The long-awaited nuclear renaissance appears to be closer to reality. The Obama administration continues to send strong signals of support for nuclear power as part of the nation’s “clean-energy” future. On Feb. 16, the administration announced the first-ever $8.5 billion loan guarantee for a new nuclear plant and said it had introduced plans to triple the amount of nuclear loan guarantees in the fiscal 2011 budget. Photo: Unistar Unistar wants to build a new facility at its Calvert Cliffs site in Lusby, Md., and is hoping for a loan guarantee The loan guarantees to Atlanta-based Southern Co. and its partners

As spring approaches, officials from Minnesota to New Orleans are eyeing Mississippi River levees—already lapped by higher-than-normal water levels—and bracing for likely floods. Photo: USACE Sandbag rings (above) keep levees from eroding from within. Control structures like the Bonnet Carré Spillway (below) can relieve pressure. Photo: Angelle Bergeron Related Links: Flood Strategy Taps Proven Tools, But Will Rivers Play By The Rules? “There is an above-normal probability of major flooding on the Mississippi River this year, all the way up to Minnesota, but especially north of St. Louis,” says Bill Frederick, National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist and liaison with the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson fleshed out details of the administration’s five-year, $2.2-billion Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action plan at a Feb. 21 news conference at the National Governors’ Association’s winter meeting in Washington. The plan, which covers fiscal years 2010-2014, was developed by 16 federal agencies. It calls for cleaning up some of the most heavily polluted hot spots, including remediation of 9.4 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment; restoring wetlands and other habitats; establishing total maximum daily loads for phosphorus; and taking steps to keep invasive species such as Asian carp out of the lakes. President

The United Nations now estimates that 3 million Haitians—a third of the population—were “badly affected” by the magnitude-7 earthquake that ravaged the island nation on Jan. 12. Providing shelter, sanitation and preventing cholera in Port-au-Prince are critical challenges, but so are food shortages in rural areas. An estimated 500,000 former residents of the badly damaged capital have migrated to the countryside. Photo: Odebrecht Construction At Work Odebrecht retrained 30 local airport service employees in basic construction skills and hired them to work on refurbishing airport-terminal passenger and cargo facilities in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, for American Airlines, which assisted with procurement and

Engineers are finalizing design for a 17-mile-long pipeline that will deliver methane gas from a landfill in Muskego, Wis., to fuel a wastewater treatment plant in Milwaukee. The pipeline is the first step in an $80-million investment that will save the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) at least $148 million over the next 20 years by enabling its Jones Island plant to generate its own heat and electricity by burning landfill-generated methane instead of natural gas. In addition to saving money, the plant will also cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 500,000 tons a year. MMSD tentatively plans to seek bids from

Design and construction of Minneapolis’s Target Field, a $545-million ballpark for baseball’s Minnesota Twins, was like stuffing 12 lb of potatoes into an 8-lb bag. The eight-acre site not only was hemmed in on all sides by roads and rails, it really needed 12 acres to comfortably accommodate the program for a 40,000-seat ballpark. Because the neighbors were so close, there was no lay-down area or viable crane path outside the bowl’s footprint. Thus, the ballpark had to be constructed from the inside out, which builders consider far from ideal. Slide Show Photo: Mortenson Construction The many restrictions, including up

Engineers are finalizing design for a 17-mile-long pipeline that will deliver methane gas from a landfill in Muskego, Wis., to fuel a wastewater treatment plant in Milwaukee. The pipeline is the first step in an $80-million investment that will save the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) at least $148 million over the next 20 years by enabling its Jones Island plant to generate its own heat and electricity by burning landfill-generated methane instead of natural gas. In addition to saving money, the plant will also cut greenhouse gas emissions by 500,000 tons a year. MMSD tentatively plans to seek bids

German investigations into faulty underground construction suspected to be linked with last year�s collapse of a building in Cologne were extended today to a section of elevated rail over 400 km away, completed nearly four years ago by the same contractor. Related Links: Prosecutors Search for Fraud in Rail Project �We want to make sure that works have been carried out correctly at all projects where similar technologies were used,� says Herbert Bodner, Chairman of Bilfinger Berger A.G., Mannheim. Suspicions by the investigators of the Cologne collapse prompted the new probe of work on the high-speed line. In parallel, diaphragm

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council�s latest energy plan calls for 85% of new energy needs over the next 20 years to be met through efficiency. Area utilities aren�t so sure of its feasibility. Portland General Electric spokesperson Steven Corson says that the 85% goal can�t be met �cost effectively� and is not realistic with current technologies and Suzanne Hartman of Seattle City Light says that it is �uncertain� if that goal can be met region-wide, although SCL will save enough energy in the next five years to equal the capacity of a new power plant. The Sixth Northwest Power

Even as slimmed down as it is, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s new jobs bill has provisions that construction officials like, but the $15-billion measure is much less generous to public works than the $154-billion version the House passed in December. With Democrats’ Senate majority no longer filibuster-proof and GOP votes hard to get, Reid faces a tough fight to get his bill approved. Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP Reid’s bill has an incentive for companies to hire new workers, plus an expanded bond program and an extension for a depreciation break. The Nevada Democrat’s proposal, introduced Feb. 11,