A report released to the public on February 20 by the Government Accountability Office concluded that maintenance inspections at several contaminated excess facilities at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, near Richland, Wash., have not been comprehensive and that there are areas of some facilities that personnel infrequently or never enter, either physically or by remote means, to conduct inspections. The GAO reviewed surveillance and maintenance (S&M) requirements and activities at 18 of Hanford’s approximately 800 excess facilities that require cleanup and found that improvements to the site’s S&M program are needed.

David Gandy, the senior technical executive for nuclear materials at the Electric Power Research Institute, is charged with leading a project to lower the costs and manufacturing time for small modular reactors and advanced reactors. The Department of Energy–funded project is led by EPRI, and its collaborators include the United Kingdom–based Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Center and Oregon-based reactor developer NuScale Power. The testing has focused on producing the upper and lower pressure vessel assemblies for NuScale’s 60-megawatt SMR.

Gandy said that the project team has already produced a 3,650-pound reactor upper head at 44 percent scale and has made other components as heavy as 7,000 pounds. Over the next two years, if the tests still to be conducted are successful, EPRI plans to transfer the technologies to other reactor manufacturers. Gandy expects these new technologies to be available in about five to seven years, once the testing is completed and the necessary approvals are obtained from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and ASME.

Gandy talked about the project with Nuclear News Editor-in-Chief Rick Michal.

OSU Student Section Faculty Advisor Samuel Briggs accepted a certificate from ANS President Marilyn Kray (foreground). From left to right, section officers pictured are Matthew Hageman, Andrew Ritacco, Brandon Kamiyama, Taighlor Story, Lucia Gomez-Hurtado, Elizabeth Jurgensen, Maren Arneson, and Stephanie Juarez.

The ANS Oregon State University (OSU) Student Section hosted a 50th anniversary celebration on March 3 with ANS President Marilyn Kray as their guest.

“The officers did an amazing job and deserve all the credit for organizing a very successful 50th anniversary event,” said Samuel Briggs, an assistant professor in OSU’s School of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) and the student section’s faculty advisor.

Following a dinner that featured a slideshow of historic OSU photos, students had a chance to pose questions to an expert panel. Kray took part in the panel together with NSE Emeritus Professor and ANS Past President Andrew Klein (2016–2017), NSE School Head and Professor Kathy Higley, and NSE Associate School Head and Professor Wade Marcum. They were asked about future obstacles and prospects for the nuclear industry, public outreach and advocacy, and nuclear engineering career development. “Local members asked some great questions of the panel—even I learned something!” Briggs said.

The United States is pursuing the objective to land humans more than 100 million miles away on Mars, and nuclear power has the potential to be a key technology in getting to the Red Planet and providing power while there. Specifically, nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) is a promising approach that could enable astronauts to travel from Earth’s orbit to Mars and back in a fraction of the time, and with greater safety, than is available with other options.

An overhead view of the inside of Vogtle-4's containment vessel in February. Photo: Georgia Power

Georgia Power, primary owner of the Vogtle nuclear plant near Waynesboro, Ga., has ordered the first nuclear fuel load for Vogtle-4, completing the initial fuel order necessary for the startup of the reactor, as well as its twin, Unit 3, the company announced on March 5.

When Navigating Nuclear’s latest virtual field trip (VFT) debuted online in February during Engineers Week, students in classrooms around the country learned about nuclear advancements happening right now at Idaho National Laboratory, on technologies including advanced reactors, TRISO fuel, and space power systems. The video, titled “Nuclear Reimagined,” highlights diverse applications of nuclear technology and career opportunities in the nuclear sector and puts a spotlight on the work of ANS members Heather Chichester, Paul Demkowicz, and Stephen Johnson at INL.

The third Strategic Dialogue on Energy between government officials from Poland and the United States was held on February 26 as a way to extend the nations’ advanced nuclear energy cooperation. U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette met with Piotr Naimski, Poland’s secretary of state in the chancellery of the prime minister and plenipotentiary for strategic energy infrastructure, and Poland’s Minister of Climate Michal Kurtyka at the Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, D.C. In a DOE press release, Brouillette acknowledged the U.S. nuclear industry’s continued interest in providing clean, reliable, and resilient nuclear energy to Poland as a means to strengthen their energy security. In a post on Twitter, Kurtyka described the meeting as “fruitful.”

Novich (left) and Renfrow (right)

Kaelee Novich, a senior at Boise State University, and Robert Renfrow, a junior at Lipscomb University, have been selected to participate in the 2020 Washington Internships for Students in Engineering (WISE) program with the sponsorship of ANS. Both students are majoring in mechanical engineering.

Novich and Renfrow will join students sponsored by other engineering organizations for nine weeks, from May 31 until August 1, in Washington, D.C. While there, they will meet with leaders in the U.S. Congress, the administration, and federal agencies, including the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Each intern will conduct research and present a paper on an engineering-related public policy issue of interest to their sponsoring organization. The papers will be published online in the WISE Journal of Engineering and Public Policy.

