Power grid and stations

NERC approves strengthened cyber security standards
The North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s (NERC) independent Board of Trustees last week approved eight revised cyber security standards; entities found in violation of the standards can be fined up to $1 million per day, per violation in the United States
- Read more
More than 950 billion barrels of crude have been extracted since 1850
How much crude oils has been extracted around the world since 1850, the year the first commercial oil-wells were sunk in? Until now, experts calculated that number to be 944 billion barrels; new study suggests a figure that is 35 percent higher than that
- Read more

Critics: Cybersecurity standards for grid do not go far enough
Legislators introduce the Critical Electric Infrastructure Protection Act, would require FERC to issue updated regulations for the U.S. power grid within 120 days of enactment, but critics say the bill is too limited
- Read more
Smart Grid offers savings, vulnerabilities
A bill to be presented in Congress today aims to stop utility hackers; experts, legislators call for regulations on smart power meters to reduce new grid’s vulnerability to hacking
- Read more

Radioactive spills in Scotland
U.K. Ministry of Defense reveals a series of serious radioactive leaks in 2004, 2007, and 2008 into the Firth of Clyde
- Read more
Aussies inaugurate carbon capture institute
Australia is the world’s fourth largest producer of hard coal, and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says that Australia has a national and shared global responsibility to establish the workability of carbon capture and storage technology at a commercial scale
- Read more

Eleven sites on final list for new U.K. nuclear power station sit
The government published the list of eleven sites which could be potential hosts to new nuclear power stations in the United Kingdom
- Read more
Texas electrical grid's operator says he is on watch for hackers
Bob Kahn, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas: “We are constantly modifying and upgrading our protections as technology advances, business requirements change and new threats emerge”
- Read more

Luvata to supply oxygen-free copper to nuclear fusion project
Finnish company awarded a contract to provide 13,000 km oxygen-free copper (Cu-OFE) strand to the ITER project; the superconducting cables must withstand heat treatment of at least 100 hours at 650 degrees centigrade
- Read more
Hackers of U.S. electrical grid left behind "sleeper" software programs
The U.S. electrical grid has been penetrated by sophisticated hackers who left behind “sleeper” software programs which could be remotely activated to disrupt the system; the intelligence community says it is the work of Russian and Chinese government operatives
- Read more

U.K. consortium to build nuclear fusion reactor
U.K. companies have formed a consortium to bid for construction of the main reactor vacuum vessel of the €5 billion (£4.6 billion) International Tokamak Experimental Reactor (ITER) nuclear fusion reactor
- Read more
Smart Grid vulnerable to hackers
Smart Grid may be more efficient and economical as a power distribution system, but how safe is it? Security experts say it is not safe, and that until vulnerabilities are addressed, implementation should proceed slowly
- Read more

Handling nuclear materials for less
During this century, nuclear plant decommissioning in the United Kingdom will likely produce thousands of waste packages that will be retrieved, conditioned, and stored for no less than £40 billion; BNS develops new way to reduce storage and handling costs of radioactive material
- Read more
U.S. searching for a nuclear waste graveyard
Congress has killed the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project, so the United States has no central location for storing nuclear waste; 50,000 metric tons of toxic nuclear waste that has already been produced by the U.S. nuclear plants; 30,000 metric tons more of nuclear waste is expected to be generated in the coming decades
- Read more
BNS wins £13 million Dounreay decommissioning contract
Dounreay was the site of a brave, new idea — a fast breeder nuclear reactor which would convert an unusable form of uranium to plutonium which could be recycled and turned into new reactor fuel; it would, that is, breed its own fuel, offering the prospect of electricity in abundance; it has not worked out that way; now it is the site of a big decommissioning effort
- Read more

More headlines