Former NRC commissioners lend support to efforts to eliminate mandatory hearings

June 6, 2025, 9:29AMNuclear News

A group of nine former nuclear regulatory commissioners sent a letter Wednesday to the current Nuclear Regulatory Commission members lending support to efforts to get rid of mandatory hearings in the licensing process, which should speed up the process by three to six months and save millions of dollars.

Trio of GAIN vouchers for sensors, materials, and fuels testing

June 6, 2025, 7:01AMNuclear News

The Department of Energy announced on June 5 that three companies—all of which are new to the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) voucher program—will receive vouchers to support their research on advanced fuels, materials, and sensors. The second round fiscal year 2025 vouchers will let the companies access specialized research facilities and expertise in the DOE’s national laboratory complex.

NuScale Energy Exploration Center opens at George Mason University

June 5, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
The SMR control room simulator in NuScale’s newest E2 Center began operation at George Mason University. (Photo: NuScale /George Mason University)

NuScale Power Corporation has opened another Energy Exploration (E2) Center—this one at George Mason University in Arlington, Va. Just last month, a NuScale E2 Center opened at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, S.C. The newest E2 at George Mason is the company’s 11th center.

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NRC begins special inspection at Constellation’s Quad Cities plant

June 4, 2025, 3:11PMNuclear News
The Quad Cities nuclear power plant. (Photo: Constellation)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is conducting a special inspection at Constellation’s Quad Cities nuclear plant to review two events caused by battery issues. Neither event had any impact on public health or plant workers.

Argonne creates new methodology for digital twins

June 4, 2025, 12:02PMNuclear News

Hu

Argonne National Laboratory has added a new twist to digital twin technology for research into nuclear energy. According to Rui Hu, a principal nuclear engineer at Argonne, “Our digital twin technology introduces a significant step toward understanding and managing advanced nuclear reactors, enabling us to predict and respond to changes with the required speed and accuracy.”

The research of Hu and his colleagues, “Development of Whole System Digital Twins for Advanced Reactors: Leveraging Graph Neural Networks and SAM Simulations,” was published in the American Nuclear Society journal Nuclear Technology.

Virtual representation: A digital twin technology is an accurate virtual representation of a complex system. It is updated with real-time data from sensors applied to the physical system, such as a nuclear reactor.

Zaporizhzhia ‘extremely fragile’ relying on single off-site power line, IAEA warns

June 3, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. (Photo: Energoatom)

Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has just one remaining power line for essential nuclear safety and security functions, compared with its original 10 functional lines before the military conflict with Russia, warned Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

ANS announces 2025 Presidential Citations

June 2, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News

One of the privileges of being president of the American Nuclear Society is awarding Presidential Citations to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort in some manner for the benefit of ANS or the nuclear community at large. Citations are conferred twice each year, at the Annual and Winter Meetings.

ANS President Lisa Marshall has named this season’s recipients, who will receive recognition at the upcoming Annual Conference in Chicago during the Special Session on Tuesday, June 17.

Oklo signs MOU to partner with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power

June 2, 2025, 12:19PMNuclear News

Oklo cofounder and CEO Jacob DeWitte and KHNP CEO Joo-ho Whang following the virtual signing of an MOU. (Source: Oklo)

Oklo announced last week that it hopes to expand development and global deployment of its advanced nuclear technology through a new partnership with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

The memorandum of understanding includes plans for the companies to advance standard design development and global deployment of Oklo’s planned Aurora Powerhouse, a microreactor that would generate 15 MW and be scalable to 50 MWe. Oklo said each unit can operate for 10 years or longer before refueling.

Oklo and KHNP plan to cooperate on early-stage project development, including manufacturability assessments and planning of major equipment, supply chain development for balance-of-plant systems, and constructability assessments and planning.

NRC approves NuScale uprated SMR design

June 2, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News

NuScale earned approval for its “larger” US460 77-MWe small modular reactor plant design, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced last week.

The standard design approval (SDA) is a determination by NRC staff that a reactor design meets the agency’s applicable design requirements, and companies can reference it when applying for a license to build and operate the reactor—but it does not ensure license approval from the commission.

NRC issues Palisades’ final environmental assessment of no significant findings

May 30, 2025, 12:01PMNuclear News

The Palisades nulear power plant received a final “clean bill” of environmental assessment impact from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission today.

The findings of the NRC staff's EA showed no significant environmental impact for the Covert, Mich., plant, which plans to restart after operations were halted three years ago this month due to economic hardships in the energy market.

Industry Update—June 2025

May 30, 2025, 9:28AMNuclear News

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

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

DOD selects companies for its installations microreactor program

The Department of Defense has selected eight technology companies as being eligible to seek funding for developing microreactor technologies as part of the DOD’s Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program. That program seeks to “design, license, build, and operate one or more microreactor nuclear power plants on military installations . . . to support global operations across land, air, sea, space, and cyberspace.” The selected companies are Antares Nuclear, BWXT Advanced Technologies, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, Kairos Power, Oklo, Radiant Industries, Westinghouse Government Services, and X-energy. Specific objectives of the DOD program are to “field a decentralized scalable microreactor system capable of producing enough electrical power to meet 100 percent of all critical loads” and to “utilize the civil regulatory pathways of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stimulate commercial nuclear microreactor technology development and the associated supply chains in the U.S.”

Glovebox fabrication for NNSA work underway at Savannah River Site

May 29, 2025, 9:33AMNuclear News
Gloveboxes being created at the Savannah River Site. (Photo: DOE)).

The fabrication of gloveboxes is underway for the plutonium pit production mission at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C.

“Gloveboxes will be a key component of pit production operations within the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility [SRPPF],” said Dennis Carr, president and CEO of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the management and operating contractor for the site. “The early procurement and fabrication of these gloveboxes is critical to delivering completion of this project for the National Nuclear Security Administration by the early 2030s.”

Canada clears Darlington to produce Lu-177 and Y-90

May 28, 2025, 3:01PMNuclear News
Darlington nuclear power plant in Clarington, Ontario. (Photo: OPG)

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has amended Ontario Power Generation’s power reactor operating license for Darlington nuclear power plant to authorize the production of the medical radioisotopes lutetium-177 and yttrium-90.

Fusion energy surges in Great Lakes region

May 28, 2025, 9:32AMNuclear News

The new Great Lakes Fusion Energy Alliance wants to build a fusion energy engineering consortium in the Great Lakes region to expand the Midwestern momentum behind fusion energy development and commercialization. The ultimate goal is to build fusion energy power plants in the region, but first the nascent organization is looking to invite other stakeholders into its alliance of universities, fusion companies, and supply chain and government partners. Together, they plan to “accelerate commercialization, expand the workforce, grow the supply chain, and make fusion more economically viable and sustainable as a global center of excellence.”

NC State, SRNS partner to attract young talent

May 27, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News
North Carolina State students with interest in nuclear and criticality safety engineering attend a promotional event. (Photo: SRNS)

North Carolina State University and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS) have joined forces to address the ongoing need for specialists in nuclear and criticality safety engineering (N&CSE) at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C.