The recently released 2021–2022 data from the Nuclear Engineering Enrollment and Degrees Survey, prepared by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), might be considered a mix of good news and bad. In 2022, there were 208 doctoral degrees awarded in nuclear engineering in the United States—the most since 1966, when the survey began. However, the overall number of nuclear engineering degrees awarded in 2021 and 2022 was at the lowest level in more than a decade. The results are based on data collected from 34 U.S. universities with nuclear engineering programs.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has issued the fiscal year 2023 results of the performance of its managing and operating (M&O) partners in meeting the agency’s expectations.

Argonne’s newest beamline uses heavy ions to degrade a material’s properties as much in a day as a nuclear reactor does in a year, without introducing radioactivity. That’s according to an article published January 16 by Argonne National Laboratory. The Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) now boasts a new beamline—the ATLAS Material Irradiation Station, or AMIS—that uses the accelerator’s lowest high-energy beams to displace atoms and mimic the degradation of materials inside an operating reactor over time. AMIS makes it easier and faster to test candidate fuel and structural materials for existing and future reactors.

Two Canadian energy companies are teaming up to bring small modular reactors to Alberta.

Capital Power Corporation and Ontario Power Generation announced this week that they will spend the next two years exploring joint opportunities to bring SMRs to the province. Just under 13 percent of Canada’s power comes from its 19 nuclear reactors.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, in cooperation with Argentina, launched a scientific research expedition on January 6 to study microplastics in Antarctica—one of the planet’s most remote areas—as part of an effort to combat widespread microplastic pollution.

Japanese regulators have ordered further review at a nuclear power plant in central Japan following a series of deadly earthquakes that rocked the country on New Year’s Day.

Furstenau

Raymond V. Furstenau, currently head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Office of Research, has been named acting executive director for operations, effective January 27, upon Daniel Dorman's retirement and until a permanent replacement has been selected.

The EDO is the highest-ranking NRC career position and carries the responsibilities of overseeing the agency's operational and administrative functions and serving as the chief operating officer.

Praise: "Ray is a seasoned executive with exemplary communication and management skills. He's the right person to lead the NRC staff while the commission works together to identify a permanent executive director for operations," said NRC chair Christopher Hanson.

The United Kingdom’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced plans on January 7 to invest £300 million (about $383 million) to build a high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment facility in northwest England. The goal? To “end Russia’s reign as the only commercial producer of HALEU.” Britain is now the first European country to declare that it will begin HALEU enrichment in a bid for supply chain security.

The United Kingdom released plans yesterday for the biggest expansion of nuclear power in 70 years. Officials outlined Civil Nuclear: Roadmap to 2050 as an opportunity to improve the United Kingdom’s energy independence from foreign sources as it looks to build a new power station and invest in advanced nuclear fuel production.

French energy supplier Électricité de France announced this week it will invest $1.7 billion to keep its U.K. fleet in production through 2026.

Joseph Hendrie, Brookhaven National Laboratory physicist, NRC chair, and ANS past president (1984–1985), passed away in his home in Bellport, N.Y., on December 26 at the age of 98.

Hendrie, an American Nuclear Society member since 1956, was a leader in the nuclear community for much of his 45 years in nuclear reactor safety research. He served as the deputy director for technical review of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Directorate of Licensing from 1972 to 1974 and then was appointed chair of the NRC in 1977 (serving a second stint as chair in 1981—the only person to serve two nonconsecutive terms in that role).

As Spain prepares to shutter its fleet of seven nuclear power plants, France considers adding more than 14 new ones.

The Department of Energy issued a final request for proposals (RFP) on January 9 for uranium enrichment services to help establish a commercial domestic supply of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to fuel a potential fleet of advanced reactors. Without HALEU, advanced reactors will not be able to proceed past the demonstration stage. And given the investments of capital and time required to license and build a nuclear power plant—even a smaller, more efficient advanced reactor—eliminating fuel uncertainty could be what a utility needs to invest in new construction.

Another calendar year has passed. Before heading too far into 2024, let’s look back at what happened in 2023 in the nuclear community. In today's post, compiled from Nuclear News and Nuclear Newswire are what we feel are the top nuclear news stories from January through March 2023.

Stay tuned for the top stories from the rest of the past year.

Radiopharmaceutical biotech company ITM Isotope Technologies Munich announced it has received regulatory approval to begin production of the medical radioisotope lutetium-177 at the company’s NOVA facility in Neufahrn, near Munich, Germany.

The government of China has formed a new national industrial consortium focused on the development and advancement of nuclear fusion technology, news outlets have reported.

NuScale announced today a 28 percent reduction in full-time staff, affecting 154 workers, as part of the company’s move to focus resources on “key strategic areas”— including deployment of its small modular reactor.