Dale Klein

There has been a lot of discussion lately about reforming the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. But I want to be clear: When it comes to nuclear safety and security, there is no place for partisan politics. I support efforts to streamline regulatory processes, but the independence and integrity of the NRC must remain sacrosanct. If we are serious about expanding nuclear power and reclaiming our global leadership in nuclear technology, having a strong independent regulator is fundamental.

Right now, we’re on the edge of a global nuclear resurgence driven by rising demand from data centers, growing concerns about energy security, and the need to decarbonize industry.

In less than two weeks, the American Nuclear Society’s second annual conference of the year, the 2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo, will come to Washington, D.C.

Today, ANS is announcing that Energy Secretary Chris Wright will be joining the list of nuclear leaders slated to speak at the conference.

Click here to register for the meeting, which will take place November 9–12 in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Hilton. Be sure to do so before November 7 to take advantage of priority pricing.

The Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory, NVIDIA, and Oracle have agreed to a public-private partnership to deliver the DOE’s largest AI supercomputers, named Solstice and Equinox.

Australia-based Clarity Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company, has signed a supply agreement for copper-67 with Nusano, Inc., headquartered in California. Nusano produces radioisotopes for medical, commercial, and industrial applications.

Lee

Summers

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the independent agency responsible for ensuring that Department of Energy facilities are protective of public health and safety, announced that the board’s acting chairman, Thomas Summers, has concluded his service with the agency, having completed his second term as a board member on October 18.

Summers’ departure leaves Patricia Lee, who joined the DNFSB after being confirmed by the Senate in July 2024, as the board’s only remaining member and acting chair. Lee’s DNFSB board term ends in October 2027.

Nieh

Ho Nieh, the Trump administration’s nominee to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and four new board members of the Tennessee Valley Authority were approved in a vote today by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and head to the Senate floor for a final vote.

The committee also voted to advance to the Senate floor the Nuclear REFUEL Act of 2025 (S. 2082), which would smooth the regulatory pathway for recycling used nuclear fuel.

President Donald nominated Nieh on July 30 to serve as NRC commissioner for the remainder of a term set to expire June 30, 2029, which was held by former NRC commissioner Chris Hanson, who Trump fired in June.

Levinson early in his career and today.

As a member of the American Nuclear Society, I have been to many conferences. The International Conference on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Analysis (PSA ’25), embedded in ANS Annual Meeting in Chicago in June, held special significance for me with the PSA ’25 opening plenary session recognizing the 50^th anniversary of the publication of WASH-1400, which helped define my career. Reflecting on that milestone sent me back to 1975, when I was just an undergraduate student studying nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y., focusing on my mechanics, fluids, and thermodynamic classes as well as my first set of nuclear engineering classes. At that time—and many times since—the question “Why nuclear engineering?” was raised.

Helical Fusion, a Japan-based fusion start-up that is developing a stellarator fusion power reactor, has announced it has successfully demonstrated its high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil under relevant magnetic conditions.

A video highlighting the stellarator’s technology testing can be found here.

A day anticipated by many across the nuclear community has finally arrived: NextEra Energy has officially announced its plans to restart Iowa’s only nuclear power plant, the Duane Arnold Energy Center.

The U.S. government has signed an $80 billion deal with Westinghouse Electric Company to build large-scale nuclear reactors to support growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence.