The board of directors of South Carolina’s state-owned utility Santee Cooper voted today to approve the proposal from Brookfield Asset Management to complete two new AP1000 power reactors at the V.C. Summer site in Jenkinsville, S.C.

Wald

Matt Wald, an independent energy analyst and a writer who contributes to the Breakthrough Institute and has written feature articles for Nuclear News, recently shared his nuclear perspectives in a Zoom talk with Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering ORNL’s scientific goals.

Missed opportunity: Wald, a former reporter for The New York Times and a former policy analyst for the Nuclear Energy Institute, feels that the nuclear industry and community “have committed industrial sin. Nuclear suffered through a long drought, and now it sees terrific demand for its product, and it’s not ready to deliver the needed electricity.”

The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a Supplier Showcase webinar, “Reducing Cumulative Radiological Exposure with Advanced Source Term Removal Technologies,” featuring Chuck Marks, president of Dominion Engineering, a consulting, equipment, and services company focused on improving nuclear power plant performance, efficiency, and reliability.

The Savannah River Site in South Carolina will begin a leak-tightness test to qualify the megavolume Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 10 to store up to 33 million gallons of solidified, decontaminated salt solution produced at the site.

The American Nuclear Society recently announced the designation of three new nuclear historic landmarks: the Hot Fuel Examination Facility, the Neely Nuclear Research Center, and the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Today’s article, the second in a three-part series, will focus on the historical significance of the Neely Nuclear Research Center.

TerraPower announced that the final environmental impact statement for its Natrium small modular reactor has been completed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Hallam nuclear power plant, about 25 miles southwest of Lincoln, Neb., was an important part of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Reactor Power Demonstration Program. But in the end, it operated for only 6,271 hours and generated about 192.5 million kilowatt-hours of electric power during its short, 15-month life.

Four nominees to serve on the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that they support the build-out of new advanced nuclear reactors to meet the increased energy demand being shouldered by the country’s largest public utility.

The Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were the subject of two different announcements yesterday about new nuclear developments.

Google DeepMind—Google’s artificial intelligence development subsidiary—recently announced a new partnership with fusion start-up Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The goal of this collaboration is to leverage AI to both advance plasma simulation and discover novel control strategies, ultimately accelerating CFS’s timeline to deliver commercial fusion to the grid.

The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a webinar, “Securing the Isotope Supply Chain: A Growing Global Challenge,” featuring experts from a variety of private and public institutions who discussed the current state of the isotope supply chain, the necessity for strengthening that chain, and the tools available to develop a more robust system.

To watch the full webinar, click here.

After nearly three weeks of a government shutdown, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has furloughed 1,400 employees and has retained 400 as essential employees who will continue working without pay.

Palisades nuclear power plant has received its first fuel shipment, a key step ahead of its highly anticipated restart by the end of the year.

Located in Covert Township, Mich., Palisades will be the first U.S. nuclear facility to restart after being slated for decommissioning. The Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly Three Mile Island-1, is the next decommissioned nuclear reactor to be resurrected, with an expected restart by 2027.

Introduction

The nuclear energy industry is critical not only for meeting the world’s growing demand for electricity but also for advancing global decarbonization goals. As the sector evolves—through life extensions of existing plants, decommissioning, innovations like small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors, and new facility construction—the need for safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible maintenance and decommissioning continues to grow. Whether a plant is coming online, operating beyond its original design life, or entering decommissioning, cleanliness and operational integrity remain non-negotiable. That’s where dry ice blasting stands out—a powerful, safe cleaning method ideally suited for the high-stakes demands of nuclear environments.

The University of Texas–Austin has released a report, Cultivating Homegrown Nuclear Talent in Texas: Workforce Development Recommendations for Advanced Nuclear Development, which emphasizes general actions needed for the state to meet the near-term demand for workers in the nuclear industry.

The report was prepared by a group of more than 50 stakeholders from the nuclear power industry, educational institutions, labor groups, and state agencies based on the findings of the 2025 Texas Nuclear Workforce Development Workshop, which was convened at the University of Texas–Austin to align these stakeholders on actionable recommendations.

Three actions: To improve the workforce pipeline, the report recommends the following:

With the months rolling by, the time is coming for the American Nuclear Society to hold its second annual conference of the year. The 2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo, with a theme of “Building the Nuclear Century,” will take place November 9–12 in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Hilton.

A year ago this month, Amazon led a $500 million investment in X-energy, alongside Citadel founder Ken Griffin, the University of Michigan, and other investors. In addition to that financing, Amazon pledged to support the development of an initial four-unit, 320-MW project with Energy Northwest in Washington state.

Repairs have reportedly started to restore off-site power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. About a month ago, the site lost connection to the grid for the 10th time during the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA), a nongovernmental organization made up of 81 member states working to advance the safe, beneficial use of subsurface spaces, is working with the International Atomic Energy Agency to support the advancement of geologic disposal facilities for high-level radioactive waste.

The U.S. Army is moving forward with additional advanced reactor programs—building on multiple military efforts already underway as well as a separate pilot program at the Energy Department.