FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) announced on February 27 that it has emerged from bankruptcy and officially taken the new name Energy Harbor Corporation. Originally the unregulated power generation arm of Akron, Ohio–based FirstEnergy Corporation, Energy Harbor remains headquartered in Akron but is no longer affiliated with FirstEnergy Corporation. The name chosen to represent the newly independent business was announced last November (NN, Jan. 2020, p. 16).

Following a comprehensive and open national consultation, the United Kingdom’s Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) organization on February 18 published its approach to evaluating possible sites in England and Wales for a deep geological disposal facility. A wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K. government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, RWM will be responsible for the siting, construction, operation, and eventual closure of a disposal facility for the United Kingdom’s high-­ and intermediate-­level radioactive waste.

Nuclear to see more time in the limelight. Here are seven hearings this week to keep on your radar:

• Tuesday, March 3, 9:30 am EST: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to examine the President's FY 2021 budget request for the Department of Energy. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette will provide testimony. To watch the hearing click here.

International Atomic Energy Agency member states operating or having previously operated a research reactor are responsible for the safe and sustainable management of associated radioactive waste, including research reactor spent nuclear fuel (RRSNF). Management includes storage and ultimate disposal of RRSNF, or the corresponding equivalent waste generated and returned following reprocessing of the spent fuel. Currently, there are 259 research reactors operating, planned, or under construction around the world [1]. An additional 147 research reactors are in extended or permanent shutdown, or under decommissioning.

One key challenge to developing general recommendations for RRSNF management options lies in the diversity of spent fuel types, locations, and national or regional circumstances, rather than mass or volume alone, particularly since typical RRSNF inventories are relatively small. Currently, many countries lack an effective long-term strategy for managing RRSNF. Many research reactor organizations know they have responsibility for the spent fuel, however, they do not know how to decide among multiple options for its management. A methodical review and compilation of technology options for RRSNF management is needed.

Our ANS Nuclear Cafe matinee feature this week is a fascinating in-depth look at the fabrication of major components for, and the construction of, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station. In this film you’ll get to see some very interesting, rarely seen things; I will add some comments above and beyond what’s described in the film below.

Certificates commemorating 25 or 50 years of ANS membership are being delivered to the members listed below. The Gold certificate recipients are celebrating 50 years of ANS membership in 2020, having joined in 1970. The Silver certificate recipients, who joined ANS in 1995, have maintained ANS membership for 25 years.

ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy offered ANS members an update on Change Plan 2020 on February 24. If you missed the live webinar, you can visit the ANS Member Center to view it now.

Yesterday afternoon Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette testified on the proposed FY2021 DOE budget before the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development (EWD). You can view the hearing here. Secretary Brouillette's next stop with the budget request will be before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee on March 3.

The gel is applied to an area (left), where it is allowed to work for two to three hours before being removed. The final activity of the cleaned area (right) was counted using HPGe and Ludlum alpha/beta radiation detectors. Photos courtesy of ANL.

Current techniques for radiological decontamination often involve debasing or demolishing structures to contain contaminated dust and haul debris away. This is a costly method of decontaminating buildings and structures. If, however, effective nondestructive methods can be found, significant savings are possible. One such method, based on new research from engineers at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill., is now available.

The American Nuclear Society was formally accepted as a Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy Future (NICE Future) initiative partner organization in January, joining ten countries and 14 partner organizations to direct the global conversation about the roles nuclear energy can play in clean energy systems of the future.

The ANS Standards Committee has just published ANSI/ANS-19.6.1-2019, “Reload Startup Physics Tests for Pressurized Water Reactors” (revision of ANS-19.6.1-2011). The standard, approved December 19, 2019, provides guidance for verifying the nuclear characteristics of a commercial pressurized water reactor core following a refueling or other alteration of the reactor core for which nuclear design calculations are required. The standard provides the minimum acceptable startup physics test program, while recognizing that additional tests may be required by special design features of a particular core.

