Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen Burns last week toured DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 nuclear generating station and said he was impressed with the upgrades made to the plant in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Fermi 2, which went into service in 1985, is equipped with the same type of General Electric Mark 1 reactor as the Fukushima plant, but it is 14 years younger than the Japanese reactor.

Burns and U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) toured the plant during a refueling outage. “The plant condition looks good,” Burns said. He was briefed mostly on upgrades to the plant’s ventilation system, a weak point in the Fukushima design.

More: Toledo Blade

NRC says Chatham House Report ‘Based on … Hearsay’

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week blasted a report by a British think tank asserting that U.S. nuclear power plants are at risk from cyberattacks. London-based Chatham House issued the report recently, saying the “risk of serious cyberattack on civil nuclear infrastructure is growing” because they rely on commercial “off-the-shelf” software.

NRC said the Chatham House report “is based on generalizations and hearsay.” It argued that “the NRC has been very forward-leaning on cyber security issues, and as a result the nuclear power industry is probably better protected than any other sector of our critical infrastructure.”

The Chatham House report did acknowledge that U.S. nuclear plant operators have taken steps to make them more secure from hacking but said more needs to be done.

More: Morning Consult

Obama Administration Sends $15M to Bolster Coal State Economies

The Obama administration awarded $15 million in grants to fund workforce projects in coal-producing regions whose economies have suffered because of stricter federal environmental regulations.

The coal industry has shrunk and faces more pressure in the face of federal emissions regulations, low natural gas prices and the growth of renewable energy. The federal grants will fund retraining programs under Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization initiatives.

“These grants will help each community create new jobs, diversify its economic portfolio and better compete in the 21st century,” Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said.

More: Reuters

PennEast Pipeline Intervenor Numbers Growing, FERC Says

The number of parties seeking to be heard concerning the PennEast Pipeline, which is planned to run from northeast Pennsylvania to New Jersey, is growing, according to FERC officials. The deadline for comments or to file for intervenor status is Oct. 29, a FERC spokeswoman said.

While FERC takes public comments into consideration, intervenors have legal status. There are 366 separate intervenor applications filed so far.

PennEast’s developers aren’t daunted by the number, however. A spokeswoman said there is a lot of community support for the proposed $1 billion, 114-mile natural gas pipeline. “There might be some people who are opposed to natural gas development, but there are a far greater number of people who want to receive clean, locally produced natural gas at reduced rates,” PennEast spokeswoman Patricia Kornick said. “They just aren’t on the docket.”

More: Standard Speaker

Feds Take Two Steps to Slow Arctic Drilling

The Interior Department has announced it will suspend two upcoming auctions for offshore Arctic drilling rights, while rejecting the requests of two companies to explore for oil under their existing leases. The moves represent two more steps taken by the Obama administration to put the brakes on energy exploration in the region.

The department said it would cancel the previously scheduled auctions in 2016 and 2017 in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, citing low industry interest and plunging oil prices. It also denied requests to extend leases by Shell and Statoil for parcels in the same areas, mirroring earlier actions taken against leases held by ConocoPhillips.

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said the government was taking the action in response to Shell’s recent announcement that it was suspending exploration efforts in the Arctic, citing market conditions. “In light of Shell’s announcement, the amount of acreage already under lease and current market conditions, it does not make sense to prepare for lease sales in the Arctic in the next year and a half,” she said.

More: FuelFix

Application for Pennsylvania Hydro Project Submitted to FERC

A Pennsylvania developer has submitted an application to FERC for a preliminary permit for a hydropower facility to be built at the Blue Marsh Dam on a Delaware River tributary.

Developer Adam R. Rousselle II of New Hope wants to develop a hydropower project at an existing dam built in 1979 to control flooding of Tulpehocken Creek. The Delaware River Basin Commission had a preliminary permit to study such a facility at the same location, but that permit expired four years ago.

Rousselle is seeking a permit for a 2,500-kW generator. If the preliminary permit is approved, he will have three years to develop more studies on the project and submit a more detailed plan to FERC. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer would also be involved in the approval process.

More: Reading Eagle (subscription required)