According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest inventory of electric generators, 9.1 gigawatts (GW) of electric generating capacity is scheduled to retire in 2021.

In total, it appears that 30 plants (nuclear, coal, petroleum, and others) will be retired in 2021. Five nuclear reactors are included in the closure list—Indian Point-3, Byron (two units at the plant), and Dresden (two units at the plant). Those three plants produce 5.1 GW of power, accounting for more than half of the total capacity expected to be retired.

On behalf of America’s nuclear professionals, we thank Chairman Kristine Svinicki for her service and leadership at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Best wishes to our readers for a joyous holiday season and a peaceful new year. We look forward to continuing to provide the news for all things nuclear in the new year.

Congress voted to approve appropriations for fiscal year 2021 that includes $1.5 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

At Barakah Site, we feel so lucky to be a part of such a historic achievement and to have contributed in some small way. I came to the UAE almost three years ago with the hope that I could see a first core initial startup at least once in my career. Now that it’s happened, it’s a little surreal. While we celebrate our accomplishments at the site, we remain focused on our everyday work. There’s still much to do to ensure Units 2, 3, and 4 can safely start up on schedule.

Note: Hauck is also the Deputy Site Manager at Barakah for Westinghouse Electric Co.

ANS congratulates the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. on bringing the first Barakah reactor to full operational capacity.

Giving Tuesday is a nationwide day of giving back to the not-for-profit community. For Giving Tuesday, the American Nuclear Society is on a mission–jumpstart funding for a special initiative, Nuclear in Every Classroom. This landmark effort helps ensure nuclear science and technology crosses the desks – virtual or in-person – of every k-12 student and teacher in the nation. The initiative builds upon the success of Navigating Nuclear: Energizing Our World, the ANS partnership with Discovery Education that has reached over 1.3 million students.

On behalf of America’s nuclear technology professionals, we applaud the introduction of the bipartisan American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 (ANIA).

La Grange Park, IL – The American Nuclear Society (ANS) has submitted comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in favor of reconsidering the shortsighted decision to shutter prematurely California’s largest clean energy resource, Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

ANS filed the comments on Nov. 12 in favor of an Oct. 26 complaint by Californians for Green Nuclear Power against the regulatory approvals of the 2016 decision by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to permanently shutter Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 in November 2024 and August 2025, respectively. The complaint (Docket No. EL21-13-000) asked FERC to investigate whether the decision shuttering Diablo Canyon violates grid reliability standards. ANS agrees with the complaint that FERC ought to consider fully the negative consequences and reliability risks posed by a premature retirement of Diablo Canyon.

Shimkus

For more than two decades, one of the country’s biggest champions of the Yucca Mountain Project has been Rep. John Shimkus (R., Ill.), who is retiring from Congress this year. Shimkus spoke with E&E News about how he is not ready to give up on the Nevada repository in an article posted to the energy and environment news organization’s website on October 20.

“It’s never dead,” Shimkus said. “It’s the law of the land."

“The world needs a mix of renewable power sources, including one that can carry on producing power when the others can’t—the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow,” British journalist Jonathan Gornall writes in an opinion piece posted Wednesday on the Asia Times website. Gornall argues that the residents of Suffolk County in the United Kingdom would be better served by the expansion of the Sizewell nuclear power plant than by leaving a wooded area untouched.

As the voice of American nuclear professionals, ANS applauds the Department of Energy's decision to award UAMPS' Carbon Free Power Project $1.355 billion in cost-sharing funding. The award will accelerate the deployment of NuScale's small modular reactors in supplying carbon-free power and ensuring the reliability of power grids with growing amounts of intermittent renewable electricity.

The American Nuclear Society congratulates TerraPower and X-energy for being chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to participate in the cost-sharing Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on September 23 announced its approval of Critical Decision 1 for the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) project, a one-of-a-kind scientific user facility that would support research and development of innovative nuclear energy and other technologies.

An article published over the weekend in the Tacoma News Tribune reports that the Benton Public Utility District in Kennewick, Wash., is saying no to more wind farms. Even though utilities are moving to decarbonize the grid, a report from the Benton PUD says that more wind farms “will contribute very little to keeping the regional power grid reliable and will not help Benton PUD solve our seasonal energy deficit problems.”

As the voice of American nuclear engineers and scientists, ANS congratulates NuScale Power for receiving the first-ever final safety evaluation report for a small modular reactor issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Statement from American Nuclear Society’s Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy:

The American nuclear professional community is deeply disturbed by alleged political corruption in Ohio related to the passage of House Bill 6. If the allegations are true, they represent a breach of public trust that should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

La Grange Park, IL– The American Nuclear Society (ANS) has introduced a new curated list of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) educational resources to its website. These collected resources can help educate ANS members and the nuclear science and technology community on the many facets of DEI.

Statement from the American Nuclear Society’s Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy on the draft FY 2021 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies funding bill issued by the House Appropriations Committee: