Can climate-policy brinksmanship create a sustainable nuclear industry?
American voters dashed the nuclear industry’s hopes for a renaissance last November—or so it seemed. Recent developments in Washington have rekindled those hopes, but will climate-policy brinksmanship lead to a sustainable future for nuclear power?
With new plants pending, cooling requires serious thought.
Cooling water shortages might force nuclear project developers to get creative.
(Octover 2008) Xcel Energy named David Sparby president and CEO of Northern States Power Minnesota. Entergy Corp. appointed Terence Burke general counsel and chief legal officer for EquaGen, the joint venture operating company to be owned 50 percent by Entergy and 50 percent by Enexus Energy. Steven Agresta was named executive vice president, general counsel and chief legal officer for Enexus Energy. NorthWestern Energy appointed Robert C. Rowe as president and CEO. And others...
(September 2008) ISO New England selected Vamsi Chadalavada as senior vice president and COO. PG&E Corp. announced that Peter A. Darbee, chairman, CEO and president, will assume added duties of CEO and president of subsidiary Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Ontario Power Authority appointed Colin Andersen CEO. And others...
How to ease the coming upheaval in the nuclear power industry.
The U.S. nuclear power industry faces a yawning talent gap. Half of the industry’s employees are over 47 years old, and more than a quarter of nuclear workers already are eligible to stop working. Meanwhile, as the baby boomers retire, there will be far fewer available replacements with nuclear knowledge.
Nuclear power cost projections should incorporate fuel cost uncertainties.
Nuclear fuel cost projections typically consist of current reported costs that are escalated at the rate of inflation. These projections usually consist of a single estimate in each year. In the past, when nuclear fuel costs were low and declining, this approach was acceptable and may have even been conservative. But this approach is likely to understate projected nuclear fuel cost when nuclear fuel costs are increasing.
Next-gen technologies race to dominate the big build.
New nuke plants will take at least eight years to complete, while the coal that powers new IGCC plants is no longer cheap. Regulatory and market obstacles confront both technologies, just as they emerge from the starting gate. Which type of plant will win the future?
Duke Energy’s Jim Turner and other utility executives weigh the odds on billion-dollar bets.
The heavy investment required for new generation technologies clearly is a global phenomenon, but global-resource competition to build power plants is making power-plant development more expensive—and may even limit the number that any one utility in any one country can develop.
Wind gains, but won’t soon alter the fuel mix.
Some power markets may be seeing possible signs of recovery. Spark spreads appear to have bottomed out, and reserve margins have begun to fall in some markets. As Figure 1 shows, recovery is uneven, with many regions still experiencing excess supply and a few regions with peak reserves under 10 percent.
(July 2006) The New York Independent System Operator named Rana Mukerji to serve as vice president, market structures. CMS Energy elected Jon E. Barfield as an interim appointee to the company's board of directors and also re-elected 10 incumbents. Pepco Holdings Inc. elected Frank O. Heintz and Lester P. Silverman to the board of directors. TXU Corp. elected the following directors: E. Gail de Planque, Leldon E. Echols, Kerney Laday, Jack E. Little, Gerardo I. Lopez, J.E. Oesterreicher, Michael W. Ranger, Leonard H. Roberts, Glenn F. Tilton, and C. John Wilder. And others...