Constellation has submitted an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requesting three amendments to its renewed facility license to support the potential restart of Crane nuclear power plant (formerly Three Mile Island-1).

Kairos Power has completed shielded radiation performance testing on a full-scale precast concrete structure at the company’s Reactor Demonstration Campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn., involving the use of an iridium-192 source to measure the movement of radiation through the concrete’s walls, joints, and seams. Kairos expects the results to contribute to schedule and cost estimates for its planned commercial power plants.

Last year, the state of Texas, in partnership with several arms of the federal government, mounted a major response to the New World screwworm (NWS)—a parasitic fly spreading through Mexico.

This year, as the NWS has continued its northward advance toward the U.S. border, efforts to ramp up eradication efforts have continued and intensified on multiple fronts.

A study published in Nature Communications found a correlation between proximity to nuclear power plants and rates of cancer mortality.

The paper, “National Analysis of Cancer Mortality and Proximity to Nuclear Power Plants in the United States,” said that the study could not establish causation but also said that the researchers’ calculations support evidence of 115,586 “cancer deaths attributable to nuclear power plants proximity.”

Amir Bahadori, nuclear engineering program director at Kansas State University, cautioned that this study should not be read as proof that nuclear power plants cause cancer deaths.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is recommending proposed changes for the Reactor Oversight Process (ROP) baseline inspection program that could reduce the number of hours spent annually on direct inspections at U.S. nuclear power plants by 38 percent.

In addition to the proposed ROP changes, NRC staff published recommendations for the baseline security program that would reduce the number of direct inspection hours necessary for this program by about 50 percent compared to current levels. This includes the Force-on-Force (FOF) inspection program.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday announced it was discontinuing three rulemaking activities intended to enhance the security of a deep geologic repository and the protection of spent nuclear fuel.

The NRC said that, among other reasons, it has decided not to proceed with the previously proposed rules due to a change in agency priorities resulting from President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

It has been an unusually busy week in the world of West Coast nuclear legislative momentum. In California, a bill is aiming to effectively repeal the state’s nuclear moratorium, while in Oregon, new legislation would have the state create a nuclear feasibility study.

Now, in Washington state, legislators are introducing various measures to move new nuclear prospects forward. One motion requests that Gov. Bob Ferguson respond to the Department of Energy’s request for information regarding states hosting Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses.

The Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is leading research supported by two Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) grants aimed at developing accelerator technology to enable nuclear waste recycling, decreasing the half-life of spent nuclear fuel.

Both grants, totaling $8.17 million in combined funding, were awarded through the Nuclear Energy Waste Transmutation Optimized Now (NEWTON) program, which aims to enable the transmutation of nuclear fuels by funding novel technologies for improving the performance of particle generation systems.

ANSTO’s Gordon Thorogood (left) and Robert Raposio examine the cylindrical, porous, reusable Mo-99 targets. (Photo: ANSTO)

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) announced that it has made progress on a more cost-effective way to produce the medical radioisotope molybdenum-99, with less enrichment of uranium-235 and less waste produced.

Historical photo of Trojan nuclear power plant, ca. 1974. (Photo: DOE)

As concerns over growing energy needs persist, yet another state is reconsidering nuclear power. A piece of legislation is currently progressing through Oregon’s legislature that would direct the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) to conduct a study to assess the feasibility of deploying new power reactors in the state.

Idaho National Laboratory has announced that the National Reactor Innovation Center’s Molten Salt Thermophysical Examination Capability (MSTEC) facility will begin operations in March 2026.

Providing testing capabilities for molten salts, including fuel salts, MSTEC extends INL’s abilities to advance molten salt reactor technology and provide data needed for safe reactor deployment.

Proposed legislation in California could exempt certain reactor designs from the state’s long-standing moratorium on new nuclear generation, effectively ending the moratorium.

California Assembly Member Lisa Calderon (D., 56th Dist.) filed A.B. 2647 with the California State Assembly last week.

If the bill progresses and becomes state law, it could pave the way to increasing the number of nuclear reactors in the state in the future. Currently, Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant houses the only operational commercial nuclear reactors in California.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management recently announced that, with the help of contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company, it has completed the safe demolition of the 175-foot-tall exhaust stack of the K West reactor at the Hanford Site in Washington state.

Canada’s first in situ recovery (ISR) uranium mining operation has been granted final regulatory approval. Toronto-based Denison Mines Corp. announced last week that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has approved the environmental assessment and issued the license to construct a mine and mill for the company’s Wheeler River uranium project, located in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca basin. This project, which includes the Phoenix uranium deposit, previously received the necessary provincial approvals.

For the past several years, the University of North Carolina–Wilmington has hosted volunteer instructors from Wilmington-­based GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy who teach engineering courses and engage with students. This guest instructor program has grown under the guidance of Amy Craig Reamer, associate professor of practice and director of engineering in the UNCW College of Science and Engineering’s Department of Computer Science. Under her oversight, an informal but strong public-­private partnership has been established to the benefit of UNCW students and the wider Wilmington community.

A new strategic partnership is providing Kairos Power with the expertise and specialized facilities of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help accelerate the development of the California-based company’s Hermes. This partnership is the fourth between ORNL and Kairos Power since 2020, and it is focused in part on the manufacture and management of TRISO fuel pebbles for the fluoride salt–cooled, high-temperature demonstration reactor now under construction in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Idaho National Laboratory and computer chip maker Nvidia have announced a public-private partnership to advance nuclear energy deployment through artificial intelligence. According to INL, the collaboration aims to cut reactor development times in half and reduce operational costs by 50 percent by using AI to design, license, manufacture, construct, and operate reactors with human-in-the-loop workflows.

Gov. Tony Evers delivering his 2026 State of the State address. (Photo: Tony Evers/YouTube @Governor Tony Evers)

During his State of the State address on February 17, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers announced the launch of a new nuclear siting study that will be undertaken by a partnership between the Public Service Commission (PSC) of Wisconsin and the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The U.S. nuclear industry took a further step to solidify its influence in Central Europe on February 16, when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán signed the U.S.-Hungary Civil Nuclear Intergovernmental Agreement, potentially setting the stage for decades of cooperation in civilian nuclear energy between the two countries. This new agreement comes one month after the signing of a similar agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the government of Slovakia.

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) will hear arguments on February 26 on challenges to a construction permit application from Long Mott Energy (LME) for a multiunit reactor facility at Dow Chemical Company’s Seadrift site in Calhoun, Texas. LME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow.