Unit II-2 at Russia’s Leningrad plant has entered commercial operation. Photo: Rosenergoatom

Unit II-2 at the Leningrad nuclear power plant entered commercial operation on March 22, bringing the total number of operating power reactors in the Russian fleet to 38, state-owned nuclear power corporation Rosatom has announced.

The 1,066-MWe unit is one of two Russian-designed Generation III+ VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors now in service at the plant, the other, Unit II-1, having begun commercial operation in October 2018. There are also two VVER-1200 units up and running at Russia’s Novovoronezh facility, and two additional VVER-1200s are scheduled for Leningrad later this decade. Further, VVER-1200 projects are afoot at the Belarusian plant in Belarus (two units), El Dabaa in Egypt (four units), Hanhikivi in Finland (one unit), and Paks in Hungary (two units).

Leningrad II-2 replaces Leningrad I-2, a 925-MWe RBMK-1000 light water–cooled graphite-moderated reactor that permanently ceased operation in November 2020 after 45 years of service.

The Economist published a video earlier this month trying to answer the question of why is nuclear so unpopular. The video is paired with a story that appeared on The Economist's website advocating for a well-regulated nuclear industry. The video starts off with very dramatic images of nuclear weapons and scenes from popular culture like Godzilla, The Simpsons, and the recent HBO miniseries Chernobyl. The video provides a quick history of nuclear science and technology starting with Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace speech in an attempt to prove to the viewer that "nuclear is one of the safest, most reliable, and sustainable forms of energy, and decarbonizing will be much more difficult without it."

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm announced last week that the 2021 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, hosted by the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), will take place May 24–27 in a fully virtual format.

The Department of Energy’s ARPA-E Summit will bring together experts from industry, investment, academia, and government to discuss some of the toughest challenges facing the energy community. The 2021 summit’s theme is “Expanding American Energy Innovation,” a nod to both the agency’s energy research and development mission and its goal to grow the energy innovation community.

According to the DOE, the virtual event will combine the most popular elements from past ARPA-E Summits with new ways to stay connected in the virtual format, including four days of main-stage speakers and panels, a virtual technology showcase for attendees to meet with and learn about ARPA-E awardees, and networking sessions and news of other new ways to stay connected virtually.

The first wall section of Saltstone Disposal Unit 8 (SDU 8) at the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina was installed earlier this month.

SDU 8 will stand 43 feet tall and 375 feet in diameter, and have a 33-million-gallon capacity, just like two SDUs built recently at the site. The 25 wall sections of SDU 8 are being constructed using high-strength, reinforced concrete and will be wrapped with seven layers of more than 300 miles of steel cable for added strength.

The flooring of SDU 8 is more than halfway complete. The concrete floor sits on top of a multilayer foundation: a geosynthetic clay liner and high-density plastic liner sandwiched between two concrete layers called “mud mats.” The floor is being completed in 14 sections.

The disposal units are built to safely and permanently contain decontaminated salt solution processed at Savannah River, the DOE reported on March 9.

The New York Times has reported on a set of massive spending proposals under President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda that is adding up to $3 trillion aimed at boosting the economy and combating climate change. The proposals are expected to be presented to Congress in three parts instead of as one massive bill. Details still need to be worked out and the proposals remains in flux, according to the Times.

Vogtle-3's containment and turbine building. Photo: Georgia Power

Vogtle-3, the first of two 1,100-MWe AP1000 pressurized water reactors under construction at the Vogtle plant near Waynesboro, Ga., may not go into service in November as planned, Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power has announced.

According to a March 19 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the date for starting commercial operation at Unit 3 could be delayed by a month or more at a cost to Georgia Power of approximately $25 million per month. “While [Vogtle plant operator] Southern Nuclear continues to target a November 2021 in-service date for Unit 3, the schedule is challenged and … a delay is likely,” Georgia Power stated. The filing made no mention of changes to Unit 4’s scheduled start date of November 2022.

