The Department of Energy announced last week that Melter 1 at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, also known as the Vit Plant, has hit its operational temperature of 2,100ºF. The DOE began heating Melter 1 in October 2022, but was soon forced to pause when abnormalities in the heaters’ power supply were encountered.
Senate committee hears from energy secretary nominee Chris Wright
Chris Wright, president-elect Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, spent hours today fielding questions from members of the U.S. Senate’s committee on Energy and Natural...
Comments received on Hanford’s tank waste plans
The Department of Energy has agreed to hold a 30-day review and comment period on a draft environmental analysis associated with a proposed plan for retrieving, grouting, and transporting some...
Trump picks former N.Y. congressman for NNSA administrator
President Trump has selected Brandon Williams to head the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate.Williams is a former...
A series of firsts delivers new Plant Vogtle units
Southern Nuclear was first when no one wanted to be. The nuclear subsidiary of the century-old utility Southern Company, based in Atlanta, Ga., joined a pack of nuclear companies in the early...
Wyoming OKs construction of TerraPower’s Natrium plant
Progress continues for TerraPower’s Natrium plant, with the latest win coming in the form of a state permit for construction of nonnuclear portions of the advanced reactor....
When your test capsule is the test: ORNL’s 3D-printed rabbit
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has for the first time designed, printed, and irradiated a specimen capsule—or rabbit capsule—for use in its High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), the Department...
Biden executive order to facilitate AI data center power
As demand for artificial intelligence and data centers grows, President Biden issued an executive order yesterday aimed to ensure clean-energy power supply for the technology....
Westinghouse’s lunar microreactor concept gets a contract for continued R&D
Westinghouse Electric Company announced last week that NASA and the Department of Energy have awarded the company a contract to continue developing a lunar microreactor concept for the Fission...
US, Korea sign MOU for nuclear cooperation
The U.S. departments of Energy and State have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Republic of Korea’s ministries of Trade, Industry and Energy and of Foreign Affairs for the two...
DOE offering $13M grant program for advanced reactor licensing
The Department of Energy has announced a competitive funding opportunity of up to $13 million to help first movers defray the licensing costs of bringing advanced nuclear reactors to market....