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.

Idaho’s IWTU surpasses tank waste treatment goal

December 2, 2024, 7:02AMRadwaste Solutions
IWTU operators monitor radiological operations during the current waste treatment campaign at the Idaho National Laboratory Site facility. (Photo: DOE)

As of last week, crews with Department of Energy cleanup contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC) processed more than 142,000 gallons of radioactive sodium-bearing tank waste at Idaho’s Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) this year.

Drones fly in to inspect waste tanks at Savannah River Site

November 27, 2024, 3:01PMNuclear News
The Flyability Elios 3 model drone for the SRS tank inspection program. (Photo: SRS)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management will soon, for the first time, begin using drones to internally inspect radioactive liquid waste tanks at the department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Inspections were previously done using magnetic wall-crawling robots.

FST publishes special issue on fusion’s early history

November 27, 2024, 12:03PMNuclear NewsM. B. Chadwick
Fig. 1. Oppenheimer hosting a gathering in his Bathtub Row house in Los Alamos.

The July 2024 issue of Nuclear News focused on fusion. Editor-in-chief Rick Michal highlighted in his column (p. 4) Los Alamos National Laboratory’s open access special issue of the American Nuclear Society journal Fusion Science and Technology, titled The Early History of Fusion. This article provides a brief summary of the issue—and we encourage readers to explore all of the full papers.a

World Nuclear Energy Day is coming next week

November 27, 2024, 9:36AMANS Nuclear Cafe

The annual day of celebrating nuclear energy is right around the corner. On December 2, World Nuclear Energy Day will be recognized internationally through workshops, panel discussions, dinner meetings, and special performances focused on educational outreach, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems with nuclear energy.

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U.S. spent fuel liability jumps to $44.5 billion

November 27, 2024, 7:01AMRadwaste Solutions

The Department of Energy’s estimated overall liability for failing to dispose of the country’s commercial spent nuclear fuel jumped as much as 10 percent this year, from a range of $34.1 billion to $41 billion in 2023 to a range of $37.6 billion to $44.5 billion in 2024, according to a financial audit of the DOE’s Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF) for fiscal year 2024.

Argonne investigates industrial SMR applications for postwar Ukraine

November 26, 2024, 3:02PMNuclear News
Argonne director Paul Kearns, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security Bonnie Jenkins, EPRI chief nuclear strategy officer Neil Wilmshurst, and DOE acting assistant secretary for nuclear energy Michael Goff spoke at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo: PNNL/Nazar Kholod)

Argonne National Laboratory will play a leading role in planning and rebuilding a nuclear-generated clean energy infrastructure for postwar Ukraine as part of the lab’s focus on developing small modular reactor applications to help countries meet energy security goals. The latest plans, described in a November 19 article, were announced on November 16 at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

ANS event focuses on 3DEXPERIENCE platform, powered by virtual twin technology

November 26, 2024, 12:02PMNuclear News

The American Nuclear Society will be presenting the online Supplier Showcase “5 Critical Approaches to Accelerate Advanced Nuclear Enterprise Success with Digital Transformation” on Thursday, December 5, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (EST). The session will be hosted by Dassault Systèmes.

Registration for the program, which is open to all, is required.

TRU waste storage shrinks at Savannah River Site

November 26, 2024, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
TRU drum storage in the Solid Waste Management Facility in 1998 before WIPP opened (left) and in 2024 (right). (Photo: DOE)

The Solid Waste Management Facility (SWMF) at the Savannah River Site saw a large reduction of transuranic (TRU) waste in fiscal year 2024, achieving the highest volume of TRU waste shipped out of state by the facility in the past 10 years, according to the Department of Energy.

TRU waste typically consists of protective clothing, tools, rags, equipment, and miscellaneous items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other heavy elements.

How can the U.S. make nuclear waste a nonissue?

November 26, 2024, 7:01AMNuclear News

Katrina McMurrian

As the nation confronts increasing demand for clean, baseload energy, nuclear power today receives substantial bipartisan support, but nuclear waste remains a trusty arrow in the quiver of opponents. The U.S. should work to make nuclear waste a nonissue not only to support opportunities for nuclear power expansion but primarily to meet long--standing obligations. Federal government inaction to remove and dispose of commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) continues to negatively impact host communities in 36 states; electric customers in more than 40 states who paid billions of dollars into the Nuclear Waste Fund; and all U.S. taxpayers, who pay about $2 million per day for the government’s partial breach.