Latest news with #Westinghouse
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Westinghouse eVinci® Test Reactor First to Receive Approval for Preliminary Safety Design Report
Achievement is a Critical Step to Deploy the eVinci Microreactor CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa., June 03, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Westinghouse Electric Company has received approval for its eVinci® Microreactor's Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). With this key milestone, Westinghouse becomes the first microreactor developer to secure an approved PSDR for the National Reactor Innovation Center's Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (NRIC-DOME) test bed at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The PSDR provides the detailed design and safety case overview of the eVinci nuclear test reactor required by DOE to locate it at the NRIC-DOME. The eVinci test reactor is a scaled-down 3 MWt heat pipe microreactor designed to demonstrate key portions of the eVinci design and enable the development of the larger commercial eVinci microreactor. "Becoming the first test reactor to receive approval of its PSDR demonstrates the maturity of our eVinci design and underscores the momentum we have in commercializing and deploying this technology," said Jon Ball, eVinci Technologies President at Westinghouse. "We appreciate our strong partnership with the teams at INL and DOE and look forward to their continued collaboration in the NRIC-DOME program." The eVinci Licensing Department is now developing the draft Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis, which is the third of four DOE submissions needed to site the eVinci test reactor. The eVinci microreactor builds on decades of industry-leading Westinghouse innovation to bring carbon-free, safe and scalable energy wherever it is needed for a variety of applications, including providing reliable electricity and heating for remote communities, universities, mining operations, industrial centers, data centers, and defense facilities, and soon the lunar surface and beyond. The resilient eVinci microreactor has very few moving parts, working essentially as a battery, providing the versatility for power systems ranging from several kilowatts to 5 megawatts of electricity, delivered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for eight-plus years without refueling. It can also produce high temperature heat suitable for industrial applications, including alternative fuel production such as hydrogen, and has the flexibility to balance renewable output. The technology is factory-built and assembled before it is shipped in a container. Westinghouse Electric Company is shaping the future of carbon-free energy by providing safe, innovative nuclear and other clean power technologies and services globally. Westinghouse supplied the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor in 1957 and the company's technology is the basis for nearly one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants. Over 135 years of innovation makes Westinghouse the preferred partner for advanced technologies covering the complete nuclear energy life cycle. For more information, visit and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and X. View source version on Contacts Contact: media@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
8 hours ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Westinghouse eVinci ® Test Reactor First to Receive Approval for Preliminary Safety Design Report
CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Westinghouse Electric Company has received approval for its eVinci ® Microreactor's Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). With this key milestone, Westinghouse becomes the first microreactor developer to secure an approved PSDR for the National Reactor Innovation Center's Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (NRIC-DOME) test bed at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The PSDR provides the detailed design and safety case overview of the eVinci nuclear test reactor required by DOE to locate it at the NRIC-DOME. The eVinci test reactor is a scaled-down 3 MWt heat pipe microreactor designed to demonstrate key portions of the eVinci design and enable the development of the larger commercial eVinci microreactor. 'Becoming the first test reactor to receive approval of its PSDR demonstrates the maturity of our eVinci design and underscores the momentum we have in commercializing and deploying this technology,' said Jon Ball, eVinci Technologies President at Westinghouse. 'We appreciate our strong partnership with the teams at INL and DOE and look forward to their continued collaboration in the NRIC-DOME program.' The eVinci Licensing Department is now developing the draft Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis, which is the third of four DOE submissions needed to site the eVinci test reactor. The eVinci microreactor builds on decades of industry-leading Westinghouse innovation to bring carbon-free, safe and scalable energy wherever it is needed for a variety of applications, including providing reliable electricity and heating for remote communities, universities, mining operations, industrial centers, data centers, and defense facilities, and soon the lunar surface and beyond. The resilient eVinci microreactor has very few moving parts, working essentially as a battery, providing the versatility for power systems ranging from several kilowatts to 5 megawatts of electricity, delivered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for eight-plus years without refueling. It can also produce high temperature heat suitable for industrial applications, including alternative fuel production such as hydrogen, and has the flexibility to balance renewable output. The technology is factory-built and assembled before it is shipped in a container. Westinghouse Electric Company is shaping the future of carbon-free energy by providing safe, innovative nuclear and other clean power technologies and services globally. Westinghouse supplied the world's first commercial pressurized water reactor in 1957 and the company's technology is the basis for nearly one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants. Over 135 years of innovation makes Westinghouse the preferred partner for advanced technologies covering the complete nuclear energy life cycle. For more information, visit and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and X.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Should You Buy Cameco While It's Below $61?