To fulfill the strategic goal of enhancing nuclear public policy, the American Nuclear Society invites its members to apply for the Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship. Applications and supporting documents for the 2022 fellowship are due to ANS no later than 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, May 2. The one-year term begins on January 1, 2022.

Granholm

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm gave her first international address as part of the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue 2021 conference, held on March 16 and 17. Granholm started her speech by stating that “America is back,” putting climate change policies front and center as part of the Biden administration’s agenda. She said that President Biden has set ambitious goals for climate policies that will set the United States on “an irreversible path toward net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

Granholm’s message: Granholm focused her talk on renewable energy investment and she discussed how the United States is dedicated to working with the rest of the world to cut emissions to get to net-zero. She touched on assorted topics, including investing in renewables, creating a resilient grid, installing hundreds of miles of new transmission lines to reach new renewable energy sources, improving carbon removal from current fossil fuels, promoting hydrogen production, researching next-generation battery storage, and realizing the potential massive economic boom that could come with all this investment by the U.S. Department of Energy.

There was one glaring omission from that list: Nuclear.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has revised its policy regarding how it conducts staff-sponsored public meetings with outside parties.

The revised policy was effective with its publication in the March 19 Federal Register. The NRC’s public meeting schedule will reflect the new policy in the near future.

Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. Photo: PG&E

According to ETO Insider, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission this week dismissed a complaint filed in October 2020 from Californians for Green Nuclear Power (CGNP) against multiple agencies regarding the closing of Pacific Gas and Electric’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

In denying the complaint on technical grounds against the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), FERC said that CGNP had “not met its burden under Section 206 of the Federal Power Act.” The remaining complaints against North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the California State Water Resources Control Board (CSWRCB), and California State Lands Commission (CSLC) were dismissed on the grounds that they “are not proper respondents.”

Meeting remotely, WSU students deliver two nonproliferation projects to NNSA and PNNL staff. Source: NNSA

In a program sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, teams of engineering students from Washington State University designed, built, and delivered prototype equipment to address challenges encountered by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory staff in research on nuclear safeguards.

As reported on March 11 by the NNSA, two teams of WSU students presented their projects to PNNL staff during an online meeting in December 2020. One team created physical training aids for safeguards courses to demonstrate two methods of nuclear fuel reprocessing. The other team developed an enrichment monitor mounting bracket that the International Atomic Energy Agency could use to help monitor uranium hexafluoride gas in enrichment facilities.

Join the American Nuclear Society on Friday, March 26, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (EDT) to hear perspectives on the future of nuclear energy offered by individuals who have played a significant role in framing the United States’ nuclear energy policies of the past, present, and future.

Register now for this free event that is open to all. ANS members who register will have the opportunity to submit questions in advance.

Holtec’s 1,500th canister is positioned for placement into the HI-STORM UMAX system at Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center. Photo: Holtec

Holtec International said that it successfully loaded its 1,500th spent fuel canister last week as part of the ongoing dry storage campaign at Ameren Missouri’s Callaway Energy Center. Holtec’s HI-STORM UMAX subterranean dry storage system has been in service at Callaway since 2015. The MPC-37 multipurpose canister is used to place 37 pressurized water reactor spent fuel assemblies into each HI-STORM UMAX vertical ventilated module.

“There has been a strong collaboration between our teams, and I truly appreciate the strong focus on doing the work safely, correctly, and to the highest standards of excellence,” said Fadi Diya, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer of Ameren Missouri, in a March 17 announcement.

“Just as we shared the milestone in 2015 of deploying the world’s first subterranean dry storage system under a general license, we are proud to share this milestone with Ameren,” said Pierre Oneid, Holtec’s senior vice president and chief nuclear officer.

The Department of Energy on March 16 announced $18 million in new particle accelerator technology funding that includes $5 million for university-based traineeships for accelerator scientists and engineers.

Accelerating solutions: Beams of charged particles are powerful tools for scientific research, and particle accelerators have also been used in medical imaging and cancer therapy, in the manufacturing of semiconductors, and as a nonchemical method of destroying pathogens and toxic chemicals.

