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)
Artist’s concept of Fermi America’s planned power and data center campus. (Image: Fermi America)
Texas Tech University and Fermi America shared plans on June 26 to build “the world’s largest advanced energy and artificial intelligence campus” in Amarillo, Texas, near the Pantex nuclear weapons plant. Fermi America is a company cofounded by former Texas governor and energy secretary Rick Perry and his son, Griffin Perry, a cofounder and past senior advisor at Grey Rock Investment Partners. The announcement—a first press release from relative newcomer Fermi America—says the company “proudly answers President Donald J. Trump’s call to deliver global energy and AI dominance.”
Clockwise from top left: Calutron operators at their panels in the Y-12 plant at Oak Ridge, Tenn., the USS Nautilus SSN571, women working in a factory of the United States Radium Corporation, and the front face of the B Reactor at the Hanford site.
There is a critical knowledge gap regarding the health consequences of exposure to radiation received gradually over time. While there is a plethora of studies on the risks of adverse outcomes from both acute and high-dose exposures, including the landmark study of atomic bomb survivors, these are not characteristic of the chronic exposure to low-dose radiation encountered in occupational and public settings. In addition, smaller cohorts have limited numbers leading to reduced statistical power.