Serbia lifts nuclear moratorium after 35 years

December 9, 2024, 9:52AMNuclear News

Serbia’s National Assembly has approved legislation that overturns the nation’s decades-old moratorium on nuclear power plants as the nation looks to reduce pollution.

Minister of mining and energy Dubravka Đedović Handanović posted on social media after the November 27 vote, “History has been written today. Many will inherit what has been done today!”

Wisconsin fusion startup receives help from the Green and Gold

December 9, 2024, 9:23AMNuclear News
The Realta Fusion and ARPA-E team at the WHAM facilities in 2023. (Photo: DOE/ARPA-E)

TitletownTech, a venture capital firm formed out of a partnership between Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers, has invested in Realta Fusion, a private fusion startup company that was spun out of an ARPA-E-funded fusion project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2022. Realta is developing modular, compact, magnetic mirror fusion energy generators as an economic, zero-carbon solution to power AI-driven infrastructure and other industrial applications. TitletownTech did not disclose the details of its investment.

Jeffrey King guides new nuclear program at Tennessee Tech

December 6, 2024, 3:10PMNuclear News

Jeffrey King

In August, the College of Engineering at Tennessee Technological University welcomed ANS member Jeffrey C. King as the founding director of its new nuclear engineering program. King, a leading force within the American Nuclear Society and a space enthusiast, is tasked with developing a new Department of Nuclear Engineering at Tennessee Tech after a more than 20-year absence of such a program at the university.

King comes to Tennessee Tech from the Colorado School of Mines, where he had been a professor of metallurgical and materials engineering for 15 years, leading the development of the nuclear science and engineering program and serving as director of the Nuclear Science and Engineering Research Center.

World Nuclear Energy Day grows in recognition

December 6, 2024, 12:16PMNuclear News

Since its inception in 2020, World Nuclear Energy Day has grown in awareness each year. The day is celebrated annually on December 2.

This year on December 2, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution for World Nuclear Energy Day, celebrating the peaceful development of nuclear energy technology and underscoring the vital role of nuclear power in strengthening the U.S. economy and supporting a reliable energy grid worldwide.

Michael Schlender joins L&A advisory board

December 6, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News

Schlender

Michael Schlender, former deputy director at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is joining Longenecker & Associates’ corporate advisory board, effective in January.

About Schlender: He has more than 30 years of experience in the U.S. national laboratory complex, including serving in senior leadership roles at PNNL and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

He is also the recipient of the secretary of energy’s Exceptional Service Award for his service to the Department of Energy, advancing excellence in operations across the national laboratory system.

Schlender holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biochemistry from Eastern Washington University, and a master’s degree in chemistry from Western Washington University.

Industry Update—December 2024

December 6, 2024, 7:01AMNuclear News

Here is a recap of industry happenings from the recent past:

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

Partnership formed for Idaho microreactors

Aalo Atomics has partnered with Idaho Falls Power to focus on the deployment of seven Aalo-1 microreactors that would provide a total of 75 MWe of power. The sodium-cooled microreactors—each with a 10-MWe capacity—are to be built at Aalo Atomics’ new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. The reactor’s safety system, incorporating uranium zirconium hydride fuel, is designed to automatically shut down the reactor should it overheat. Aalo Atomics, which is currently constructing an Aalo-0 nonnuclear test reactor in Austin, intends to build an Aalo-X experimental reactor at Idaho National Laboratory before shifting to the Aalo-1 commercial unit. The Aalo-1 is not expected to come on line before 2030.

Finland’s Onkalo repository licensing gets stuck again

December 5, 2024, 3:05PMRadwaste Solutions
The Onkalo geologic repository in Finland. (Photo: Posiva)

Finland’s regulatory authority, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), announced that it was further delaying issuing a statement on the safety case for the Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository until 2025, saying that Posiva’s license application material is not yet ready.

Meta seeks nuclear power for AI, data center support

December 5, 2024, 9:36AMNuclear News
Image: Meta

Technology giant Meta this week issued a request for proposals from nuclear developers to support its AI innovation and sustainability objectives.

The California-based company, parent of social media site Facebook, is targeting between one and four gigawatts of nuclear generation capacity in the United States.

