Industry sources say a new report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Japan Task Force recommending a sweeping overhaul of the regulations ensuring that the nation's 104 nuclear powerplants operate safely is a positive first step, but it is by no means a definitive response to the crisis at Fukushima. Photo by AP Wideworld GREGORY JACZKO, NRC Chairman Related Links: The NRC Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushim Dai-Ichi Accident “It's hard to make concrete recommendations based on a situation that is still evolving,” says Ralph Hunter, senior executive and vice president for the commercial nuclear division at

Construction of a 99-MW wind farm in Coos County, N.H., is likely to be sped along by a $136.8-million conditional loan guarantee awarded in June by the Dept. of Energy. Contractors dig into a New Hampshire hillside to create an access road for wind farm. The project recently faced another potential problem besides funding. A major supplier, locally based Isaacson Steel, Berlin, N.H., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 22. However, wind-farm developer Brookfield Renewable Power, Toronto, and contractor RMT Energy, Madison, Wis., say the bankruptcy will not have an impact on the construction schedule. The wind farm should

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission task force has called for tightening safety regulations at the nation’s 104 nuclear powerplants and requiring plants to make upgrades when necessary, in areas such as seismic protection, electric power and cooling water for spent-fuel pools. Related Links: NRC task force report In a 90-day report released on July 13,  the NRC panel concludes that a sequence of events like those following the Japanese accident is “unlikely to occur” in the United States. Still, the existing U.S. regulatory approach, developed piece by piece over decades, is a “patchwork,” and needs to be improved, the task force

South African Sasol Limited and Calgary, Alberta-based Talisman Energy have commissioned a feasibility study to determine where to build of a gas-to-liquid (GTL) plant to take advantage of 44 trillion cu ft  of shale gas deposits in northeastern British Columbia.  The technical study follows news in March and June of this year that Sasol, an industry leader in GTL technology, paid $2.08 billion for 50% of Talisman’s Farrell Creek and Cyprus A assets. We’ve signaled that we’d like the GTL plant to be near our Montney assets,” says Talisman spokeswoman Phoebe Buckland. “But the exact location is under review, whether

Tanzania has awarded Jacobsen Elektro AS, a Norwegian power engineering firm, a $124.8 million contract to supply and install power generation equipment for a 100MW power plant in the capital Dar es Salaam. The project, funded by Tanzania and Norway, is considered crucial in attempts at easing chronic outages around the capital and for ongoing efforts to integrate regional electricity generation. It also shows how Norway is increasing its presence in Tanzania's energy sector, despite intensifying pressure from Chinese firms.The project is also a keystone in regional electricity integration plans, particularly the Kenya-Tanzania-Zambia interconnection that involves the installation of a

In preliminary discussions with Cape Wind, Siemens Energy has offered to provide debt and equity financing for up to $2.6 billion for the alternative energy supplier’s proposed 130-turbine, 468-MW wind farm off the Massachusetts coast. Cape Wind agreed to purchase 130 of Siemen’s 3.6 MW turbines from Cape Wind last March, according to Mark Rodgers, spokesman for Cape Wind.“Nothing is finalized, but we appreciate the expression of interest,” Rodgers says.“We’ve always made it clear that we are not only willing but also capable of helping to support the whole project,” said Josef Kaeser, chief financial officer of Munich-based Siemens at

Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor crisis in Japan, the U.S. nuclear industry is more closely scrutinizing existing facilities, and long-standing problems are placing some plants under the microscope . Courtesy of Progress Energy Crystal River plant has cracks in walls. Courtesy of NextEra Energy Engineers note alkali silica reaction at Seabrook. “U.S. nuclear facilities are under constant inspection regimens, but since the earthquake we are going at it even stronger,” says Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based industry organization.In one example, Progress Energy's Crystal River plant in Florida—offline since September 2009 for a refueling

In the midyear update to the 2011 McGraw-Hill Construction Outlook, one of the few sectors holding onto any gain is the electric utility market, and two power producers who spoke in Atlanta last week reinforced that forecast in a discussion of major works under way. TVA Speaking at the ENR-CURT Construction Business Forum on June 14, Robert Murray, chief economist for MHC, said there is a “huge amount of electric powerplant construction taking place,” supporting his continued forecast for overall growth of 3% in the electric utility market this year. But for all markets, Murray is revising his forecast to

To build Mexico’s 750-MW La Yesca hydroelectric project, the construction consortium first had to divert the Santiago River through a pair of 14-meter-square tunnels, one 830 m long and the other and 870 m. The $767-million concrete-faced rock-fill dam, with a 220-m-high crest and a length of 628 m, is on schedule for completion in 2012, according to Mexico’s largest contractor, Ingenieros Civiles Asociados, which is leading the project’s construction consortium. Work on the project—located 105 km northeast of Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco State in western Mexico—began in 2007. The workforce peaked at 5,000 in April 2011. Ingetec S.A.,

Republican efforts to revive the Yucca Mountain high-level, long-term waste repository got a boost when a June 10 report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of the Inspector General questioned NRC Chairman Gregory Jazkco’s use of a continuing budget resolution to shut down continued work on the repository.The report from Inspector General Hubert T. Bell found Jaczko was “not forthcoming with other Commissioners about his intent to stop work” on Yucca Mountain work, but Bell stopped short of calling Jazcko’s actions illegal. Jazcko says the report showed his actions were within his authority as chairman.In the meantime, on June 1,