Innovation & Infrastructure

The patent for Holtec International’s HI-STORM UMAX, a system for underground spent fuel storage, has received an Edison Patent Award from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey. Holtec accepted the honor in the public health & safety category. The award recognizes New Jersey-based scientists and inventors.

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/13/2015 Completed on time and under budget, the Quest carbon capture and storage project launched on Nov. 6 in Alberta, Canada. The project is the world’s first CCS project on an oil sands upgrader and Canada’s second commercial-scale CCS project, following SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 coal-fired power plant, which […]

Activists Press Alexander for Details on UPF An activist group has initiated a letter-writing campaign aimed at prodding Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, to release more information about plans for the multibillion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The group hopes the campaign, timed […]

NS&D Monitor 11/13/2015 IN THE INDUSTRY GE Healthcare and SHINE Medical Technologies said this week they have advanced a process for producing technetium-99, a medical isotope employed in over 40 million imaging procedures annually. Pharmacies and hospitals produce the isotope using a separate isotope – molybdenum-99, which is in increasingly short supply due to outages […]

GE Healthcare and SHINE Medical Technologies said this week they have advanced a process for producing technetium-99, a medical isotope employed in over 40 million imaging procedures annually.   Pharmacies and hospitals produce the isotope using a separate isotope – molybdenum-99 (mo-99), which is in increasingly short supply due to outages at aging reactors that […]

An activist group has initiated a letter-writing campaign aimed at prodding Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn,), chairman of the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, to release more information about plans for the multibillion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The group hopes the campaign, timed with the looming expiration of the current […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/6/2015 SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 carbon capture and storage project is back up and running this week after a planned outage, company CEO Mike Marsh told GHG Monitor this week by email. “Our two-month scheduled maintenance ended this week and we’re back online, capturing carbon dioxide. We’re working on […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 11/6/2015 A total of 22 large-scale carbon capture and storage projects are projected to be operational in worldwide by 2020, exceeding the expectations of the Global CCS Institute, CEO Brad Page told press this week in advance of the launch of the organization’s 2015 Global Status of CCS report. “[In […]

Two Canadian companies announced last week that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure a fresh, ongoing supply of medical-grade cobalt 60.   Ontario atomic energy provider Bruce Power already partners with medical isotope specialist Nordion for production of cobalt 60 used for sterilizing medical equipment. The new MOU will expand that collaboration […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/30/2015 Mississippi Power this week announced another cost estimate increase, this time totaling $110 million, for the Kemper County Energy Facility, a new-build post-combustion carbon capture and storage project under development near Meridian, Miss. Such overages are not new to Mississippi Power, a subsidy of Southern Co.: The project’s costs […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/30/2015 A $12 million (CAD) penalty paid to Alberta-based Cenovus for the failure of Saskatchewan-based SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 carbon capture and storage project to provide the oil company with an agreed-upon amount of CO2 in 2014 has the province’s New Democratic Party (NDP) up in arms. The NDP, […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/30/2015 The Teesside Collective, a planned industrial carbon capture and storage network in the United Kingdom’s most carbon-intensive area, has picked up a new partner to take the place of founding member Sahaviriya Steel Industries’ (SSI) Redcar Steelworks, which shut down earlier this month. Industrial energy and water services provider […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/23/2015 Carbon capture and storage holds the potential to help the United States meet its environmental, economic and national security goals, but current policy does not adequately address the status and risks involved with the technology, according to a report released late last week by the Brookings Institution. “Fundamentally, current […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/23/2015 The use of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the United Kingdom’s North Sea holds the promise of enabling the obtainment of up to 500 million additional barrels of otherwise unrecoverable oil. However, to harness this opportunity, action must be taken now to create a CO2-EOR industry, according to a […]

