The year in review 2020: Waste ManagementRadwaste SolutionsWaste ManagementJanuary 8, 2021, 2:50PM|Radwaste Solutions StaffHere is a look back at the top stories of 2020 from our Waste Management section in Newswire and Nuclear News magazine. Remember to check back to Newswire soon for more top stories from 2020.Waste Management sectionFirst-ever cleanup of uranium enrichment plant celebrated at Oak Ridge: The completion of the decades-long effort to clean up the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant was celebrated on October 13, with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette joining U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, and other state and community leaders at the East Tennessee Technology Park, where the uranium enrichment complex once stood. Read more.ExpandTags:bwxtcoviddan brouillettedoeeast tennessee technology parkfederal registerfluorhanfordllwnnsanrcnuclear wasteoak ridge gaseous diffusion plantsalt waste processing facilitysavannah river sitesurplus plutonium disposition programShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Five advanced reactor designs get DOE risk reduction fundingNuclear NewsResearch & ApplicationsDecember 16, 2020, 3:00PM|Nuclear News StaffThe Department of Energy today announced $30 million in initial fiscal year 2020 funding—with the expectation of more over the next seven years—for five companies selected for risk reduction for future demonstration projects. The chosen reactor designs from Kairos Power, Westinghouse, BWX Technologies, Holtec, and Southern Company collectively represent a range of coolants, fuel forms, and sizes—from tiny microreactors to a molten salt reactor topping 1,000 MWe. They were selected for cost-shared partnerships under the Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) through a funding opportunity announcement issued in May 2020.“All of these projects will put the U.S. on an accelerated timeline to domestically and globally deploy advanced nuclear reactors that will enhance safety and be affordable to construct and operate,” said Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette. “Taking leadership in advanced technology is so important to the country’s future, because nuclear energy plays such a key role in our clean energy strategy.”ExpandTags:advanced reactorsardpbwxtdoedoe-neholteckairos powerrisk reductionsouthern companywestinghouseShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
BWXT restarts TRISO fuel manufacturingNuclear NewsFuelNovember 12, 2020, 9:39AM|Nuclear News StaffBWX Technologies Inc. announced on November 10 that its BWXT Nuclear Operations Group Inc. (BWXT NOG) subsidiary has completed its TRISO nuclear fuel line restart project and is actively producing fuel at its Lynchburg, Va., facility.With the restart, BWXT now manufactures fuel across four commercial and government business lines, the company said. In addition to the TRISO line, BWXT operates fuel production lines at BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada, manufacturer of approximately half of the fuel powering the commercial reactor fleet in Ontario, Canada; BWXT subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services, sole provider of nuclear fuel for the U.S. Navy; and BWXT’s Uranium Processing and Research Reactors operation, the only North American supplier of research reactor fuel elements for colleges, universities, and national laboratories.ExpandTags:bwxtidaho national laboratoryoak ridge national laboratorytransformational challenge reactortrisoShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Nuclear tech in space: What’s on the horizon?Nuclear NewsResearch & ApplicationsNovember 4, 2020, 12:12PM|Nuclear News StaffIllustration of a Mars transit habitat and nuclear electric propulsion system. Image: NASANASA aims to develop nuclear technologies for two space applications: propulsion and surface power. Both can make planned NASA missions to the moon more agile and more ambitious, and both are being developed with future crewed missions to Mars in mind. Like advanced reactors here on Earth, space nuclear technologies have an accelerated timeline for deployment in this decade.Space nuclear propulsion and extraterrestrial surface power are getting funding and attention. New industry solicitations are expected this month, and a range of proposed reactor technologies could meet NASA’s specifications for nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP). Nuclear electric propulsion could increase the feasibility of crewed missions to Mars with a shorter transit time, a broader launch window and more flexibility to abort missions, reduced astronaut exposure to space radiation and other hazards, expanded payload mass capabilities, and reduced cost.ExpandTags:amabwxtgeneral atomicsnasanuclear thermal propulsionspaceultra safe nuclearx-energyShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Progress being made toward Mo-99 production at DarlingtonNuclear NewsResearch & ApplicationsSeptember 29, 2020, 12:25PM|Nuclear News StaffDarlington nuclear generating station. Photo: OPGOntario Power Generation, its subsidiary Laurentis Energy Partners, and BWXT ITG Canada and its affiliates announced on September 24 that the companies are making “significant progress” toward the production of molybdenum-99 at OPG’s Darlington nuclear power plant. Darlington will become the first commercial operating nuclear reactor to produce the medical radioisotope.A precursor to technetium-99m, Mo-99 is used in more than 40 million procedures a year to detect cancers and diagnose various medical conditions.ExpandTags:bwxtdarlingtonlaurentismo-99opgradioisotopesShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
