Rendering of a floating nuclear power plant concept, in foreground. (Image: American Bureau of Shipping/Herbert)
On April 22, 1959, Rear Admiral George J. King, superintendent of the Maine Maritime Academy, announced that following the completion of the 1960 training cruise, cadets would begin the study of nuclear engineering. Courses at that time included radiation physics, reactor control and instrumentation, reactor theory and engineering, thermodynamics, shielding, core design, reactor maintenance, and nuclear aspects.
August 22, 2025, 9:35AMNuclear NewsHash Hashemian and Ken Rueter A view of the East Tennessee Technology Park after core cleanup was completed. (Photo: DOE)
ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy’s reflection on the 80th anniversary of the Trinity Test (Nuclear Newswire, July 16) was a thoughtful and fitting remembrance of the achievements and legacy of the World War II generation of nuclear pioneers. We also see legacy environmental cleanup as a vital next step as our industry launches what Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has defined as “Manhattan Project 2.0.”
GRETA will use multiple germanium crystals to track gamma rays emitted from nuclear decays. Pictured here are 24 of the 120 crystals in 6 modules. (Credit: Robinson Kuntz/Berkeley Lab)
Researchers announced earlier this month that they have completed major construction of the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array (GRETA), a precision tool for gamma ray spectroscopy that, according to Paul Fallon, a researcher at University of California–Berkeley and GRETA’s project director, will be 10 to 100 times more sensitive than previous nuclear science experiments. Fallon was quoted in an August 8 article published by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)—where GRETA’s project leaders are based and GRETA was assembled.
Donald Ainscow, ASP Isotopes executive vice president; Paul Mann, ASP Isotopes chairman and CEO; Mesut Uzman, Fermi America's chief nuclear construction officer; and Ryno Pretorius, Quantum Leap Energy CEO.
Since Texas Tech University and Fermi America made a big splash unveiling their plans for the Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus in June, news has been quiet.
At the time, the company promised to make the 5,769-acre site in Amarillo, Texas, “the largest nuclear power complex in America.” Now, with the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding and the hiring of two nuclear professionals, Fermi America’s cofounders—former Texas governor and energy secretary Rick Perry and his son, Griffin Perry—are one small step closer to achieving their ambitious goals.
From left, Rich Zaharek, SRNS senior vice president; Leonel Lagos, ARC director of research; and Sean Alford, SRNS chief administrative officer during the MOU signing. (Photo: DOE)
Department of Energy contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions and Florida International University’s Applied Research Center have agreed to expand workforce opportunities for students at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
A continuous miner machine cuts into salt rock at WIPP. (Photo: DOE)
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved the addition of two new waste emplacement panels at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy’s geologic repository for defense-related transuranic waste in New Mexico.
Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. (Photo: Holtec International)
Holtec International has submitted a license termination plan (LTP) for Oyster Creek nuclear power plant to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a milestone in the decommissioning of the boiling water reactor, which operated from 1969 to 2018. Holtec took over Oyster Creek’s license from Exelon Generation in 2019 for the immediate decommissioning of the plant, located in Forked River, N.J.
Participants and experts from the 2025 LMP cohort during their visit to Canada. (Photo: McMaster University).
A cohort of women working in the nuclear community visited Canada recently as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Lise Meitner Program (LMP) to boost their career development. During the third and final leg of the 2025 LMP, the women took part in two weeks of training focused on research reactors.
The Mont Terri Rock Laboratory in Switzerland.
A new study, “Building Confidence in Models for Complex Barrier Systems for Radionuclides,” highlights a breakthrough in the modeling and simulation of underground nuclear waste interactions. Led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ph.D. student Dauren Sarsenbayev, assistant professor and ANS member Haruko Wainwright, and scientists Christophe Tournassat and Carl Steefel, the research shows how cutting-edge, high-performance computing simulations closely align with real-world experimental data from the Mont Terri underground laboratory in Switzerland. The alignment enhances confidence in the long-term safety of geological nuclear waste repositories.