Nuclear News

With more than 40 fusion development companies announcing plans and funding, it’s hard for a newcomer to stand out, but Pacific Fusion is giving it a try. The company, based in Fremont, Calif., was founded in summer 2023 and emerged from “stealth mode” last Friday with $900 million in committed funding from investors, a team that includes people directly involved in the successful ignition experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), and a technical paper that makes a case for a pulsed magnetic fusion approach to fusion energy.

Commercial nuclear power is illegal in Australia, and it has been since the 1990s. This past June, however, the country’s main opposition party announced plans to build seven commercial nuclear reactors in the 2030s and 2040s on sites presently occupied by aging coal-fired plants—should the party’s Liberal–National Coalition win power in federal elections next year. This statement has reignited a public debate regarding the potential role of nuclear energy in Australia.

In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the outskirts of Fort Collins, Colo.—home to Colorado State University—work began this month on a new laser facility funded by a public-private partnership. The private portion is $150 million from Marvel Fusion, announced in August 2023, while $12.5 million—the latest funding for CSU from the Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)—will support the new facility as part of LaserNetUS, a laser research network operated by DOE-FES to provide access to laser facilities for multidisciplinary researchers from the United States and abroad.

Holness

The Jamaican government last week signed a memorandum of understanding with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories to bring nuclear power to the island nation.

Addressing the signing ceremony at Jamaica House on October 22, Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness said the partnership reflects the government’s unwavering commitment to diversify the country’s energy portfolio with new, clean, and sustainable alternatives.

“[It] marks a pivotal moment in Jamaica’s energy transformation as we take a bold and forward-thinking step by signing this memorandum of understanding," he said. "This move is about reducing your cost of living, a major part of it being the cost of energy."

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.

Nuclear reactor design and analysis never stops, and engineers have an extensive computational toolbox from which to draw for their work. Since 1979, one such tool has been the RELAP5 modeling and simulation software. Now, American Nuclear Society journal Nuclear Technology has announced plans for a special issue dedicated to RELAP5 developments and applications.

Submission of abstracts is open now; email guest editor George Mesina by November 15 to express interest.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will host a “comment-gathering meeting” for stakeholders involved with the agency’s University Nuclear Leadership Program (UNLP) so that NRC staff can understand their views and concerns.

Gago

The governing board of the World Association of Nuclear Operators has appointed José Gago as the new WANO chair. He was formerly the general manager and chief executive officer of the Asociacion Nuclear Asco-Vandellos (ANAV) in Spain.

Gago will succeed the current chair, Tom Mitchell, on March 1, 2025, after Mitchell completes his full six-year term in the role.

Background: Gago has been ANAV’s governor at the WANO Paris Centre’s governing board since 2012 and was elected its chairperson in 2020. He has been the president of the Spanish Nuclear Society and a member of the Foro Nuclear board of directors, and he has kept close contact with the nuclear industry, serving on several advisory boards and participating in the International Atomic Energy Agency expert missions.

Fulton Station was to be a two-unit high-temperature gas-cooled reactor that was originally planned to start commercial operation in 1981 for Unit 1 and in 1983 for Unit 2. Each reactor was to provide 1,160 MWe of power. The nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) and fuel were to be developed by General Atomics (GA), and engineering firm Stone & Webster was charged with handling the construction. The Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO) had big plans for Fulton Station, but ultimately, the plant was never built.

The latest volume in the Spark Squad comic books series was released Monday as part of national Nuclear Science Week, an international event highlighting the importance of nuclear.

The weeklong observance, held annually the third week of October each year, celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.

While further editions of Spark Squad are in development, the three existing volumes and learning activities that accompany each book can be found on the DOE’s website.

Legislative proposals focused on streamlining the U.S. nuclear energy export process have circulated on Capitol Hill for several years, notably aimed at establishing a single point of contact in the government to simplify global nuclear projects.

The most recently introduced International Nuclear Energy Act (INEA) proposal (S. 826) promotes engagement with partner nations to develop a civil nuclear export strategy and to offset China’s and Russia’s growing influence on international nuclear energy development.

The Minority Serving Institution Partnership Program (MSIPP) of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has recently awarded seven federal grants to projects involving minority serving institutions (MSIs).

A hybrid public meeting hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on October 30 will feature chair Christopher Hanson and commissioners David Wright, Annie Caputo, and Bradley Crowell.

Nuclear advocates across the country have been asking fans to cheer for more than just touchdowns this college football season. They want people to learn about and support nuclear energy.

They want them to “heart” nuclear as much as they do.

Interest in new reactor deployments and existing reactor life extensions is surging, encouraged by production and investment tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act and led by electricity demand from tech companies. Last week alone saw Google and Amazon investing in Kairos Power’s fluoride salt–cooled reactor and X-energy’s high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor, respectively. On October 16, the DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations issued a solicitation to award $900 million to support the initial domestic deployment of light water–cooled small modular reactor technologies.

Natalie Yonker

It’s all about finding the sweet spot: performing the correct maintenance at the correct interval (that is, the longest possible) with the correct resources (people, parts, and plant conditions) in a safe and efficient manner.

When engineering and maintenance teams adjust periodic maintenance (PM) intervals for plant components, they must take into consideration operating history, industry experience and guidelines, and vendor recommendations. This data, in conjunction with risk assessment, can be used to stretch maintenance intervals. If a valve fails before the scheduled PM, for example, the PM interval may be too long. But if a valve is overhauled during every refueling outage and the soft parts still look new each time, extending the PM interval would save money via man-hours, parts, and scope. A smaller outage work scope results in shorter outages, which results in less money spent on replacement power for the utility. That’s the real savings.

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.

Earnestine Johnson

Even if conditions for mentoring are ideal, there is no guarantee that your employees won’t leave for other opportunities. Mentoring should be viewed as a duty and not as something that slows one’s work progress. In nuclear, we are challenged with striving continuously to become better professionals in our roles. Mentoring can accelerate that journey exponentially.

Although we will encounter employees who will not listen even in the best of mentoring moments, we cannot afford to lessen our efforts. Instead, work with those who welcome your time and your insights, because the nuclear industry can be an overwhelming realm to enter. We grow accustomed to the sheer volume of acronyms we use, the system complexities and nuances, the challenging and stringent regulatory environment, the personal challenges from fellow co-workers, and the high stakes associated with nuclear safety. Any one of these represents a challenge for even the most skilled engineers and technicians—and we sometimes take for granted this insider knowledge, forgetting that newcomers to the field do not yet have that perspective.

If we needed more proof that this is a “nuclear week”—in the words of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday, as she announced small modular reactor funding while celebrating tech company investments in advanced reactors—the Department of Energy came through late yesterday when, just nine days after announcing six contracts for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) deconversion, it announced four contracts for HALEU enrichment services worth up to $2.7 billion. Those contracts are going to Centrus Energy’s American Centrifuge Operating subsidiary, General Matter, Orano Federal Services, and Urenco USA’s Louisiana Energy Services.