChina Expands Uses and Markets for Its HTGRs
Feasibility study for Saudi Arabian HTGR project. Via World Nuclear News, Wire Services: China and Saudi Arabia have signed a cooperation agreement for a joint study on the feasibility of constructing...
View ArticleNimble Creators Plan to Avoid Some of the Struggles Plaguing Extra-Large...
Making Nuclear Innovative: Left to Right: Josh Freed, Jessica Lovering, Todd Allen, Jeff Harper, Caroline Cochran. Paying attention to Sen Murkowski In late March, Senator Lisa Murkowski and her staff...
View ArticleA Modest Proposal to Save NuGen’s Moorside Nuclear Project
It involves the original choice for three Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors. It requires the South Korean nuclear giant KEPCO to be the engineering procurement construction leader (EPC) but not the...
View ArticleConnecticut Seeks to Support Nuclear Energy
For more than a year, Connecticut legislators have been working to craft a policy to ensure that zero-emission electricity from the Millstone Nuclear Power Station continues to flow until at least 2035...
View ArticleAreva and EDF to Try Again with NPCIL at Jaitapur
The French government is going another round in the ring with India over roles and responsibilities to build six 1650 MW EPRs at the Jaitapur site on the west coast. EDF wants to have the lead for...
View ArticleUtilities Pull the Plug on AP1000s at VC Summer
With sunk costs of $9 billion, and no end in sight in terms of rapidly escalating costs, the two utilities that had been building twin Westinghouse 1150 MW AP1000 nuclear reactors at the V C Summer...
View ArticleSaudia Arabia Plans Nuclear Energy RFI for 2.8 Gwe
The plan is for a modest 2.8 Gwe of power far smaller than the 16 GWe reported in 2014. Details revealed by Newsweek about former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn’s untimely efforts to secure...
View ArticlePlanning for Nuclear Project Success: The False Security of a Fixed Price...
Nuclear plants can be the workhorse for many utilities, offering reliable and economic electricity into their grids. Operations across the globe have been excellent with the entire US fleet,...
View ArticleAdvanced Nuclear Designs Imagined in Third Way Exhibit
The Washington, DC, think tank Third Way has commissioned a stunning collection of six possible use cases and artistic renderings of how advanced nuclear reactor technologies would fit in various...
View ArticleUK Government Overlooked Lower Costs of Renewables in Hinkley Nuclear Deal
Debate in the House of Commons Two of the UK’s main public bodies overseeing public spending have now criticised the government’s deal with EDF to support a new nuclear power plant, showing how...
View ArticleVogtle Continuation Decision Tells Me America Still Produces Leaders That Can...
The Georgia Public Service Commission unanimously approved a plan to continue the Vogtle Expansion Project. Georgia Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Southern Company, immediately accepted the...
View ArticleVogtle 3 & 4 Nuclear Reactors Are a “Go” for Completion
The twin reactors are the only new construction of Gen III+ designs currently underway in the U.S. In a tough vote the Georgia Commission voted unanimously to give a conditional” approval for...
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