The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration on July 30 issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) to foster commercial-scale domestic production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 without the use of high-enriched uranium. Mo-99 is used in more than 40,000 medical procedures in the United States every day.

Through the FOA (DE-FOA-0002303), the NNSA is soliciting applications from U.S. companies to help achieve commercial-scale Mo-99 production by December 31, 2023. Companies have until September 30 this year to respond to the FOA with proposals.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on July 24 signed an executive order that calls for a study to determine the feasibility of introducing nuclear energy into the country’s power generation mix. Citing “the experience of a number of countries” showing nuclear power to be “a reliable, cost-competitive, and environment-friendly energy source,” the order creates the Nuclear Energy Program Inter-Agency Committee (NEP-IAC) to carry out the work.

Barrasso

Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.) on July 29 released a draft bill to revitalize the United States’ nuclear sector—the same day that GOP colleagues in the House introduced similar legislation. According to the senator, the American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2020 (ANIA) would enable U.S. international leadership, preserve America’s uranium supply chain, reduce carbon emissions, and strengthen the nation’s economic, energy, and national security. The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, of which Barrasso is chairman, is scheduled to hold a legislative hearing on the draft on August 5.

An Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover on board launches on July 30. Photo: NASA/Joel Kowsky

The launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover went ahead as scheduled on July 30, lifting off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 7:50 a.m. (EDT) . The rover was onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket.

Minutes later, NASA reported that all flight milestones were being met as planned. There are several more milestones to reach before Perseverance—the fifth rover that NASA has sent to Mars—lands on the Red Planet in seven months.

Those attending the livestreamed July 28 celebration in person (shown here from above) followed recommended social distancing measures.

First-of-a-kind components have been arriving in recent months at the ITER construction site in Cadarache, France, from some of the 35 ITER member countries around the world. The arrival on July 21 of the first sector of the ITER vacuum vessel from South Korea marks the beginning of a four-and-a-half year machine assembly process for the world’s largest tokamak, a magnetic fusion device designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as an energy source.

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on July 29 continued their push for nuclear with the introduction of the Nuclear Prosperity and Security Act (H.R. 7814) and the Modernize Nuclear Reactor Environmental Reviews Act (H.R. 7817). Last month, GOP members of the committee introduced the Strengthening American Nuclear Competitiveness Act and the Nuclear Licensing Efficiency Act.

Clements

Christie

The White House earlier this week announced its intention to nominate Allison Clements, a Democrat, and Mark C. Christie, a Republican, to seats on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. If both are confirmed by the Senate, FERC will have a full complement of five commissioners—three Republicans and two Democrats—for the first time since before Cheryl LaFleur departed in August last year.

Brent Park, NNSA deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. Photo: NNSA

The National Atomic Testing Museum is hosting a free webinar on July 30 at 9 p.m. (EDT) featuring Brent Park, the National Nuclear Security Administration's deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. Registration is required.

The webinar is part of the museum’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

Park, a nuclear physicist with 30 years of experience at Department of Energy national laboratories, currently leads the NNSA's efforts to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation and reduce the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism around the world.

The Nuclear Threat Initiative’s 2020 NTI Nuclear Security Index, released last week, finds that progress on the protection of nuclear materials and facilities has slowed significantly over the past two years, reversing a trend of substantial improvements between 2012 and 2018.

Published biennially since 2012, the NTI index assesses and tracks nuclear security conditions in countries around the globe, highlighting progress and trends over time. It is produced in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of the Economist Group media company.

Kristine Svinicki, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, have signed a memorandum of understanding to improve coordination and cooperation in the regulation of the in situ recovery (ISR) process of uranium extraction and to support the goal of establishing a stronger U.S. uranium mining industry.

Representatives from African countries assembled in 2019 at an event hosted by Nigeria to discuss the need for assistance in nuclear medicine and radiology. Photo: NNSA

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded grants totaling $1.5 million to support an increase in medical staff and the building of facilities and equipment in sub-Saharan Africa, the agency announced on July 27.

The grants of $750,000 each were awarded to the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).

India’s Kakrapar-3 nuclear power reactor has achieved criticality for the first time, according to Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. The unit reached this latest milestone at 9:36 a.m. (local time) on July 22, after completing fuel loading in mid-March, NPCIL said.

Exelon Generation and Électricitéde France have asked the New York Public Service Commission to approve the transfer of EDF’s 49.99 percent ownership interest in Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG) to Exelon, which owns 50.1 percent. CENG is the owner of New York’s Ginna and Nine Mile Point nuclear plants, as well as Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has lifted its ban on financing nuclear power projects abroad. Last month, the DFC proposed the change to its Environmental and Social Policy and Procedures, which had specifically prohibited it from offering such support.

The change, announced by the DFC on July 23, also implements a key recommendation made in an April 2020 report issued by the U.S. Nuclear Fuel Working Group, an interagency initiative to review and modernize U.S. nuclear energy policy.

Stephen A. Byrne, former executive vice president of SCANA Corporation, pleaded guilty in federal court on July 23 to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with the failed $9-billion nuclear-expansion project at South Carolina’s Summer plant.

Byrne, 60, had also been president of generation and transmission and chief operating officer at SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas, overseeing all of SCANA’s nuclear operations, including the construction of the new nuclear units, on which work was stopped in 2017 (NN, Aug. 2017, p. 17).

In an 86 to 14 vote, the Senate on July 23 passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2021, incorporating by amendment S. 903, the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act (NELA). The House of Representatives passed its version of the NDAA, which supports $740 billion in funding for national defense, earlier in the week in a less bipartisan manner, 295 to 125. Members of both chambers will now begin negotiations to hammer out a final bill to send to the president—a process that could take months.

The Bruce plant near Kincardine, Ontario. Photo: Bruce Power

Bruce Power announced on July 20 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Isogen, a joint venture of Framatome and Toronto-based Kinectrics, and BWXT ITG Canada to advance feasibility work for the production of molybdenum-99. Mo-99 is the radioisotope most commonly used in nuclear medicine for diagnostic imaging and the detection of disease, along with other medical isotopes that are growing in demand.

A new report from the World Nuclear Association asserts that the nuclear sector provides more and better-paying jobs, as well as more highly trained jobs, than does the wind sector, and by a substantial margin. According to the 20-page report, Employment in the Nuclear and Wind Energy Generating Sectors, nuclear provides approximately 25 percent more employment per unit of electricity generated than does wind.

Householder

Federal prosecutors on July 21 arrested the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Larry Householder, and four lobbyists and political consultants for their involvement in an alleged $61-million corruption and racketeering scheme aimed at guaranteeing passage of H.B. 6, the Ohio Clean Air Program Act—the measure that rescued Ohio’s Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear power plants from premature closure. If convicted, Householder et al. face up to 20 years in prison.