NEI to help regenerate Romania’s nuclear sectorNuclear NewsPower & OperationsOctober 21, 2020, 12:00PM|Nuclear News StaffChiricaThe Nuclear Energy Institute and the Romanian Atomic Forum (Romatom) have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in civil applications of nuclear energy, according to Romatom on October 14.The MOU was signed less than a week after the United States and Romania initialed a draft intergovernmental agreement for cooperation on the construction of two additional reactors at Romania’s Cernavoda nuclear power plant and the refurbishment of Unit 1. Cernavoda currently houses two operating reactors—Units 1 and 2, twin 650-MWe CANDU-6 pressurized heavy-water reactors.Maria Korsnick, NEI’s president and chief executive officer, and Teodor Chirica, Romatom’s honorary president, signed the MOU during a webinar on investment opportunities and the capabilities of the U.S. and Romanian nuclear industries. Also in attendance were Tommy Joyce, the U.S. Department of Energy’s deputy assistant secretary for global energy security and multilateral engagement, and Dan Dragan, secretary of state in the Romanian Ministry of Energy, Economy, and Business Environment.ExpandTags:cernavodakorsnickneipressurized heavy-water reactorromatomShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
More voices come to the defense of Ohio’s H.B. 6 policyNuclear NewsPower & OperationsSeptember 8, 2020, 12:06PM|Nuclear News StaffDespite high-profile calls to repeal the scandal-tainted Ohio Clean Air Program Act (H.B. 6) and recent legislation crafted toward that end in both the Ohio House and Senate (66 of 99 House members have reportedly co-sponsored Democratic or Republican bills to repeal H.B. 6), the policy behind the measure continues to garner support.As reported here on August 26, the six commissioners from Ohio’s Lake and Ottawa counties—home to Davis-Besse and Perry, the two nuclear plants saved from early closure by H.B. 6—have made clear their opposition to an immediate repeal of the act.ExpandTags:davis-besseh.b. 6korsnickneiperryShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
DFC drops prohibition on nuclear project financingNuclear NewsPower & OperationsJuly 28, 2020, 7:02AM|Nuclear News StaffThe U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has lifted its ban on financing nuclear power projects abroad. Last month, the DFC proposed the change to its Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures, which had specifically prohibited it from offering such support. The change, announced by the DFC on July 23, also implements a key recommendation made in an April 2020 report issued by the U.S. Nuclear Fuel Working Group, an interagency initiative to review and modernize U.S. nuclear energy policy.ExpandTags:brouillettedfciaeakorsnickneiShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Palo Verde takes home 2020’s top TIPNuclear NewsPower & OperationsJuly 20, 2020, 7:01AM|Nuclear News StaffA team from Arizona Public Service’s (APS) Palo Verde nuclear plant, in Wintersburg, Ariz., has won the Nuclear Energy Institute’s “Best of the Best” Top Innovative Practice (TIP) Award for developing in-house software applications that use machine learning to automate such time-consuming tasks as screening reports or searching maintenance logs. The award was announced July 9 during NEI’s first-ever virtual TIP Awards presentation.ExpandTags:apskorsnickneitip awardShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook