More problems have surfaced at Georgia Power’s Vogtle 3 nuclear construction project, casting further doubt on the startup date for the badly behind schedule and massively over budget project. The unit is one of two the Southern Company utility is building at its existing Vogtle nuclear station, with Unit 4 supposed to follow soon after … More More problems for Vogtle 3 nuclear startup

A Canadian firm, with an investment from Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, says it plans to build a major prototype fusion energy project in the UK. Started in 2002, General Fusion, which has at least $100 million from multi-billionaire Amazon chief Bezos, has struck a deal with Britain’s UK Atomic Energy Authority, the Independent … More Canadian firm, with UK support, aims to advance fusion energy faster than many experts believe possible

Earlier this month, the Secretary of Defense requested $60 million for further development of Project Pele, a micro-reactor concept the Army is working on to provide power for remote military bases. So far, the project has flown largely below the political radar screen. It shouldn’t. In a Defense News piece, “Military Micro-reactors: Fighting Yesterday’s Wars While Losing … More Guest commentary: Tiny military nukes are a bad idea

A disturbing series of events at China’s flagship Taishan two-unit nuclear power station is raising questions about what is going on at the 3,200-MW pressurized water reactor site. It’s disturbing because the still unclear events mirror what has happened in previous major nuclear accidents around the world, including confusion, obfuscation, lying, and coverup. That the … More What’s up with China’s Taishan plant?

Virginia-based Dominion Energy is negotiating with Utah-based EnergySolutions to sell Dominion’s shut Kewaunee nuclear plant in Wisconsin so it can be fully decommissioned, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. If the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves the deal, work could begin this year on a project estimated to cost $1 billion. No financial details of the … More Dominion to sell shut Kewaunee nuke for final decommissioning

Facing the potential shutdown of two of Exelon Corp. nuclear plants, the Democratic Gov. of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, and the Chicago-based utility holding company, which owns six nuclear plants in the state, on June 1 reached a deal with to keep the two unprofitable plants open. The deal came after Pritzker extended the session of … More Illinois last minute deal to save two Exelon nukes?

Georgia Power’s long-troubled, over-budget, and consistently off schedule two-unit, 2,000-MW Vogtle nuclear construction project has taken another hit. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last Wednesday (May 19) that Georgia Power and Southern Nuclear, both subsidiaries of Atlanta-based utility giant Southern Co., told Peach State utility regulators that the first of two new reactors, the only nuclear … More New Vogtle nuke faces new startup delays

Despite its theoretical promise of “endless energy” by producing electricity from fusing hydrogen atoms, after some 70 years of failure, dead ends, and outright fraud, fusion remains far too expensive to offer a reasonable approach to generating power. That’s the view of two long time observers and participants in fusion energy research, who write in … More Is tokomak fusion too expensive to develop?

For many climate activists, “adaptation” has long been a dirty word. The notion that the way to deal with a warming earth is through localized, adaptive activities, not large-scale, internationally organized science-based political action, has been derided as failing to get to the root causes of global warming, an admission of defeat, focusing only on … More Columbia climate scientist says it’s time to get practical and focus more on effects than causes

Coal v. nukes politics in the coal-rich Powder River Basin have surfaced in Montana, the northern reaches of the Wyoming-Montana coal field. On a partisan vote, Montana has repealed a 1978 law that provided for a referendum that would have allowed the public to vote on whether they wanted nuclear plants in the Big Sky … More Is Montana positioned to replace coal with nukes?