U.S.
Centrus Energy said last week it has received approval from NYSE MKT for a plan to ensure it remains listed on the stock exchange after falling out of compliance last year. “As a result, the Company’s common stock will continue to be traded on the NYSE MKT, subject to ongoing monitoring by the exchange and the Company’s compliance with all other applicable NYSE MKT requirements,” according to a Centrus press release.
NYSE MKT alerted Centrus in November that it was not adhering to the exchange’s listing standards after reporting a stockholders’ deficit as of Sept. 30, 2015, and a net loss for 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Under the plan, Centrus has until May 17 of next year to come back into compliance with NYSE MKT rules.
Centrus, formerly known as USEC, provides enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power facilities worldwide. It was until March 2015 listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where the company in 2013 also faced listings compliance issues that were resolved in 2014 – the year USEC emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy as Centrus.
A longtime energy industry executive will take over as chief nuclear officer and executive vice president at power provider Entergy on April 6. Christopher Bakken takes over from the retiring Jeff Forbes.
Entergy said Bakken would provide top-level management for operation of the company’s nuclear facilities in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Michigan, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas, along with management services for the Cooper Nuclear Station in the Nebraska Public Power District.
This would encompass several facilities that have closed or are approaching closure: the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, which ceased operations in December 2014; the James. A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in upstate New York, which is due to close no later than early 2017; and the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, which Entergy plans to shutter by June 2019 at the latest.
"This is a critical time for the industry, Entergy and its nuclear fleet. I’m proud to join the Entergy team," Bakken said in a Jan. 29 press release. "During my career, I’ve often admired the company. I am looking forward to leveraging my experiences, the strengths of the team, resources of the enterprise and support of the industry to help Entergy regain our footing as an industry front-runner.”
Bakken’s latest position in three decades in the energy business was as executive director for EDF Energy Nuclear New Build and project director for Hinkley Point C in London, the release says. His preceding position was as chief nuclear officer, Region 1, for British Energy.
INTERNATIONAL
Koncranes has unveiled a new vertical cask transporter for nuclear waste storage, which its hailing as the first NOG-1 compliant system.
In a Friday press release, the company said its new rubber-tired, single failure-proof vertical cask transporter (VCT) provides “a safer and more efficient option for dry cask storage.”
“The biggest advantage of the new Konecranes design, with patent-pending concepts, is that we use quick-connecting single failure proof crane hoisting machinery to reach down and pick up the cask and canister,” said Matt Nemet, regions sales manager for Konecranes Nuclear Equipment and Services, in the release. “Older machines require workers to rig heavy slings to pick it up, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive and can potentially increase radiation “dose” exposure.”
Nemet estimated that the crane-based equipment reduces loading time by as much as 50 percent, according to the release.