This week I had some considerable interaction on social media in the area of replacing fossil power at existing sites with micro reactors or SMR’s (Small Modular Reactors.) As we see real progress happening now in these exciting reactor fields (NuScale and Oklo come to mind first, but there are others!) I’d like to share five things to think about as we begin to seriously consider replacing fossil power (coal, oil) at particular sites with nuclear.

NextEra Energy announced on February 11 that its bid to buy South Carolina’s public utility, Santee Cooper, is the “recommended purchase proposal” following a formal bid invitation called for by the state’s General Assembly in May 2019 (NN, June 2019, p. 9). Competing with NextEra’s purchase offer is a reform plan put forward by Santee Cooper in an attempt to avoid a sale as the utility continues to grapple with the failed Summer-­2 and -­3 nuclear construction project and the $3.6 billion in debt incurred before the project was halted in July 2017.

A report from the South Carolina Department of Administration published on February 11 outlined the competing plans and factors that the General Assembly may want to take into consideration as it mulls the plans. A third option, a proposal by Dominion Energy to take over the management, but not the ownership, of Santee Cooper was also evaluated.

A study released by Energy Northwest on January 30 concludes that more and different electricity sources, including nuclear, will be needed to maintain energy reliability and achieve a carbon-­free energy system in the state of Washington by 2045. The study used published conservation and efficiency projections and costs and examined the value of creating additional solar and wind facilities, as well as extending the operation of the Columbia nuclear power plant beyond 2043 and deploying small modular reactors.

“Completing this study is simply the first step in a much larger decision-­making process,” said Brad Sawatzke, Energy Northwest’s chief executive officer. “Any decision to invest in new resources will take time and will only be done in the best interest of our member utilities, the people of Washington, and, of course, the environment.”

The Department of Energy was directed by the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act of 2017 to establish the Advanced Reactor Demonstration (ARD) Program to stimulate commercial enterprises in advanced reactor deployment and facilitate U.S. private industry’s demonstration of several advanced reactors with the capability to achieve reliable, cost-­effective, and licensable designs. The ARD program was launched on February 5 with a request for information (RFI) and notice of intent (NOI) issued by the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Office of Reactor Fleet and Advanced Reactor Deployment.

Vogtle Unit 3 (at left) is scheduled to begin operation in November 2021, one year ahead of Unit 4. Photo: Georgia Power

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced an opportunity to request an adjudicatory hearing regarding Southern Nuclear’s notice of intended operation of Unit 3 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant, located in Waynesboro, Ga. The announcement was prompted by a January 13 letter from Southern Nuclear notifying the NRC of its scheduled date of November 23, 2020, for initial fuel loading at the reactor. As required under 10 CFR 52.103(a), the notification was made more than 270 days prior to the scheduled fuel load.

A combined license was issued for Vogtle-­3 and -­4, Westinghouse-­designed AP1000 pressurized water reactors, in February 2012. The license covers both construction and operation after construction is completed if standards—known as inspections, tests, analyses, and acceptance criteria (ITAAC)—identified in the combined license are satisfied. Operation will not be permitted until the NRC staff finds that all ITAACs have been met. However, if a hearing request is granted, the NRC can allow interim operation, given reasonable assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety while the adjudicatory hearing is carried out.

Our ANS Nuclear Cafe Friday Matinee feature this week is a film produced to detail the United States Army’s nuclear power program; it was archived and then put online by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore.

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The U.S. Energy Information Administration is projecting that U.S. electricity generation from nuclear power will most likely decline from its 2019 share of about 20 percent to 12 percent by 2050. In addition, the agency sees generation from coal declining by 11 percent, from 24 percent to 13 percent.

According to the EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2020, released in late January, nuclear and coal will experience a substantial falloff over the next few years—the result of slow load growth and the increasing electricity production from renewables, which is expected to grow from 19 percent to 38 percent over the next 30 years—but will then plateau to collectively provide about 25 percent of the nation’s electricity through the century’s midpoint.