Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Increase would make power station's reactor largest in United States The power to make electricity at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station could rise for the first time in its 24-year history by 2012 - though not from a second reactor. A public hearing is set for Oct. 29 before the Mississippi Public Service Commission to increase the Claiborne County plant's capacity to 1,443 megawatts, which would make it the nation's largest single reactor. In a petition filed in May, shortages in long-term baseload generation for Entergy customers in three states who receive power from the plant are cited as reasons for the upgrade. If you go A public hearing to consider output increase at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station will be at 10 a.m. Oct. 29 at the Mississippi Public Service Commission located on the first floor of the Woolfolk State Office Building at 501 N. West St. in Jackson. Separately, applications remain alive, at least on paper, for new reactors at Grand Gulf and at Entergy's River Bend Station in St. Francisville, La., though issues with component costs and design prompted Entergy Nuclear to suspend both efforts in January, Vicksburg-based spokesman Don Arnold said.

Increase would make power station's reactor largest in United States The power to make electricity at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station could rise for the first time in its 24-year history by 2012 - though not from a second reactor. A public hearing is set for Oct. 29 before the Mississippi Public Service Commission to increase the Claiborne County plant's capacity to 1,443 megawatts, which would make it the nation's largest single reactor. In a petition filed in May, shortages in long-term baseload generation for Entergy customers in three states who receive power from the plant are cited as reasons for the upgrade. If you go A public hearing to consider output increase at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station will be at 10 a.m. Oct. 29 at the Mississippi Public Service Commission located on the first floor of the Woolfolk State Office Building at 501 N. West St. in Jackson. Separately, applications remain alive, at least on paper, for new reactors at Grand Gulf and at Entergy's River Bend Station in St. Francisville, La., though issues with component costs and design prompted Entergy Nuclear to suspend both efforts in January, Vicksburg-based spokesman Don Arnold said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has suspended the principal portions of its reviews of Combined License (COL) applications for the River Bend site near Baton Rouge, La., and the Grand Gulf site near Vicksburg, Miss., following a request from the applicant, Entergy. The NRC has also cancelled a public meeting on the River Bend application originally planned for Thursday, Jan. 29, in St. Francisville, La. Entergy applied to the NRC in February 2008 for Grand Gulf, and in September 2008 for River Bend, for COLs to build and operate an Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor at each site. Entergy informed the NRC in a Jan. 9 letter that the company is currently considering alternate reactor technologies for both sites, and asked the agency to halt its work on the COL applications. In honoring this request, the NRC is conducting an orderly closeout of environmental reviews done for the Grand Gulf COL. The NRC will also continue interactions with the Federal Emergency Management Agency regarding emergency preparedness issues associated with the potential of additional reactors at the sites.

A Monday morning fire at Port Gibson's Grand Gulf nuclear power plant has left the facility operating at 65 percent capacity. The fire was not considered major and ranked in the lowest of the plant's four emergency levels. Jami Cameron, the site's communication specialist, said the fire started in a water pump turbine when an oil-saturated piece of insulation ignited.

Entergy on Thursday filed an application for a combined construction permit-operating license for a 1,520-MW GE-Hitachi nuclear unit at its River Bend site in Louisiana. The application marks the company's second COL request. Entergy in February submitted an application for an new reactor that would also be supplied by GE-Hitachi at its Grand Gulf site near Port Gibson, Mississippi.

" Workers at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson, Miss., last Thursday released a large amount of radioactive tritium directly into the Mississippi River, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and experts are currently trying to sort out the situation. An investigation is currently underway to determine why the tritium was even present in standing water found in an abandoned unit of the plant, as well as how much of this dangerous nuclear byproduct ended up getting dumped into the river. Many also want to know why workers released the toxic tritium before conducting proper tests. The Mississippi Natchez Democrat reports that crews first discovered the radioactive water in the plant's Unit 2 turbine building after heavy rains began hitting the area last week. Unit 2 was a partially-constructed, abandoned structure that should not have contained any radioactive materials, let alone tritium, which is commonly used to manufacture nuclear weapons and test atomic bombs (http://www.nirs.org/radiation/triti...)."

