Concept art for a Hermes plant. (Image: Kairos Power)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced yesterday that it has directed staff to issue construction permits to Kairos Power for the company's proposed Hermes 2 nonpower test reactor facility to be built at the Heritage Center Industrial Park in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The permits authorize Kairos to build a facility with two 35-MWt test reactors that would use molten salt to cool the reactor cores.
November 15, 2024, 7:03AMNuclear NewsErhard W. Koehler and Anne Jennings 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)
It’s safe to say that readers of Nuclear News are familiar with decommissioning. It’s even safe to assume that experienced decommissioning practitioners are familiar with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and how it applies to typical projects. What’s different about the N.S. Savannah is that the entire project site is a historic property—and in fact, is a federally owned National Historic Landmark (NHL), a status that confers the highest level of protection under law. Federal owners of NHLs are obligated to minimize harm in both planning and actions. Distilled to its salient point, no federal owner of an NHL should destroy it if there’s a reasonable alternative. That level of preservation is not what we normally associate with nuclear decommissioning. This perfectly summarizes the challenges, and opportunities, that decommissioning Savannah offered. The story of how the Maritime Administration (MARAD) managed these two otherwise contradictory processes showcases how historic preservation and decommissioning can positively intersect, provides a pathway for other historic facilities, and further adds to the already illustrious history of one of our nation’s significant 20th century landmarks.
The ASA Nuclear Technology for Marine Propulsion class of 2024 poses at MIT. (All photos: MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering)
Some 30 nuclear engineering departments at universities across the United States graduate more than 900 students every year. These young men and women are the present and future of the domestic nuclear industry as it seeks to develop and deploy advanced nuclear energy technologies, grow its footprint on the power grid, and penetrate new markets while continuing to run the existing fleet of reactors reliably and economically.
The Diablo Canyon ISFSI cask loading team from Holtec, PG&E, and Diablo Canyon. (Photo: Holtec)
Holtec International announced that it has completed the campaign to transfer Diablo Canyon’s spent nuclear to dry storage ahead of its planned schedule, paving the way for the continued operation of the central California nuclear power plant.
October 29, 2024, 7:03AMRadwaste SolutionsBruce Fox, David Lowe, Jack Reust, and Sean McCutcheon The U.S. Navy’s Surface Ship Support Barge arrives in Mobile, Ala., for demolition after being towed by sea from Virginia. (Photos: APTIM)
The U.S. Navy’s Surface Ship Support Barge, converted in the 1960s from a WWII T2 tanker to a support barge to accept spent nuclear fuel during the refueling of nuclear aircraft carriers, was dismantled and disposed of by the nuclear decommissioning company APTIM as a first-of-its-kind vessel dismantlement project for the Navy. The project was executed under contract with Naval Sea Systems Command; however, regulatory oversight was accomplished through an interagency framework agreement between the U.S. Navy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Statement from ANS on Supreme Court’s decision to grant certiorari to NRC v. Texas
Washington, D.C. — The American Nuclear Society (ANS), a nonprofit representing over 10,000 professionals in the fields of nuclear science and technology, issued the following statement regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to grant certiorari to Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas:
The three elements of radioactive material risk (Image: U.S. GAO)
A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office finds that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not taken the steps needed to address the potential economic and societal radiological risks that could arise from a “dirty bomb.”
Decommissioning begins on the closed Wisconsin power plant
Wisconsin’s Kewaunee nuclear power plant as it appeared in May of this year. A number of ancillary buildings have already been demolished and their waste removed. The intermodal waste transportation staging areas can be seen to the left. The site ISFSI is out of view to the right. (Photo: EnergySolutions)
In October 2012, Dominion Energy announced it was closing the Kewaunee nuclear power plant, a two-loop 574-MWe pressurized water reactor located about 27 miles southeast of Green Bay, Wis., on the western shore of Lake Michigan. At the time, Dominion said the plant was running well, but that low wholesale electricity prices in the region made it uneconomical to continue operation of the single-unit merchant power plant.
The Nuclear Fuel Services facility in Erwin, Tenn. (Photo: BWXT)
BWX Technologies subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services Inc. suspended operations last Friday at a Tennessee facility to assess conditions following Hurricane Helene. A company spokesperson said the site remained "in safe and secure condition."
Nuclear stakeholders celebrate “powerful clean energy comeback story”
The Palisades nuclear power plant. (Photo: Holtec International)
With a $1.52 billion loan from the Department of Energy and $1.3 billion in grants to rural electric cooperatives near the plant, the ambitious plans to restart Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant next fall are moving ahead.