Under review: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced today it has begun a special inspection at Entergy’s River Bend nuclear power plant in St. Francisville to review circumstances surrounding the failure during testing of equipment needed to provide ventilation and cooling to plant areas with safety-related equipment. During periodic testing on March 9, equipment that provides ventilation and cooling to plant areas with safety-related equipment failed to start, NRC says. A similar failure occurred during testing on Feb. 23. The NRC says two inspectors will spend about a week on site evaluating the root cause analysis, maintenance of some plant systems and adequacy of corrective actions. An inspection report documenting the team’s findings will be publicly available within 45 days of the end of the inspection.
Presidential prescription: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise has a solution for the GOP’s presidential election woes: double-down on conservatism. Speaking to Politico in a wide-ranging interview, the Louisiana Republican says he hopes his party avoids nominating a moderate in 2016. Scalise says that would be a mistake, adding he wants to avoid picking a standard bearer who isn’t a true conservative. “People are like, ‘Oh, should it be a moderate? Somebody who can get elected?’” Scalise says. “You know, I’d argue we’ve had moderates nominated the last few times and they haven’t won. Show me the last time a conservative has lost the presidency. I think if we have a strong conservative with a proven record, we’ll win the White House.” Read the full story.
The fine fight: BP says fines above $2.3 billion for the Deepwater Horizon disaster would drain its U.S. oil business of available cash this year—even if U.S. crude returned to $100 a barrel—threatening its solvency and spending in the Gulf of Mexico. As FuelFix.com reports, that’s less than a fifth of the environmental penalties U.S. prosecutors want BP to pay for the oil spill that fouled the Gulf five years ago. BP’s assessment of the U.S. unit’s financial state emerged in court papers Friday as the British oil giant, the U.S. government and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. expanded on arguments they made in January and early February during the third and final phase of the New Orleans civil trial over the spill. Read the full story.