Throwback Thursday: The legend of SCRAM

December 5, 2024, 6:34AMNuclear News

Ax man. Scram. Trip. Yes, this is Throwback Thursday, but no—we aren’t revisiting the slang of American countercultures from decades past. We are, however, pondering a term central to a very important day in nuclear history: December 2, 1942—the anniversary of controlled nuclear fission, first achieved with CP-1 at the University of Chicago.

ANS standard updated for determining meteorological information at nuclear facilities

December 4, 2024, 3:00PMANS News

Following approval in October from the American National Standards Institute, ANSI/ANS-3.11-2024, Determining Meteorological Information at Nuclear Facilities, was published in late November. This standard provides criteria for gathering, assembling, processing, storing, and disseminating meteorological information at commercial nuclear power plants, U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration nuclear facilities, and other national or international nuclear facilities.

Terrestrial Energy looks at EnergySolutions-owned sites for IMSR plants

December 4, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News

Advanced reactor developer Terrestrial Energy and Utah-based waste management company EnergySolutions announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the siting and deployment of Terrestrial Energy’s integral molten salt reactor plants at EnergySolutions-owned sites.

Nuclear Energy Agency provides update on recent activities

December 4, 2024, 9:31AMNuclear News
NEA director general William D. Magwood IV delivers opening remarks at the Safety Case Symposium 2024 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo: OECD NEA)

Analysts: Uranium prices down but should increase long term

December 4, 2024, 7:01AMANS Nuclear Cafe

New York City–based analyst firm Trading Economics has reported that uranium prices have fallen $13.20 per pound, or 14.51 percent, since the beginning of 2024, with the price on December 3 down to $77.80 per pound. A graph of prices for the year shows a jagged downward slide since a peak of about $107 per pound in early February. The all-time high for uranium prices was $148 per pound in May 2007, according to the firm.

Nuclear progress, but not much else, from COP29

December 3, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News
ANS’s COP29 Week 1 delegation were, from left, Gale Hauck, Shirly Rodriguez, Lisa Marshall, and Seth Grae, pictured here with WNA director general Sama Bilbao y León (center). (Photo: Seth Grae)

COP29 was good for nuclear energy, but not so good for anything else.

That was one of Seth Grae’s takeaways from this year’s Conference of the Parties—or, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)—held for two weeks in November in Baku, Azerbaijan. Grae, chief executive of Lightbridge Corporation and chair of the American Nuclear Society’s International Council, attended with four other ANS delegates: ANS President Lisa Marshall, Gale Hauck, Shirly Rodriguez, and Andrew Smith.

About Studsvik Scandpower

December 3, 2024, 9:30AMSponsored ContentStudsvik Scandpower

Studsvik Scandpower (SSP) is the leading global provider of vendor-independent, state-of-the-art nuclear fuel management software and world-class engineering services. SSP offers a full suite of software product offerings, training, and engineering services, to support operating utilities, fuel vendors, safety authorities, and research organizations around the world.

Canada lands on spent fuel repository site

December 3, 2024, 7:01AMRadwaste Solutions
An aerial picture of Ignace, Ontario. (Photo: NWMO)

While the United States was celebrating Thanksgiving Day, Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) announced that it has selected a site in northwestern Ontario for a deep geologic repository to hold the country’s spent nuclear fuel

STEM event empowers next generation of women leaders in science

December 2, 2024, 3:04PMANS Nuclear Cafe
The STEM Like a Girl event was held at the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center in Aiken, S.C. (All photos: DOE)

Nearly 60 eighth graders from schools across the central Savannah River area recently gathered at the Ruth Patrick Science Education Center in Aiken, S.C., for the Savannah River Site’s “STEM Like a Girl—Introduce a Girl to Engineering and IT” event. This initiative is designed to inspire the next generation of female engineers and STEM leaders.

DeepGeo to explore economics of SNF reprocessing with Copenhagen Atomics

December 2, 2024, 12:00PMRadwaste Solutions
DeepGeo’s Laura Salonga and Copenhagen Atomics’ Thomas Jam Pedersen at the signing of a collaboration agreement in New York. (Photo: DeepGeo)

DeepGeo, a Rhode Island–based company seeking to develop multinational spent nuclear fuel repositories, and Denmark-based thorium reactor developer Copenhagen Atomics have signed a collaboration agreement that will see the companies work together on the management of nuclear fuels and waste streams associated with a thorium breeder reactor.