Cameco stock is trading near its highest levels in 25 years. The last time its stock was this high was in 2024. A rebounding uranium price and solid first-quarter earnings helped get investors in a positive mood. 10 stocks we like better than Cameco › After the Fukushima nuclear meltdown in Japan in 2011, shares of uranium miner Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) fell into a deep rut. It took a decade for it to climb out of the hole, and in 2024, the stock rose toward a high of a little over $60 a share on rising uranium prices. When uranium prices began falling in February 2024, the stock fell along with it, going as low as the mid-$30s. The stock price eventually recovered and it now trades around $58 a share. Should investors buy Cameco as it makes a run toward the 25-year-high price of a touch over $60 again? Cameco is a large Canadian miner that produces and processes uranium into fuel for nuclear power plants. It also owns a 49% stake in Westinghouse, which provides services -- from plant construction to plant maintenance -- to nuclear power companies. It is one of the largest publicly traded producers of uranium on the planet. A key selling point for Cameco's uranium is where it operates. The vast majority of its owned mines are in North America, a region considered economically and politically stable. And while it does source uranium from less-stable regions, potential customers generally appreciate working with companies from stable regions. Cameco's long history in the industry is another positive, since it proves the company can survive the swings that commodities often experience. Such swings are particularly notable for uranium because external factors can have such a large effect on the nuclear power industry. The Fukushima meltdown was the most recent example, with other notable events including Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. After such high-profile disasters, nuclear power usually goes through a period in which it is shunned and uranium prices fall. When nuclear power is out of favor and uranium demand is thus relatively weak, Cameco's stock price suffers. But nuclear power is increasingly being seen as a clean source of baseload power (the minimum required to meet the demands of a power grid) to support intermittent clean energy sources like solar and wind. With Fukushima more than a decade in the past, the negative overhang is long over. Despite a year-over-year drop in uranium prices, Cameco managed to put up solid first-quarter 2025 earnings results. That's in large part because it doesn't sell uranium at the spot price, it signs long-term contracts. This helps support earnings when uranium prices are falling, but it can hinder earnings when uranium prices are rising. All in, more conservative investors will likely view this approach as a fair trade-off given that uranium is an often volatile commodity. That said, it is the long-term story that investors will want to consider if they are looking at Cameco right now. That's because, based on current expectations, there is going to be a growing supply gap starting in 2030. The increasing use of nuclear power around the world is causing that gap, and if nothing changes, uranium will likely become more dear in a few years. And that should lead to increasingly strong results for Cameco. Cameco is a supplier to the nuclear power industry, making it a pick-and-shovel play on the growth of this energy source. Given its use of long-term contracts, it is one of the less volatile ways to invest in uranium. And the long-term outlook for uranium demand suggests that strong financial performance is likely as uranium demand rises above supply. All of this makes Cameco look attractive today if you have a glass-half-full view of the world. The glass-half-empty view here, which deserves strong consideration, is that past nuclear power renaissances haven't lasted. The big problem is that the view of nuclear power could change quickly if there is another power plant meltdown. And with Cameco's stock heading back toward 25-year highs, there's more downside than there has been in a long time for what is still a commodity-driven business. In other words, only more aggressive investors with a positive view of uranium should consider Cameco. Most others will probably be better off sticking to a utility company that owns nuclear power plants, like Southern Company or Constellation Energy. Before you buy stock in Cameco, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Cameco wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $828,224!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in Southern Company. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Constellation Energy. The Motley Fool recommends Cameco. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Should You Buy Cameco While It's Below $61? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
South Carolina considers reviving failed $9B nuclear project
