Dominion Seeks to Add Nuclear Reactor in Louisa Co.

NBC29.COM - RICHMOND, Va (WVIR) - Dominion Virginia Power has plans to build a new nuclear reactor in Louisa County, but the idea has some worried.

Dominion already has two nuclear reactors running at the North Anna Power Station, but the company is going through the licensing process to add a third.

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MIT Startup Gets $2.5M to Develop the Nuclear Reactor We've Been Waiting For

Transatomic Power co-founder and CEO Leslie Dewan

(BostInno) - A Cambridge start-up that’s seeking to turn nuclear power into something most everyone will feel good about has taken the next key step in its long-term plan, raising $2.5 million in new funding from investors including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

Transatomic Power, founded by MIT nuclear science graduates, has now raised $4.5 million since last summer.

The start-up has designed a nuclear reactor that would aim to produce electricity using existing nuclear waste, helping rid us of one of the major issues associated with conventional nuclear plants. The Transatomic reactor design would also not be prone to melting down, according to the company.

And of course, the reactor would have the same environmental benefit of being carbon-free as existing nuclear power designs.

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Ginna Power Plant an Economic Powerhouse

R.E. Ginna nuclear power plant

(NEI) Feb. 9, 2015—The operation of Exelon’s R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant generates an average annual economic output of over $350 million in western New York state and an impact on the U.S. economy of about $450 million per year, a new economic analysis reveals.

The study, “Economic Impacts of the R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant,” was prepared by the Nuclear Energy Institute. It analyzes the impact of Ginna’s operations through the end of the facility’s 60-year operating license in 2029. The 580-megawatt pressurized water reactor produces enough electricity to power 400,000 homes. 
 
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GOP senator pushes for more nuclear power, Yucca waste site

By Timothy Cama (The Hill)

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said on Thursday that he’ll use the Energy Appropriations panel to encourage new nuclear power plants and construction of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site, among other nuclear priorities.

Alexander, who is now chairman of the Appropriations Committee panel with power over the Energy Department’s budget, outlined a series of steps that he believes could boost the country’s nuclear industry, stop plant closures and spur new development.

“Our Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, which I chair, will take a year-long look at all of this during 2015,” Alexander said in a speech at the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s main lobbying group.

“Our committee will begin with oversight, expanded budget hearings in February and March. And then in April, we’ll turn toward a series of hearings about the future of nuclear power in our country and what it would be like for the United States to be without it.”

Alexander in 2009 called for the United States to build 100 new nuclear reactors, a plan even the industry thought might be too ambitious.

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Exelon Unfazed By Juno; NRC To Look Into Pilgrim Shutdown

Nuclear Street News Team

Exelon Corporation said that its seven nuclear reactors in the path of winter storm Juno ran at full capacity throughout the blizzard.
While the storm dumped from 10 to 40 inches of snow across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern portions of the country, Exelon's seven plants in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania operated without a hiccup, producing 10,832 megawatts of electricity per hour, the company said, adding that this was enough power for more than 10 million homes.

While other power sources struggle to maintain production, nuclear power plants are engineered to run uninterrupted for up to two years. “Beyond that, highly skilled plant workers prepare nuclear facilities months in advance for the worst conceivable winter storm,” Exelon said. “When extreme weather hits, procedures are in place to increase equipment monitoring to minimize or eliminate weather-related problems,” Exelon said in a statement.

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