Jeremy L. Dillon NS&D Monitor 10/23/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has contributed an additional $11.75 million to NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes as the company works toward commercialization of its molybdenum-99 production technology. The contribution is part of one cost-sharing agreement as the NNSA supports companies looking to provide a steady supply of the medical isotope […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 10/23/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has contributed an additional $11.75 million to NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes as the company works toward commercialization of its molybdenum-99 production technology. The contribution is part of one cost-sharing agreement as the NNSA supports companies looking to provide a steady supply of the medical isotope […]

Alissa Tabirian WC Monitor 10/16/2015 The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking university proposals for a partnership with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to conduct research and prototype development of nuclearized robots – technology capable of working in radioactively contaminated, hazardous areas – according to a special notice issued this week. SNL’s High Consequence Automation and […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/16/2015 Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s Dry Fork Station near Gillette, Wyo., will be the site of the state’s carbon utilization Integrated Test Center (ITC), Gov. Matt Mead announced late last week. “We lead the nation in coal production. This facility allows us to provide the same leadership in research and […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/16/2015 Southern Company Services, a subsidiary of Southern Co., this week announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) to jointly explore clean coal and carbon capture and storage technologies. "This MOU brings together two respected energy companies with the proven ability to deliver […]

Staff Reports NS&D Monitor 10/16/2015 The National Nuclear Security Administration has approved Critical Decisions 1 and 3-A for an electrorefining project at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, setting the stage for replacing an “analogous capability” for purifying uranium metal that is currently housed in the 70-year-old 9212 complex at Oak Ridge. According to information in […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 10/16/2015 The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking university proposals for a partnership with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to conduct research and prototype development of nuclearized robots – technology capable of working in radioactively contaminated, hazardous areas – according to a special notice issued this week. SNL’s High Consequence Automation and […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/16/2015 Alberta-Based Carbon Engineering is scheduled to launch a pilot plant demonstrating its direct air capture technology today outside of Squamish, British Columbia The $9 million facility is designed to capture 1 ton of CO2 per day. “Everyone at Carbon Engineering is extremely excited about the plant coming together and […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/16/2015 A consortium led by Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power and China-based Harbin Electric has been selected as the preferred bidder for the first phase of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (DEWA) 1,200-megawatt Hassyan Clean Coal Power Plant, DEWA Managing Director and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer announced this week. […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 10/16/2015 The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking a small business contractor to offer cybersecurity support to its Office of Environment, Health, Safety, and Security (EHSS), according to a sources sought solicitation posted last week. The contractor will “provide technical and administrative support resources to maintain the applications and infrastructure supporting […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking university proposals for a partnership with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) to conduct research and prototype development of nuclearized robots – technology capable of accessing hazardous areas at nuclear facilities – according to a special notice issued this week. SNL’s High Consequence Automation and Robotics (HCAR) Group, which “originated […]

Shine Medical Technologies and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the operating contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory, announced yesterday an agreement to allow an exclusive license on SRNL’s patented hydrogen isotope separation process for use in SHINE’s medical isotope production. According to a release, the agreement gives SHINE the right to use […]

Alissa Tabirian NS&D Monitor 10/9/2015 Eighteen projects from National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) labs, some of which feature nuclear deterrence and stockpile stewardship applications, have been chosen by an independent panel of judges as finalists for R&D Magazine’s annual R&D 100 Awards, which recognizes “the 100 most innovative technologies and services of the past year,” […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 Researchers at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre have discovered a new process by which they can “fingerprint” carbon stored underground to monitor the movement of the plumes, according to a new paper published this week in International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. The “fingerprint” is developed by measuring […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 One year after officially coming online, SaskPower’s Boundary Dam Unit 3 remains the world’s first and only commercial-scale post-combustion coal-fired carbon capture and storage project. The last year has been one of expanding knowledge, and SaskPower is happy to share the lessons it has learned, SaskPower CEO Mike Marsh […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 10/9/2015 The United Kingdom’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) late last week awarded £1.7 million to carbon capture and storage projects as part of phase four of the government’s energy entrepreneurs fund. “The funding will support the development and demonstration of state of the art CCS technologies to […]