Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWR)
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 ...
Duke Energy Responds to Fukushima
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, ...
Fukushima One Year Later - The U.S. Nuclear Industry Responds
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 ...
The MOX Project
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 ...
Are Small Reactors Part of Our Energy Future?
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 ...
Vogtle Plant License Approval Highlights Nuclear Renaissance
Last week, the greatest evidence that the Nuclear Renaissance is alive and well was announced: After a three-decade hiatus, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved the construction of two new nuclear reactors. Southern Co.'s Vogtle power ...
Stuxnet and Cybersecurity
When Duke Energy’s first nuclear reactor began operation in 1973, “cybersecurity” was a term that most people had never heard of. Today, not only is cybersecurity top of mind, October has been designated as National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The ...
Setting the Record Straight
The Truth Behind the Top 5 Popular Misconceptions About Nuclear Energy The complexity of generating electricity through nuclear energy leaves the science open to many common misconceptions. Nuclear energy can be very difficult to explain and is often ...
An Industry Perspective on Groundwater Monitoring Programs
The nuclear industry is built upon numerous and redundant safety systems and measures to protect public health and safety, plant personnel and equipment. One such protective system present across all U.S. nuclear power plants is a robust environmental ...
NRC New Nuclear Licensing Process
With the U.S. Department of Energy projecting a 24 percent increase in U.S. electricity demand by 2035, one of Duke Energy’s top priorities is determining the most efficient and environmentally sound ways to meet our customers’ growing demand. That’s ...