A sprawling reservation in southern Ohio long associated with the nuclear industry has been selected as the site for construction of Ohio’s third nuclear powerplant. If the project goes forward, it will be one of only a few nuclear plants in the U.S. proposed for a greenfield site. Duke Energy, Charlotte, N.C.; AREVA and USEC Inc., both of Bethesda, Md.; UniStar Nuclear Energy, Baltimore; and the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative, Piketon, Ohio, have formed an alliance to develop the country’s first so-called Clean Energy Park on the site in Piketon where USEC’s Portsmouth Gaseous-Diffusion Plant enriched uranium for powerplant fuel
Smart-grid development advanced on June 18 with the release of the National Institute of Standards and Technologies’ June 18 on standards for the smart grid. The report, prepared by the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, Cal-if., is the first of three phases in NIST’s plan to expedite development of the smart grid. NIST will accept public comments for 30 days after publication of a notice in the Federal Register announcing the report’s availability, then establish priorities, standards and action plans by early fall.
Twenty years after Congress mandated improved water flow in the Everglades, a federal judge has removed a major obstacle to accomplishing that goal: Judge Ursula Ungaro of the Florida Southern District Court in Miami lifted her injunction on elevating one mile of U.S. Rte. 41, the Tamiami Trail. Construction of the highway in the early 1920s blocked the sheetflow of water across the ecosystem, precipitating a long-term decline of the Everglades. The Interior Dept. last year made the project a top priority. But in November, the Miccosukee Tribe won the injunction, claiming that Army Corps of Engineers’ failure to perform
Members of the U.S. Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee are challenging the limits of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' mission for building natural hazard defenses. During a June 16 hearing on hurricane and flood protection work in Southeast Louisiana the narrow issue was the Corps' recommendation for an $800 million project to build permanent pumps and storm surge barriers at mouths of three New Orleans outfall canals. The committee chairwoman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the Louisiana delegation and witnesses backed a $3.5-billion "Option 2," instead, which would improve city storm drainage as well as perimeter defenses. Although the
In the face of opposition from the Obama administration, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leaders have unveiled major elements of a $500-billion surface transportation bill that would carry highway, transit and rail programs through the next six years and restructure Dept. of Transportation programs. Related Links: DOT's LaHood Seeks SAFETEA-LU Extension Other ENR SAFETEA-LU Coverage The proposal would represent about a 50% boost over funding for the past six years, but it doesn't specify where the additional money would come from. It also must contend with a radically different counter-proposal from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who has called for an
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has proposed an "immediate" 18-month reauthorization of the federal highway program that also would infuse the faltering Highway Trust Fund with enough money to avoid a shortfall in August. LaHood said in a June 17 statement that he had briefed congressional lawmakers on the trust fund's problems and said that if money isn't added to the fund, "the trust fund will run out of money as soon as late August and states will be in danger of losing the vital transportation funding they need and expect." LaHood did not disclose details of his plan to fix
Hydro-Quebec broke ground last month for its Romaine Complex, a $6.5-billion hydropower project comprising four rockfill dams on the Romaine River, ranging in height from 34 m to 114 m and generating a total of 1,550 MW. The first powerplant will be commissioned in 2014, with final completion scheduled for 2020. The workforce is expected to peak at 2,000 between 2012 and 2016. The river is 500 miles east of Quebec City and flows into the Saint Lawrence River.
The board of Tampa Bay Water has approved staff recommendations for an estimated $125-million repair program for the agency’s four-year-old, 15.5-billion-gallon C.W. “Bill” Young Regional Reservoir. The earthen structure, which cost roughly $140 million to build, has been experiencing significant cracking since late 2006. Image + Source: Tampa Bay Water Cracking problem seems to be centered in erosion-control system, officials say. The authority also is moving ahead with a lawsuit against the three lead members of the project’s design and construction team: designer HDR, Omaha; contractor Barnard Construction Co., Bozeman, Mont.; and construction manager Construction Dynamics Group, Columbia, Md. The
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has released interim guidelines for its much-awaited High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Planning Grants program, which includes $8 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aid and other federal high-speed and intercity rail funds. States now must hustle to apply for the money, because FRA has set a July 10 deadline for filing "pre-application" forms. Related Links: DOT High-Speed Intercity Passenger Rail Program Guidelines The first round of the rail grants will be awarded by mid-September, based on merit. In its guidance document, released June 17, FRA says projects will be evaluated and rated according
A joint venture between TAV Construction, based in Istanbul, and Consolidated Contractors Group, based in Athens, has won a $1.17-billion contract to expand Muscat International Airport, formerly Seeb International Airport, in Oman. The expansion includes a 240,000-sq-meter terminal building, runway, control tower and a rail link to the existing terminal. Work is expected to be completed by 2011. The project manager is a joint venture of France’s Aeroports de Paris and Pakistan’s National Engineering Services Pakistan & Partners.
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