With growing demand for carbon-free, around-the-clock energy, more and more utilities, politicians and developers are looking toward nuclear power as a potential solution. The trouble is, for decades, U.S. nuclear development has been rare, slow and exceedingly expensive And the list of failed projects greatly outnumbers the completed nuclear reactors in the past 30 years. In South Carolina, Virgil C. Summer is the most recent and dramatic of such failures. Efforts to build two new nuclear reactors at the site, about an hour and a half south of Charlotte, were canceled in 2017 after massive cost overruns and a series of construction delays. In the end, the reactors were left less than half complete, the developer, Westinghouse, declared bankruptcy, executives from South Carolina Gas and Electric, as well as Westinghouse, were indicted on fraud charges and ratepayers were stuck with a $9 billion bill. They're still paying on their energy bills today. Now, the Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council is advocating for the project to get a second look, potentially becoming the first and second nuclear reactors to come online since the completion of Georgia's Vogtle 3 and 4 reactors. Why try again? While some may see V.C. Summer as a lost cause, Jim Little sees a site ripe for a second chance. As the industry representative of the Governor's Nuclear Advisory Council, he and Chairman Rick Lee visited the plant last fall to get a better understanding of where things left off when the project was canceled seven years ago. Instead of seeing the decaying ruins of a failed project, Little said he was pleasantly surprised to see most of the construction well-preserved. 'It looked like work had stopped a few months ago, not seven years ago,' he said. READ: Federal funding restored for air quality monitoring after nonprofit sues Trump administration According to Little, any new effort to build the two new reactors still had a chance of picking up where the last efforts left off. In a report to the governor, the council endorsed an inspection and analysis of the cost and construction schedule to complete VC Summer once and for all. Optimistically, Little believes a VC Summer project that gets permitted and off the ground quickly could be operational in the next five years, which would be impossible for any nuclear reactor construction starting from scratch. 'If this can be done successfully, everything's upside,' Little said. For Tom Ervin, a former Public Service Commissioner, who regulates South Carolina's utilities and works to set energy rates, that's a big 'if.' 'It's a big mistake,' he said. 'It's going to cost time, delays and much higher utility rates for all utility customers, small businesses, residents and even large manufacturers are going to struggle with these new rates.' Ervin points to the recent commissioning of Vogtle 3 and 4, which have led to massive rate increases in Georgia to cover the project's more than $35 billion budget, a far cry from the $14 billion initially proposed in 2009. With South Carolina ratepayers already stuck with a $9 billion bill from the failed VC project, Ervin believes they shouldn't be on the hook for another cent. 'Nuclear construction is so expensive and so complex,' he said. 'It's not a good option for us.' Would things be different this time? The nuclear picture in the United States has changed since 2017. While Vogtle 3 and 4 faced numerous delays and massive budget overruns, the reactors were eventually completed and are providing 1.1 GW of around-the-clock clean energy each. The reactors at V.C. Summer are the exact same design, the AP 1000, so Little said it stands to reason that what's been done once can be done again. 'You can take advantage of all the lessons learned, the experience, the talent and the solutions on Vogtle and simply apply them to Virgil Summer,' he said. READ: Solarize Charlotte-Mecklenburg to launch in June According to Sola Talabi, president of Pittsburgh Technical and a former risk manager with Westinghouse's AP 1000 projects, the best way to avoid the same costly mistakes is to plan for them from the beginning. 'When projects are being executed, it's almost like driving a car, and the driver has to be fully engaged, with their hands on the steering wheel, with their eyes on the road,' he said. 'That's not the time to learn about how the car works or, you know, trying to figure out where you're going, right?' When Vogtle and V.C. Summer were under construction, they were first-of-a-kind projects in the United States, Talabi explained. Their construction teams had to face and adjust to first-of-a-kind challenges in real time without the benefit of a road map. For any new AP 1000 construction, crews should be informed of potential delays and challenges up front so they know how to recognize and respond to them as quickly as possible, rather than relearning the lessons of the first crews in real time. Talabi also believes time is of the essence. With the Vogtle project complete in 2024, every year that projects like V.C. Summer wait, the harder it will be to put the practical knowledge base of the Vogtle team to use. 'There's attrition of that knowledge. You have people retiring every day,' he said. 'Then you have potentially more competition for the available resources, because we expect that there would be, in the coming years, a significant increase in nuclear power plant construction, and there'll be competition for these resources.' Talabi expects there will be more risk for the 'first mover' after Vogtle, but with so many other utilities across the country eyeing potential nuclear projects, he said late movers may suffer delays due to a shortage of qualified workers already busy on other projects. 'A little bit of activity [in nuclear] has started, but again, in a few years, in about two years, I'd expect there'd be significantly more,' he said. If not nuclear, then what? Nuclear is not the only way to provide large amounts of around-the-clock power or decarbonize the energy grid. Ervin advocates for more investment in solar plus battery storage to balance out the intermittency inherent in renewable energy. He said that's the fastest way to get new power online, and for those skeptical of the limitations of renewable energy, he said the answer is natural gas, not nuclear. 'If you want to have power generation in the next decade or so, what we need to do is look at alternatives that are much less costly,' he said. 