Nuclear News

Published since 1959, Nuclear News is recognized worldwide as the flagship trade publication for the nuclear community. News reports cover plant operations, maintenance and security; policy and legislation; international developments; waste management and fuel; and business and contract award news.


Time is running out on our opportunity to seize a better future for nuclear

March 3, 2022, 12:04PMNuclear NewsSama Bilbao y León

Sama Bilbao y León is director general of the World Nuclear Association.

The global nuclear sector is at a crucial point. The future of nuclear power looks brighter than it has in many years, but it is up to us to capitalize on the current momentum and make the most of this opportunity.

We have recently seen new proposals and policy announcements from companies and governments around the world indicating a growing recognition of the essential role nuclear energy must play in the future.

Humanity has less than 30 years to reach net zero. Nuclear energy offers a golden opportunity to build a cleaner, more equitable world in which everyone has access to clean, abundant, affordable energy and a high quality of life.


French regulator puts ITER tokamak welding on hold

March 3, 2022, 7:01AMNuclear News
Approval from French regulator ASN is required before ITER vacuum vessel welding can begin. (Photo: ITER)

In a February 28 article posted on the ITER Organization website, Gilles Perrier, head of ITER’s Safety and Quality Department, addressed the decision by French nuclear safety regulator ASN (Autorité de sûreté nucléaire) to delay the anticipated February 1 release of a preset tokamak assembly “hold point.”

TVA, ORNL partner to explore new nuclear, other clean technologies

March 2, 2022, 9:30AMNuclear News
High-voltage power lines carry electricity generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo: Dobie Gillispie/ORNL, DOE)

The Tennessee Valley Authority and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance decarbonization technologies in pursuit of the federal government’s net-zero-by-2050 goal, the utility and the lab announced yesterday in a joint press release.

NRC rescinds subsequent license renewals

March 1, 2022, 3:07PMNuclear News
Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant.

In a major change to its subsequent license renewal process, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week ruled that reviews of SLR applications must rely on a more extensive environmental analysis than that provided by the agency’s Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants (GEIS). According to the ruling, the GEIS, properly understood, does not cover the SLR period.

DOE expands minority partnership program for post-doctoral researchers

March 1, 2022, 7:00AMNuclear News

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management recently announced the expansion of its Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program for post-doctoral researchers.

The program will offer the opportunity for recent graduates with Ph.D. degrees to perform scientific research that furthers technology development, enhances the global scientific knowledge base, and results in publishing in peer-reviewed journals.

Zaporizhzhia remains in Ukrainian control, Energoatom says

February 28, 2022, 12:00PMNuclear News
Energoatom issued this graphic dismissing Russian claims of control of Zaporizhzhia as “fake” on February 28. (Image: Energoatom)

Denying a Russian claim of control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Energoatom earlier today declared that “Russian propaganda media reports that the invaders allegedly took control of the Zaporizhzhia NPP are a cynical fake.” According to Energoatom, all four of its nuclear power plants are under the control of Ukraine and are operating normally with enhanced defenses.

Group calls on Michigan officials to save Palisades nuclear plant

February 28, 2022, 6:59AMNuclear News
Palisades nuclear plant. (Photo: Entergy Nuclear)

In the spirit of the letter sent earlier this month to California Gov. Gavin Newsom urging the continued operation of Diablo Canyon beyond 2025, the Climate Coalition—a pronuclear group based in Menlo Park, Calif.—has drafted a similar letter to state officials in Michigan concerning the Palisades nuclear power plant.

The letter, which at this writing has over 260 signatories, implores Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and members of the Michigan legislature to take action to save Palisades. Owner and operator Entergy has slated the plant for permanent closure in May, nine years before the expiration of its operating license.

Final EIS for Project Pele microreactor available

February 25, 2022, 12:00PMNuclear News
An illustration of a potential mobile microreactor site at Test Pad D in INL’s Critical Infrastructure Test Range Complex for the grid operation phase of Project Pele. (Image: DOD)

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is looking to reduce its reliance on local electric grids and diesel-fueled generators at military installations. Project Pele is designed to demonstrate the technical and safety features of mobile microreactors capable of generating up to 5 MWe.

