Ontario Power Generation’s expansive refurbishment project on its four 878-MWe CANDU units at the Darlington nuclear power plant is proceeding faster than expected, OPG announced on September 17.

Westinghouse Electric Company has completed the front-end engineering and experiment design (FEEED) for a prototype microreactor at Idaho National Laboratory, the Department of Energy recently announced. The one-fifth scale version of eVinci, Westinghouse’s 5-MWe sodium-cooled heat pipe design, is one of three reactors that could be tested at the National Reactor Innovation Center’s (NRIC) DOME test bed “as early as 2026,” the DOE said.

Eleven countries have been newly elected to serve on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-member Board of Governors for the 2024–2025 term. The election took place on September 19 at the plenary session of the 68th IAEA General Conference.

Nuclear powerhouse Constellation announced today the signing of a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft that will pave the way for the restart of Three Mile Island Unit 1—under a new name to honor Chris Crane, former chief executive of Exelon when Constellation was part of the larger company.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced this week that it has restored the expiration dates of Turkey Point nuclear power plant's Units 3 and 4 subsequent license renewals (SLRs) to July 19, 2052, and April 10, 2053, respectively.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced criminal charges this week against two men for allegedly smuggling and conspiring to violate export controls relating to the sale of laser equipment to the Russian nuclear industry.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a construction permit yesterday to Abilene Christian University, giving ACU and its partners the go-ahead to build the Molten Salt Research Reactor (MSRR) facility on its Abilene, Texas, campus. The 1-MWt research reactor is the first molten salt–fueled reactor to get a construction permit from the NRC. After Kairos Power’s Hermes, it is the second non–light water reactor construction permit issued by the NRC.

Idaho National Laboratory has completed substantial construction of the first new hot cell facility at the lab site in 49 years—a Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL) that will accelerate research, development, and qualification of structural nuclear materials for both existing and new nuclear reactors. In an announcement last week of the milestone and the ribbon-cutting ceremony held to mark it, INL said the SPL is expected to be fully operational in 2025.

When a SpaceX rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on September 10 (see video here), sending a crewed commercial mission into low Earth orbit, an experiment designed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory was onboard. Several high-purity metal samples will orbit Earth and absorb cosmic radiation for five days—including that from the Van Allen radiation belt—to help the lab answer questions about the radiation environment for manned space missions, according to a news release from PNNL.

Oneid

EnergySolutions announced that it has launched Management Consultants International (MCI) to provide specialized consulting services for the nuclear, energy, chemical, oil, gas, technology, and manufacturing sectors. Operating separately from EnergySolutions, MCI will provide expertise to clients addressing multiplex issues before federal, state, and international agencies.

Nuclear industry veteran Pierre Oneid has been appointed president of MCI. He will also continue in his current role as executive vice president supporting EnergySolutions’ growth efforts. Formerly senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for Holtec International, Oneid joined EnergySolutions in May of this year.

The American Nuclear Society recently issued an open letter in support of a science-based approach to the regulation of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuels for commercial nuclear energy, voicing member concerns about hyperbole in a recent article published in Science, which advocated for restrictions on the use of HALEU despite decades of effective safeguards and security. This is not the first time ANS has stepped in to present the measured opinion of its membership on the value and appropriate regulation of HALEU.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has found that Japan’s planned approach for recycling and disposing of soil and radioactive waste from decontamination activities after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident is consistent with the agency’s safety standards.

Ian Wall early in his career . . .

I graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Imperial College, London, in 1958. Nuclear power was viewed favorably at the time, so I took a 1-year course on the subject. I was then offered fellowships at Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and thought the latter would be more interesting, so I moved to Cambridge, Mass., to study nuclear engineering. After completing my doctorate in 1964, I joined the American Nuclear Society and took a job with General Electric, then in San Jose, Calif.

In 1967, GE assigned me to explore the use of probability in reactor safety. At that time, the prevailing opinion was that the probability of a severe accident was infinitesimally small and the consequences would be catastrophic.

Westinghouse Electric Company announced today that it has signed a teaming agreement with Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company to pursue opportunities in Sweden and Finland for nuclear power plants based on Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor technology.

Marzano

The U.S. Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works will consider the nomination of Matthew Marzano to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during a hearing on Wednesday, September 11.

In July, President Joe Biden named Marzano as his choice to fill the open seat on the five-member commission. The NRC, the nation’s independent regulator of civilian nuclear safety, has been without a tiebreaker for votes among the four current members since commissioner Jeff Baran’s term ended in June 2023.

The NRC has been in the spotlight in recent years as the United States experiences a resurgence in demand for and technology advances in nuclear power. The commission is facing a high volume of license requests and is working to modernize and streamline its review process.

The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina recently began onboarding 24 graduates from Denmark Technical College in Denmark, S.C., as part of SRS’s Production Operator Apprentice School.

Kimberly Cook-Nelson

For Kimberly Cook-Nelson, the path to the nuclear industry started with a couple of refrigerator boxes and cellophane paper. Her sixth-grade science project was inspired by her father, who worked at Seabrook power station in New Hampshire as a nuclear operator.

“I had two big refrigerator boxes I taped together. I cut the ‘primary operating system’ and the ‘secondary system’ out of them. Then I used different colored cellophane paper to show the pressurized water system versus the steam versus the cold cooling water,” Cook-Nelson said. “My dad got me those little replica pellets that I could pass out to people as they were going by at my science fair.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations governing the licensing of nonpower production or utilization facilities (NPUF) to make license renewal criteria more consistent with the limited risk such facilities pose to public safety.

The Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) is seeking proposals from qualified candidates to construct a commercial nuclear reactor on the university’s RELLIS campus in Bryan, Texas.

Interested parties are welcome to attend a virtual preproposal conference today, September 6, at 11:00 a.m. (EDT). Information about this conference, including a link to participate, can be obtained via email to soprocurement@tamus.edu.

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation announced today a milestone for the United Arab Emirates with the fourth unit of the Barakah nuclear power plant entering commercial operation.