Concept art of Thorcon’s transportable MSR plant. (Image: Thorcon International)
Thorcon International has received official approval from BAPETEN, Indonesia’s nuclear regulator, for a site evaluation plan and site evaluation management system plan for the country’s Kelasa location. According to Thorcon, it is the first-ever nuclear power plant–related licensing approval from the Indonesian government, and it marks the completion of the first step of the company’s nuclear power plant licensing campaign in the country.
The Quad Cities nuclear power plant. (Photo: Constellation)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has sent a confirmatory order to Constellation Energy Generation outlining the agreed-on actions to address apparent violations of agency requirements at Quad Cities nuclear power plant in Cordova, Ill. The corrective and preventive actions are based on a June neutral party–mediated alternative dispute resolution (ADR) session that had been requested by Constellation to help it and agency decide on steps forward.
This Oak Brook, Ill., location will be a demonstration and office facility for Nano Nuclear’s Kronos MMR project. (Photo: Nano Nuclear)
The Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative at the University of South Carolina–Aiken. (PHOTO: SRNL)
Energy Secretary Chris Wright will attend the opening of the Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative in Aiken, S.C., on August 7. Wright will deliver remarks and join Savannah River National Laboratory leadership and partners for a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Scale model of the Pele transportable microreactor. (Image: BWXT)
Fabrication of the reactor core for the 1.5-MW Project Pele demonstration microreactor has begun, according to BWX Technologies. Pele is being developed at the BWXT Innovation Campus in Lynchburg, Va., for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Strategic Capabilities Office.
Chris Wagner, chief executive officer of Eden Radioisotopes.
Inset: Fission Mo-99 process. (Images: Eden)
Chris Wagner has more than 40 years of experience in nuclear medicine, beginning as a clinical practitioner before moving into leadership roles at companies like Mallinckrodt (now Curium) and Nordion. His knowledge of both the clinical and the manufacturing sides of nuclear medicine laid the groundwork for helping to found Eden Radioisotopes, a start-up venture that intends to make diagnostic and therapeutic raw material medical isotopes like molybdenum-99 and lutetium-177.
Diagram showing the structure of Lightbridge Fuel. (Image: Lightbridge)
Lightbridge Corporation has fabricated samples of nuclear fuel materials made of an enriched uranium-zirconium alloy, matching the composition of the alloy that the company intends to use for its future commercial Lightbridge Fuel product. The fuel is designed to improve the performance, safety, and proliferation resistance of nuclear reactors, according to the company. The enriched coupon samples will now be placed into capsules for irradiation testing in Idaho National Laboratory’s Advanced Test Reactor.
The new carriers for the HFIR spent fuel have a thinner bail made of a more easily dissolvable alloy than the previously used bail. (Photo: DOE)
Employees at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina have demonstrated their resourcefulness and capabilities by implementing a newly created carrier to transport spent nuclear fuel, reducing the time needed to process the material for permanent disposal in coming years.
Workers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers perform gamma walkover surveys along Coldwater Creek near St. Louis, Mo. (Photo: USACE)
A study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association claims to have found an increased rate of cancer for people who grew up living close to Coldwater Creek near St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri.
July 31, 2025, 12:06PMANS NewsGeoffrey Rothwell Left: noted economist Milton Friedman (left) presented the “best graduate
student paper” prize from the Western Economics Association to Rothwell in 1984. Right: Rothwell in 2018, the year of his retirement.
When I was 10, in October 1963, my family moved to Richland, Wash., so that my father could work for Vitro-Hanford Engineering Services, later for Bechtel, on the design of the Fast Flux Test Facility. I was a “new” kid throughout my excellent education in the Richland School District. It was the mid-1960s, and I wanted to be a rocket scientist or aerospace engineer. I took all the math and science that Richland High School (RHS) had to offer. What struck me during our tour of Hanford’s N-reactor with my physics class was the loudness of the steam turbine room compared to the hydro turbine rooms in the dams along the Columbia River. I am now establishing a residence on Columbia Point Drive in Richland.
N.S. Savannah, the first commercial nuclear-powered cargo vessel, en route to the World’s Fair in Seattle in 1962. (Photo: U.S. National Archives)
The world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, the NS Savannah, will have a public site visit in Baltimore, Md., on Saturday, August 23.
To register for the event and find up-to-date details on the event’s address, time, and more, click here.