A research team led by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories is studying a type of high-entropy alloy (HEA) that seems to withstand a cascade-involved irradiation environment at elevated temperatures better than stainless steel exposed to similar conditions. In a paper published in the Journal of Nuclear Materials, the researchers describe an HEA made of chromium, iron, manganese, and nickel (CrFeMnNi) that has the potential to improve the safety and functionality of nuclear reactors, as well as of spacecraft.

From 2003 to 2011, staff at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site downblended high-enriched uranium in the site’s H Canyon, producing over 300 metric tons (MT) of low-enriched uranium that was fabricated into fuel. The facility has since been idled, but downblending could soon begin again—this time to high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU).

Kathryn Higley

For nearly a century, the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements has served as the United States’ leading authority on radiation protection. Established in 1929 as the Advisory Committee on X-ray and Radium Protection, the NCRP was created in response to growing concerns about the health risks of radiation exposure following the discoveries of X-rays and radioactivity.

It was formally chartered by Congress in 1964 through Public Law 88-376, also known as the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Charter Act. The NCRP has provided science-­based guidance for the public, workers, and the environment. Its work spans a wide range of topics, including protecting patients and workers in medical, industrial, and environmental settings; supporting emergency preparedness; developing risk models for low-dose exposures; guiding safe practices for new technologies such as advanced nuclear reactors; and providing information on wireless communication devices.

BWX Technologies (BWXT) has achieved a key milestone in its project to additively manufacture advanced forms of TRISO fuel for Generation IV advanced nuclear reactors. The Lynchburg Technology Center of subsidiary company BWXT Advanced Technologies, located in Lynchburg, Va., has successfully installed and tested a chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) furnace that solidifies pre-forms that are then filled with TRISO particles, a fuel consisting of carbon and silicon layers surrounding a uranium kernel.

In back-to-back press releases, Oklo recently announced two new partnerships that seek to advance the deployment of its commercial power reactors in the data center market.

These partnerships, one with Ohio-based Vertiv Holdings and one with Colorado-based Liberty Energy, continue Oklo’s trend in working to position their Aurora powerhouse as a key part of the energy solution for powering the AI boom.

Leaders from private companies, government, and national laboratories gathered at Argonne National Laboratory on July 17 and 18 for an exclusive AI x Nuclear Energy Executive Summit that the Department of Energy called a first-of-its-kind forum to “align next-generation nuclear systems with the needs of digital infrastructure.”

Hash Hashemian
president@ans.org

I am deeply honored and grateful to have been elected president of the American Nuclear Society. Your support and confidence in me are truly humbling, and I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you.

As president, my top priority is to expedite the deployment of new nuclear reactors, beginning with small modular reactors and eventually progressing to Generation IV systems. I will also work to ensure that the United States keeps its global leadership in this field. For the U.S. to do that, the federal government must maintain and expand its financial support of the nuclear industry by preserving critical incentives, tax provisions, and infrastructure investments.

Less than a week after news broke of the U.S. entering into civil nuclear talks with Malaysia, the U.S. State Department announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani have also signed a memorandum of understanding concerning civil nuclear cooperation.

The Nuclear Energy Maritime Organization (NEMO) recently announced that it was officially granted nongovernmental organization consultative status with the International Maritime Organization.

The Department of Energy has announced a program to accelerate nuclear fuel fabrication for new test reactors. The Fuel Line Pilot Program would see the DOE approve facilities developed by U.S. companies to produce the fuel needed for test reactors the DOE expects to authorize under the Reactor Pilot Program announced in June. Like the reactors they’re meant to fuel, the fabrication facilities would be built on sites outside the DOE’s national laboratories but authorized by the DOE under “a fast-tracked approach to enable future commercial licensing activities for potential applicants.”