Power grid and stations

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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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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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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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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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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U.K. infrastructure vulnerable to terrorism, bad weather
A comprehensive new study of U.K. infrastructure says not enough was being done to ensure systems such as energy and transportation could keep going in adverse circumstances
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ITER fusion project will start with hydrogen
The ITER experiments will start in 2018 — but will be literally lighter, using hydrogen rather than heavier tritium and deuterium; the tritium and deuterium experiments will have to wait until 2026
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