Three U.S. firms partner to support Polish energy transition

February 25, 2022, 9:30AMNuclear News

Bechtel and Westinghouse Electric Company on February 23 announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with GE Steam Power to explore opportunities in their joint pursuit of civil nuclear power projects in Poland.

The preferred site for Poland’s initial foray into nuclear power, chosen last December, is Lubiatowo-Kopalino, near the Baltic coast. Bechtel and Westinghouse are preparing a front-end engineering design for the site, supported by a grant from the United States Trade and Development Agency.

Ukrainian nuclear plants are “ready for safe operation,” Energoatom chief says

February 24, 2022, 9:48AMUpdated February 24, 2022, 3:10PMNuclear News
A map of Ukraine and the nuclear sites around the country.

Russian forces invaded Ukraine today in what news sources are calling the largest military attack of one state against another on the European continent since World War II. These developing events follow an extraordinary meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission in Brussels on February 22, when NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia’s recent actions constituted “serious escalation” of tensions in the region and that Russia had shifted from covert attempts to destabilize Ukraine to overt military action. Well before this juncture was reached, news outlets had questioned the readiness of Ukraine’s nuclear power fleet to operate safely in a country at war and ensure energy security, while Energoatom, which operates all of Ukraine’s nuclear power reactors, has issued assurances of safety and security.

Looking back at a Nuclear News Q&A

February 24, 2022, 3:07PMNuclear News

An ANS virtual event titled "Perspectives from Past NRC Chairs" featured four former members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who focused on the future of nuclear energy in the United States and the NRC’s role as a regulator of small modular and advanced reactors.

The virtual event gave us an idea for #ThrowbackThursday to search through the Nuclear News archives (available to all ANS members) for an interview with George Apostolakis, published in the March 2000 issue. At the time, Apostolakis was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards. Ten years later, he was sworn in as an NRC commissioner.

Setting expectations in a nuclear "moment"

February 24, 2022, 12:16PMNuclear NewsCraig Piercy

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

If you are in the nuclear world, it is hard to enter 2022 without a sense of optimism. Nuclear is enjoying a moment right now. Not a day goes by where there isn’t some new story on nuclear and climate or the development of new and advanced technologies, both fission and fusion.

On the business side, a flurry of deals and partnerships have been struck, and more start-­up capital has flowed into nuclear energy projects in the past six months than in the previous three years combined. Soon, you will be able to buy shares of NuScale on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “SMR.” On the policy side, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is now law, providing roughly $8 billion in “guaranteed money” for both advanced reactor demonstrations and support for the operating fleet, potentially more if nuclear is competitive in the cross-­cutting funding initiatives created and funded in the legislation.

Framatome receives NRC approval for transport of LEU+ fuel assemblies

February 23, 2022, 3:00PMNuclear News
NRC-approved Framatome shipping container. (Photo: Framatome)

Framatome announced on February 22 that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a license amendment that would allow Framatome’s shipping containers to transport, in the United States, fresh nuclear fuel assemblies containing uranium enriched up to 8 percent uranium-235.

Light water reactor fuel with higher enrichments and burnup capabilities than currently used under low-enriched uranium regulation could improve electricity generation and fuel utilization, possibly improving plant economics and providing more flexible reactor performance through extended operating cycles and more efficient core configurations.

Input sought on Kairos test reactor construction permit

February 23, 2022, 9:30AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is requesting public input on environmental issues that the agency should ponder as it reviews Kairos Power’s application for a construction permit to build the Hermes low-power demonstration reactor at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

In a notice published in the February 18 Federal Register, the NRC says it will conduct a scoping process to gather information necessary to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed project.

Nuclear fuel: The foundation of nuclear power

February 22, 2022, 3:04PMNuclear NewsSteven P. Nesbit

Stephen P. Nesbit
president@ans.org

Commercial nuclear power plant fuel is amazing stuff. Light water reactor fuel assemblies operate in an unforgiving environment—high pressure, high temperature, high neutron flux, steep temperature gradients, challenging chemistry, and hydraulic loads and flow anomalies, among other things. They do it for 18 or 24 months at a time, and by the end of their useful life, most of the original uranium-­235 has been used up through violent (on a microscopic scale) fissions, releasing emissions-­free energy to power homes, businesses, and factories.

