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Tag: south texas project

NRC reviewing 2 unplanned shutdowns at South Texas Project

September 16, 2024, 3:26PMNuclear News

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission began a special inspection last week at South Texas Project nuclear power plant into two incidents at the site, which led to separate, unplanned shutdowns of both Units 1 and 2.

  • On May 12, a transformer that supplies off-site power to the station shut down unexpectedly and took Unit 2 off line.
  • On July 24, a fire in an electrical switchyard at the site caused an unplanned shutdown of Unit 1.

USA’s John Christensen on the supply chain and other things

June 21, 2024, 3:00PMNuclear NewsRick Michal

Christensen

The conversation was casual with John Christensen, president and chief executive officer of Utilities Service Alliance, as he reflected on his 17 years with the organization. Christensen will be stepping down from USA to retire at the end of the year. He will be succeeded as president and CEO/managing director by Karen Fili, most recently with Urenco USA.

USA is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1996 to provide its utility and nonutility members a business platform to collaborate on plant performance and economic benefit initiatives. Currently, USA members include 39 nuclear reactors (and one uranium enrichment plant) that provide more than 39,650 MWe of generation. As Christensen explained, USA members get the best of both worlds: the fleet benefits by working with USA while keeping the flexibility of independent operator status. (See the sidebar below for a members list.)

Constellation completes ownership stake in Texas plant

November 6, 2023, 7:00AMNuclear News
The South Texas Project nuclear power plant. (Photo: STP Nuclear Operating Co.)

Constellation Energy announced last week that it has completed its acquisition of NRG Energy’s 44 percent ownership stake in the South Texas Project nuclear power plant.

Texas governor touts nuclear at UT fireside chat

August 23, 2023, 7:00AMNuclear News
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (right) talks nuclear energy at UT-Austin on August 16. With Abbott are X-energy chief executive officer Clay Sell (left) and Dow chair and CEO Jim Fitterling. (Photo: Office of the Texas Governor)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sat down with X-energy chief executive officer Clay Sell and Dow chair and CEO Jim Fitterling last week for a “fireside chat” at the University of Texas–Austin on the role of nuclear energy and technology in the state.

Constellation to take ownership stake in Texas nuclear plant

June 1, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear News
The South Texas Project nuclear power plant. (Photo: Wikipedia)

Constellation Energy, operator of the largest U.S. reactor fleet, is acquiring NRG Energy’s 44 percent ownership stake in the South Texas Project nuclear plant, the Baltimore, Md.–based company announced this morning.

Agencies assess power system performance during February freeze

September 24, 2021, 12:00PMNuclear News
Snow covering grounds of the Texas Capitol on February 15, 2021.

To prevent future winter storms from causing the kind of widespread, lethal power outages wrought by February’s frigid blast through Texas and other states, the electric and natural gas industries need to bolster their winterization and cold weather preparedness and coordination, a just-released preliminary report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and North American Electric Reliability Corporation concludes.

The two agencies had announced on February 16 that they planned to open a joint inquiry to identify problems with the performance of the bulk power system during the storm and to offer solutions. A team of FERC and NERC staff members presented the report at a FERC meeting on September 23.

A presentation of the report, February 2021 Cold Weather Grid Operations: Preliminary Findings and Recommendations, is available.

The week in Texas

February 19, 2021, 11:55AMNuclear News

Maybe everything really is bigger in Texas, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. The brutal winter storm that hit much of the country earlier this week struck the Lone Star State with particular severity, leaving the power grid in shambles and millions of Texas residents without power, in many instances for days. On Tuesday, at the height of the power crisis, more than 4.4 million utility customers were without access to electricity, according to poweroutage.us.

EIA: Nine of top 10 electricity generators in 2019 were nuclear plants

October 6, 2020, 12:01PMNuclear News

Graph: EIA

Of the 10 U.S. power plants that generated the most electricity in 2019, nine were nuclear plants, a recent report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration states.

These 10 facilities produced a combined 230 million megawatt hours of electricity last year, accounting for 5.6 percent of all electricity generation in the United States, according to the report. The report also notes a shift in the makeup of the top plants over the past 10 years, from a mix of nuclear and coal-fired generators in 2010 to nearly all nuclear in 2019.

Coal’s share of U.S. electricity generation dropped from 45 percent in 2010 to 23 percent in 2019, the reports says. Stricter air emission standards and decreased cost competitiveness relative to other generators are given as the key reasons for coal’s decade of decline.