Entergy Corp. reportedly won't pursue new nuclear builds in the U.S. Southeast because of lower demand seen after Hurricanes Katrina and Ike, the recession, and abundant but unused independent power generation in the region, the company's CEO J. Wayne Leonard told reporters at this week's Edison Electric Institute financial conference. "[Nuclear new builds are] not off the table, but the economics are really not supportive and not likely to be supportive in the near future," Reuters reported Leonard as saying on Tuesday. "There's no need to embark on the riskiest piece of the business." At the end of last year, Entergy Nuclear asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to suspend reviews for potential projects at its nuclear sites at Grand Gulf, near Port Gibson, Miss., and River Bend, near St. Francisville, La.-even though Louisiana and Mississippi have passed legislation offering cost-recovery incentives to build the new reactors. The company, the second-largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., had then said it had made the decision after "unsuccessful attempts to come to mutually acceptable business terms" with GE-Hitachi for its Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor.

Entergy Corp. reportedly won't pursue new nuclear builds in the U.S. Southeast because of lower demand seen after Hurricanes Katrina and Ike, the recession, and abundant but unused independent power generation in the region, the company's CEO J. Wayne Leonard told reporters at this week's Edison Electric Institute financial conference. "[Nuclear new builds are] not off the table, but the economics are really not supportive and not likely to be supportive in the near future," Reuters reported Leonard as saying on Tuesday. "There's no need to embark on the riskiest piece of the business." At the end of last year, Entergy Nuclear asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to suspend reviews for potential projects at its nuclear sites at Grand Gulf, near Port Gibson, Miss., and River Bend, near St. Francisville, La.-even though Louisiana and Mississippi have passed legislation offering cost-recovery incentives to build the new reactors. The company, the second-largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., had then said it had made the decision after "unsuccessful attempts to come to mutually acceptable business terms" with GE-Hitachi for its Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor.

Entergy asked NRC January 9 to suspend the review of the utility's two new plant license applications, citing difficulties in reaching an engineering, procurement and construction agreement with vendor GE Hitachi. Entergy had filed an application for a combined construction permit-operating license, or COL, in February for an additional unit at its Grand Gulf site in Mississippi and another COL application in September for a new unit at its River Bend station in Louisiana. An Entergy spokesman said the company has asked NRC to suspend the safety review for both applications and to temporarily defer the environmental portion of those reviews.

This is NRC's official timeline chart for reactor licensing by design: AP1000 (Bellafonte, Lee Summer, Harris, Vogtle, Levy Cnty, Turkey Pt) ESBWR (N Anna, Grand Gulf, River Bend, Victoria Cnty, Fermi) EPR(Calvert Cliffs, Callaway, Amarillo Power, Bruneau, Nine Mile Pt) ABWR (South Texas) USAPWR (Commanche Peak)

The expected 2008 surge in license applications for new commercial nuclear power reactors in the United States is taking place, with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's announcedment that it has accepted for review Entergy's combined license application for a new reactor at the Grand Gulf site near Port Gibson, Miss. This is the seventh request accepted for review, two more are pending for acceptance, and NRC said it expects 10 more by the end of this ye

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued annual assessment letters to the nation's 104 operating commercial nuclear power plants. All the plants continue to operate safely. "Our ongoing assessment of nuclear power plant performance is at the heart of the agency's mission of protecting people and the environment," said Eric Leeds, director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. "The 2008 year-end results show that about 83 percent of the plants are performing strongly enough that we're satisfied with our basic level of inspections at those sites." If a nuclear power plant's performance declines, the NRC increases the level of inspection to ensure the plant operator is taking the steps necessary to correct the situation. The additional amount of inspection is commensurate with the level of plant performance. At the close of last year, only one reactor, Unit 3 at Palo Verde (Ariz.), required the NRC's highest level of attention. Three reactor units, Cooper (Neb.) and Units 1 and 2 at Palo Verde (Ariz.), required significant NRC attention. And another 14 reactor units, Units 1 and 2 at Byron (Ill.), Unit 1 at Comanche Peak (Texas), Unit 1 at Farley (Ala.), Unit 1 at Grand Gulf ( Miss.), Unit 2 at Hatch (Ga.), Kewaunee (Wis.), Units 1 and 2 at McGuire (N.C.), Unit 2 at Nine Mile Point (N.Y.), Unit 1 at Oconee (S.C.), Palisades (Mich.), Unit 1 at Prairie Island (Minn.), and Unit 2 at San Onofre (Calif.), required additional attention beyond the basic level.