In response to House Democrats’ introduction on March 2 of a massive energy bill, the CLEAN Future Act, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have unveiled their own, more modest energy agenda—a package of existing legislation that they say would “secure America’s energy future and global competitive edge against China.”

McMorris Rodgers

According to a March 15 press release from the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.), along with Reps. Fred Upton (R., Mich.) and David McKinley (R., W.Va.), the GOP plan will address climate change risks and spur the development and deployment of clean energy infrastructure without the “pie-in-the-sky” mandates, regulations, and federal government spending advocated by the Democrats.

What they’re saying: “This package will modernize and improve our energy infrastructure and promote an all-of-the-above energy strategy across the board, including solutions to unleash innovation in hydropower, nuclear, clean coal, and natural gas,” the Republican lawmakers state. “These are real, workable solutions to make energy cleaner, reduce emissions, prioritize energy security, and keep energy costs low.”

Shellenberger

In testimony last Thursday before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Michael Shellenberger, founder and president of Environmental Progress, called for maintaining the current U.S. fleet of nuclear power reactors. He argued that the premature closure of nuclear plants threatens the reliability, resiliency, and affordability of the nation’s electricity supply, as well as its ability to reduce carbon emissions.

Without state or federal action, 12 reactors will close by 2025, resulting in the loss of 10.5 GW of “highly reliable, low-cost, and low-carbon power,” Shellenberger noted in his written statement. He added, “If those nuclear plants are lost, grids may suffer from energy shortages during future heat waves or cold snaps.”

Amanda Lines, a PNNL chemist, develops real-time monitoring tools to pave the way for faster advanced reactor testing and design. (Photo: Andrea Starr/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Advanced reactor development and testing could benefit from a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory innovation that combines remote, real-time monitoring of gaseous fission by-products with a software package designed with plant operators in mind, according to an article published online earlier this month.

The basics: “Real-time monitoring is a valuable tool, particularly in the development of next-generation reactors,” said Amanda Lines, a PNNL chemist. “This can help designers more efficiently and effectively design and test flow loops, mechanisms, or processes. Also, when they ultimately deploy their reactor systems, this gives operators a tool to better understand and control those processes.”

COVID-19 has touched our lives in many ways, affecting work, school, and homelife. The Diversity and Inclusion in ANS Committee is holding a free webinar, "Coping with COVID: The Pandemic and the Nuclear Community," on Tuesday, March 23, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (EDT).

Panelists will discuss how the nuclear community is responding to the pandemic, what more can be done, what support resources are available, and what the future looks like.

Registration is required for the webinar.

Patrick Fragman (left), president and CEO of Westinghouse, and Piotr Naimski, Poland’s secretary of state for strategic energy infrastructure, met on March 15, 2021, in Warsaw. Photo: Westinghouse

The signing last October of a bilateral agreement between the United States and Poland to cooperate on the latter’s civil nuclear power program appears to be bearing fruit. On March 15, following a meeting in Warsaw between Patrick Fragman, president and chief executive officer of Westinghouse Electric Company, and Piotr Naimski, Poland’s secretary of state for strategic energy infrastructure, Westinghouse announced its intention to invest in nuclear technologies in Poland.

The agreement, which entered into force earlier this month, calls for the United States and Poland to cooperate over the next 18 months on a report laying out a plan for implementing Poland’s nuclear power program, as well as potential financing arrangements. It also defines areas of U.S.-Polish cooperation for decades to come, including support for relevant business entities and government-led efforts ranging from regulation to research and training to supply chain development.

Researchers at Texas A&M University have recently demonstrated the superior performance of a new oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) alloy developed for use in both fission and fusion reactors.

Shao

Lin Shao, a professor in the university’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and an ANS member, worked alongside research scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Hokkaido University to create the next generation of high-performance ODS alloys. So far, the researchers reported, the alloys are some of the strongest and best-developed metals in the field.

Details of the project were published in the February 2021 issue of the Journal of Nuclear Materials.