Test reactor fuel fabrication will be fast-tracked by DOE under new pilot program

July 21, 2025, 12:12PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy has announced a program to accelerate nuclear fuel fabrication for new test reactors. The Fuel Line Pilot Program would see the DOE approve facilities developed by U.S. companies to produce the fuel needed for test reactors the DOE expects to authorize under the Reactor Pilot Program announced in June. Like the reactors they’re meant to fuel, the fabrication facilities would be built on sites outside the DOE’s national laboratories but authorized by the DOE under “a fast-tracked approach to enable future commercial licensing activities for potential applicants.”

House Oversight Committee schedules hearing on nuclear energy

July 21, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News

Burlison

Rep. Eric Burlison (R., Mo.), the chairman of the U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, has announced a hearing on “The New Atomic Age: Advancing America’s Energy Future.”

The hearing will take place on Tuesday, July 22, at 1:00 pm (ET). Witnesses include Alex Epstein, president and founder of the Center for Industrial Progress, and Joshua Smith, energy policy lead at the Abundance Institute.

Details: According to the chairman’s office, the hearing will explore recent developments in nuclear energy technology, the commercial viability of advanced reactors, supply chain challenges, and policy pathways for Congress to strengthen nuclear power in the United States.

IAEA launches infographic design contest on nuclear preparedness and response

July 21, 2025, 7:03AMNuclear News

The International Atomic Energy Agency has launched an infographic design contest for young professionals aged 18 to 35 to raise awareness about emergency preparedness and response (EPR) in nuclear and radiological contexts.

Contest guidelines and terms can be found here.

The RAIN scale: A good intention that falls short

July 18, 2025, 3:28PMNuclear NewsAmir A. Bahadori

Radiation protection specialists agree that clear communication of radiation risks remains a vexing challenge that cannot be solved solely by finding new ways to convey technical information.

Earlier this year, an article in Nuclear News described a new radiation risk communication tool, known as the Radiation Index, or, RAIN (“Let it RAIN: A new approach to radiation communication,” NN, Jan. 2025, p. 36). The authors of the article created the RAIN scale to improve radiation risk communication to the general public who are not well-versed in important aspects of radiation exposures, including radiation dose quantities, units, and values; associated health consequences; and the benefits derived from radiation exposures.

DOE tests new sealing system for spent fuel canisters

July 18, 2025, 12:04PMRadwaste Solutions
Team members and the new closure welding system that seals canisters containing spent fuel. (Photo: DOE)

Teams from the Department of Energy’s Offices of Environmental Management and Nuclear Energy recently collaborated on the Road Ready Demonstration Project by testing new equipment to seal spent nuclear fuel into a safe and transportable system for future shipments out of Idaho.

Kairos project moves ahead at Oak Ridge

July 18, 2025, 9:29AMNuclear News
The ETU 3.0 reactor vessel was lowered into position using construction cranes and mounted on a support structure attached to the building’s foundation. (Photo: Kairos Power)

A reactor vessel has been installed by Kairos Power for its third Engineering Test Unit (ETU 3.0) at the company’s campus in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

INL to use Microsoft’s AI to streamline nuclear licensing

July 18, 2025, 7:08AMNuclear News
Image: INL

The Idaho National Laboratory has announced that it will collaborate with Microsoft on the use of artificial intelligence technologies to streamline the nuclear permitting and licensing application process. Using Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform, INL will generate the engineering and safety analysis reports that are required to be submitted for construction permits and operating licenses for nuclear power plants.

A big day for nuclear at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit

July 17, 2025, 12:35PMNuclear News
The president and government officials at the meeting. (Photo: EPA)

Representatives across all levels of Pennsylvania government convened at Carnegie Mellon University on July 15 with investors and key leaders in the energy community at the behest of Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.).

NRC confronts “unprecedented position”

July 17, 2025, 7:01AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which currently has three serving commissioners and—according to recent media reports—a detailee from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is accelerating licensing timelines to meet the requirements of President Trump’s May 23 Executive Order 14300, “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,” and the ADVANCE Act. On top of that, the agency is preparing for an anticipated rush of applications while dealing with a reduced workforce.

Nuclear energy for maritime shipping and coastal applications

July 16, 2025, 3:01PMNuclear News

The Boston-based Deon Policy Institute has published a white paper that examines the applications of nuclear energy in the maritime sector—specifically, floating nuclear power plants and nuclear propulsion for commercial vessels. Topics covered include available technologies, preliminary cost estimates, and a status update on the regulatory framework.

Unique opportunity: The paper points out that nuclear energy has the potential to benefit the shipping industry with high energy efficiency, lower operating costs, and zero carbon emissions. The report has a special focus on Greece, a nation that controls about 20 percent of the global commercial fleet and thus has an opportunity to take a leading role in the transition to nuclear-powered shipping.

ANS seeks program evaluators for ABET accreditation

July 16, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News

When ABET visits universities for accreditation purposes, it’s crucial that a qualified nuclear expert performs the assessment of that school’s nuclear engineering, radiological engineering, and/or health physics programs. The Accreditation Policies and Procedures Committee (APPC) of the American Nuclear Society works to ensure that a program evaluator (PEV) from the Society leads these ABET assessments.

UM conducts molten salt experiment

July 16, 2025, 9:46AMNuclear News
A schematic diagram of the Shaft Seal Test Facility. (Image: NERS)

For 2,300 hours, the molten salt pump Shaft Seal Test Facility (SSTF) operated at the University of Michigan’s Thermal Hydraulics Laboratory, according to an article from UM. The large-scale experiment was designed to evaluate shaft seal performance in high-temperature pump systems. Fewer than 10 facilities worldwide have successfully operated fluoride or chloride salts for more than 100 hours using over 10 kilograms of material.

Trinity Test at 80: American Nuclear Society CEO Craig Piercy reflects on the Manhattan Project

July 16, 2025, 7:02AMANS NewsCraig Piercy

By Craig H. Piercy, CEO and Executive Director of the American Nuclear Society

Eighty years ago today, at exactly 5:29:45 a.m. local time* on July 16, 1945, the United States Army detonated the world’s first nuclear bomb in the Jornada del Muerto desert of southern New Mexico. The searing flash and thunderous shockwave marked the culmination of the Manhattan Project, a secret, three-year national effort to harness nuclear fission and hasten the end of the Second World War.

The Trinity Test, overseen by Manhattan Project director Major General Leslie Groves and Los Alamos Laboratory director Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, was the final act of that race to build the atomic bomb. Hoisted atop a 100-foot steel tower, the plutonium implosion device, known as the Gadget, unleashed a blast equal to 21,000 tons of TNT and temperatures hotter than the center of the sun.

From ten miles away, observers wearing darkened welder goggles looked on in stunned silence. “We knew the world would not be the same,” recalled Oppenheimer.

Remembering ANS member Gil Brown

July 15, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News

Brown

The nuclear community is mourning the loss of Gilbert Brown, who passed away on July 11 at the age of 77 following a battle with cancer.

Brown, an American Nuclear Society Fellow and an ANS member for nearly 50 years, joined the faculty at Lowell Technological Institute—now the University of Massachusetts–Lowell—in 1973 and remained there for the rest of his career. He eventually became director of the UMass Lowell nuclear engineering program. After his retirement, he remained an emeritus professor at the university.

Sukesh Aghara, chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization, noted in an email to NEDHO members and others that “Gil was a relentless advocate for nuclear energy and a deeply respected member of our professional community. He was also a kind and generous friend—and one of the reasons I ended up at UMass Lowell. He served the university with great dedication. . . . Within NEDHO, Gil was a steady presence and served for many years as our treasurer. His contributions to nuclear engineering education and to this community will be dearly missed.”

Inkjet droplets of radioactive material enable quick, precise testing at NIST

July 15, 2025, 12:06PMNuclear News
Close-up of a superconducting sensor board containing multiple transition-edge sensors (top row of squares), which detect energy released by individual radioactive decay events. (Photo: M. Carlson/NIST)

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a technique called cryogenic decay energy spectrometry capable of detecting single radioactive decay events from tiny material samples and simultaneously identifying the atoms involved. In time, the technology could replace characterization tasks that have taken months and could support rapid, accurate radiopharmaceutical development and used nuclear fuel recycling, according to an article published on July 8 by NIST.

NRC dockets TVA’s Clinch River construction application

July 15, 2025, 7:00AMNuclear News
A rendering of the Clinch River SMR. (Image: TVA)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review the Tennessee Valley Authority’s construction permit application for a BWRX-300 small modular reactor at its Clinch River site in Tennessee. The NRC expects to complete its review by December 2026.

Joint NEA project performs high-burnup test

July 14, 2025, 3:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe
A commercially irradiated, refabricated test rod in an INL hot cell. (Photo: INL)

An article in the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s July news bulletin noted that a first test has been completed for the High Burnup Experiments in Reactivity Initiated Accident (HERA) project. The project aim is to understand the performance of light water reactor fuel at high burnup under reactivity-initiated accidents (RIA).