NPR has learned that rules must now be vetted by the White House and that the administration is drafting an executive order that could loosen radiation limits.
Few issues are as divisive among American environmentalists as nuclear energy. Concerns about nuclear waste storage and safety, particularly in the wake of the 1979 Three Mile Island reactor meltdown in Pennsylvania, helped spur the retirement of nuclear power plants across the country. Nuclear energy’s proponents, however, counter that nuclear power has historically been among the safest forms of power generation, and that the consistent carbon-free energy it generates makes it an essential tool in the fight against global warming.
Federal regulators have approved plans to load radioactive fuel into a second new nuclear reactor in Georgia. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday that Georgia Power Co. and its co-owners can begin loading fuel into unit 4 at Plant Vogtle, southeast of Augusta.
On Friday, Georgia Power announced that a new nuclear reactor at Plant Vogtle is on its way to becoming fully operational in the coming months, news that comes several days before the utility faces another showdown over the project’s ballooning costs brought on by years of delays.
Vogtle’s electricity won’t just be used on Georgia’s homes and businesses. Power from the nuclear plant will also be sold to Alabama properties and to Florida customers of the Jacksonville Electric Authority.
A new reactor at a nuclear power plant in Georgia has reached its full power output for the first time. Georgia Power Co. announced Monday that Unit 3 at Plant Vogtle has reached its full output of 1,100 megawatts of electricity.
Georgia Power is making significant progress with the second of two additional nuclear reactors being built at Plant Vogtle even as the first of the new reactors prepares to go into commercial operation.
At the sprawling array of laboratories and test facilities in the southeastern Idaho desert where the U.S. nuclear power industry was born more than 70 years ago, past, present and future are converging — even as the latest nuclear power plants begin to go online in Georgia.
International atomic experts have warned of a potential nuclear disaster with Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia plant in the middle of a war zone, bringing back terrifying memories of Chernobyl.
Europe's largest nuclear plant will remain shut down until Russian forces leave, the head of Ukraine's atomic energy agency tells NPR. Under Russian occupation, he says, "staff cannot operate freely."
Federal regulators say a nuclear power plant being built in Georgia can begin loading radioactive fuel into one of its two new reactors. It's a key step toward generating electricity at the first new nuclear reactor built in decades in the United States.
Nuclear power is emerging as an answer as states transition away from coal, oil and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stave off climate change.
