Decommissioning: A Safe and Systematic Process for Retiring Nuclear Plants
April 18, 2012
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) typically grants a license to nuclear power plants for a period of 40 years. Before the end of the original license period, the utility can seek to renew the operating license of the plant or cease operations ... Read More
The Nuclear Renaissance Reaches Another Milestone
April 09, 2012
Last month, the NIC reported a major milestone in the nuclear renaissance: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s license approval of two new reactors at the Vogtle plant. Not too far behind, the V.C. Summer plant in South Carolina was recently granted ... Read More
Power Restored at Catawba Nuclear Station
April 05, 2012
On April 4 at 8:12 p.m., Catawba Nuclear Station lost offsite power and an unusual event was declared. Power has been restored to the station and the unusual event emergency classification was terminated at 1:37 a.m. The station’s diesel generators ... Read More
The Blue Ribbon Commission Makes Recommendation on Managing Used Fuel
April 04, 2012
The Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on America's Nuclear Future released its final report to the U.S. Energy Secretary in January 2012, detailing recommendations for creating a safe, long-term solution for managing and disposing of the nation's used ... Read More
Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWR)
March 27, 2012
Power Plant Reactors With the exception of solar, wind, and hydroelectric plants, most power plants are steam generating plants using different systems to create steam. A nuclear power plant uses uranium fuel to produce nuclear fission which heats ... Read More
Duke Energy Responds to Fukushima
March 11, 2012
Part 2 - Read part 1 here Today is the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated several regions of Japan and left the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in distress. In this second part of our two-part series on Fukushima, ... Read More
Fukushima One Year Later - The U.S. Nuclear Industry Responds
March 06, 2012
Sunday, March 11 marks the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated several regions of Japan and left the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in distress. While the earthquake and tsunami killed and displaced thousands of ... Read More
The MOX Project
February 27, 2012
In an earlier blog post, we discussed the uranium fuel cycle and where the fuel that powers our commercial nuclear plants in the U.S. comes from. Today, we take a look at another nuclear fuel source: mixed oxide (MOX). MOX fuel is made up of ... Read More
Are Small Reactors Part of Our Energy Future?
February 20, 2012
Smaller reactors are currently being developed and promoted as a new option for electricity generation using nuclear energy. There are many benefits, as well as drawbacks, to using small modular reactors (SMRs). The new generation of reactors will cut ... Read More