On day 10 of the government shutdown, the National Nuclear Security Administration has yet to furlough workers, but a spokesperson said that could change if members of Congress don’t agree on a continuing resolution to keep the government funded.

Should that be the case, the NNSA will resort to keeping only essential unpaid workers at some point if the government shutdown continues, an agency spokesperson told Nuclear Newswire.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey wants to accelerate the state’s leadership in both fission and fusion, and earlier this month asked the University of Massachusetts–Lowell to develop road maps to support research, manufacturing, and deployment of advanced nuclear and fusion energy in the state to “affordably, reliably, and sustainably” meet growing electricity demand in New England.

The world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, the NS Savannah, will have a public site visit in Baltimore, Md., on Saturday, November 15.

To register for the event and find up-to-date details on the event’s address, time, and more, click here.

Russia’s lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, approved a measure to withdraw from a 25-year-old agreement with the United States to cut back on the leftover plutonium from Cold War–era nuclear weapons.

The American Nuclear Society recently hosted a Supplier Showcase webinar, “License Renewal: Smarter, Faster, Better,” featuring two industry experts from Excel Services Corporation, a regulatory and consulting services firm, and GSE Solutions, a nuclear engineering and software company, who both shared a variety of insights into how to go through the license renewal process efficiently.

ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy’s reflection on the 80th anniversary of the Trinity Test (Nuclear Newswire, July 16) was a thoughtful and fitting remembrance of the achievements and legacy of the World War II generation of nuclear pioneers. We also see legacy environmental cleanup as a vital next step as our industry launches what Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has defined as “Manhattan Project 2.0.”

At the Idaho National Laboratory Hot Fuel Examination Facility, containment box operator Jake Maupin moves a manipulator arm into position around a pencil-thin nuclear fuel rod. He is preparing for a procedure that he and his colleagues have practiced repeatedly in anticipation of this moment in the hot cell.

Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy–sponsored Microreactor Program recently conducted a comprehensive phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) exercise aimed at advancing heat pipe technology for microreactor applications.

Idaho National Laboratory is playing a key role in helping the U.S. Department of Energy meet near-­term needs by recovering HALEU from federal inventories, providing critical support to help lay the foundation for a future commercial HALEU supply chain. INL also supports coordination of broader DOE efforts, from material recovery at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to commercial enrichment initiatives.

International Atomic Energy Agency researchers have helped scientists on the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius to develop a variety of cauliflower that is resistant to black rot disease. The cauliflower was developed through innovative radiation-induced plant-breeding techniques employed by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture.