As I've discussed in many previous ANS Nuclear Cafe posts (see: How Can Nuclear Construction Costs be Reduced & Cost/Benefit Analyses of Nuclear Requirements), my belief is that the primary reasons for the lack of nuclear power's growth/success are the extremely burdensome requirements and regulations. They are vastly more strict than those applied to competing sources, in terms of dollars spent per life saved, or amount of environmental impact avoided. For various (non-scientific) reasons, nuclear is held to standards that are orders of magnitude higher than those applied to competing sources.

Last week, it was revealed publicly that a Draft Resource Plan being floated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) includes the presumption that the long-unfinished Bellefonte nuclear plant near Scottsboro, Alabama, will not be completed. TVA's nuclear energy history will span 50 years this June, and there are developments in the works with Bellefonte and one other TVA plant to be mentioned later. All are now expected to shake out this year, and may preface the final volume of that long up-and-down history.

Tugs prepare to start the former nuclear barge Sturgis on the final voyage this morning, April 16, 2015. Photo courtesy NS SAVANNAH ASSOCIATION, INC.

Tugs prepare to start the former nuclear barge Sturgis on the final voyage this morning, April 16, 2015. Photo courtesy NS SAVANNAH ASSOCIATION, INC.

This morning at twenty minutes after nine, the historic nuclear barge Sturgis began what will surely be the final voyage in its life. Shut down since 1976 and unneeded, the barge is being towed to Texas where it will ultimately be completely dismantled and scrapped.

by Will Davis

Callaway Energy Center - one of the completed, historic SNUPPS nuclear plants. Photo courtesy AMEREN Missouri.

by Will Davis

Editor's Note: Josep Rey Cases is a new nuclear enthusiast writer from Spain. This is his first article on the ANS Nuclear Cafe. 

Editor's Note: The Department of Energy's Richard S. Goorevich answered questions posed by American Nuclear Society members to clarify details regarding the 10 CFR 810 rule: Assistance to Foreign Atomic Energy Activities, which goes into effect March 25, 2015. 

Tihange Nuclear Plant, Belgium. Courtesy Electrabel.

The years-long saga surrounding the reactor pressure vessels at the Doel-3 nuclear power plant and Tihange-2 NPP in Belgium has taken another turn, pushing these units back into the broader news cycle and renewing calls from some (uninformed) quarters for further worldwide action and/or permanent shutdowns.

The 248th Nuclear Energy Blogger Carnival is being held this week right here at ANS Nuclear Cafe!

The 247th edition of the Nuclear Energy Blog Carnival has posted at Neutron Bytes.

by Beth Kelly

The 246th edition of the Nuclear Energy Blog Carnival has posted at the Energy Reality Project.

Dresden Nuclear Generating Station; photo courtesy Exelon

By Will Davis

The 245th edition of the Nuclear Energy Blog Carnival has posted at the Hiroshima Syndrome's Fukushima Commentary.

This is the last of the three-part series presenting the opinions of nuclear industry experts on the closing of Vermont Yankee.  Thank you to Dan Yurman for helping to coordinate all of the authors/articles in this three-part series.

This is the second of three posts presenting the professional opinions of experts in the nuclear field on the Yankee Vermont closing.

Although the nuclear power station known as Vermont Yankee had another 18 years left on its license, it was shut down for economic reasons at the end of 2014. Entergy Corporation,the plant's owner, and others have cited the low price of natural gas in the region as deterministic, but the reality is that many other issues were also at play.