Leak-tightness test on deck for SRS mega unit

October 23, 2025, 3:00PMRadwaste Solutions
SDU 10, the fifth megavolume Saltstone Disposal Unit at SRS, is the target of an upcoming leak-tightness test. (Photo DOE)

The Savannah River Site in South Carolina will begin a leak-tightness test to qualify the megavolume Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 10 to store up to 33 million gallons of solidified, decontaminated salt solution produced at the site.

DOE’s latest fusion energy road map aims to bridge known gaps

October 17, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy introduced a Fusion Science & Technology (S&T) Roadmap on October 16 as a national “Build–Innovate–Grow” strategy to develop and commercialize fusion energy by the mid-2030s by aligning public investment and private innovation. Hailed by Darío Gil, the DOE’s new undersecretary for science, as bringing “unprecedented coordination across America's fusion enterprise” and advancing President Trump’s January 2025 executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” the road map echoes plans issued by the DOE’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) in 2023 and 2024, with a new emphasis on the convergence of AI and fusion.

The road map release coincided with other fusion energy events held this week in Washington, D.C., and beyond.

Deep Isolation asks states to include waste disposal in their nuclear strategy

October 16, 2025, 7:01AMRadwaste Solutions

Nuclear waste disposal technology company Deep Isolation is asking that the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) consider how spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste will be managed under its strategy for developing advanced nuclear power projects in participating states.

Radiant to build first microreactor at Tenn. Manhattan Project site

October 15, 2025, 7:01AMNuclear News

Radiant Industries will build its first portable nuclear reactor at the site of the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The land for Radiant’s new factory includes portions of the K-27 and K-29 Manhattan Project sites. The company plans to test Kaleidos, a 1-MW nuclear microreactor, in 2026, with first deployments expected soon after.

The current status of heat pipe R&D

October 10, 2025, 4:42PMNuclear NewsIlyas Yilgor, Mauricio Tano, Katrina Sweetland, Joshua Hansel, and Piyush Sabharwall
A high-temperature heat pipe glows during operation at ~800°C at INL’s SPHERE test facility. (Photo: INL)

Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy–sponsored Microreactor Program recently conducted a comprehensive phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) exercise aimed at advancing heat pipe technology for microreactor applications.

NNSA to use essential—but unpaid—workers to keep weapons stockpile safe if shutdown continues

October 10, 2025, 3:18PMNuclear News

On day 10 of the government shutdown, the National Nuclear Security Administration has yet to furlough workers, but a spokesperson said that could change if members of Congress don’t agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.

Should that be the case, the NNSA will resort to keeping only essential unpaid workers at some point if the government shutdown continues, an agency spokesperson told Nuclear Newswire.

Holtec pulls out of New Mexico SNF interim storage project

October 10, 2025, 7:01AMRadwaste Solutions
The location of Holtec’s proposed HI-STORE facility. (Image: Holtec)

Holtec International has confirmed it is canceling plans to build a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico. Named the HI-STORE CISF, the facility would have stored up to 10,000 canisters of commercial SNF on land owned by the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) near the towns of Carlsbad and Hobbs.

Leading the charge: INL’s role in advancing HALEU production

October 9, 2025, 10:30AMNuclear NewsDonna Kemp Spangler
INL researchers inspect a sample from the HALEU purification solvent extraction process. (Photo: INL)

Idaho National Laboratory is playing a key role in helping the U.S. Department of Energy meet near-­term needs by recovering HALEU from federal inventories, providing critical support to help lay the foundation for a future commercial HALEU supply chain. INL also supports coordination of broader DOE efforts, from material recovery at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to commercial enrichment initiatives.

DOE, NNSA open process to select energy suppliers for AI data centers

October 8, 2025, 12:03PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration issued requests for proposals last month, seeking plans from companies to build AI data centers at the Oak Ridge Reservation, the Savannah River Site, and Idaho National Laboratory.

Four companies picked for fast-tracked fuel fabrication

October 1, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News

The Department of Energy has fast-tracked its selections for the Fuel Line Pilot Program. Four companies—Oklo, Terrestrial Energy, TRISO-X, and Valar Atomics—were named September 30 as “conditional selections” for a “fast-track approach to commercial licensing,” bringing the total to five. The first company conditionally chosen for a DOE-authorized fuel fabrication facility—Standard Nuclear—was named less than three weeks after the program opened to applicants in July.

Oklo breaks ground at INL on Aurora reactor

September 29, 2025, 6:25AMNuclear News
Oklo employees alongside leaders from federal, state, and local government at the ground-breaking ceremony. (Photo: Oklo)

Following the same milestones from Aalo Atomics and Valar Atomics, Santa Clara, Calif.–based reactor start-up Oklo has become the third company participating in the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program to break ground on its fast-tracked project at Idaho National Laboratory.

Deep Isolation licenses its disposal technology to fed contractor Navarro

September 26, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
A prototype nuclear waste canister in the drillhole receptacle. (Photo: Deep Isolation)

Nuclear waste disposal technology company Deep Isolation Nuclear announced it has signed a technology licensing agreement with government contractor Navarro Research and Engineering, giving Navarro access to Deep Isolation’s portfolio of intellectual property for use in nuclear and hazardous waste management applications across the states of Tennessee and Idaho.

Centrus says Ohio stands to gain 300 jobs as enrichers await federal contracts

September 26, 2025, 7:01AMNuclear News
Centrus employees maneuver a cylinder at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. (Photo: Centrus Energy)

Centrus Energy announced a plan yesterday to add 300 new jobs at Centrus’s uranium enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio, “in advance of federal funding decisions.” The company envisions adding capacity for both low-enriched uranium and high-assay low-enriched uranium production at its American Centrifuge Plant, but the “size and scope” of public and private investment is “subject to being selected for funding by the U.S. Department of Energy.”

Orano to supply Zeno with Am-241 to power space missions

September 24, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News
Orano USA CEO Jean-Luc Palayer (middle) shakes hands with Zeno Power’s cofounder and CEO Tyler Bernstein (left) and Chief Commercialization Officer Harsh Desai. (Photo: Orano USA)

Zeno Power, a developer of nuclear batteries, is to receive americium-241 recovered from Orano’s La Hague nuclear fuel recycling site in Normandy, France, under a strategic agreement announced by the companies on September 24.

NEDHO: A conversation with Seungjin Kim

September 24, 2025, 12:10PMNuclear News

Kim

Recently, Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization Chair Seungjin Kim talked with Nuclear News about NEDHO’s current condition, governmental funding for NEDHO and university research, the impact of artificial intelligence and other technologies in the classroom, the influence of advanced reactors in nuclear engineering education, and other issues.

Kim, who is an ANS Fellow, is the Captain James F. McCarthy Jr. and Cheryl E. McCarthy Head of Nuclear Engineering at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind. He began his 2025–2026 term as NEDHO chair earlier this year. He took over from the previous chair, Sukesh Aghara, professor and director of the Nuclear and Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Massachusetts–Lowell.

Garrish is NE-1 and Williams leads the NNSA following Senate vote

September 19, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News

Williams

Garrish

Theodore “Ted” Garrish is the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy and Brandon Williams is the DOE’s undersecretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration following their confirmations yesterday by the U.S. Senate.

While awaiting confirmation, Garrish has been serving since January as senior advisor to Energy Secretary Chris Wright. He assumes the duties of NE-1 that Michael Goff has held as interim assistant secretary since Kathryn Huff stepped down from the NE-1 role in May 2024. The post of acting NNSA administrator has been held by Teresa Robbins since January 20; Jill Hruby held the post from 2021 to 2025.