As nuclear power plants age and retire from service, many countries face significant challenges concerning the safe long-term storage and disposal of large volumes of low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes (L&ILW). In Canada, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is currently in the process of obtaining regulatory approval for a deep geological repository (L&ILW DGR) for such wastes from decommissioning and refurbishment of its heavy water reactors. OPG is exploring innovative methods and technologies to improve safety and reduce the processing, transportation, and disposal costs of these wastes. The volumes of metallic waste are of particular concern, because when metal corrodes it produces hydrogen that could lead to pressure buildup in the L&ILW DGR.

Heavy water is used both for moderating nuclear fission and transporting heat in CANDU reactors. As a result of heavy water use in these systems, tritium is produced in small quantities from thermal neutron activation of deuterium. The presence of tritium in the heavy water contributes to the radiation dose of the reactor staff and radioactive emission from the reactor facility. Tritium dose is usually controlled through design and operating procedures that minimize leaks and limit exposure to the tritiated water. Many of the CANDU operators have also reduced the operational tritium concentration through detritiation of the heavy water from the reactor. Detritiation is carried out in a centralized facility, such as the Tritium Removal Facility in Darlington, which provides this service to Ontario’s nuclear reactor fleet. Detritiation reduces both tritium emission and dose to workers and the public from reactor operation.

Lesson plans for middle school and high school students make up only one part of the compelling nuclear science education resources that Navigating Nuclear offers for today’s classrooms. ANS’s K–12 curriculum reaches students with virtual field trips (see article that begins on page 1), career resources, and STEM project starters to get students excited about nuclear science and its applications.

Alyse Huffman is the 2019 ANS Congressional Fellow

During my time on the Energy Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, I’ve had the pleasure of covering a wide variety of issues. The jurisdiction of the subcommittee includes nonmilitary research, development, demonstration, and commercial application activities at the Department of Energy. My portfolio covers issues in the energy and water nexus, geothermal energy, water power technologies, nuclear energy, geoengineering, biological and environmental research (including low-dose radiation research), and nuclear physics. I’ve led the committee’s staff work in these areas, which has included writing legislation and shepherding bills through committee markups and the legislative process. In addition, I’ve been the staff lead on hearings and have held countless meetings with stakeholder groups on clean energy topics.

In its report for fiscal year 2019, published in February, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Investigations (OI) shows a total case inventory that continues its downward trend: OI reported 160 cases in FY 2019, down 18 percent from 195 in FY 2018. The number of cases in 2015, 2016, and 2017 were 235, 231, and 209, respectively.

Exelon Generation’s Peach Bottom-2 and -3, located in Delta, Pa., have joined Florida Power & Light Company’s Turkey Point-3 and -4 as the only U.S. nuclear reactors licensed to operate for a total of 80 years.

On March 5, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued subsequent license renewals to Exelon for the Peach Bottom boiling water reactors, with expiration dates of August 8, 2053, for Unit 2, and July 2, 2054, for Unit 3. The FPL units received their first--in--the-nation SLRs last December (NN, Jan. 2020, p. 15).

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is issuing a proposed interpretation of its low-­level radioactive waste disposal regulations that would permit licensees to dispose of waste by transfer to persons who hold specific disposal exemptions. The NRC said that it will consider approval of requests for specific exemptions only if they are for the disposal of very low-­level radioactive waste by land burial. Notice of the proposed interpretive rule was published in the March 6 Federal Register.

Visitors explore the exhibits and interactive displays at the K-25 History Center at Oak Ridge. Photo: DOE

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor URS/CH2M Oak Ridge hosted a ribbon-­cutting ceremony on February 27 for the new K-­25 History Center on the site of the former uranium enrichment plant. Located next to the original foundation for the K-­25 building, the center was built to honor and preserve the stories of the workers who constructed and operated the K-­25 complex during World War II and the Cold War.

Speaking before the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development on March 3, Rita Baranwal, the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said that the DOE has prepared a request for proposal for an interim storage site for radioactive waste. “The intent is for the basic design of an interim storage facility,” she said.

A large-scale campaign to move spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States to a central repository or interim storage site does not appear to be coming anytime soon. External pressures, however, including a growing number of nuclear power plant closures and increased stakeholder demand to remove stranded spent fuel and HLW, are shifting focus to building the infrastructure needed to move large volumes of waste. This includes the design and manufacture of shielded transportation casks for shipping the waste by truck or rail.

The next opportunity to earn professional engineer (P.E.) licensure in nuclear engineering is this fall, and now is the time to sign up and begin studying with the help of a new online module program from ANS.

“Licensure is the mark of a professional,” said Joshua Vajda, chair of the ANS Professional Engineering Examination Committee (PEEC). “It’s a standard recognized by employers and their clients, by governments, and by the public as an assurance of dedication, skill, and quality,” he added.“It not only enhances your stature, it shows commitment to the profession and demonstrates heightened leadership and management skills.”

ANS President Marilyn Kray has expressed support for the continued recovery operations at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which sustained damage in the aftermath of a March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Kray sent a letter on March 3 to Hiroshi Kajiyama, head of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), about the work of the ministry’s Subcommittee on Handling of the ALPS (Advanced Liquid Processing System) Treated Water and the findings of a February 2020 subcommittee report.