DOE issues broad nuclear energy strategyNuclear NewsPower & OperationsApril 30, 2020, 3:31PM|Nuclear News StaffBrouilletteThe long-awaited report from the Trump administration’s Nuclear Fuel Working Group promises immediate support for the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, but it doesn’t stop there. “This is a road map for what we think needs to be done to not only revitalize, but reestablish American leadership for this entire industry,” said Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette as he introduced the report during a press call on April 23.The scope: The report, “Restoring America’s Competitive Nuclear Energy Advantage,” amounts to a budget justification for federal investments in nuclear, some already announced or under way, and others that, for now, are only recommendations for future policy decisions. National security interests are identified as the driving motivation for expanding nuclear generation, minimizing commercial fleet fiscal vulnerabilities, ensuring that defense needs for uranium are met, and leveling the playing field against state-owned enterprises—not only in uranium and fuel services, but in reactor technology.“The strategy is purposely comprehensive, and it outlines not only the executive branch activities, but also some recommendations for Congress, and some very specific regulatory actions that we think are important,” Brouillette said. “It recommends taking immediate and bold actions to strengthen the uranium mining and conversion industries and restore the viability of the entire front end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The strategy also ensures that there will be a healthy and growing nuclear energy sector to which uranium miners, fuel cycle providers, and reactor vendors can sell their products and services.”How did we get here? To trace the development of the working group, we need to go back to July 2018, when two U.S. uranium mining companies petitioned the Department of Commerce (DOC) for support for the domestic uranium mining industry, which was floundering in the face of low uranium prices and stiff competition from overseas.The DOC sent a report to President Donald Trump in May 2019 recommending a number of actions. In July 2019, Trump rejected the DOC’s recommendations and instead set up the Nuclear Fuel Working Group, giving it 90 days to issue a report. Trump “recognized rightfully at the time that this issue is much, much larger than simply the mining of the uranium out in the western part of the country,” Brouillette said.The working group’s mandate was not to address just uranium mining, but “the entire nuclear fuel supply chain.” Its scope broadened even more once work began. The working group’s mission was a close fit to a review of nuclear energy’s competitiveness by the National Economic Council, the National Security Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and other federal agencies that Trump ordered in 2017. Both efforts contributed to the conclusions in the new report, which states, “The success of domestic uranium mines [is] intrinsically tied to the downstream success of U.S. commercial exports.”The specificsImmediate action for U producers:The first sign of definitive action from the working group was a new line item in the administration’s fiscal year 2021 budget request—a U.S. uranium reserve, funded at $150 million (with the same amount proposed annually for 10 years). That amount was judged to be sufficient to restart two U.S. uranium mines and bring the United States’ only conversion plant, Honeywell’s Metropolis Works, in Illinois, out of mothballs by 2022, according to senior DOE staff. A request for information issued by the Department of Energy on February 24 sought input on key challenges in reestablishing U.S. uranium mining and conversion operations, and the information gathered is expected to help the DOE implement the uranium reserve.“There is no mandate that the U.S. civilian fleet buy U.S. uranium,” Brouillette said. However, a revitalized U.S. uranium mining and conversion industry would give the civilian nuclear fleet options for sourcing their uranium.Immediate actions to support uranium mining and conversion for the front end of the fuel cycle could potentially be followed by support around 2025 for uranium enrichment using U.S.-origin technology.Strengthen the fuel cycle and U.S. nuclear generators: The DOE’s bartering of surplus uranium, decried for years by U.S. uranium miners, will be stopped, and obstacles to domestic uranium extraction may be reduced through regulatory changes to streamline the permitting of mines and access to federal lands. The working group supports extending the DOC’s Russian Suspension Agreement to protect against uranium dumping in the U.S. market and prohibiting the potential importing of fuel fabricated in Russia or China for U.S. reactors.The report states that the working group recognizes the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) efforts to “accurately price state-publicized capacity resources in its recently announced Minimum Offer Price Rule”(MOPR), a characterization that may come as a surprise to the states and nuclear operators that strongly support the zero-emissions credit programs targeted by the MOPR. “Our view is that these subsidies have the effect of distorting the marketplace, especially those marketplaces that have auctions,” Brouillette said. “We support what the FERC is trying to do.”Global nuclear leadership: “The U.S. government will move into markets currently dominated by Russian and Chinese state-owned enterprises and recover our position as the world leader in exporting best-in-class nuclear energy technology, and with it, strong nonproliferation standards,” the report states. Research, development, and demonstration programs that are already planned or under way were singled out for support, including R&D in accident tolerant fuels and high-assay low-enrichment uranium production using U.S.-origin technology. Following the three-year, $115-million HALEU enrichment demo at Centrus’s American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, which is scheduled for completion in 2022, the technology “can be adopted by the private sector for commercialization and deployment after the three-year period, should the demonstration be successful and demand materialize.”Not just fuel products and services, but reactor technology R&D is included as well. The report calls out the National Reactor Innovation Center and the Versatile Test Reactor, both at Idaho National Laboratory, which is also targeted for multiple near-term advanced reactor demonstrations of advanced reactors, including microreactors.Empower U.S. export competitiveness: According to the report, the DOC estimates the value of the global civil nuclear market at $500 billion-$740 billion over the next 10 years. Steps identified as essential to increasing U.S. export competitiveness include establishing a nuclear industrial base analogous to the U.S. defense industrial base; funding R&D to produce fuel in the United States for non-U.S. reactor designs; increasing the efficiency of the export process and 123 agreements for exports of technologies, materials, and fuel; supporting the licensing of U.S. designs overseas; and developing the financial backing that will help U.S. vendors compete against complete bid packages by state-owned nuclear enterprises by fixing legacy policies that hamper nuclear exports. The DOE will designate a senior administration position to lead nuclear export coordination and implementation.The DOE has made the full report available online.Tags:doenational securitynuclear energynuclear fuel working grouptrumpuraniumShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Fukiushima Daiichi: 10 years onThe Fukushima Daiichi site before the accident. All images are provided courtesy of TEPCO unless noted otherwise. It was a rather normal day back on March 11, 2011, at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant before 2:45 p.m. That was the time when the Great Tohoku Earthquake struck, followed by a massive tsunami that caused three reactor meltdowns and forever changed the nuclear power industry in Japan and worldwide. Now, 10 years later, much has been learned and done to improve nuclear safety, and despite many challenges, significant progress is being made to decontaminate and defuel the extensively damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactor site. This is a summary of what happened, progress to date, current situation, and the outlook for the future there.Go to Article
Search for new Hanford tank waste contractor beginsWorkers retrieve waste from a single-shell tank at the Hanford Site earlier this year. Photo: DOEThe Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) has issued a draft request for proposals for the new Integrated Tank Disposition Contract at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. The 10-year, $26.5 billion contract will replace the Tank Operations Contract currently held by Washington River Protection Solutions, and the scope will be expanded to include the operation of the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) after radiological, or “hot,” commissioning of the plant is completed.The DOE had awarded a tank closure contract to a team led by BWX Technologies in May of last year, but later rescinded that decision after protests were raised by the two losing contract bidders.About 56 million gallons of radioactive waste is contained in Hanford’s 177 aging underground tanks. The WTP, which is still under construction, will vitrify the waste after it has been separated into low- and high-activity waste streams.Go to Article
Manchin voices strong support for nuclear energyManchinSpeaking at a U.S. Senate committee meeting this week, Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.V.) said that continuing support for nuclear energy would be essential in meeting the country’s goals of reducing the emissions that fuel climate change, according to the Politico Pro newsletter.Details: Manchin, who heads the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was highly critical of anyone suggesting that climate change can be addressed without nuclear energy being in the mix.Go to Article
Researchers report fastest purification of astatine-211 needed for targeted cancer therapyAstatine-211 recovery from bismuth metal using a chromatography system. Unlike bismuth, astatine-211 forms chemical bonds with ketones.In a recent study, Texas A&M University researchers have described a new process to purify astatine-211, a promising radioactive isotope for targeted cancer treatment. Unlike other elaborate purification methods, their technique can extract astatine-211 from bismuth in minutes rather than hours, which can greatly reduce the time between production and delivery to the patient.“Astatine-211 is currently under evaluation as a cancer therapeutic in clinical trials. But the problem is that the supply chain for this element is very limited because only a few places worldwide can make it,” said Jonathan Burns, research scientist in the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Nuclear Engineering and Science Center. “Texas A&M University is one of a handful of places in the world that can make astatine-211, and we have delineated a rapid astatine-211 separation process that increases the usable quantity of this isotope for research and therapeutic purposes.”The researchers added that this separation method will bring Texas A&M one step closer to being able to provide astatine-211 for distribution through the Department of Energy’s Isotope Program’s National Isotope Development Center as part of the University Isotope Network.Details on the chemical reaction to purify astatine-211 are in the journal Separation and Purification Technology.Go to Article
Demolition of former radioisotope lab underway at ORNLA view of the demolition of a hot cell inside a protective cover at the former radioisotope development lab at ORNL. Photo: DOEThe Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and contractor UCOR have begun removing the two remaining structures at the former radioisotope development laboratory at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee.“This project launches our next phase of major demolition and cleanup at ORNL,” said Nathan Felosi, ORNL’s portfolio federal project director for OREM. “Our work is eliminating contaminated structures, like this one, that are on DOE’s list of high-risk facilities and clearing space for future research missions.”The project is scheduled to be completed this spring, OREM reported on February 23.Go to Article
DOE steps up plutonium production for future space explorationThis high-resolution still image is from a video taken by several cameras as NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars on February 18. Credits: NASA/JPL-CaltechNASA’s Perseverance rover, which successfully landed on Mars on February 18, is powered in part by the first plutonium produced at Department of Energy laboratories in more than 30 years. The radioactive decay of Pu-238 provides heat to radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) like the one onboard Perseverance and would also be used by the Dynamic Radioisotope Power System, currently under development, which is expected to provide three times the power of RTGs.Idaho National Laboratory is scaling up the production of Pu-238 to help meet NASA’s production goal of 1.5 kg per year by 2026, the DOE announced on February 17.Go to Article
EPA awards $220 million in uranium mine cleanup contractsThe Environmental Protection Agency has awarded three contracts for cleanup efforts at more than 50 abandoned uranium mine sites in and around the Navajo Nation in the southwestern United States. The Navaho Area Abandoned Mine Remedial Construction and Services Contracts, worth up to $220 million over the next five years, were awarded to the Red Rock Remediation Joint Venture, Environmental Quality Management, and Arrowhead Contracting, the agency announced on February 11.According to the EPA, the cleanup work is slated to begin later this year, following the completion of assessments in coordination with the Navajo Nation EPA, the tribe’s environmental agency. The sites are in New Mexico’s Grants Mining District and 10 Navajo Nation chapters. The companies selected have experience working on hazardous waste sites across the country, including cleaning up other abandoned mine sites in the Southwest, the EPA said.Go to Article
NASA’s radioisotope-powered science will persevere on MarsMembers of the Perseverance rover team in Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory react after receiving confirmation of a successful landing. Photo: NASA/Bill IngallsNASA mission control and space science fans around the world celebrated the safe landing of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover on February 18 after a journey of 203 days and 293 million miles. Landing on Mars is difficult—only about 50 percent of all previous Mars landing attempts have succeeded—and a successful landing for Perseverance, the fifth rover that NASA has sent to Mars, was not assured. Confirmation of the successful touchdown was announced at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., at 3:55 p.m. EST.“This landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally—when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks,” said acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk. “The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation’s spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration. The mission itself personifies the human ideal of persevering toward the future and will help us prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.”Only radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) can provide the long-lasting, compact power source that Perseverance needs to carry out its long-term exploratory mission. Perseverance carries an RTG powered by the radioactive decay of plutonium-238 that was supplied by the Department of Energy. ANS president Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar and CEO and executive director Craig Piercy congratulated NASA after the successful landing, acknowledging the critical contributions of the DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.Go to Article
Gates highlights nuclear’s role in fighting climate changeGatesBill Gates is making the media rounds to promote his new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need, which was released on Tuesday. Along the way, he’s been touting nuclear energy as part of his master plan for battling climate change.60 Minutes: Gates kicked off the week with an appearance on 60 Minutes on Sunday. During the nearly 15-minute segment with correspondent Anderson Cooper, Gates discussed TerraPower, the company he founded in 2006 that is dedicated to nuclear innovation. “Nuclear power can be done in a way that none of those failures of the past would recur, because just the physics of how it's built,” Gates said, referring to TerraPower’s Natrium reactor. “I admit, convincing people of that will be almost as hard as actually building it. But since it may be necessary to avoid climate change, we shouldn't give up.”Go to Article
ANS touts benefits of nuclear energy in letter to FERCThe American Nuclear Society recommended that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) consider recognizing the reliability and resiliency benefits that carbon-free nuclear electricity generation provides to the bulk power system. ANS President Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar and Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy submitted these comments in a letter during a FERC meeting on Thursday morning.Go to Article