Florida Office of the Public Counsel Kelly says utility apparently mismanaged steam generator replacement project. Courtesy Progress Energy's Florida Public Service Commisssion public filing Root-cause analysis report by Performance Improvement International identified seven factors contributing to delamination, including tendon stresses and detensioning sequence. Related Links: Florida Utility: No Way To Predict Nuke Plant Cracking Japanese Disaster Puts Focus On U.S. Powerplant Problems Florida’s Public Counsel J.R. Kelly calls the separation of a concrete wall at Progress Energy Florida’s Crystal River-3 nuclear unit “a huge construction negligence case,” and says that Progress does not appear to have been very prudent in
Photo courtesy of Destination Rotorua Marketing Current geothermal resources come from depth of 3 km, with a temperature up to 330 C. Current research is aimed at 4 km and 400 C. A large research and development effort is under way in New Zealand, aimed at harnessing a natural geothermal energy source of more than 10,000 MW that sits beneath the country’s Taupo Volcanic Zone.The program’s overall objectives include analyzing how the fluid and rock interact below four kilometers; discovering what factors cause permeability; examining what issues might affect well productivity; and estimating the potential for sustainable, deep geothermal resource
Related Links: Interior Dept. fact sheet on proposal The Interior Dept. has proposed 15 lease sales for offshore oil and gas drilling over the 2012-17 period, including 12 potential leases at locations in the Gulf of Mexico and three off the coast of Alaska.Expanded energy exploration could provide opportunities for engineering and construction companies, both at offshore sites and at nearby, on-shore locations.The proposal, which Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced on Nov. 8, drew criticism from advocates and opponents of expanded oil and gas development.Drilling advocates, such as House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), faulted the Interior for
Photo Courtesy of Southern Co. The Vogtle nuclear plant already is employing 1,700 workers on site, with the first 1,154-MW unit due to start in 2016. The future of new nuclear plant construction in the United States hinges upon the performance of The Shaw Group and partner Westinghouse Electric as they build the first new U.S. nuclear reactors in more than 20 years, speakers at the Nuclear Energy Insider Nuclear Construction Summit agreed at the event on Oct. 26 in Charlotte, N.C.“Clarence and his team are make-or- break. If the team at Vogtle stumbles and falls, it is all over
Related Links: Upstate New York Project Will Harness Flywheel Power Firms' Finances Raise Questions Beacon Power Corp., which developed a first-of-a-kind energy storage facility in New York with the help of a $43-million loan guarantee, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Oct. 30 in federal court.The company, based in Tyngsboro, Mass., built a $69-million, 20-MW flywheel storage facility in upstate New York designed to keep the flow of power steady.Unlike Fremont, Calif.-based Solyndra, which received a $535-million Dept. of Energy loan guarantee and filed for bankruptcy in September, Beacon is generating revenue, but apparently not enough to keep it afloat.LeChase
The merger of two of the largest U.S. pipeline companies could create a heavyweight able to finance needed pipeline infrastructure, says Fadel Gheit, a senior oil-and-gas analyst with New York City-based Oppenheimer & Co.“I think it will create long-term projects and make investments where [they are] needed,” Gheit says of the proposed merger between Kinder Morgan Inc. and El Paso Corp., announced on Oct. 16. Both firms are headquartered in Houston. “We don't have enough pipeline to take gas where it is used,” Gheit says, a situation that has existed in the pipeline sector for decades.For now, though, both El
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
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