With just over a week to go, the British Parliament is scheduled to vote on Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal with the European Union that would see (Dec. 11) the United Kingdom eventually leave the EU. The outcome is in doubt. While steeped-in-duty May continues to say she will lead the UK out of the … More Continental Brexit, full English Brexit, or dog’s Brexit?

A runoff election to a seat on the Georgia Public Service Commission is turning on the role the PSC has played in the controversial Vogtle nuclear power project. The runoff for the District 3 seat on Tuesday, Dec. 4, pits incumbent Republican Chuck Eaton, a conservative Republican, and Democrat Lindy Miller, who founded a renewable … More Vogtle nuke costs key to Ga. PSC runoff

At 5:30 a.m. on November 20, 1968, Consolidation Coal Company’s No. 9 mine near Farmington, W.Va., erupted with an explosion felt 12 miles away and a plume of flame and smoke that obscured vision. Ninety-nine miners were underground when the mine exploded. Twenty-one escaped; 78 died. Rescue attempts failed and Consol soon sealed the mine … More A federal success: 50 years of coal mine safety regulation

“Small, modular, coal-fired power plants?” Come on, DOE. This doesn’t even pass the laugh test. Secy. Rick Perry may not know much about coal, but surely there are people who work for him, who are not Trump apparatchiks, who know something about coal. Clearly Angelos Kokkinos, head of DOE’s fossil energy division, knows coal. He … More DOE coal sidehow: Itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny coal plants

The Trump administration’s controversial nominee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, energy lawyer Bernard McNamee, took a conventional, mainline approach to his potential role at FERC during his Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing today. McNamee took care to distance himself from the administration’s failed proposal at FERC to upset competitive markets in … More FERC nominee walks a careful, middle path at Senate confirmation hearing

The never-ending end game for South Carolina’s abandoned V.C. Summer nuclear project is getting more complicated. Charleston’s Post and Courier newspaper reports that troubled SCANA Corp., one of the two corporate parents of the failed $9 billion, two-unit, 2,000-MW construction project is drawing attention from federal law enforcement. The newspaper says that when SCANA CEO … More The convoluted V.C. Summer nuclear fiasco twists and turns

When it comes to claims of electrification in India, there appears to be a classic case of governmental smoke and mirrors, aimed at political goals. The government’s pronouncements consist of heavy doses of hyperbole and back-slapping, while many millions of Indians in the country of 1.3 billion people have no access to electricity or only … More India electrification: Far less than government claims?

I’ve just returned from two weeks in Madagascar, focused mostly on flora and fauna (including the many endemic bird species and, of course, lemurs). It’s a beautiful country, and little known to the rest of the world. But what struck me the most about this vast island nation (the fourth largest island in the world, … More Madagascar’s extreme energy poverty

With Chairman Kevin McIntyre still ill, absent, and not voting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission today adopted a new reliability standards to get a handle on cyber security risks associated with supply chains that supply the U.S. bulk electric system. The new FERC final rule largely follows a notice of proposed rulemaking issued in January. … More FERC adopts supply chain cyber security rule

What do the large, experienced, and sophisticated nuclear power programs of the U.S. and France have in common? Answer: they can’t seem to be able to build new generations of nuclear plants. At least that’s the case for new units in western democratic countries. Two U.S. utilities have been unable to complete four Westinghouse AP1000 … More France echoes U.S. on nuclear woes