Ronald E. Evans, the command module pilot for Apollo 17, performed a deep-space extravehicular activity (EVA) to retrieve a film canister during the mission’s return to Earth. At about 160,000 miles from Earth, it was the most distant spacewalk ever conducted in deep space under full-spectrum GCR. (Photo: NASA)
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
A 3D rendering of Sizewell C (second from left) with the existing Sizewell B toward the top right. (Image: U.K. govt.)
As the U.K. government looks to finalize investment decisions for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant this summer, France’s state-owned EDF has announced plans to take a 12.5 percent stake in the project and commit up to £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion) in funding.
Chris Wagner, chief executive officer of Eden Radioisotopes.
Inset: Fission Mo-99 process. (Images: Eden)
Chris Wagner has more than 40 years of experience in nuclear medicine, beginning as a clinical practitioner before moving into leadership roles at companies like Mallinckrodt (now Curium) and Nordion. His knowledge of both the clinical and the manufacturing sides of nuclear medicine laid the groundwork for helping to found Eden Radioisotopes, a start-up venture that intends to make diagnostic and therapeutic raw material medical isotopes like molybdenum-99 and lutetium-177.
A drone-borne GRS system assesses soil properties in an agricultural field. (Photo: M. Casling/IAEA)
The International Atomic Energy Agency has initiated a coordinated research project that will combine an “innovative, non-invasive, and scalable nuclear technique”—gamma-ray spectrometry (GRS)—with drones and satellite imagery to gather and analyze data that can reveal the quality of soil on agricultural lands around the world.
Concept art of TerraPower’s Natrium plan. (Image: TerraPower)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has whittled down the timeline for reviewing TerraPower’s construction permit application for Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 in Wyoming. Announcing a new, more aggressive schedule, the NRC said it aims to complete its review by the end of 2025, eight months earlier than originally planned.
The ITER tokamak pit with the two vacuum vessel sector modules installed. (Photo: ITER)
Westinghouse Electric Company announced that it has signed a $180 million contract with the ITER Organization for the assembly of the vacuum vessel for the fusion reactor being built in southern France. Designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power, the ITER tokamak will be the world’s largest experimental fusion facility.
From left: GLE’s Stephen Long, Scott Steuer, Jesus Diaz-Quiroz, Nima Ashkeboussi, and Timothy Knowles, with the NRC’s Matt Bartlett, Samantha Lav, Robert Sun, Shana Helton, Andrea Kock, and Kimyata Morgan-Butler. (Photo: GLE)
Global Laser Enrichment announced that it has submitted its safety analysis report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the planned Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF). This follows GLE’s December 2024 submission of the plant’s environmental report, now completing GLE’s full license application for NRC review.
Unit 1 of the V.C. Summer nuclear power plant. (Photo: DJ Slaw)
Dominion Energy’s V.C. Summer nuclear power plant, in Jenkinsville, S.C., has been authorized to operate for 80 years, until August 2062, following the renewal of its operating license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a second time.
A visualization of the SPARC tokamak experiment. (Image: Ken Filar/PSFC Research Affiliate)
In its June 30 announcement of a new deal to purchase 200 MW from Commonwealth Fusion Systems' (CFS) first ARC fusion power plant planned for Virginia, Google called it “the largest direct corporate offtake agreement for fusion energy” ever. While Google made no mention of its plans for the power, its press release noted that clean energy is needed to reduce data center emissions.
A representation of the NRIC DOME microreactor test bed. (Image: NRIC)