NN announces the 2025 40 Under 40 honorees
Last year, we proudly launched the inaugural Nuclear News 40 Under 40 list to shine a spotlight on the exceptional young professionals driving the nuclear sector forward as the nuclear community faces a dramatic generational shift. We weren’t sure how a second list would go over, but once again, our members resoundingly answered the call, confirming what we already knew: The nuclear community is bursting with vision, talent, and extraordinary dedication.
INL researchers inspect a sample from the HALEU purification solvent extraction process. (Photo: INL)
Idaho National Laboratory is playing a key role in helping the U.S. Department of Energy meet near-term needs by recovering HALEU from federal inventories, providing critical support to help lay the foundation for a future commercial HALEU supply chain. INL also supports coordination of broader DOE efforts, from material recovery at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to commercial enrichment initiatives.
Sheldon Station (left), a coal plant, and the Hallam power plant, a sodium-cooled, graphite-moderated nuclear reactor. They shared a common turbine generator set. (Photo: U.S. AEC/public domain)
The Hallam nuclear power plant, about 25 miles southwest of Lincoln, Neb., was an important part of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Reactor Power Demonstration Program. But in the end, it operated for only 6,271 hours and generated about 192.5 million kilowatt-hours of electric power during its short, 15-month life.
May 26, 2025, 9:50AMUpdated October 17, 2025, 4:55PMNuclear NewsCory Hatch Commercial nuclear fuel rods being unloaded from cask inside a HFEF hot cell. (Photo: INL)
At the Idaho National Laboratory Hot Fuel Examination Facility, containment box operator Jake Maupin moves a manipulator arm into position around a pencil-thin nuclear fuel rod. He is preparing for a procedure that he and his colleagues have practiced repeatedly in anticipation of this moment in the hot cell.
October 10, 2025, 4:42PMNuclear NewsIlyas Yilgor, Mauricio Tano, Katrina Sweetland, Joshua Hansel, and Piyush Sabharwall A high-temperature heat pipe glows during operation at ~800°C at INL’s SPHERE test facility. (Photo: INL)
Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy–sponsored Microreactor Program recently conducted a comprehensive phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) exercise aimed at advancing heat pipe technology for microreactor applications.
October 9, 2025, 10:32AMNuclear NewsHash Hashemian and Ken Rueter A view of the East Tennessee Technology Park in 1989 before cleanup operations . . . (Photo: DOE)
ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy’s reflection on the 80th anniversary of the Trinity Test (Nuclear Newswire, July 16) was a thoughtful and fitting remembrance of the achievements and legacy of the World War II generation of nuclear pioneers. We also see legacy environmental cleanup as a vital next step as our industry launches what Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has defined as “Manhattan Project 2.0.”
Project contractors and DOE-LM support partner staff install a well based on design strategy developed by support partner senior hydrogeologist Pete Schillig. (Photos: DOE-LM)
When the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management recently faced an operational challenge at the Rifle Disposal Site in Colorado, it took subject matter experts across a wide array of disciplines to tackle it.
A public meeting is held by the East Tennessee Economic Council to discuss the Oak Ridge nuclear site. (Photo: ETEC)
When it comes to decision-making, public participation and community engagement are not the same thing. The structure and content of meetings to enable public participation in project decision-making can be staid, stale, and staged. The approach can be formulaic and reactionary: “We have a decision to make; we’ve narrowed down the alternatives … let’s prepare the scripts, posters, and presentations, gather our materials, book a room, coach the presenters on how to be succinct, identify people to staff the kiosks, contact the community members and regulatory staff we usually contact, and let’s have a public meeting! Once we get this over with, we can finally build our project, demolish that building, clean up this site, etc.” Not so fast.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management and cleanup contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition are leading efforts to deactivate and demolish three legacy Naval Reactors Program prototypes at the Naval Reactors Facility in Idaho. (Photos: DOE)
The Idaho National Laboratory Site has long played an essential part in American nuclear reactor research and development activities. It is also a cornerstone of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The Naval Reactors Facility (NRF) on the INL Site, located in southeastern Idaho, was home to three historic land-based naval reactor prototypes—the Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse (S1W) prototype, the Aircraft Carrier 1st Generation Westinghouse (A1W) prototype, and the Submarine 5th Generation General Electric (S5G) prototype—that facilitated critical training for naval personnel and testing that helped develop the U.S. Navy’s nuclear fleet.
A 3D rendering of the MPPB.
Areas of the building where demolition has been completed are rendered
in transparent yellow.
Starting in 1966, the Western New York Nuclear Service Center (WNYNSC)—comprising 3,300 acres of land in the town of Ashford, N.Y.—was used for the commercial reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Reprocessing was conducted in the Main Plant Process Building (MPPB) until 1972 when commercial operations ceased and were never resumed. Now, 50 years later, modern 3D modeling technology is ensuring that the MPPB can be demolished in a safe and effective manner, minimizing risk to the environment and the workers.
Here is a recap of recent industry happenings:
