Nuclear News

Published since 1959, Nuclear News is recognized worldwide as the flagship trade publication for the nuclear community. News reports cover plant operations, maintenance and security; policy and legislation; international developments; waste management and fuel; and business and contract award news.


Insights from the DOME draft EA on EBR-II’s second life as a reactor test bed

October 15, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News
The EBR-II dome, site of the DOME advanced reactor test bed. (Photo: INL)

On October 8, the Department of Energy’s Idaho Operations Office released the draft environmental assessment (EA) Demonstration of Microreactor Experiment (DOME) Test Bed Operations. The draft EA assesses the potential environmental impacts of plans to use the containment dome of the former Experimental Breeder Reactor-II at Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) to test multiple TRISO-fueled advanced reactor designs on a micro scale.

NRC veterans named to new executive positions

October 15, 2024, 7:00AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has named Robert Lewis deputy executive director for operations in the areas of materials, waste, research, state, tribal, compliance, administration, and human capital programs. Craig Erlanger has been named director of the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR). Both appointments are effective on October 20, 2024.

Nuclear Scaling Initiative is launched

October 11, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News

Boemeke

Gebbia

A philanthropic gift recently established the Nuclear Scaling Initiative (NSI)—a collaborative effort to spur a new nuclear energy ecosystem to increase the rate of reactor deployment by 10 times by the 2030s.

A gift of $5 million to the NSI will support a host of resources and work to socialize first-of-a-kind technologies with governments, stakeholders, and opinion leaders needed to bring nuclear energy facilities to market. A second $5 million matching fund will incentivize additional philanthropic support from individuals and institutional donors.

The funding comes from Joe Gebbia, cofounder of Airbnb, and Isabelle Boemeke, a Brazilian fashion model, social media influencer, and executive director of advocacy organization Save Clean Energy.

A proactive approach to reactor vessel aging management

October 10, 2024, 2:24PMNuclear NewsGeoffrey Campbell and Christopher Koehler
The clevis bolt replacement team working in parallel off of the refueling bridge. This team is working directly on the reactor vessel clevis with a first-of-a-kind docking station. (Photo: Westinghouse)

Unit 2 at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant near Red Wing, Minn., underwent an outage in fall 2023, which included extensive work on the reactor vessel using a novel approach to replace baffle-former bolts and lower radial clevis insert bolts. The work relied on extensive analysis beforehand to determine which bolts to replace such that only the new bolts were structurally credited for performance of their safety function. This proactive approach eliminated the need for costly contingencies associated with inspections.

Fighting fatigue and maintaining 10 CFR Part 26 compliance

October 10, 2024, 2:24PMNuclear NewsClaire Pieper and Dan Scholz
A fatigue management program is used at Xcel’s Monticello nuclear plant. (Photo: Indeavor)

Fatigue has been identified as a major risk factor in industrial accidents. According to the National Safety Council, 13 percent of workplace injuries can be attributed to fatigue.1 Other research indicates that working 12 hours per day is associated with a staggering 37 percent increase in risk of injury.2 Considering fatigue was a contributing factor to major nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, it makes sense that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission imposes hefty fines to ensure strict adherence to its fatigue management regulations—particularly, Code of Federal Regulations Title 10, Part 26, “Fitness for Duty Programs.”

The Wolf Creek refueling outage approach: Creating a culture of coaching, appreciation, and respect

October 10, 2024, 2:23PMNuclear NewsMichael Peters
Master Chemistry Technician Tolbert Livingston in Chemical Controls. (Photo: Wolf Creek)

Sam Lochmann is a well-respected sergeant in the security department at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington, Kan. The plant, a 1,200-MWe Westinghouse pressurized water reactor operated by Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (WCNOC), had its 26th refueling outage this past spring.

Nuclear leaders discuss momentum, force in industry at UWC opening plenary

October 10, 2024, 2:23PMNuclear News
American Nuclear Society Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Craig Piercy speaks at the 2024 UWC opening plenary.

The 2024 Utility Working Conference brought together the nuclear industry’s best in August to discuss and learn from key developments, successes, opportunities, and needs in the sector. American Nuclear Society Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Craig Piercy opened the conference and its first plenary by talking about the nuclear industry’s current momentum.

DOE issues $49 million to shift national lab research toward fusion energy vision

October 10, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy announced yesterday a total of $49 million in funding for 19 projects in the Foundational Fusion Materials, Nuclear Science, and Technology programs that span functional and structural materials R&D for heating technology, magnet technology, blankets, fuel cycle, and first wall research.

U.S. Navy soliciting ideas for nuclear energy

October 10, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News

The Department of the Navy (DON), which comprises both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, issued a request for information this week on potential deployment of clean energy generation on underutilized military lands.

IAEA warning issued after assassination of Zaporizhzhia worker

October 10, 2024, 7:03AMNuclear News

A man killed in a car bomb last week in Enerhodar, Ukraine, may have been targeted because of his ties to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency received information from both the Russian Federation and Ukraine about the suspected assassination, which occurred in the town where most of the plant staff live, said IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The DOE picks six HALEU deconverters. What have we learned?

October 9, 2024, 3:01PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy announced contracts yesterday for six companies to perform high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) deconversion and to transform enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to other chemical forms, including metal or oxide, for storage before it is fabricated into fuel for advanced reactors. It amounts to a first round of contracting. “These contracts will allow selected companies to bid on work for deconversion services,” according to the DOE’s announcement, “creating strong competition and allowing DOE to select the best fit for future work.”

Liftoff report lifts the lid on cost and risk in push to nth-of-a-kind reactors

October 9, 2024, 12:01PMNuclear News

The Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear report that was released in March 2023 by the Department of Energy called for five to 10 signed reactor contracts for at least one reactor design by 2025. Now, 18 months have passed, and despite the word “resurgence” in media reports on the U.S. nuclear power industry, 2025 is fast approaching with no contracts signed.

Engagement in nuclear science and technology

October 9, 2024, 7:01AMNuclear NewsLisa Marshall

Lisa Marshall
president@ans.org

My current position affords me the opportunity to travel across the nation and world, engaging with people and organizations. I am deliberately using the word engagement to stress the long-term relationship aspect of our endeavors. It is an opportunity to listen—not to respond, but to understand. It is also an opportunity to foster a collaborative connection where comfort in posing questions and developing solutions are achieved.

Pulling from engagement in the higher education literature:

Historically, in a different societal context, higher education reached out to communities in an expert model of knowledge delivery. That connection with communities has transitioned over the years to a more engaged model in which community and university partners cocreate solutions. This occurs at local, national, and global levels. Today and in the future, public universities need to build on their experience of university–community relationships and transition to making engagement more central to the core of the institution. Through such progress, higher education can continue to contribute fully to the advancement of the United States as a stronger, wealthier, and more equitable country.1

NRC seeks comments on proposed rule for new reactors

October 8, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking comment on a proposed rule for a generic environmental impact statement for licensing new reactors. According to the NRC, the statement uses a technology-neutral framework and plant/site parameters to identify environmental issues common to new reactors as well as those issues needing project-specific analysis.

Industry Update—October 2024

October 8, 2024, 7:01AMNuclear News

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

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

Collaboration on SMR-powered ships

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and the Korea Ship & Offshore Plant Research Institute (KRISO) have formed a collaboration to advance the commercialization of ships powered by small modular reactors, as well as floating SMR power-generation platforms. ABS is to provide an analysis of regulatory guidelines and international standards for the design of SMR-powered ships. KRISO is to develop the core technologies for the ships, such as conceptual designs and propulsion systems, as well as a framework for integrated ship and nuclear power safety analysis. KRISO will also design a floating SMR power-generation platform together with a commercialization model for supplying stable power to island areas.

Federal watchdog says NRC needs to address more radiological risks, including “dirty bombs”

October 7, 2024, 3:02PMNuclear News
The three elements of radioactive material risk (Image: U.S. GAO)

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not taken the steps needed to address the potential economic and societal radiological risks that could arise from a “dirty bomb.”

Reports: Japan’s leaders call for nuclear reactor restarts

October 7, 2024, 9:35AMNuclear News

During some of his first public remarks last week, Japan’s new economy minister Yoji Muto promoted the importance of nuclear energy for his nation.

Muto said the new administration—including newly appointed prime minister Shigeru Ishiba—plans to restart “as many reactors as possible so long as they are safe,” reported NucNet, a nuclear-centered news agency in Brussels.

Opinion: Financing the future of clean energy—Green bonds in the nuclear sector

October 4, 2024, 12:04PMNuclear NewsAmjad Ghori, Paul Murphy, and Caitlin Murphy

As evidenced by the well-attended Climate Week NYC, there is a growing awareness that nuclear energy must be incorporated into national energy strategies if net-zero goals are to be achieved. In recent years, green bonds have found solid footing in the world of energy finance. These eco-friendly issuances have evolved from supporting just wind and solar projects and are increasingly being used to power much-needed growth in the civil nuclear sector. Green bonds that have been issued over the past several years in Canada, France, Finland, and the United States are now being used to support investment in nuclear projects, from breathing new life into old reactors to in certain instances supporting nuclear new build projects. However, a question remains: Can this liquidity be deployed where and when it is needed most—to support ambitious new nuclear project buildouts?

TerraPower reaches market-scale production of Ac-225

October 4, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News

TerraPower Isotopes, a subsidiary of Bellevue, Wash.–based TerraPower, announced it is now producing actinium-225 at commercial scale, making the medical isotope available to the pharmaceutical industry through weekly production runs. As a result, TerraPower Isotopes said its actinium, after further manufacturing, is now used in multiple drug developers’ radiopharmaceuticals in human clinical trials across the globe.