Photo courtesy ORNL TVA relieved Bechtel from construction management at Watts Bar nuclear plant, after construction schedule slipped from 2012 to 2013 completion date. Related Links: Florida Utility: No Way To Predict Nuke Plant Cracking The Tennessee Valley Authority is taking over the management of the construction of the second unit at the Watts Bar nuclear plant after the construction schedule slipped under the current contractor, the federal power producer said Wednesday.TVA renegotiated its engineering, procurement and construction contract with Bechtel Power, Terry Johnson, a TVA spokesman, said. TVA will take over as project manager while Bechtel retains the technical
Photo courtesy of Poet Poet Design and Construction crews construct a new weigh station at Poet's Liberty Project in Iowa. As the U.S. Depts. of Energy and Agriculture pony up grants and loans to help fund new research and refineries to turn woody waste into cellulosic ethanol, private-sector companies are building the first commercial-scale cellulosic refineries in the nation and promoting their chemical processes for easy conversion from waste to sugar to fuel.With more than a half-dozen cellulosic plants in development in the U.S., federal officials and private companies hope to prove wrong a recent report from the National Research
The separation of a concrete wall at Progress Energy Inc.'s Crystal River nuclear powerplant in northwest Florida has “fundamentally changed the way the [nuclear power] industry analyzes post-tensioned, pre-stressed concrete structures,” according to the utility’s Oct. 10 filing with the Florida Public Service Commission. The PSC is probing the incident and must approve the North Carolina-based utility's request to have ratepayers cover repair costs.Raleigh-based Progress Energy is seeking to recover expenses related to the delamination of a wall at Crystal River’s nuclear unit No. 3, a problem first identified in October 2009 and again in March 2010 as the company
Image courtesy of Common Ground Alliance Call before you dig. It's that simple. If an excavator dials 811 or a local one-call center before digging, damage to underground utility lines and the people who dig near them occurs less than 1% of the time, according to the 2010 Damage Information Reporting Tool Report released on Oct.12 by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA).“A call to the one-call center or 811 is the simplest and most effective way to reduce or eliminate excavation-related underground-utility damages,” says Robert Kipp, CGA president.The 2010 Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) Report also estimates that the total
With plans for 18 million sq ft of commercial space and 37,000 homes, Albuquerque's master-planned sustainable community, Mesa del Sol, was selected as an ideal test site for a collaborative U.S.-Japanese demonstration project to examine emerging technologies that digitally control and balance power generated by various energy sources, including renewables.Upon completion of Mesa del Sol's $6-million retrofit in spring 2012, the community's centerpiece, the Antoine Predock-designed Aperture Center, will be home to the three-year commercial smart-grid technology test.“The smart-grid project has created a unique research opportunity to develop a building energy management system that will use real-time data on available
A new federal initiative designed to speed permitting of transmission lines may not expedite their construction, according to two utilities that have transmission projects included in a new Obama administration initiative, the Rapid Response Team for Transmission.The initiative, announced on Oct. 5, brings together nine federal agencies to streamline the process for new lines. The group focused its efforts on seven projects in various stages of development.The group will oversee and coordinate various federal agencies' actions—environmental impact statements, for example—and update the status of projects every week or two on a public website.Construction on the first line could begin next
Related Links: Solyndra Bankruptcy Puts DOE on Hot Seat Melbourne, Fla.-based National Solar announced on Sept. 26 that it will build a $1.5-billion, 400-MW solar farm in northern Florida, the largest in the Southeast announced to date.The company is still securing financing for the project, says spokesman Ryan Banfill, but the company expects to begin construction in the first quarter of 2012. Over the course of five years, it will build at least 20 20-MW photovoltaic solar farms in Gadsden County, Fla. Each is expected to cost about $70 million and cover 200 acres.Greeley, Colo.-based Hensel Phelps will design, build
Map by ENR The 1,483-kilometer industrial corridor from Delhi to Mumbai would contain nine megazones for industry, spread out along a future high-speed freight rail. Related Links: The Ten Most Noteworthy Rail Projects: Overview and Related Stories Project: Delhi-Mumbai Industrial CorridorCost: $90 BillionThe Indian Cabinet last month approved the restructuring and financing for the future $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, opening the way for forward for the ambitious megaproject planned along a future 1,483-kilometer high-speed-rail freight corridor. India’s rail ministry expects to invite bids this year for $2.2 billion worth of civil engineering contracts for the rail corridor’s first phase. The
Plans for federally controlled power lines to transmit solar power are moving ahead in the Southwest, but in the Northwest, lines to move wind power are being slowed while wind developments there are being re-evaluated.Earlier this month, the Western Area Power Administration announced it will hire construction firms to upgrade and build parts of a $91-million transmission- line project in southern Arizona.The 109-mile Electrical District 5-to-Palo Verde transmission project includes a mix of new and upgraded WAPA-owned 230-kV lines as well as the acquisition of capacity on a 500-kV line that runs to the Palo Verde hub.The federal power marketer
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