Boemeke

Gebbia

A philanthropic gift recently established the Nuclear Scaling Initiative (NSI)—a collaborative effort to spur a new nuclear energy ecosystem to increase the rate of reactor deployment by 10 times by the 2030s.

A gift of $5 million to the NSI will support a host of resources and work to socialize first-of-a-kind technologies with governments, stakeholders, and opinion leaders needed to bring nuclear energy facilities to market. A second $5 million matching fund will incentivize additional philanthropic support from individuals and institutional donors.

The funding comes from Joe Gebbia, cofounder of Airbnb, and Isabelle Boemeke, a Brazilian fashion model, social media influencer, and executive director of advocacy organization Save Clean Energy.

Unit 2 at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant near Red Wing, Minn., underwent an outage in fall 2023, which included extensive work on the reactor vessel using a novel approach to replace baffle-former bolts and lower radial clevis insert bolts. The work relied on extensive analysis beforehand to determine which bolts to replace such that only the new bolts were structurally credited for performance of their safety function. This proactive approach eliminated the need for costly contingencies associated with inspections.

Fatigue has been identified as a major risk factor in industrial accidents. According to the National Safety Council, 13 percent of workplace injuries can be attributed to fatigue.¹ Other research indicates that working 12 hours per day is associated with a staggering 37 percent increase in risk of injury.² Considering fatigue was a contributing factor to major nuclear accidents at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, it makes sense that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission imposes hefty fines to ensure strict adherence to its fatigue management regulations—particularly, Code of Federal Regulations Title 10, Part 26, “Fitness for Duty Programs.”

Sam Lochmann is a well-respected sergeant in the security department at the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington, Kan. The plant, a 1,200-MWe Westinghouse pressurized water reactor operated by Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation (WCNOC), had its 26th refueling outage this past spring.

The 2024 Utility Working Conference brought together the nuclear industry’s best in August to discuss and learn from key developments, successes, opportunities, and needs in the sector. American Nuclear Society Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Craig Piercy opened the conference and its first plenary by talking about the nuclear industry’s current momentum.

The Department of Energy announced yesterday a total of $49 million in funding for 19 projects in the Foundational Fusion Materials, Nuclear Science, and Technology programs that span functional and structural materials R&D for heating technology, magnet technology, blankets, fuel cycle, and first wall research.

The Department of the Navy (DON), which comprises both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, issued a request for information this week on potential deployment of clean energy generation on underutilized military lands.

A man killed in a car bomb last week in Enerhodar, Ukraine, may have been targeted because of his ties to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency received information from both the Russian Federation and Ukraine about the suspected assassination, which occurred in the town where most of the plant staff live, said IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The Department of Energy announced contracts yesterday for six companies to perform high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) deconversion and to transform enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) to other chemical forms, including metal or oxide, for storage before it is fabricated into fuel for advanced reactors. It amounts to a first round of contracting. “These contracts will allow selected companies to bid on work for deconversion services,” according to the DOE’s announcement, “creating strong competition and allowing DOE to select the best fit for future work.”

The Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear report that was released in March 2023 by the Department of Energy called for five to 10 signed reactor contracts for at least one reactor design by 2025. Now, 18 months have passed, and despite the word “resurgence” in media reports on the U.S. nuclear power industry, 2025 is fast approaching with no contracts signed.