U.K. nuclear power ambitions took a big step forward with the 18 June award by French government-owned EDF Energy plc., London, of a roughly $3.2-billion civil work contract (£2b) at its planned new plant in Somerset.
The discovery of concrete cracks from an alkali-silica reaction, or ASR, in five safety-related structures at New Hampshire's Seabrook nuclear powerplant has prompted plant owner NextEra Energy Resources to launch several ASR studies as part of a comprehensive corrective action plan.
One year after Japan's Fukushima Daichi nuclear powerplant suffered devastation and meltdowns after a powerful offshore earthquake and tsunami, the island nation is embracing more renewable power sources to offset its electricity mix.
Under a settlement agreement reached on Jan. 20, the state of Florida will cease to oppose Progress Energy's plans to proceed with roughly $1 billion in repair work at its damaged Crystal River Nuclear Unit 3 in return for millions of dollars in refunds to customers and restrictions on funding for a proposed $20-billion nuclear plant.
Vermont had not yet decided by afternoon Jan. 20 whether to appeal a U.S. District Court ruling issued the previous day that Vermont cannot force Entergy to shut its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in March.
France must spend billions of dollars improving the safety of its huge fleet of nuclear plants following stress tests prompted by the destruction last March of Japan’s Fukushima reactors.
Mitsui Inc., one of Japan’s largest construction firms and also one of its major nuclear fuel traders, is investigating the feasibility of building biomass power generators to help dispose of debris from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami as well as help recycle waste from the reconstruction effort.