BWXT awarded contract to expand TRISO production lineNuclear NewsJuly 7, 2020, 2:07PM|Nuclear News StaffBWX Technologies has signed a $26-million, 20-month contract to expand and upgrade its TRISO fuel manufacturing line. The recently announced deal, awarded by Idaho National Laboratory, calls for the expansion of BWXT’s capacity for the manufacture of TRISO fuel compacts and the upgrading of existing systems for delivering production-scale quantities of TRISO fuel.ExpandTags:bwxtdoefuelinlnasatrisoShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Framatome acquires BWXT’s U.S. nuclear servicesNuclear NewsJune 4, 2020, 10:48AM|Nuclear News StaffFramatome has completed its acquisition of BWX Technologies’ U.S. commercial nuclear services business, the France-based company announced on June 2. With this transaction, the company said, Framatome expands its portfolio of equipment and tooling for nuclear power plant inspections and maintenance.BWXT will receive an 118,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and the associated 11 acres of land from Framatome in the cashless exchange. ExpandTags:business developmentsbwxtframatomeindustryShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
DOE awards $13-billion tank closure contractRadwaste SolutionsWaste ManagementMay 26, 2020, 9:10AM|Radwaste Solutions StaffThe Department of Energy has awarded a $13-billion tank closure contract for services at its Hanford Site, near Richland, Wash. The 10-year contract was awarded on May 14 to Hanford Works Restoration, a joint venture of BWXT Technologies and Fluor Corporation that also includes DBD and INTERA, two preselected small businesses that provide specialized modeling and regulatory expertise, respectively.Hanford Works Restoration will take over from Hanford’s current tank waste contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), whose contract expires at the end of September. The WRPS contract includes a clause that allows the DOE to end the contract earlier to align with a 60-day transition to the new contract.ExpandTags:bwxtdoefluorhanfordtank wastewaste managementwrpsShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
BWXT makes progress on TRISO production restartNuclear NewsResearch & ApplicationsMay 4, 2020, 4:38PM|Nuclear News StaffBWX Technologies has announced the successful formation and sintering of uranium oxycarbide (UCO) fuel kernels that, once coated, will make up the fissile core of TRISO (tristructural isotropic) fuel particles. With that process demonstrated, BWXT has shifted the focus of its TRISO production restart to bringing two more furnaces online—an additional sintering furnace, used to apply heat and pressure to a solid fuel kernel, and a coating furnace. ExpandTags:bwxtcovid-19fueltrisoShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Defense Department invests in three microreactor designsBWX Technologies, Westinghouse, and X-energy will have two years for design engineering before one mobile reactor could qualify for demonstration.Nuclear NewsPower & OperationsMarch 16, 2020, 11:16AM|Nuclear News StaffThree reactor developers got a boost on March 9 when they were each awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to design a reactor that can fit inside a standard shipping container for military deployment. The DOD’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), in partnership with the Department of Energy, proposes to build and demonstrate a 1–10 MWe reactor within four years that, if successful, could be widely deployed to support the DOD’s domestic and operational energy demands.Go to ArticleTags:bwxtdodmicroreactorswestinghousex-energyShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
FeatureThe promise of nuclear thermal propulsionBWXT is using advances in manufacturing and fuel to power exciting technologyNuclear NewsResearch & ApplicationsMarch 11, 2020, 12:19PM|Jud SimmonsThe United States is pursuing the objective to land humans more than 100 million miles away on Mars, and nuclear power has the potential to be a key technology in getting to the Red Planet and providing power while there. Specifically, nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) is a promising approach that could enable astronauts to travel from Earth’s orbit to Mars and back in a fraction of the time, and with greater safety, than is available with other options.Go to ArticleTags:bwxtfuel cyclenasantpnuclear thermal propulsionShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook
Why Nuclear is an Emerging Technology for the Space EconomyANS Nuclear CafeFebruary 6, 2019, 2:42PM|Dr. Christopher MorrisonNuclear energy has played a key supporting role in historic missions to Mars, Pluto, and across the Solar System for the last 50 years. On January 1 2019, the nuclear-powered New Horizons flew by the most distant object ever observed up close - Ultima Thule, after it having already flown by Pluto in 2015.Go to ArticleTags:aerospaceamerican nuclear societyastronautsauthorsboeingbwxtcareers in nuclearcuriositydr. christopher morrisoneartheducationelon muskengineeringjeff bezoskilopowernasanervanetsnuclear emerging technology for space conference (nets)public policyradioisotope thermal generatorrtgspace applicationsspacexvoyagerShare:LinkedInTwitterFacebook