'Natural gas plants are also cheaper to build and take less time to build, and so most utilities around the country are turning to gas plants for short-term solution, not nuclear.' Little argues, while there are other options, none are going to give you the output and reliability that nuclear can, especially given South Carolina's historic reliance on nuclear power. What's next? Santee Cooper, which owns part of the V.C. Summer site, put out a request for proposals to complete construction on the two new nuclear reactors and in a release, the utility announced it got a 'strong response.' A spokesperson would not clarify how many bids Santee Cooper received. The utility will spend the next nine to 18 months reviewing those bids. Santee Cooper has said it does not want to own or operate the new V.C. Summer reactors should they come online. READ: Duke medical students research fungal growth in the aftermath of Helene Should a company come in to get the project restarted, they would need to obtain new federal permits and licensing through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as the project's former permits were terminated at the time of cancellation. Inspectors with the NRC would also have to come out to the site and determine how much of the former project is build-ready and what work would need to be redone. Little sees these hurdles as minor obstacles any responsible project manager could overcome. He believes that with enough interest from large customers like data centers, there should be enough capital investment to shield South Carolina ratepayers from the financial burden they faced last time. More importantly, Little believes this project could prove the United States can build nuclear again. 'Can America lead? Everybody's saying, 'has America lost its leadership in nuclear power?'' He said. 'This isn't just about a project. It's about a second chance.' Should the project fail again, however, Ervin believes that should be the final nail in the coffin for the industry. 'We had a really horrific experience in South Carolina, which I hope will never be repeated anywhere else,' he said. 'To start from scratch in this kind of environment is just not it's not a wise decision at all.' WATCH: Duke medical students research fungal growth in the aftermath of Helene
Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Our refrigerator art is a gallery of our life as a family
There's our daughter smiling as she shares a wondrous gaze with the white-breasted nuthatch perched on her outstretched hand on a cold winter morning in Ipswich. And there we are, me and the kids, gathered high up in the Green Monster seats at Fenway days after the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series as the duck boat parade was set to commence. So densely covering the surface of our Westinghouse that even the appliance's logo is obscured, the refrigerator is an album of our lives stationed strategically in a place where the images cannot be unseen. Advertisement I always stop to look at the refrigerator pictures at the homes of my friends and family. Nearly everyone indulges, adding drawings from grandchild artists and magnets from trips abroad. There are no rules. In a life filled with photographs, mostly digitized and on our mobile devices, shared on Facebook or stuffed away in dust-covered albums, these prints, held in place with magnets, are chosen carefully to create a daily notice of what matters. Even those who are gone remain in our sightlines every day as we reach for the milk, the eggs, the ketchup, or a beer. You can't get the mayo without glancing at Aunt Gloria, or our son and daughter-in-law, then newly engaged, or the brand new pictures of their baby, our first grandchild. My wife and her beloved sisters welcome anyone needing to grab the ice cube tray from the freezer. Advertisement Every picture is a life story, the opening paragraph of a narrative journey. The quality of the pictures is of less importance than the subjects. It's a retrospective of family connections, a sometimes static, occasionally changing collection of the faces of those who make or made our lives worth living. They remind us of the tensile strength of these relationships that formed the fabric of our lives. There's no official entry requirement but the space is sacred in its own idiosyncratic way. You don't get included if you are outside the circle. Our new son-in-law was thrilled when he first made it on the fridge. In our kitchen, a gathering place for company as in many homes, visitors often comment on the images while meals simmer on the stove and cocktails get mixed. There are moments of recognition or laughter or surprise, sadness co-mingled with joy. As we share the stories that each image evokes, our friends react to this compilation of lives well lived with the inevitable mix of happiness and sorrow that every family album conjures. Who is here? Who is gone? How much we miss them. Advertisement You can marvel at the Guggenheim or the Louvre, but there is an allure to the refrigerator pictures that is far more personal. The kitchen gallery demands a different kind of attention, based not on often-obscure subjects in a masterpiece but on the conventional images of shared love and devotion. Maybe it's the timelessness and that no one ever really dies if they remain forever in our field of vision. Maybe we just welcome the reminders, on full display, of who we really are. Glenn Rifkin is a journalist and author based in Acton. Send comments to magazine@ TELL YOUR STORY. Email your 650-word unpublished essay on a relationship to connections@ Please note: We do not respond to submissions we won't pursue.
