Denver Airport may go nuclear

August 7, 2025, 3:01PMNuclear News
Denver International Airport. (Photo: Denver International Airport)

Colorado’s first nuclear power plant of the 21st century could be built at an unconventional site: the Denver International Airport (DEN).

In its mission to gain energy independence and become the greenest airport in the world, DEN has announced that it will conduct a feasibility study to determine the viability of building a small modular reactor on its 33,500-acre campus.

IAEA team visits Zambia on nuclear security mission

August 7, 2025, 12:06PMNuclear News
Members of the INSServ team visited the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport during a IAEA trip to Zambia. (Photo: RPA Zambia)

The International Atomic Energy Agency has completed an advisory service mission to Zambia focused on assessing the country's nuclear security regime for nuclear and other radioactive material out of regulatory control (MORC). The IAEA team recognized Zambia’s commitment to nuclear security by its efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to unauthorized acts involving MORC, and pointed out capacity building and coordination among stakeholders as areas for further enhancement.

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August 7, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear NewsCraig Piercy

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

For the past few years, I have been conducting a thoroughly unscientific, one-question poll of nuclear utility and supplier CEOs and senior executives: “What keeps you up at night?” The number one answer is—and has been from the beginning—“Workforce.”

The ongoing shortage of skilled labor—welders, pipefitters, electricians, and the like—almost always gets top billing in nuclear workforce discussions. In April 2025, the U.S. had an eye-popping 600,000 unfilled positions in the construction and manufacturing sectors. This consistent supply gap feeds a continuing talent war that has pushed craft wages up 20 percent since the end of the COVID pandemic, straining project budgets and profit margins alike.

Perhaps the most underappreciated gap in the nuclear workforce is professional and business services. It is the second-largest employment category in the nuclear industry, according to the Department of Energy’s 2024 U.S. Energy & Employment Report.

Uranium spot price drops

August 7, 2025, 7:07AMNuclear News

Uranium provider Cameco has calculated an end-of-July spot price for uranium of $71.10—a decline from the $78.50 of the previous month. Cameco lists a long-term price of $81.00 for July, which is the same price that was listed in January. From February to June, the long-term price was $80.00.

Uranium futures were about $71.45 per pound on August 4, according to online analysis firm Trading Economics, which noted that continued prices near $71.50 are maintaining the price drop from the seven-month high of $79.00 in mid-June. The relatively low prices are related to a lack of buying from holding funds, which have received lowered bids from utilities. Nevertheless, uranium prices are higher at this point, compared with the $63.70 price in mid-March this year.

Ho Nieh nominated to the NRC

August 6, 2025, 3:02PMNuclear News

Nieh

President Trump recently nominated Ho Nieh for the role of commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission through the remainder of a term that will expire June 30, 2029.

Nieh has been the vice president of regulatory affairs at Southern Nuclear since 2021, though he is currently working as a loaned executive at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, where he has been for more than a year.

Nieh’s experience: Nieh started his career at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, where he worked primarily as a nuclear plant engineer and contributed as a civilian instructor in the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power Program.

From there, he joined the NRC in 1997 as a project engineer. In more than 19 years of service at the organization, he served in a variety of key leadership roles, including division director of Reactor Projects, division director of Inspection and Regional Support, and director of the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.

General Matter to build Kentucky enrichment plant under DOE lease

August 6, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News
Uranium hexafluoride cylinders stand in a cylinder yard at the Paducah site. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced it has signed a lease with General Matter for the reuse of a 100-acre parcel of federal land at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky for a new private-sector domestic uranium enrichment facility.

Thorcon project takes forward step in Indonesia

August 6, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
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.

Quad Cities violations lead to NRC confirmatory order

August 6, 2025, 7:02AMNuclear News
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 the agency decide on steps forward.

No impact from Savannah River radioactive wasps

August 5, 2025, 3:00PMNuclear News
Photo: Richard Bartz

The news is abuzz with recent stories about four radioactive wasp nests found at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The site has been undergoing cleanup operations since the 1990s related to the production of plutonium and tritium for defense purposes during the Cold War. Cleanup activities are expected to continue into the 2060s.

ANS names 2026 Congressional Fellows

August 5, 2025, 12:11PMANS News

Kasper

Hayes

The American Nuclear Society has officially selected two of its members to serve as its 2026 Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows. Alyssa Hayes and Benjamin Kasper will help the Society fulfill its strategic goal of enhancing nuclear policy by working in the halls of Congress, either in a congressional member’s personal office or with a committee, starting next January.

“The Congressional Fellowship program has put ANS in a unique position to provide significant technical assistance to Congress on nuclear science, energy, and technology, with great results,” said Congressional Fellowship Special Committee chair Harsh Desai, himself a former Congressional Fellow. “This once-in-a-lifetime professional development opportunity will allow them to learn the art of policymaking and potentially pursue it as part of their careers beyond the fellowship.”

Nano Nuclear buys regional office for Kronos MMR support

August 5, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
This Oak Brook, Ill., location will be a demonstration and office facility for Nano Nuclear’s Kronos MMR project. (Photo: Nano Nuclear)

The Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Ill., will be the home of Nano Nuclear Energy’s regional demonstration and office facility to support development of the company’s Kronos micro modular reactor (MMR). The company recently purchased for $3.5 million a 2.75-acre parcel that includes land and a 23,537-square-foot standalone building with a 7,400-square-foot nonnuclear demonstration area.

Ribbon-cutting scheduled for Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative

August 4, 2025, 3:39PMNuclear News
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.

The nuclear outlook on the Big Beautiful Bill

August 4, 2025, 12:01PMNuclear News

The dust has settled: It’s been one month since President Trump signed H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, after a lengthy and contentious reconciliation process. As drafts of the bill evolved through committees, the House, and the Senate, the fate of federal support for nuclear energy projects was often obfuscated.

Midterm updates from 2025 ANS Congressional Fellows

August 4, 2025, 9:31AMANS News

Christensen

Woosley

Mike Woosley and Jacob Christensen, the 2025 recipients of the American Nuclear Society’s Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship, are now more than halfway through their stints on the Hill. Their fellowships will draw to a close in December.

To update the Society on what they have accomplished in Washington, D.C., so far, Woosley and Christensen recently gave Nuclear News a midterm update on which offices they ended up in and what they hope to do with their remaining time in the Capitol.

BWXT starts building Pele microreactor core

August 3, 2025, 7:48PMNuclear News
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: The role of Eden Radioisotopes in the future of nuclear medicine

August 1, 2025, 3:03PMNuclear News
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.

NWTRB schedules meeting on DOE waste management progress

August 1, 2025, 12:00PMRadwaste Solutions

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board announced it will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, August 27, to review information on the Department of Energy’s activities to manage spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste and to receive program updates from the DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy.

Lightbridge to test uranium-zirconium fuel alloy in INL’s ATR

August 1, 2025, 9:30AMNuclear News
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.

A quicker way for spent fuel processing at SRS

August 1, 2025, 7:02AMRadwaste Solutions
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.