News

http://www.advertisertalk.com/

With Simona De Silvestro driving the #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy/Entergy car, hundreds of thousands of fans track-side and millions watching broadcasts world-wide, witnessed a successful Indy 500 debut of a young rookie driver and a national initiative promoting clean nuclear power. With only 19 of the 33-car field finishing the race, Simona hovered between the 13th and 22nd spots finishing 14th overall and earning her the Indianapolis 500 Chase “Rookie of the Year” award.
This is the third year of the national “Nuclear Clean Air Energy” initiative by Entergy that represents the green benefits of the nuclear energy industry while recruiting top-talent to the company.

http://www.finance-commerce.com/ 

High winds shut down a nuclear plant in Michigan over the weekend, but energy officials were quick to point out that all U.S. nuclear plants, including the two in Minnesota, are built to withstand just about anything nature can throw at them.

Although “shutdown” is often treated by the public as synonymous with “broken,” a nuclear power plant shutdown almost always means that safety equipment designed to automatically stop a nuclear reactor from over-heating is working.

“There is a design requirement that you be able to safely shut down in case of a tornado,” said Terry Pickens, director, nuclear regulatory policy for Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, which operates nuclear plants in Monticello and Red Wing.

http://www.powergenworldwide

Mining, oil refining, offshore drilling, chemical manufacturing, power generation. These are all capital-intensive industries where accident consequences are potentially high, even if accident likelihood is quite low. At least to the public, the sensational nature of potential accidents—explosions, nuclear meltdowns, gaseous releases—ascribe to these industries a higher degree of responsibility in terms of avoiding accidents.

The nuclear industry came to grips with this reality after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. Regulatory oversight got stronger, the industry instituted a self-policing organization to enhance its commitment to safe operation and, over time, public confidence slowly recovered. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t painless and the results weren’t immediate. Still, the fact is that there hasn’t been a nuclear plant accident in the past 30 years.

The lessons learned from Three Mile Island and from the resulting industry and regulatory response hold particular relevance in the aftermath of the recent disasters at the Upper Big Branch coal mine owned by Massey Energy and at the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil well owned by BP.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Diver-Dies-at-Indian-Point-Nuclear-Power-Plant-95810259.htm

A man died Monday as he was working under water at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, N.Y., officials said.

The unidentified diver was doing working on a wall that separates the Hudson River from a discharge canal when he stopped responding to communication checks, according to Entergy Nuclear, which owns the Indian Point Energy Center.

A canal channels water back to the river after being used to cool a reactor or make steam.

“The gentleman was doing some maintenance work under water, and when a co-worker up above asked him a question and he did not respond, he was pulled up immediately,” said Jerry Nappi, a spokesman for the Indian Point plant.l

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4182980

Lynchburg-based Babcock & Wilcox has high hopes for an alternative that would involve a sort of Mini Cooper version of a nuclear reactor housed underground in a concrete bunker.

As envisioned, the reactor would measure about 12 feet wide by 75 feet long, (or tall, when installed). B&W's trademarked mPower reactor would be small enough to travel by rail or similar means from the point of its manufacture to its underground home. Unlike fossil fuel-fired facilities, mPower's generation of electricity would not emit carbon dioxide.

And utilities would not have to bet the farm to finance the bone-rattling costs of a conventional reactor.

Nuclear power is a safer, more environmentally friendly source of electricity. So why does the US still rely on coal and oil instead?

RIA Novosti

The Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran will go into operation by the end of the summer, the head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) said on Wednesday.

"The preparation of the Bushehr nuclear power plant for its launch is going according to plan. The launch has been set for the end of the summer, and we are on schedule," Sergei Kiriyenko said.

Speaking at a news conference, he also said Russia could build a nuclear power plant in Syria.

Asked whether it was not dangerous to build nuclear power stations in the region, he said that "any work in the nuclear sector proceeds in accordance with existing rules."

"If they are violated, it is dangerous to build nuclear power plants anywhere," he said.

The launch date for Bushehr has been postponed many times for financial and technical reasons. Iranian officials have claimed that Russia was reluctant to finish the facility due to UN sanctions and concerns voiced by world powers that the plant is part of a covert nuclear weapons program.

AFP

TOKYO — Japan's controversial "fast-breeder" nuclear reactor reached criticality -- the point when a nuclear chain reaction becomes self-sustaining -- on Saturday following 14 years of suspension.

The Monju Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, located in a coastal town 350 kilometres (220 miles) west of Tokyo, cleared the first hurdle of its test operations on the road to generating power at full capacity in 2013.

"It has reached criticality with no problems," said Katsuya Kinjo, a spokesman for the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, which runs the reactor.

On Thursday, the Monju was reactivated for the first time since the plant was shut down in 1995 following a fire and a subsequent cover-up that sparked public anger.

Unlike regular light-water reactors that run on uranium, fast-breeders use a mix of plutonium and uranium, including waste from conventional reactors, and generate or "breed" more plutonium than they consume.

Major industrialised nations initially rushed to develop the "dream reactors", but technical problems and fears over the proliferation of weapons-grade plutonium have led many to withdraw from the projects.

The United States, Britain and Germany have suspended fast-breeder projects and France shut down its last such reactor last year. The United States and France continue research and development of the technology.

BusinessWeek

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- China has agreed to build two civilian nuclear reactors in Pakistan, the Financial Times reported, citing Chinese companies and unnamed government officials in Beijing and Islamabad.

The Chinese government gave approval for the construction of at least two 650-megawatt reactors in Chashma in Punjab province, according to the report. The FT didn’t say the agreement was for which phase of construction.

China’s accord to build the reactors in Pakistan heightened concerns about the safety of nuclear equipment in the South Asian nation, which is battling Taliban militants in the northwest. U.S. President Barack Obama won commitments from 46 nations, including China and Pakistan, to lock down nuclear material and keep it out of the hands of terrorists after a two- day summit in Washington ended April 14.

China and Pakistan signed an agreement to finance two 340- megawatt nuclear reactors in Chashma in February after an initial accord for the construction of the plants was agreed in 2008, China National Nuclear Corp. said in a statement on its Web site on March 1.

The 340-megawatt reactors are to be built under the third and fourth phase of the Chashma project, according to the March statement. The Chinese company, China’s biggest operator of nuclear reactors, constructed the first two reactors in Chashma.

NUCLEONICS WEEK APRIL 15, 2010  Copyright © 2010, The McGraw-Hill Companies 

Extending Vermont Yankee’s operating life while “aggressively” pursuing renewable energy and efficiency options appears to be the best way to keep utility rates down and employment up in Vermont, according to a report released last month.

 The executive summary of the report, “Consensus Economic and Fiscal Impact Analyses Associated with the Future of the Vermont Yankee Power Plant,” compares several different energy scenarios in the state with and without power produced from Vermont Yankee through 2040.

 The report was requested by the Joint Fiscal Committee of Vermont’s General Assembly. It was prepared by Vermont-based consulting firms Economic & Policy Resources and Kavet, Rockler & Associates, in collaboration with Synapse Energy Economics, the Vermont Department of Public Service, Green Mountain Power, and Central Vermont Public Service Corp.

 Catherine Benham, assistant fiscal officer of the Joint Fiscal Committee, said in an interview April 8 that the document was intended to help state legislators in their discussion of Vermont Yankee’s future.  The plant’s operation is uncertain past 2012, when its NRC operating license and state certificate of public good expire. Vermont’s state Senate voted in February against giving the company the permission required for the plant to operate beyond 2012, although proponents hope to reverse that.