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.


DOJ voices concerns with Vistra–Energy Harbor deal

August 25, 2023, 9:30AMNuclear News
The Beaver Valley nuclear power plant. (Photo: NRC)

The Department Justice earlier this week filed comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding Vistra Corporation’s proposed acquisition of Energy Harbor, the Ohio-based owner and operator of the Beaver Valley, Davis-Besse, and Perry nuclear plants. Echoing misgivings raised in June by PJM Interconnection’s market monitor Monitoring Analytics regarding the possible exercise of undue market power as a result of the deal, the DOJ Antitrust Division’s 16-page document urges FERC to carefully review the proposal to ensure it will not substantially lessen competition and increase wholesale electricity prices in the PJM region.

U.K. backs Ukraine nuclear fuel supply

August 24, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear News

U.K. energy security secretary Grant Shapps (center), Ukraine minister of energy German Galushchenko (right), and Ukraine deputy minister of energy Yaroslav Demchenkov (left) with captured Russian military vehicles in Kyiv on August 22. (Photo: BEIS Communications)

The U.K. government has announced its intention to provide a loan guarantee of £192 million (about $244 million) to enable Britain-based Urenco to supply Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom with uranium enrichment services. (Urenco has been a supplier to Energoatom since 2009.) The loan is to be made through UK Export Finance, the nation’s export credit agency.

According to the August 23 announcement, the added support will “strengthen Ukraine’s energy security and further isolate Putin by helping the country maintain its independence from Russian nuclear fuel.” Once provided, the additional funds will boost the United Kingdom’s total nonmilitary assistance to Ukraine to nearly £5 billion (about $6.4 billion), the government stated.

The announcement came as Grant Shapps, U.K. secretary of state for energy security and net zero, visited Kyiv to meet with senior government ministers and leading energy figures—including Energoatom president Petro Kotin and Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kubrakov and energy minister German Galushchenko—to discuss British support for Ukraine’s eventual recovery.

A conversation with Grace Stanke, Miss America 2023

August 24, 2023, 12:06PMNuclear NewsJames Conca

“I see nuclear energy as the obvious path forward, and it confuses me as to why everybody else doesn’t. That’s the primary goal with my Miss America policy platform of ‘clean energy, cleaner future.’”

Recently I sat down with Grace Stanke, the current Miss America and a student at the University of Wisconsin in nuclear engineering exploring subjects like nuclear fuel enrichment and reactor performance (as well as being a virtuoso violinist, for good measure).

This year she’s touring the country advocating for clean energy in a cleaner future and for America to reach net zero with the help of nuclear power, while correcting misconceptions and improving communication about nuclear science and encouraging young women to pursue STEM careers.

We talked just after she had finished visiting the Hanford Site while she was on her way to appear at Town Hall Seattle at the request of grassroots pronuclear group Friends of Fission Northwest. I was impressed with the depth of her knowledge and her ability to communicate difficult issues in a concise manner that didn’t require any deep background to understand. I mean, who knows the intricacies of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant? I was tempted to ask her to run for president.

Nuclear worker data examined in new low-dose radiation health effects study

August 24, 2023, 7:01AMNuclear News

A group of researchers analyzed recent updates to the International Nuclear Workers Study (INWORKS) and published their findings—“Cancer mortality after low dose exposure to ionising radiation in workers in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States (INWORKS): cohort study”—in the journal BMJ on August 16. The multinational research team, led by David B. Richardson of the University of California–Irvine, reports “evidence of an increase in the excess relative rate of solid cancer mortality with increasing cumulative exposure to ionizing radiation at the low dose rates typically encountered by French, U.K., and U.S. nuclear workers [and] evidence in support of a linear association between protracted low dose external exposure to ionizing radiation and solid cancer mortality.”

Canada commits up to C$74 million for SMRs in Saskatchewan

August 23, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear News
A cutaway image of the BWRX-300. (Image: GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy)

The Canadian government continued advancing its small modular reactor action plan on Saturday with the approval of up to C$74 million (about $54.6 million) in federal funds for SMR development in Saskatchewan, led by the province’s main electricity provider, SaskPower.

Wyoming picks BWXT microreactor project for funding

August 23, 2023, 12:02PMNuclear News

The Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) recently recommended nearly $10 million—$9,999,802 to be exact—in funding from its Energy Matching Funds (EMF) program for a proposed project to deploy a BWXT Advanced Technologies microreactor in the state. (BWXT AT is a subsidiary of BWX Technologies Inc.)

Missouri’s MURRs: Old and new

August 23, 2023, 9:30AMNuclear News
A reactor operator at MURR works with a sample can from the reactor pool. (Photo: University of Missouri)

On April 10, the University of Missouri (MU) took its first formal step toward building NextGen MURR when school officials issued the request for qualifications for the project. The RFQ is a solicitation for interested companies to offer the design, engineering, licensing, environmental, and developmental services that are needed for NextGen MURR, planned to be larger and more capable than the school’s existing University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR)—which itself has been the most powerful research reactor and most intense neutron source on any U.S. campus since it began operating in 1966.

Texas governor touts nuclear at UT fireside chat

August 23, 2023, 7:00AMNuclear News
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (right) talks nuclear energy at UT-Austin on August 16. With Abbott are X-energy chief executive officer Clay Sell (left) and Dow chair and CEO Jim Fitterling. (Photo: Office of the Texas Governor)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sat down with X-energy chief executive officer Clay Sell and Dow chair and CEO Jim Fitterling last week for a “fireside chat” at the University of Texas–Austin on the role of nuclear energy and technology in the state.

Bruce Power, Nordion to increase Co-60 production

August 22, 2023, 12:03PMNuclear News
Bruce Power and Nordion will increase Co-60 production at the Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario. (Photo: Bruce Power)

Bruce Power, the utility in Ontario, Canada, and health-care company Nordion announced that they are working to increase the production of cobalt-60 to meet increasing world market demands. The companies said they will increase the amount of Co-60 Bruce Power is able to produce in its reactors “by innovating a new adjuster component configuration.”

FEIS for Hermes construction permit recommends approval

August 22, 2023, 9:32AMNuclear News
Conceptual art of the Hermes low-power demonstration reactor. (Image: Kairos Power)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has completed its final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for Kairos Power’s application to build the Hermes demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and is advising that the construction permit (CP) be issued.

“After weighing the environmental, economic, technical, and other benefits against environmental and other costs, and considering reasonable alternatives, the NRC staff recommends, unless safety issues mandate otherwise, that the NRC issue the CP to Kairos,” the FEIS states.

2023 Utility Working Conference: Resiliency and the world around us

August 22, 2023, 7:01AMNuclear News

Rasmussen

The plenary sessions held earlier this month in Florida at the 2023 ANS Utility Working Conference were focused on the concept of resilience, the meeting’s theme. The August 9 plenary, which was moderated by UWC general chair Matt Rasmussen, senior vice president of engineering and operations support for the Tennessee Valley Authority, included presentations by Chris Glover, president and chief executive officer of Volkswagen Chattanooga; Petro Kotin, president of Ukraine’s nuclear plant operator Energoatom; and Steve L. Robbins of S. L. Robbins and Associates. The session’s opening remarks were provided by Rep. Byron Donalds (R., Fla.).

Veto or no veto, UIUC forges ahead with microreactor plans

August 21, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear News
Conceptual art of USNC’s MMR, as proposed for construction on the UIUC campus. (Graphic: USNC)

It’s been almost 35 years since Illinois last added a nuclear power reactor to the grid (Braidwood-2, a pressurized water reactor operated by Constellation, reached commercial operation in October 1988). And it’s been 63 years since a research reactor reached initial criticality at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The university’s TRIGA Mark II started up in August 1960 and was shut down in 1998. For about 25 years, UIUC—the flagship public university in a state that generates more power from nuclear energy than any other—has lacked an operating research reactor.

