Science and Technology:
¶ A Japanese energy explorer says it extracted gas from offshore methane hydrate deposits for the first time in the world, as part of an attempt to achieve commercial production within six years. [Reuters UK]
World:
¶ A study commissioned by the German renewable industry lobby BEE and Greenpeace has found that the transition to renewable energy will cost significantly less than what the German government estimates. [Utility Products]
¶ Is baseload power more reliable than wind? On Saturday night, the wholesale electricity market price skyrocketed in Queensland from $63 per megawatt-hour at 10:10 pm to $11,499 at 10:15 pm because a coal-burning plant went offline. [Climate Spectator]
US:
¶ Wind power generating is making it harder for nuclear plants to make money, even driving wholesale prices into negative territory at times. [Business Record]
¶ The Kewaunee nuclear plant is scheduled to be shut down on May 7. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
¶ The NRC has told the owner of the Palisades nuclear plant that it may be necessary to close the plant by 2017 because of degraded ability to withstand pressurized thermal shock. [Kalamazoo Gazette]
¶ The NRC commissioners upheld an NRC panel’s earlier decision to reject a license for a proposed third nuclear reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Southern Maryland. [Baltimore Business Journal]
¶ According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, 40% of US nuclear power plants had near misses in 2012. [AllGov]
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