Nuclear News

A major milestone has been reached in the construction of a plutonium pit production facility at the Savannah River Site, located near Aiken, S.C.

After 18 months of work involving local trade unions, the dismantlement and removal (D&R) of commodities and equipment throughout the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF), previously installed by the Mixed Oxide (MOX) project, was completed in June 2024, the Department of Energy reported on July 24.

The Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship offers American Nuclear Society members a unique opportunity to directly support public policy. By supporting nuclear experts through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship Program, ANS provides a path for its members to help advance nuclear policy and ensure a brighter, nuclear-powered future.

The U.S. Senate’s proposed Department of the Interior funding package provides $250,000 to develop a generic, technology-neutral standard for future high-level nuclear waste disposal facilities.

The goal is for the Environmental Protection Agency to use modern and international practices in creating new plans to store U.S. nuclear waste. This spring, the EPA had requested $635,000 to fund this work—but even the proposed $250,000 would help get the process moving.

So far, funding has been included only in the Senate’s version of the appropriations bill, but supporters hope it makes the final package when Senate and House lawmakers conference on the final fiscal year 2025 appropriations legislation this fall.

For more details, see the original story below from June 28.

It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.

Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.

The Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa could see new life, according to NextEra Energy chief executive officer John Ketchum.

“There would be opportunities and a lot of demand from the market if we were able to do something with Duane Arnold,” Ketchum said on Wednesday this week during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.

Eielson Air Force Base in central Alaska has been the preferred location to demonstrate the benefits of microreactors to the U.S. Air Force—and by extension the Defense Department—since 2018. Now, a protracted solicitation process is nearing an end, and the Air Force and the Defense Logistics Agency Energy (DLA Energy) expect to announce a final procurement decision by the end of the summer—or about one year after Oklo Inc. announced that it had been tentatively selected to supply a microreactor under a 30-year power purchase agreement.

A plutonium target bombarded with a beam of titanium-50 in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 88-Inch Cyclotron for 22 days has yielded two atoms of the superheavy element 116, in a proof of concept that gives Berkeley Lab researchers a path to pursue the heaviest element yet—element 120. The result was announced July 23 at the Nuclear Structure 2024 conference; a paper has been submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters and published on arXiv.

Imagine a place where children and adults can learn together about nuclear science as a carbon-free energy source that can be an answer to climate change. Guests can experience a cloud chamber, remotely inspect equipment with a drone, and hold a simulated low-enriched uranium fuel pellet. On Saturday, July 6, such a place actually existed for three hours. That place was the Discovery Place Science Museum in Charlotte, N.C. Ryan Leung, a Discovery Place experience specialist, led a team of local nuclear energy industry volunteers and representatives from the American Nuclear Society and Women in Nuclear to organize and execute an Energy Summit.

The magnetic mirror fusion concept dates to the early 1950s, but decades ago it was sidelined by technical difficulties and researchers turned to tokamak fusion in their quest for confinement. Now it’s getting another look—with significantly more powerful technology—through WHAM, the Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror, an experiment in partnership between startup Realta Fusion and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

New testing done at China’s Shidaowan nuclear power plant has confirmed its ability to be naturally cooled down, an industry-first milestone for achieving commercial-scale inherent safety, according to researchers.

A public hearing in Kemmerer, Wyo., drew dozens of comments and questions about TerraPower’s plans to build the Natrium nuclear reactor demonstration project in the coming years.

Marzano

President Biden has selected Matthew Marzano as his choice to fill the open seat on the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The panel of commissioners has had a vacancy since Jeff Baran’s term as commissioner ended in June 2023.

Marzano currently serves as an Idaho National Laboratory detailee for the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, advising EPW on policy matters relating to clean air, climate, and energy. Most recently, he advised the committee’s chairman on the ADVANCE Act, legislation designed to prepare the NRC for an expected surge in new nuclear reactor oversight.

A new report based on what its authors call “the definitive American public opinion surveys on climate change and the environment” has found a statistically significant increase in the percentage of survey respondents who think nuclear power is a good way to generate electricity, relative to a survey that asked the same question in 2013. That’s despite evidence that “Americans’ views on climate change have remained remarkably steady.” The new report, Climate Insights 2024: American Understanding of Climate Change, is the product of a 27-year polling partnership led by the Political Psychology Research Group at Stanford University and Resources for the Future (RFF), and it was released July 15.

Hanson

The United States is fully engaged in supporting the development and peaceful use of nuclear energy in the Philippines through its new 123 Agreement, Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair Christopher Hanson said during a visit to the nation last week.

“We’re going to see a real increase in the tempo of engagement from the U.S. on the nuclear safety aspects,” Hanson said during a media roundtable in Makati City.

New partnership: Hanson’s visit to the Philippines followed the entry into force on July 2 of the landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement (known as a 123 Agreement) between Washington and Manila to utilize nuclear energy safely. It establishes the legal framework for significant nuclear cooperation with other countries—in areas such as technical exchanges, scientific research, and safeguards discussions—as long as the partner adheres to a set of strong nonproliferation requirements.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has completed its final safety evaluation for Kairos Power’s application to build its Hermes 2 molten salt–cooled reactor test facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the agency announced July 22. Earlier, and independently, the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) reviewed safety-related aspects of the Kairos application and provided its review to the Commission on July 17. The evaluation concluded that there are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing a construction permit for the facility, but that can’t happen until the NRC staff issues its final environmental assessment later this summer and the Commission assesses the staff’s work (under newly streamlined procedures for mandatory hearings) this fall before voting on whether to authorize a construction permit.

Security watchdogs with the International Atomic Energy Association are reporting continuing issues at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant due to the military invasion from Russia.

IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said in his weekly briefing on Ukraine that Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant staff experienced another power outage in the nearby city of Enerhodar—where most of the workers live—and a shortage of tap water that has also affected the plant.

Turkey may be closer to moving ahead in a partnership with Russia for its second nuclear plant, Sinop, a proposed four-reactor facility on the Black Sea coast.

Gavrilas

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has named Mirela Gavrilas, currently head of the agency’s Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, executive director for operations, effective July 28.

The EDO position is the highest-ranking NRC career position, with responsibilities for overseeing the agency’s operational and administrative functions and serving as the chief operating officer.

“Mirela is extraordinarily qualified for this top leadership position, based on her technical expertise, communication and management skills, and demonstrated ability to modernize work processes and metrics,” said Christopher Hanson, NRC chair. “She is well poised to lead the NRC staff as we tackle challenges and embrace new opportunities, particularly after the recent passage of the ADVANCE Act.”

The University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) is the latest member of Nuclear Medicine Europe, an industry association for the radiopharmaceutical and molecular imaging industry in Europe, the University of Missouri announced July 17.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is simplifying procedures for mandatory hearings on licensing commercial nuclear power plants and uranium enrichment facilities.