On day 10 of the government shutdown, the National Nuclear Security Administration has yet to furlough workers, but a spokesperson said that could change if members of Congress don’t agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.

Should that be the case, the NNSA will resort to keeping only essential unpaid workers at some point if the government shutdown continues, an agency spokesperson told Nuclear Newswire.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey wants to accelerate the state’s leadership in both fission and fusion, and earlier this month asked the University of Massachusetts–Lowell to develop road maps to support research, manufacturing, and deployment of advanced nuclear and fusion energy in the state to “affordably, reliably, and sustainably” meet growing electricity demand in New England.

The world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, the NS Savannah, will have a public site visit in Baltimore, Md., on Saturday, November 15.

To register for the event and find up-to-date details on the event’s address, time, and more, click here.

Russia’s lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, approved a measure to withdraw from a 25-year-old agreement with the United States to cut back on the leftover plutonium from Cold War–era nuclear weapons.

The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a Supplier Showcase webinar, “License Renewal: Smarter, Faster, Better,” featuring two industry experts from Excel Services Corporation, a regulatory and consulting services firm, and GSE Solutions, a nuclear engineering and software company, who both shared a variety of insights into how to go through the license renewal process efficiently.

International Atomic Energy Agency researchers have helped scientists on the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius to develop a variety of cauliflower that is resistant to black rot disease. The cauliflower was developed through innovative radiation-induced plant-breeding techniques employed by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture.

Hoffman

Nuclear chemist Darleane D. Hoffman, who was renowned for her research on transuranium elements that advanced the understanding of nuclear fission, died on September 4 at her home in Menlo Park, Calif. She was 98.

Iowa origins: Hoffman was born on November 8, 1926, in Terril, Ia. She attended Iowa State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1948 and a doctorate in physical (or nuclear) chemistry in 1951. She then began working as a chemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Los Alamos research: In 1953, Hoffman began a research position at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she conducted pioneering work on spontaneous fission. She served as the lab’s first female division leader in charge of the Chemistry and Nuclear Chemistry Division.

During a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing today, Ho Nieh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as a commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was urged to maintain the agency’s independence regardless of political pressure from the Trump administration.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration issued requests for proposals last month, seeking plans from companies to build AI data centers at the Oak Ridge Reservation, the Savannah River Site, and Idaho National Laboratory.

Nieh

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold a nomination hearing Wednesday for Ho Nieh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as a commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Trump nominated Nieh on July 30 to serve as NRC commissioner the remainder of a term that will expire June 30, 2029, as Nuclear NewsWire previously reported.

Nieh has been vice president of regulatory affairs at Southern Nuclear since 2021, though since June 2024 he has been at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations as a loaned executive.

A return to the NRC: If confirmed by the Senate, Nieh would be returning to the NRC after three previous stints totaling nearly 20 years.

Duke Energy is looking to add large light water reactors and small modular reactors to its fleet in the coming years to meet increased energy demands expected in its southeast region.

Earlier this year, Nuclear Waste Services, the radioactive waste management subsidiary of the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, hosted a group of five teenagers for a week of exposure to real-world work environments at its facilities in Calderbridge, Cumbria. The students learned about career opportunities and leadership responsibilities at the company while they engaged with senior management and performed activities with several NWS teams, including employees in the environmental, waste characterization, cybersecurity, human resources, and geological disposal facility grants departments.

In August, there was much buzz about the Food and Drug Administration ordering a recall on frozen shrimp imported from Indonesia that was found to be contaminated with cesium-137. While the level of radioactivity in the shrimp was orders of magnitude below a level that would cause any measurable harm to consumers, the concentration of Cs-137 was nonetheless unusual.

Over the past several weeks, there has been a lot of activity on the nuclear front in Kansas, ranging from new nuclear sitings to investments.

At a glance: TerraPower signed a memorandum of understanding with Evergy and the Kansas government on small modular reactors; Deep Fission announced investments in Kansas, Utah, and Texas; and the Kansas Board of Regents will invest $15 million in energy projects. Read on to get more information on these items.

Energy company Ansaldo Energia recently hosted a ceremony at its headquarters in Genoa, Italy, marking the launch of the Master in Technologies for Nuclear Power Plants program, which it developed in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano. A call for graduates in engineering, physics, and chemistry issued in May attracted more than 300 applications, 26 of which were selected for the program.

Canadian uranium provider Cameco has calculated an end-of-September spot price for uranium of $82.63 per pound—the highest mark of 2025. The lowest spot price listed all year by Cameco was $64.23 per pound at the end of March, while the previous high was $78.50 per pound at the end of June.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized Urenco USA to enrich uranium up to 10 percent U-235 following changes to plant systems and procedures and an operational readiness review. The company announced the news today, two days after the NRC issued its authorization on September 30 and said that all existing and future cascades at its Eunice, N.M., enrichment facility will be licensed to produce both low-enriched uranium, typically enriched to 5 percent fissile U-235, and LEU+, between 5 and 10 percent U-235.

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

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

New international partnership to speed Xe-100 SMR deployment

X-energy, Amazon, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and Doosan Enerbility have formed a strategic partnership to accelerate the deployment of X-energy’s Xe-100 small modular reactors and TRISO fuel in the United States to meet the power demands from data centers and AI. The partners will collaborate in reactor engineering design, supply-chain development, construction planning, investment strategies, long-term operations, and global opportunities for joint AI-nuclear deployment. The companies also plan to jointly mobilize as much as $50 billion in public and private investment to support advanced nuclear energy in the U.S.

The Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will furlough thousands of employees and operate at reduced capacity under a government shutdown that started after midnight on October 1 following a failed congressional vote on a short-term funding bill.

The Department of Energy has fast-tracked its selections for the Fuel Line Pilot Program. Four companies—Oklo, Terrestrial Energy, TRISO-X, and Valar Atomics—were named September 30 as “conditional selections” for a “fast-track approach to commercial licensing,” bringing the total to five. The first company conditionally chosen for a DOE-authorized fuel fabrication facility—Standard Nuclear—was named less than three weeks after the program opened to applicants in July.