About three million packages containing radioactive material are transported in the United States every year, and multiple federal agencies work together to ensure the shipments are safe. While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission addresses the design and use of packaging, for example, the Department of Transportation oversees shipments.

Amidst growing prominence of microreactors and other nuclear technologies, the NRC has issued a proposed rule to address how to safely transport new nuclear reactors and their associated radioactive material.

Nuclear fuel manufacturer Standard Nuclear is describing “construction and regulatory approval milestones” for two TRISO fuel production facilities that are both under construction. The company reports that construction is “substantially complete” for both the SN-TN (in Tennessee) and SN-ID (in Idaho) sites and that the Department of Energy has approved the preliminary documented safety analyses (PDSAs) for both facilities.

Standard Nuclear is participating in the DOE’s Fuel Line Pilot Program and Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, and is also among the companies receiving HALEU from the DOE for use in their fuel production or reactor programs.

X-energy subsidiary TRISO-X has received an economic development grant valued at $11 million from Tennessee’s Nuclear Energy Supply Chain Investment Fund, which was established in 2023 to “support nuclear energy business investment, workforce development programs, and site development across Tennessee.” The grant will be used for the ongoing construction of TRISO-X’s fuel fabrication campus at the Horizon Center Industrial Park in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

In the span of just over a week in late June and early July, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission published three proposed rules on modernizing security requirements, low-level radioactive waste disposal requirements, and fuel cycle and materials licensing.

This week, NRC staff led separate virtual public information meetings on each of the proposed rules, providing details to the public on what each one would change.

Responding to several executive orders and the ADVANCE Act of 2024, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing to modernize its fuel cycle and materials licensing requirements by amending its regulations for byproduct, source, and special nuclear material.

According to the agency, the sweeping regulatory changes are deregulatory in nature and aimed at accelerating the deployment of next-generation nuclear technologies with a streamlined licensing pathway for nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities and updated requirements for advanced reactor fuels.

Oklo announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Standard Nuclear to explore commercial collaboration on nuclear fuel recycling and advanced fuel manufacturing. According to Oklo, the collaboration with TRISO fuel fabricator Standard Nuclear represents the company’s first third-party offtake pathway for recycled nuclear materials, including surplus U.S. plutonium.

Molten salt reactor developer Natura Resources announced that it has entered into a formal agreement with New York–based start-up Quadrant Nuclear Industries to receive high-assay low-enriched uranium for Natura’s commercial reactor systems.

Officials with the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management discussed spent nuclear fuel recycling and conditioning with counterparts from Japan during the 13th U.S.-Japan Technical Meeting of the Civil Nuclear Energy Research and Development Working Group, held recently in Santa Fe, N.M.

Nuclear power currently appears to have the wind at its back, with growing demand for clean, reliable energy from industry (think data centers) and strong political support for new projects. But getting there still will require a lot of pieces to yet fall into place. It is, as American Nuclear Society CEO Craig Piercy said, a “chicken and egg” problem: Which comes first, the fuel to supply new reactors or the reactors that will create a demand for new fuel?

Washington, D.C.-based Curio announced yesterday that it has submitted a letter of intent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to establish a docket for preapplication engagement activities and ultimately the submittal and review of a license application to operate a spent nuclear fuel recycling production facility.

Once a docket is established, Curio will develop a license application to meet all applicable regulations for a nuclear fuel recycling facility under 10 CFR Part 70.

Nuclear start-ups Oklo and Flibe Energy both announced this week that they have been selected by the Department of Energy for advanced negotiations under the department’s Surplus Plutonium Utilization Program, which aims to make surplus U.S. plutonium available to the nuclear industry for advanced reactor fuels.

According to multiple reports, three other companies—Exodys Energy, Shine Technologies, and Standard Nuclear—have also been selected for advanced negotiations under the program, which is being led by the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced last week that it has transferred 1.7 metric tons of high-assay low-enriched uranium from Japan to the United States.

Framatome announced this week that its nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in Richland, Wash., has received Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for a license amendment supporting fabrication of nuclear fuel with enrichment levels above 5 percent uranium-235, with manufacturing scheduled to begin in 2027.

Ur-Energy Inc. announced last week that it has begun in situ recovery (ISR) operations at its Shirley Basin uranium mining site in central Wyoming.

The company, which also operates the Lost Creek ISR project in south-central Wyoming, decided to begin construction at Shirley Basin after making a “go” decision in March 2024. It has said that the combined total annual licensed production and toll processing capacity of Lost Creek and Shirley Basin is 4.2 million pounds U₃O₈.

The U.S Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, through its Defense Production Act (DPA) Nuclear Fuel Cycle Consortium, has begun a new initiative aimed at securing the nation’s nuclear fuel supply chain.

Recent years have seen growing global interest in nuclear energy and rising confidence in the sector. For the first time since the early 2000s, there is renewed optimism about the industry’s future. This change is driven by several major factors: geopolitical developments that highlight the need for secure energy supplies, a stronger focus on resilient energy systems, national commitments to decarbonization, and rising demand for clean and reliable electricity.

American enrichment start-up General Matter is to export nuclear fuel to Japan and South Korea, backed by up to $4.2 billion in potential debt financing from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM).

The Department of Energy is set to expand on its Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program by introducing the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, a DOE-led program to integrate the authorization, testing, and operation of reactors and fuel facilities from private nuclear developers. Furthermore, it will include two pathways—Launch Pad INL and Launch Pad USA—with options to access Idaho National Laboratory land or other sites around the nation.

The DOE plans to transition future pilot program applicants to the new Launch Pad model. Application requirements and review criteria will mirror those used in the reactor and fuel line pilot programs, and projects already in those programs will transition to Launch Pad with no need to reapply.

Over the past two weeks, Argonne National Laboratory has announced numerous significant advancements being made by its staff to push forward nuclear fuels and materials research. Those announcements include the opening of the new Activated Materials Lab, the development of a new measurement technique, and the application of new artificial intelligence tools.

Nuclear Transport Solutions and Westinghouse have signed a strategic agreement to codevelop NTS’s Pegasus—a transport package for high-assay, low-enriched uranium fuel.

The companies signed the agreement at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., on January 22, taking what Westinghouse called “an important step in making HALEU available to enable advanced nuclear energy in the U.S. and UK.”