Even after a fuel assembly’s energy production days are over, we expect it to maintain its integrity for decades, or even centuries, during storage, transportation, and, ultimately, disposal. To borrow from the old Timex watch slogan, nuclear fuel takes a licking and keeps on ticking, and that fact makes today’s nuclear power plants feasible.

Medical company faces NRC fine for failing to secure sealed sources

February 22, 2022, 12:06PMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a $7,000 fine to Marian Medical Services (MMS), of Wildwood, Mo., for four violations of regulatory requirements related to its licensed activities in Anchorage, Alaska. The violations involved the company’s failure to properly handle, store, and secure five sealed sources that it was licensed to use at its Anchorage medical clinic to perform diagnostic imaging services.

According to an NRC report, the clinic was licensed in 2016 but stopped offering nuclear medicine services in 2018 because there weren’t enough patients to sustain the business.

Vogtle project hit with new delay, higher cost

February 22, 2022, 9:30AMNuclear News
Fuel preparing to be unloaded outside of Vogtle-3 last month. (Photo: Georgia Power)

Commercial operation dates for the two new reactors under construction at the Vogtle nuclear plant have been pushed back yet again, adding to the project’s total cost, Southern Company announced last week. The Vogtle plant is near Waynesboro, Ga.

During its February 17 fourth-quarter earnings call, Southern reported that the projected start dates for both reactors were being extended by three to six months. Vogtle-3 is now expected to begin providing electricity to Georgians in the fourth quarter of 2022 or first quarter of 2023, with Vogtle-4 coming on line in the third or fourth quarter of 2023.

DOE to award $22 million for cross-cutting accelerator R&D

February 22, 2022, 7:02AMNuclear News
Instrumentation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source, an accelerator-based facility that provides the most intense pulsed neutron beams in the world for scientific research and industrial development. (Photo: ORNL)

Researchers advancing particle accelerator technology for medical, security, energy, and industrial applications have a new funding opportunity announced on February 16 by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE-SC). The funding will support research to advance particle accelerator technology for medical, security, energy, and industrial applications. Grants will be awarded for work focused on innovation, technology transfer, and supply chain resiliency that falls under one of two DOE-SC programs: the Accelerator Stewardship program, which supports cross-disciplinary teams to solve high-impact problems, and the Accelerator Development program, which is aimed at strengthening domestic suppliers of accelerator technology.

Powering our nuclear fleet with artificial intelligence

February 18, 2022, 2:55PMNuclear NewsJ. Thomas Gruenwald, Jonathan Nistor, and James Tusar

We’ve all heard the stories of lost treasures being found in dust-­filled attics, locked away in forgotten wall safes, or hidden in secret compartments of antique desks. Some of these true accounts, such as a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence hidden behind wallpaper or an authentic Van Gogh relegated to collecting dust in an attic, can lead to seven-­ and eight-­figure jackpots when the discoveries are made.

What about our own treasures locked away in long-­forgotten data storage drives or plant process computers? Imagine that you could gain keen insight into every operational issue you have by using the data you’ve been collecting for decades. In a nuclear power plant, data is routinely generated and collected for a myriad of purposes—whether it be for core monitoring, exposure accounting, equipment monitoring, or other reasons. While that data may serve its primary function exceedingly well, the information contained within it and in the aggregate is profoundly richer than most could imagine.

Darlington-1 begins refurbishment

February 18, 2022, 12:00PMNuclear News
An aerial view of Ontario’s Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. (Photo: OPG)

Ontario Power Generation has passed the midway point in its C$12.8 billion (about $10 billion) Darlington nuclear plant refurbishment project with the start of work on Unit 1, the company has announced. The unit is expected to be ready for grid reconnection in the second quarter of 2025.

Darlington houses four 878-MWe CANDU pressurized heavy water reactors, all of which entered commercial operation in the early 1990s. The plant is located in Clarington, Ontario, Canada.