Egypt plans to build first nuclear plant by 2019
Egypt plans to have first nuclear plant operational by 2019, and build 3 more by 2025 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Egypt-plans-to-build-first-apf-1424993263.html
Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire - Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry. Nuclear Activities
Showing posts with label Exelon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exelon. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Exelon may bid on Vermont nuclear plant
Constellation, Exelon among potential bidders for Vt. plant
Constellation Energy Group, Exelon and NextEra Energy may bid for Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, analyst Brian Chin said. Entergy said it was considering selling the plant, months after state lawmakers agreed to its 2012 shutdown. "We will aggressively negotiate with buyers for extension of employment to all current employees as a condition of any sale," Entergy said. Crain's Chicago Business/Reutershttp://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101104/NEWS11/101109909/exelon-may-bid-on-vermont-nuclear-plant
Constellation Energy Group, Exelon and NextEra Energy may bid for Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, analyst Brian Chin said. Entergy said it was considering selling the plant, months after state lawmakers agreed to its 2012 shutdown. "We will aggressively negotiate with buyers for extension of employment to all current employees as a condition of any sale," Entergy said. Crain's Chicago Business/Reutershttp://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101104/NEWS11/101109909/exelon-may-bid-on-vermont-nuclear-plant
Friday, September 24, 2010
John Rowe's Bet on Nuclear Energy Why Exelon's chairman decided to stake the company's future on nuclear instead of coal As told to Diane Brady
Mike McGregor for Bloomberg BusinessweekSomething had to give. We contemplated breaking up the company, but we would have gotten very little for those nuclear plants. Given how they were running, they were virtually worthless. We had invested $10 billion and weren't getting a return. When you have nuclear plants, they own you. They're a massive responsibility; they make or break your reputation.
We needed cash. We couldn't rebuild the nuclear fleet and upgrade the coal plants, too, so I decided to give up coal. In the middle of all this, we were having terrible reliability problems. Mayor Daley was gnawing my liver out because of service, and he was right. After my first year, he let me know time was running out. Honeymoons don't last long in Chicago.
My choices were constrained by the fact that we'd invested so much in our nuclear plants. We had to make a bet that nuclear would work and, in the long run, be worth more than coal. There was also a lot of nervousness around nuclear energy. Three Mile Island, which didn't hurt anyone, ruined the industry for more than a decade and destroyed growth for several decades.
I orchestrated a merger with PECO (Philadelphia Electric Co.) to create Exelon (EXC). Life isn't just about what you want to be. It's about what you are. We had become a culture of trying rather than a culture of succeeding. A lot of good people had to go. We needed some way to grow. Real growth requires a totally new technology or consolidation. We've since become one of the fastest-growing players in the industry.
This is a massively unforgiving business. It's not China or Japan that you worry about. It's that unidentifiable country that builds one plant but doesn't have the regulatory or engineering infrastructure to handle it. If something goes wrong, it affects all of us.
More at:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_40/b4197096559482.htm
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Exelon Nuclear Marks 50 Years of Nuclear Power during Dresden Unit 1 Celebration
Entergy celebrates 50th anniversary of Dresden Unit 1 startup
Exelon Nuclear celebrated the 50th anniversary of Dresden Unit 1, the first U.S. full-scale nuclear power plant that was privately funded, with a luncheon at the Dresden Station Training Building in Illinois. Though the commercial plant is dormant, the unit is seen as a key role in the nuclear power industry. "We're proud of the pioneers who worked on Dresden Unit 1, and the roles they played in ushering in the nuclear power industry," said Susan Landahl, chief operating officer for Exelon Nuclear. NuclearStreet.com
Exelon Nuclear celebrated the 50th anniversary of Dresden Unit 1, the first U.S. full-scale nuclear power plant that was privately funded, with a luncheon at the Dresden Station Training Building in Illinois. Though the commercial plant is dormant, the unit is seen as a key role in the nuclear power industry. "We're proud of the pioneers who worked on Dresden Unit 1, and the roles they played in ushering in the nuclear power industry," said Susan Landahl, chief operating officer for Exelon Nuclear. NuclearStreet.com
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
EXELON’S ROWE SEES ‘DECADE OR TWO’ SLIDE IN U.S. RENAISSANCE By Steve Hedges
EXELON’S ROWE SEES ‘DECADE OR TWO’ SLIDE IN U.S. RENAISSANCE
By Steve HedgesJohn Rowe, the chief executive of U.S. nuclear heavyweight Exelon Corporation, has gone public with a blanket conclusion that natural gas prices are going to make building new nuclear power reactors difficult. As long as gas prices stay low, he told Bloomberg in an interview published on Friday, “you can’t economically build a merchant nuclear plant."
The Bloomberg interview highlights Rowe’s bottomline market thesis that — as long as low natural gas prices persist — new U.S. nuclear construction will be postponed by a "decade, maybe two."
Rowe isn’t the first to note that natural gas prices could negatively impact the renewal of nuclear energy in the U.S., which is lagging behind Europe and Asia in the construction of new nuclear power reactors.
What’s striking, though, is that Exelon has 17 nuclear reactors at 10 power stations, which comprise 20% of the U.S. commercial nuclear fleet. Merchant plants, which sell electricity wholesale, are also in a different class than those reactors run by utilities with a dedicated customer base.
Rowe’s take is interesting, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. A recent set of Standard and Poors reports on the cost of nuclear power plant construction found that, in the U.S., the cost of building all plants — coal, gas, wind and nuclear — has risen dramatically. S&P cites an IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ index of costs, and notes that, in the U.S., a power plant that cost $10 billion to build in 2000 would cost $21.5 billion today. Base costs in the U.S., the report states, “have grown 20% faster in the U.S compared with Europe over the past decade.”Why the difference between the U.S. and Europe? When it comes to nuclear, S&P states that, “A steady stream of reactors established a relatively cheap supply chain and skilled labor force in Europe and Asia.”
Not so in the U.S., the report states, where a virtual moratorium on nuclear reactor construction has diminished an important skilled labor pool.
“Amid serious doubts over the future of the U.S. nuclear industry during the 1980s, the pool of nuclear construction managers and specialized workers dried up and remains shallow today,” S&P reports. “Several specialized skills (such as highquality welding) that are unique to the construction of nuclear power plants are now hard to come by in the U.S. We expect some specialists to transfer from France, Japan, and other nations to provide expertise and increase the workforce. However, these countries have substantial building programs of their own and may not be able to export experienced manpower.
“The dearth of experienced nuclear engineers and construction workers is a key factor that also increases costs.”
Rowe’s position aside, perhaps the bigger threat to the Nuclear renaissance in the U.S. isn’t the costs of other forms of energy, but the cost of not doing anything.
Nuclear powers to top of the table
Nuclear powers to top of the table
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| Exelon's Peach Bottom nuclear power plant (Image: Exelon) |
Companies using generation portfolios dominated by coal were the worst emitters per MWh generated, with Big Rivers Electric and NiSource topping the list with over 2400 lbs of carbon dioxide (CO2) per MWh.
By comparison companies with high proportions of nuclear like Exelon and PG&E emitted only 122 lbs and 32 lbs CO2 per MWh respectively. Using over 90% nuclear power means that Exelon ranked as the fifth-biggest generator and also the fifth-smallest CO2 polluter per unit of power produced.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Nuclear Plant's Tear-Down Is Template
Handover of Exelon nuclear plant may become industry model
Exelon's planned handover of its idled Zion nuclear power plant to nuclear-waste-services firm EnergySolutions may become a template for the industry in decommissioning nuclear plants. Dealing with used nuclear facilities has been a challenge for the industry. "It's much harder to take these plants apart than put them together," said Val Christensen, president and CEO of EnergySolutions. The Wall Street Journal
Exelon's planned handover of its idled Zion nuclear power plant to nuclear-waste-services firm EnergySolutions may become a template for the industry in decommissioning nuclear plants. Dealing with used nuclear facilities has been a challenge for the industry. "It's much harder to take these plants apart than put them together," said Val Christensen, president and CEO of EnergySolutions. The Wall Street Journal
Monday, August 30, 2010
Entergy is looking to sell Vt. nuclear plant, source says
Is Entergy trying to sell Yankee?
Entergy is seeking to sell its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant and has piqued the interest of Exelon and NRG Energy, said Jeff Beattie of Energy Daily. Entergy refused to respond to the report but said that as part of its "point-of-view" planning, it would "consider buying or selling any asset or business depending on what option creates the most value," said spokesman Mike Burns. Brattleboro Reformer (Vt.)
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