WNA publishes report on the world’s nuclear supply chain

August 21, 2023, 9:30AMNuclear News

In the newly released 2023 edition of The World Nuclear Supply Chain report, the World Nuclear Association recommends a number of actions to ensure that the international supply chain remains “suitably robust, competitive, and adaptive to meet the anticipated need for long-term operation and new nuclear build.”

The fifth edition of the report provides a market-oriented view that focuses on opportunities and challenges related to nuclear-grade structures, systems, components, and services. Evaluated are supply chain considerations ranging from large-scale reactors to small modular reactors to reactor refurbishment.

Natura selects Zachry Nuclear for design of ACU’s molten salt research reactor

August 21, 2023, 7:01AMNuclear News
A conceptual rendering showing a section view of the molten salt research reactor along with supporting systems and a simulator room for training students at Abilene Christian University. (Image: ACU)

Natura Resources of Abilene, Texas, has awarded a contract to Zachry Nuclear Engineering, which has offices in Connecticut and North Carolina, to complete the engineering and design of Natura's 1-MWt molten salt reactor (MSR). The agreement also provides terms under which Zachry may execute the engineering, procurement, and construction phase of the project. The dollar amount of the contract was not disclosed.

Physics-informed CNN for temperature field monitoring in advanced reactors

August 18, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear NewsVictor Coppo Leite, Elia Merzari, April Novak, Roberto Ponciroli, and Lander Ibarra

Advanced reactors are promising energy systems that can enable the world to transition to a more sustainable energy matrix. These concepts are potentially more fuel efficient and safer, compared with previous generations of nuclear reactors. Many designs, like high-­temperature gas reactors (HTGRs) and molten salt fast reactors (MSFRs), target high outlet temperatures, allowing for their operation in processes where high heating is required, such as for hydrogen production and desalination.

Vogtle-4 fuel load started

August 18, 2023, 12:58PMNuclear News
The Vogtle-4 reactor cavity in July. (Photo: Georgia Power)

Georgia Power has begun the process of loading fuel into the Vogtle plant’s Unit 4 reactor, the company announced yesterday, marking another pivotal milestone toward commercial operation of the second of the facility’s two new units.

NRC draft guidance may complicate patient access to cancer treatment

August 18, 2023, 8:53AMNuclear News

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission draft regulatory guide—DG-8061, “Release of Patients Administered Radioactive Material”—proposes guidance on the release of patients after a medical procedure involving the administration of radiopharmaceuticals or the implantation of a sealed source. The guidance is intended to help licensees interpret NRC regulations designed to protect the people—family, friends, caregivers, or members of the general public—who may be in proximity to a patient who is discharged after receiving nuclear medicine treatment.

Duke seeks approval for SMRs at retiring N.C. coal plant

August 18, 2023, 7:01AMNuclear News

Duke Energy has filed an update to its 2022 state-mandated carbon-reduction plan with the public utility commissions of North and South Carolina, proposing the deployment of small modular reactors at the Belews Creek coal plant in Stokes County, N.C., which is slated for retirement next decade. A similar system would be added at a second site yet to be determined for a total of 600 MW of advanced nuclear. (Both the advanced reactor production tax credit and investment tax credit included in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act offer a 10 percent bonus for facilities sited in certain energy communities, including those with retiring coal plants.)

U.S. agrees to share data, expertise with NEA Data Bank

August 17, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear News
DOE assistant secretary for nuclear energy Kathryn Huff and NEA director general William D. Magwood IV affirmed U.S. membership in the NEA Data Bank at DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo: OECD NEA)

The United States has joined the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Data Bank, a decision that marks “a significant stride in international collaboration for nuclear energy research, safety, and knowledge exchange,” according to the August 16 NEA announcement. “As a country renowned for its scientific and technological excellence, the United States will undoubtedly enrich the Data Bank's repository of data, software, and benchmarks and enhance its role in fostering responsible nuclear development.”