In what some publications have hailed as a “breakthrough” in fusion energy research, the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) was able to use its focused laser technology to hit a tiny fuel target and generate some 1.3 megajoules of energy. A Livermore press release proclaimed, “This advancement puts researchers at… More Fusion breakthrough or less than meets the casual eye?

Can nuclear power plants provide a clean, low-cost way to produce copious amounts of hydrogen? And can hydrogen production offer a path to keep existing nuclear plants operating and provide an incentive to build new units? Troubled nuclear giant Exelon, facing economic pressures on many of its nuclear fleet, and Norway-based Nel Hydrogen, with U.S.… More Are nukes a path to a hydrogen energy economy?

Finland’s long troubled Olkiluoto unit 3 nuclear construction project has hit another snag, related to what appears to be increasing problems with the steam turbine generators in the delayed, 1,600-MW unit. Reuters reported this week that the Finnish utility TVO in a statement said “it has received additional information from the plant supplier Areva-Siemens consortium… More Olkiluoto 3 nuke faces new delays

A federal grand jury has indicted a second high-level Westinghouse nuclear officer in the $10-billion, 2017 collapse of the V.C. Summer nuclear construction project in South Carolina. Jeffrey Benjamin, former Westinghouse senior vice president for new plants and projects, is now among three other executives, two from the former SCANA Corp. owner of the project,… More Second high-level Westinghouse executive indicted in V.C. Summer fiasco

New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group, fulfilling a two-year old goal, is making a major bet on its nuclear power assets as fears of global warming rise. The multi-state utility company is selling all its coal and natural gas generating assets to a subsidiary of Boston-based ArcLight Capital Partners. PSEG’s deal with ArcLight’s Parkway Generation… More PSEG goes all in on nuclear

After U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions fell by 11% in the pandemic year, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration predicts in its most recent short-term outlook a 7% increase for 2021 and a modest 1% in 2022. The EIA report, stealing from Mark Twain, also suggests that the U.S. death of coal has… More EIA: US CO2 energy-related emissions to climb 7% in 2021

Two interesting nuclear developments from Pennsylvania, the cradle of civilian nuclear power in the US, both positive and negative. First, the positive. As reported in Philadelphia’s The Inquirer, Talen Energy, which owns the two-unit Susquehanna nuclear plant in north-eastern Pa. near Berwick,  has signed a deal with an Easton Maryland cryptocurrency “mining” firm to locate… More Good and bad nuclear news in the Keystone state

Is it curtains for Chicago-based Exelon’s Byron and Dresden nuclear plants? That’s what CEO Chris Crain strongly indicated in an Aug. 4 second quarter earnings statement, Nuclear News reported. In a conference call, Crane said that pending state and federal legislation to bail out the money-losing Illinois plants “remains uncertain and, regardless, will come too… More Are Byron and Dresden nukes done?

Georgia Power’s two-unit Vogtle nuclear construction project is facing new delays and cost hikes, bringing the total cost of both units to as much as $27 billion. The utility’s parent, Atlanta-based Southern Company, said the new delay and costs will add $460 million to the price tag, bringing its share of the units to $9.2… More Vogtle nuke project: more delays, cost overruns