Students interested in studying nuclear-energy science or engineering have until April 26 to apply for $5 million in scholarships and fellowships the U.S. Energy Dept. is offering to boost the sector’s workforce. Awards will average $5,000 each for undergraduates, with three valued at $25,000. Grad students could receive up to $50,000 per year for three years. Disciplines eligible for funding include nuclear engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry, health physics, nuclear-materials science, radiochemistry, applied nuclear physics and nuclear policy. DOE says it expects to make the awards by June.

Ten major energy, engineering and construction companies have formed Friends of the “Supergrid” to promote a multibillion-dollar grid linking offshore European wind farms. Unlike conventional transmission lies, Supergrid would have nodes collecting, integrating and routing energy to the best available markets. Energy ministers of France, Germany, the U.K. and six other European nations this December signed a plan for coordinating offshore infrastructure development.

Brazilian-backed proposal to build a 2,000-megawatt hydroelectric plant in the Peruvian Amazon has gained momentum in recent weeks as the government of the Andean nation has thrown its weight behind the effort. Photo: C.J. Schexnayder Inambari River project would supply 2,000 MW of power, but displace 3,300 people. + Image Image: C.J. Schexnayder. The Brazilian consortium behind the $4-billion project, Empresa de Generación Eléctrica Amazonas Sur S.A.C. (EGASUR), is expected to present feasibility studies for constructing the hydroelectric plant on the Inambari River to Peru’s Ministry of Mines and Energy early this month. EGASUR is composed of Brazilian construction firm

In mid-February, Glendale Water & Power awarded a $4.2-million contract to Greenville, S.C.-based Utility Partners of America Inc., as the Southern California city joined a nationwide move to so-called smart water and electric networks. The advanced metering infrastructure will act as a two-way communication network to connect the meter to the utility and to the customer. Utility Partners is the same company that won a $7.5-million contract for similar work in Sacramento, Calif., in November. It has installed an estimated 6 million meters across the country. The 33,400 new water and 84,500 electric meters UPA will install in Glendale will

Developers of a major offshore wind farm in Massachusetts Bay failed to reach agreement by March 1 with local Native American tribes who say the $1-billion Cape Wind project would destroy ancestral burial sites. The continuing impasse over the 135-turbine project means U.S. Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar will make a final ruling on its fate by the end of April. Salazar had acted as arbiter between the tribes and project developer Cape Wind Associates, with a self-imposed March 1 deadline. The lengthy permitting process now goes to a Dept. of the Interior agency, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, for

Lynchburg, Va.-based Babcock & Wilcox will work with FirstEnergy, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Oglethorpe Power to place its small-scale, 125-MW modular nuclear unit, called mPower, into operation by 2020, says Chris Mowry, CEO of B&W Modular Nuclear Energy LLC. The company and the utilities, which announced their consortium on Feb. 17, will work with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to modify the licensing process for the modular reactors. None of the companies working with B&W has agreed to buy its reactor because “we really need to get deeper insight on this thing, where and how exactly to deploy,” says

The long-awaited nuclear renaissance appears to be closer to reality. The Obama administration continues to send strong signals of support for nuclear power as part of the nation’s “clean-energy” future. On Feb. 16, the administration announced the first-ever $8.5 billion loan guarantee for a new nuclear plant and said it had introduced plans to triple the amount of nuclear loan guarantees in the fiscal 2011 budget. Photo: Unistar Unistar wants to build a new facility at its Calvert Cliffs site in Lusby, Md., and is hoping for a loan guarantee The loan guarantees to Atlanta-based Southern Co. and its partners

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council�s latest energy plan calls for 85% of new energy needs over the next 20 years to be met through efficiency. Area utilities aren�t so sure of its feasibility. Portland General Electric spokesperson Steven Corson says that the 85% goal can�t be met �cost effectively� and is not realistic with current technologies and Suzanne Hartman of Seattle City Light says that it is �uncertain� if that goal can be met region-wide, although SCL will save enough energy in the next five years to equal the capacity of a new power plant. The Sixth Northwest Power

The Obama administration announced on Feb. 16 the first of what it hopes will be several loan guarantees for the construction of new U.S. nuclear facilities. The U.S. Dept. of Energy says it will offer a total of $8.33 billion in conditional loan guarantees to build and operate two new nuclear reactors at Atlanta-based Southern Cos.’ existing Alvin W. Vogtle plant in Burke, Ga. The project, the first U.S. nuclear powerplant to break ground in nearly three decades, is expected to create approximately 3,500 on-site construction jobs. Baton Rouge-based Shaw Group and Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Co. are providing engineering, construction

Equipment maker Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill., said on Feb. 8 that it would join the FutureGen Alliance, a public-private partnership set to build a 275-MW clean-coal powerplant in Mattoon, Ill., although it did not disclose the amount of its investment. Caterpillar’s announcement follows a similar move on Jan. 30 by Chicago-based Exelon Corp. Caterpillar, which manufactures coal mining equipment, says the alliance will help demonstration carbon-capture and sequestration technologies that are “absolutely essential” to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. It is the alliance’s 11th member. FutureGen still awaits word from the U.S. Energy Dept. on whether the agency will back the $1.5-billion