President’s Session: U.S global leadership in nuclear energy and national security

June 9, 2020, 10:33PMNuclear News

The President’s Special Session of the 2020 American Nuclear Society Virtual Annual Meeting, organized by ANS’s Young Members Group (YMG) and Student Sections Committee (SSC), featured an all-star group of nuclear policy luminaries opining on the current influence of nuclear technology on U.S. national security and where the nation stands with regard to leadership of the future global nuclear industry.

Christopher Hanson sworn in as fifth commissioner

June 9, 2020, 1:02PMNuclear News

Hanson

The vacant seat on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was filled on June 8, when Christopher T. Hanson was sworn in as the agency’s fifth commissioner. The vacancy was created in April 2019 with the resignation of Stephen Burns. Hanson will serve the remainder of Burns’s term, which expires on June 30, 2024.

ANS Annual Meeting: Hydrogen is on the table

June 9, 2020, 10:24AMNuclear News

Producing hydrogen as well as electricity from the current fleet of nuclear reactors is garnering a lot of interest from stakeholders, according to representatives of four nuclear operating utilities that together operate about one-third of the U.S. nuclear fleet. That interest drew viewers to a Utility Roundtable on U.S. Leadership in Sustaining Clean, Competitive Power and Hydrogen during the June 8 opening plenary of the American Nuclear Society's 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting.

NRC to prepare EIS for Westinghouse fuel plant

June 8, 2020, 5:27PMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for Westinghouse Electric Company’s application to renew the operating license of its Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF) in South Carolina, the agency announced in a June 5 press release. The plant produces fuel assemblies for use in commercial nuclear power reactors.

How the U.S. can retake the global nuclear lead

June 8, 2020, 8:17AMNuclear News

More than a thousand participants joined a Department of Energy webinar on May 29 for a discussion of the Trump administration’s strategy for restoring the United States to a globally predominant position in the field of nuclear energy. The strategy was laid out in the Nuclear Fuel Working Group’s recent report, Restoring America’s Competitive Nuclear Energy Advantage. (For details on the NRWG’s report, see our coverage here.)

Netflix’s History 101 gets a D- for episode on nuclear

June 7, 2020, 8:54PMEdited June 8, 2020, 8:55AMNuclear News

Netflix recently launched History 101, a series of short documentaries that the popular streaming service calls “bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements, and world-changing discoveries.” Included among episodes on topics such as fast food, plastics, and the growth of China’s global influence, is an episode on nuclear power.

From the series’ academic-sounding name, one would hope for a thoughtful, even-handed discussion of the history of nuclear technology, along with its pros and cons. Yet, with a title like “Nuclear Power: Playing with Fire,” it quickly becomes apparent that the episode provides more heat than light. As one online commenter said of the series, “This is not a history documentary; it’s a middle schooler’s slick history report.”

Beyond Nuclear appeals NRC decision on CISF

June 7, 2020, 4:49PMRadwaste Solutions

The antinuclear organization Beyond Nuclear has filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit requesting a review of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s decision to deny its petition against Holtec International’s application to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico.

The First Nuclear Textbook?

June 5, 2020, 6:03PMANS Nuclear CafeWill Davis

Yesterday, we had one of the nicer yet stranger events during this wholly strange time - that is, the meeting of the American Nuclear Society's Book Publishing Committee, of which yours truly is the Vice Chair.  I say "nicer" because I always look forward to these meetings, given the opportunity they afford to interact with some of ANS' finest people and the fact that these meetings really get things done.  I say "stranger" because it was a Zoom meeting and not face to face, around a table.  What's even more impacting for me is the fact that the BPC meeting usually is the first event I attend at ANS' Annual and Winter meetings and it serves, thus, as the best possible kickoff for me.  November, maybe.  Maybe.

ANS Executive Committee releases statement on recent killings of unarmed African Americans and systemic racism

June 5, 2020, 4:33PMANS Executive CommitteeANS Executive Committee

The American Nuclear Society has issued a statement on the recent events around the country. The full statement can be viewed below.


Statement from the American Nuclear Society Executive Committee on recent killings of unarmed African Americans and systemic racism

On behalf of the American Nuclear Society, we express our deep sadness over the death of George Floyd and other unarmed African Americans. These events have laid bare the deep racial wounds and divisions which still exist in our society today, including those within our own community of nuclear professionals.

Excitement builds for ANS Virtual Annual Meeting

June 5, 2020, 2:55PMANS News

The 2020 ANS Virtual Annual Meeting promises to be a unique event in the history of the American Nuclear Society. The first all-virtual ANS meeting runs from June 8 to 11 and is being conducted via Zoom, a videoconferencing app that has gained widespread popularity since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 1,700 registrants have already signed up, making for the largest ANS meeting in modern history. More than 90 sessions will be held, with over 200 papers to be presented. Meeting registration will be open through Wednesday, June 10.

Russia lays keel for nuclear-powered icebreaker

June 5, 2020, 12:20PMNuclear News

Rendering of a Russian Project 22220 icebreaker. Image: Hanko/Wikimedia Commons

The keel for Rosatomflot’s Yakutia, the third Project 22220 nuclear-powered icebreaker, was laid at the United Shipbuilding Corporation’s Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg on May 26, according to a press release from Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned atomic energy corporation. Rosatomflot is a subsidiary of Rosatom.

Space reactor technology making strides

June 5, 2020, 9:23AMNuclear News

Nuclear technology for space exploration just took a giant step forward. Researchers at the National Nuclear Security Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have conducted a series of tests as part of NASA’s Kilopower project for the development of a nuclear space reactor. The results have been published in a special issue of the American Nuclear Society’s journal Nuclear Technology, which includes eight papers that cover the design and testing of the Kilowatt Reactor Using Stirling TechnologY (KRUSTY) reactor, a 1-kWe space reactor with a cast uranium core, heat pipes, and Stirling engine power conversion.

Refurbished Darlington unit returns to service

June 4, 2020, 3:57PMNuclear News

A fish-eye view of the refurbished Darlington-2. Photo: Ontario Power Generation

Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) massive project to refurbish all of its Darlington nuclear power plant reactors has reached its first major milestone with the successful completion of Unit 2’s refurbishment and reconnection to Ontario’s electricity grid, the utility stated in a June 4 media release.

The Darlington plant, located in Clarington, Ontario, Canada, houses four 878-MWe PHWR CANDU reactors, all of which entered commercial operation in the early 1990s. The 10-year refurbishment project, which also was 10 years in the planning, began in earnest in October 2016, when Unit 2 was taken off line (NN, Dec. 2016, pg. 45).

DOE to begin phased return to full operations

June 4, 2020, 11:36AMNuclear News

Brouillette

Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a June 1 announcement to Department of Energy employees that given the recent lifting of stay-at-home orders in the Washington, D.C., area, the department will allow some federal employees to return to work at DOE headquarters, beginning on June 8.