Nuclear News

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

Dear Secretary Wright:

On behalf of the U.S. nuclear professional community, I offer our sincere congratulations to you on your becoming the secretary of energy.

By now, I’m sure you have figured out that “Department of Energy” is a misnomer. If the Department of Government Efficiency ever requires truth in advertising, the DOE should be renamed the “Department of Nuclear Weapons, Security, Cleanup, and Sundry Energy and Science Programs.” That’s because more than 60 percent of the DOE’s budget is dedicated to “atomic energy defense activities”—making sure our nuclear bombs work, our aircraft carriers and submarines sail, and our Cold War messes get cleaned up.

Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp has announced that the university could soon become a home to small modular reactors from four advanced nuclear companies: Kairos Power, Natura Resources, Terrestrial Energy, and Aalo Atomics.

Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) in Wilmington, N.C., has appointed Kelli Davis its first Nuclear Technology program director. Davis has nearly 20 years of experience in nuclear power, including roles in chemistry, operations, and environmental supervision.

An official ground breaking on Monday for Swedish nuclear company Blykalla’s advanced reactor testing site marked a pivotal step in putting decades of research into action.

To better educate customers and stakeholders on its technology, NANO Nuclear Energy has opened a new demonstration facility in Westchester County, N.Y., that offers an up-close look at nonnuclear parts and components of the four microreactors the company has in development.

Officials from the United States and the Republic of El Salvador signed a memorandum of understanding Monday, agreeing to cooperate on strategic civil nuclear development.

In one of his first acts in office, U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio signed the MOU with El Salvadoran foreign minister Alexandra Hill Tinoco during his recent visit.

New Strategic Understanding for Premier Education and Research (SUPER) agreements signed by Idaho National Laboratory, Boise State University, and University of Idaho will foster collaboration among the institutions in advanced energy and cybersecurity projects. The five-year agreements are designed to open doors for research and development opportunities, while advancing existing research and development initiatives, including projects in nuclear energy and high-performance computing.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is asking for public comments until March 3 on its environmental assessment (EA) and draft finding of no significant impact at Michigan’s Palisades nuclear power plant, where Holtec hopes to restart operations by the end of 2025.

Wright

The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed Chris Wright, President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy. The confirmation vote was 59–38. Eight Democrats, including both senators from Colorado, signed off on Wright.

Wright—a Colorado native—is founder, chief executive, and chair of the board of Liberty Energy, a Denver-based energy development company specializing in fracking. He also sits on the board of directors for Oklo, a Silicon Valley–based developer of small modular reactors.

Wright was grilled by the Senate’s committee on Energy and Natural Resources during a January 15 hearing, where he made comments in support of nuclear energy and efforts to expand domestic generation in the near future.

He also repeated an earlier stated belief that “there’s no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy.” Wright was called out during the hearing by Senate Democrats for comments he made arguing that climate change has not fueled more frequent and severe wildfires, which, the Washington Post reported, is a claim at odds with the scientific consensus.

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

James Earl Carter, the 39th president of the United States, passed away in Plains, Ga., on December 29. He was America’s first president formally trained in the applications of nuclear science and technology, and as such, knowing nothing else, one might imagine that he would be held in universally high regard by the U.S. nuclear community.

The reality is more, well . . . complicated.

Here is a recap of industry happenings from the recent past:

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

Mission of Gen IV International Forum is extended

A framework agreement to continue the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) beyond its scheduled February 2025 expiration was signed by representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom at November’s COP29 meeting in Azerbaijan. The new agreement, which excludes previous signatory Russia, focuses on the sharing of information and pooling of funds for advanced nuclear technologies. The agreement also sets a goal of deploying fourth-generation nuclear technology by 2030. The specific advanced technologies identified by the forum are gas-cooled fast reactors, lead-cooled fast reactors, molten salt reactors, sodium-cooled fast reactors, supercritical water–cooled reactors, and very-high-temperature reactors.

A team of innovative companies has plans to bring floating nuclear power plants to U.S. ports.

Core Power, a maritime and nuclear technology company, announced in January a new partnership in with naval architecture company Glosten. The pair is working on a design for a floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) that could generate up to 175 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity annually and provide clean power to ships, equipment, and port vehicles, Offshore Energy reported.

Ontario Power Generation in Canada announced that Unit 1 of its Darlington nuclear power plant, which has returned to service from refurbishment, is now producing the medical isotope cobalt-60. During refurbishment activities, OPG made modifications to the unit to allow it to produce Co-60, which is used to sterilize 30 percent of the world’s single-use medical devices, such as syringes, gloves, and implants.

Despite its significant benefits, the public perception of radiation is generally negative due to its inherent nature: it is ubiquitous yet cannot be seen, heard, smelled, or touched—as if it were a ghost roaming around uncensored. The public is frightened of this seemingly creepy phantom they cannot detect with their senses. This unfounded fear has hampered the progress of the nuclear industry and radiation professions.

The Canada-Poland Nuclear Energy Cooperation Agreement was signed this week by the prime ministers of the two countries, supporting plans for developing Poland’s first nuclear power plants to aid its transition away from coal.

From lifting moratoriums to launching studies to labeling it as clean, state lawmakers are exploring ways to give nuclear energy a boost in 2025. Here’s a look at some of the pronuclear legislation under review.

A framework agreement to continue the work of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) will enter into force on March 1.

Robertson

Candice Robertson will continue to lead the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and will become office’s principal deputy assistant secretary, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) reported on January 28. Robertson was appointed to the EM-1 position in June 2024, replacing William “Ike” White, who was nominated by President Biden to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Jeff Avery, who served as DOE-EM’s principal deputy assistant secretary, has moved to the National Nuclear Security Administration as the acting associate administrator for management and budget.

Roger Jerrell, who served in the EM office during the President Trump’s first administration, is returning to DOE-EM as a senior advisor. Jerrell most previously served as general counsel for UCOR of Oak Ridge, Tenn.

South Carolina public utility Santee Cooper and its partner South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) called a halt to the Summer-2 and -3 AP1000 construction project in July 2017, citing costly delays and the bankruptcy of Westinghouse. The well-chronicled legal fallout included indictments and settlements, and ultimately left Santee Cooper with the ownership of nonnuclear assets at the construction site in Jenkinsville, S.C.

Ontario Power Generation announced this week new contracts with BWXT Canada worth more than C$1 billion ($695.4 million) for projects at the Pickering and Darlington nuclear power plants.