Power grid and stations

More efficient nuclear fuel sought
DoE funds research to address the shortcomings of uranium dioxide — the fuel most commonly used to generate nuclear energy
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NRC moves to allow more heavily armed nuclear facility guards
The U.S. Nuclear regulatory Commission (NRC) has moved to allow guards at U.S. nuclear facilities to be equipped with more “enhanced weapons,” including machine guns, short-barreled shotguns, or short-barreled rifles
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Threat: short-circuiting the U.S. power grid
Researchers have worked out how attackers could cause a cascade of network failures in the U.S.’s west-coast electricity grid — cutting power to economic powerhouses Silicon Valley and Hollywood
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Home power plants project unveiled in Germany
Two German companies unveil plans for installing gas-fired power plants in people’s basements; in the coming year the program will install 100,000 of the mini plants, producing among them 2,000 megawatts of electricity, the same as two nuclear plants
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Using waste to recover waste uranium
Researchers find that a combination of bacteria and inositol phosphate can be used to recover uranium from the polluted waters from uranium mines; method may be used to process nuclear waste
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Using lasers in nuclear decommissioning
High-power lasers could remove contaminated surfaces of concrete and cut up metal pipework and process vessels inside nuclear reactors, or other contaminated environments
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National Grid to use Swiss company's solution for SCADA/EMS
National Grid currently owns more than 4,000MW of contracted electricity generation capacity in the United States, delivering electricity to around 3.3 million customers; the company will use Swiss company ABB’s network management solution in its SCADA/EMS
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U.K. assessing two nuclear reactors designs
The United Kingdom wants to build more nuclear reactors, and the government is assessing two different reactor types — the U.K.-EPR designed by Areva and EDF, and the AP1000 designed by Westinghouse — for their suitability to meet U.K. regulatory standards
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Smart grid gold rush
The competition among companies offering smart grid technology has grown to be pretty fierce in recent years, even more so lately given the $11 billion allocated in the federal government’s American Reinvestment and Recovery Act
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Power companies seek federal funds for smart grid
The Obama administration has placed a priority on smart grid technology, and Congress has approved $3.4 billion in federal grants for smart grid projects nationwide
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Mexican cartels smuggle oil to US
Mexican drug cartel have a new revenue stream: they siphon oil from Mexican government pipelines and smuggle it into the U.S., where the oil is sold to refineries
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Cybersecurity is now a must for the grid, I
In past years, electric plants have not worried about cyber security because they did not connect to the outside world; new data systems have changed that for most plants; plants bolster cyber security as NERC starts audits on Internet safety
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U.S. gives $47 million for smart grid trials
The Department of Energy is directing $47 million of the stimulus package to speed up work on several smart grid technology test sites
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Questions raised about cost of, need for new electricity grid
A new national grid system for the United States would involve stringing 19,000 miles of high-voltage lines at a cost of$60 billion; some experts say this is too expensive — and unnecessary
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NSA to build $2 billion data center in Utah
The NSA major data center — in Fort Meade, Maryland — has maxed out the capacity of the Baltimore area power grid; the super-secret agency is building a second data center in San Antonio, Texas, and has revealed plans to build a third center — a mammoth, 65 MW, $1.93 billion in Camp Williams, Utah
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