In a study commissioned by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO), economists at The Brattle Group evaluated the feasibility of complying with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on May 8 said more than $47 million in scholarships, fellowships, research grants and university research reactor upgrades will be made available to train and educate the next generation of leaders in America’s nuclear industry.

Minnesota Power has announced plans to upgrade Boswell Energy Center Unit 4 in Cohasset, Minn. with emissions controls that will reduce its mercury emissions by 90 percent.

Alstom has been awarded a hydro rehabilitation contract worth approximately $30 million by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).

Indiana Michigan Power’s Cook Nuclear Plant Unit 2 returned to service April 28 following a refueling outage that began March 21.

The Babcock & Wilcox Co. said that its subsidiary, Babcock & Wilcox Canada Ltd. (B&W Canada), has been awarded a $25 million contract from SaskPower to design and retrofit SaskPower’s 300 MW Shand coal-fired power plant in Saskatchewan.

Southern Co. said workers brought Unit 1 of the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant in Alabama back online.

TransAlta Corp. said it has abandoned plans to build the $1.4 billion Project Pioneer carbon capture and storage facility at an Alberta coal-fired power plant.

PacifiCorp, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway's MidAmerican Energy Holdings, said upgrading its coal fleet in order to comply with future federal and state environmental requirements may cost $1 billion.

PPL Montana sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on April 23 to prevent the agency from releasing data to two environmental groups about upgrades made to PPL’s 2,000 MW Colstrip coal-fired power plant.

Exelon Corp. said equipment upgrades, safety inspections, and plant improvements are being implemented at Unit 1 of the two-unit, 2,300 MW Braidwood Generating Station during its latest refueling and maintenance outage.

Day & Zimmermann NPS signed a five-year contract to provide full-service outage management, power plant maintenance and boiler repairs and modifications to We Energies’ ten fossil-fueled power plants in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Plans to convert a natural gas-fired power plant to coal have been shelved thanks to a drop in natural gas prices to under $2.

Fuel Tech Inc., a supplier of engineering solutions for combustion and emissions control systems, received $2 million in orders to supply air pollution control systems in China.

Edison Mission Group plans to install acoustic louvers on all 22 turbines at the 55 MW Pinnacle Wind Farm in Mineral County, W.Va.

Progress Energy Florida has announced plans to convert the 1,000 MW Anclote oil- and natural gas-fired power plant in Florida to 100 percent natural gas.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) recently reinstalled fish nets near the water inlet used by the 3,100 MW Pickering Nuclear Generating Station for cooling the plant, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) said.

Eletronuclear, a subsidiary of state-owned Eletrobras, (NYSE: EBR), said the 1,350 MW Angra 2 nuclear power plant is generating energy after a 29 day outage for refueling activities and periodic inspection and maintenance.

Southern Co. said plant operators of the 1,776 MW Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant in Alabama took Unit 1 offline on April 1 for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage.