Energy experts urge reversal of 2025 shutdown plan for Diablo Canyon

February 7, 2022, 9:30AMUpdated February 7, 2022, 10:31AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Seventy-nine scientific and business luminaries, including a number of the world’s leading experts on climate and energy, have signed a letter imploring California Gov. Gavin Newsom to postpone the premature retirement of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, currently slated for closure in 2025.

DOE hires contractor for completion of Moab remediation work

February 7, 2022, 7:02AMRadwaste Solutions
The Moab cleanup site in Utah in 2018. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) has awarded a cleanup contract to North Wind Portage, Inc. for completion of environmental remediation of a uranium ore processing site near Moab, Utah. North Wind Portage is located in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

More information about the Moab project is available here.

The need for a metallic nuclear fuels qualification plan

February 4, 2022, 3:13PMNuclear NewsHank Hogan, Steven Hayes, Nicolas Woolstenhulme, and Colby Jensen

Positioning nuclear power to combat climate change requires the rollout of advanced reactors to replace carbon-­emitting power generation. That necessity, and its urgency, is reflected in recent budget proposals for the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Part of that proposed funding focuses on deploying new fuel technologies.

Metallic fuels, which are alloys of fissionable material, offer several advantages, including more fuel-­efficient reactors with a double or greater fuel burnup than the oxide fuels found in light water reactors. Fuel fabrication is also more cost-­effective with metallic fuels than with oxide fuels. Furthermore, much of the research and development effort needed to qualify these metallic fuels has been done.

SHINE secures funding for Netherlands Mo-99 production facility

February 4, 2022, 12:09PMNuclear News
SHINE’s Mo-99 production facility under construction in Janesville, Wis. (Photo: SHINE)

SHINE Europe, a nascent subsidiary of Wisconsin-based SHINE Technologies, announced Wednesday that it has secured funding to begin designing an advanced medical isotopes facility in Veendam, the Netherlands. The new facility will use the same fusion-based neutron generator system SHINE is employing at its Janesville, Wis., facility to produce medical isotopes, including molybdenum-99, which is used in diagnostic imaging.

Open access publication available for ANS journals

February 4, 2022, 9:30AMANS News

Researchers demand options for the publication of their results, and so-called open access (OA) publication is a top priority for many academics. Increasingly, in the changing landscape of scholarly publishing, calls from authors and readers send a clear message: Papers should be freely available to be read by anyone, anytime, without a subscription.

With ANS’s three technical journalsNuclear Science and Engineering, Nuclear Technology, and Fusion Science and Technology—they can be.

Hanford’s cesium removal system begins waste treatment operations

February 4, 2022, 7:00AMRadwaste Solutions
WRPS operations engineer Steven Porter, left, and nuclear chemical operator Brent Walker monitor the TSCR System in the control room as the system is put in operations mode. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy announced on Wednesday that the first large-scale treatment of radioactive and chemical waste from underground tanks at the Hanford Site near Richland, Wash., has begun with the start of operations of the Tank-Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) System.

The newly operational TSCR System removes radioactive cesium and solids from the tank waste. The treated waste will be fed directly to the nearby Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) for vitrification when the plant comes on line next year.

EC gives qualified approval of nuclear for EU taxonomy

February 3, 2022, 3:03PMNuclear News

The European Commission gave two cheers for nuclear energy yesterday with its adoption of the Complementary Climate Delegated Act (CDA), which adds—under what the EC refers to as “clear and strict conditions”—nuclear and natural gas to the list of green technologies covered by the EU taxonomy. (The taxonomy is the classification system used by the European Union to guide private investment toward environmentally sustainable economic projects.)

Remembering the 1984 Nuclear Power Olympics

February 3, 2022, 12:04PMANS Nuclear Cafe

With the 2022 Winter Olympics officially starting tomorrow morning with the opening ceremony, Nuclear News dug through the archives for the perfect #ThrowbackThursday post: a look at the fictional 1984 Nuclear Power Olympics!

For those who are new to Nuclear News, “Backscatter” was a long-running column frequently penned by ANS member and amateur humorist Bill Minkler. The September 1984 Backscatter was a response to that year’s Summer Olympics; Minkler provided a review of the events and winners of his fictional counterpart, “held” in Hoboken, N.J.

The following text below is a reprint of Minkler's article from 1984. Enjoy!

Bruce Power, General Fusion, and NII see fusion in Ontario’s future

February 3, 2022, 9:30AMNuclear News
General Fusion is aiming to operate a fusion demonstration plant in 2025. (Photo: Bruce Power/General Fusion)

Bruce Power, General Fusion, and the Nuclear Innovation Institute have signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate the potential deployment of a fusion power plant in Ontario, including in a region on the shores of Lake Huron comprising three counties—Bruce, Grey, and Huron—that has been dubbed the Clean Energy Frontier. Together the three organizations plan to build on existing clean energy technologies and expertise in the region and lead stakeholder and public outreach activities to raise awareness of the potential benefits of fusion energy.

Tennessee governor gives nuclear another rhetorical boost

February 3, 2022, 7:22AMNuclear News

Lee

In his annual State of the State Address on January 31, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee offered more praise for nuclear energy, after lauding it earlier in the month during a tour of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar nuclear plant

“For decades, East Tennessee has been home to some of the best-kept secrets in nuclear energy and American innovation,” Lee told the state’s General Assembly. “Today, many may not realize that Tennessee derives more power from nuclear energy than from any other source. Recently, I visited the TVA’s Watts Bar nuclear facility, the last nuclear facility to be built in America, to see firsthand how nuclear power keeps our grid dependable even when the weather is not. Nuclear power is clean energy that actually works for the private sector.”

Exelon split completed; Constellation launched

February 2, 2022, 3:00PMNuclear News

Constellation, formerly Exelon Generation, owner and operator of the nation’s largest nuclear reactor fleet, announced this morning the completion of its separation from Exelon Corporation and its launch as a stand-alone, publicly traded company. Headquartered in Baltimore, Md., the new company began trading today on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “CEG.”

Exelon announced last February that it had begun the effort to separate its utility businesses from its competitive power generation and customer-facing energy businesses.

Sweden issues permits for spent fuel repository, encapsulation plant

February 2, 2022, 9:33AMRadwaste Solutions
Rendering of the Forsmark geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden. Below ground, the repository covers three to four square kilometers at a depth of 500 meters. (Image: SKB)

The government of Sweden announced on January 27 that it has issued a permit to the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) to build a deep geological repository for spent nuclear fuel at Forsmark in the municipality of Östhammar. The government also issued a permit to construct a spent fuel encapsulation plant in Oskarshamn, where the country’s inventory of spent fuel is currently being stored.

Alaska bill would simplify microreactor siting: Here’s what you need to know

February 2, 2022, 6:59AMNuclear News
This image is described by the Alaska Center for Energy and Power as a conceptual layout of a generic small modular reactor or microreactor. (Image: ACEP)

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R.) introduced “An act relating to microreactors” (SB 177) in the Alaska state legislature on February 1 that would modify existing state law on nuclear energy by specifying that microreactors are not subject to certain nuclear reactor siting and permitting regulations in Alaska. The bill defines a microreactor as an advanced nuclear fission reactor that would be capable of generating no more than 50 MWe.

TerraPower seeks fast reactor data through time-tested U.S.-Japan research ties

February 1, 2022, 3:02PMNuclear News
A rendering of the Natrium plant. (Image: TerraPower)

Natrium, a 345-MWe sodium fast reactor with a molten salt energy storage system, was developed by TerraPower and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. TerraPower is planning to build the first Natrium demonstration reactor by 2028 with 50-50 cost-shared funding of about $2 billion from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. And for the requisite data and testing of reactor components to support that deployment, TerraPower is looking to Japan—a country with decades of experience developing sodium fast reactor designs and testing infrastructure.

Nuclear Fuel Performance Life Cycle Modeling with the End in Mind

February 1, 2022, 12:01PMSponsored ContentJoe Rashid, Senior Associate at Structural Integrity Associates, Inc.
The cladding hoop stress distribution at cladding surfaces.

Decades of fuel performance data coupled with advanced analytics and multi-processor computing have enabled the development of ‘novel’ modeling & simulation tools that allow nuclear fuel engineers to predict behavior across the entire fuel cycle. With this new capability nuclear fuel designers and fuel reload managers are better equipped to predict performance and reliability. These tools are fundamental to communicating highfidelity safety margin assessments with the regulator, and, when applied in the early stage of reactor design, can achieve optimum safety system functionality. At the apex of the fuel performance codes development pyramid sit a triad of codes: SI’s Pegasus, DOE’s Bison, and CEA’s Alcyone, which share the commonality of three-dimensional modeling and simulation of nuclear fuel performance. Unique among the capabilities represented by these codes is the ability to bridge the encoded-technology gap between the frontend and the backend of the fuel cycle to eliminate sources of uncertainties in spent fuel safety evaluations. This capability is a distinguishing feature of the Pegasus code.

Entergy Nuclear's grants benefit neighboring communities

February 1, 2022, 9:30AMANS Nuclear Cafe

In 2021, Entergy Nuclear provided dozens of grants, totaling $415,527, to nonprofit agencies in communities where Entergy’s nuclear plants operate, as well as its headquarters in Jackson, Miss. Overall, grants were awarded in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Michigan, the company announced on January 31.

The grant program administered through the nuclear plants focuses on funding education, literacy, healthy families, arts and culture, and other community improvement initiatives.

Share:

U.K. launches new radioactive waste management organization

February 1, 2022, 7:35AMRadwaste Solutions

The government of the United Kingdom on January 31 announced the launch of Nuclear Waste Services. The new organization brings together site operator Low Level Waste Repository Limited, geological disposal facility developer Radioactive Waste Management Limited, and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) Integrated Waste Management Program.

According to the U.K. government, Nuclear Waste Services will maintain current commitments to the Low-Level Waste Repository in West Cumbria, the geological disposal facility program, and the communities involved with both, while also creating a business with the capability to manage U.K. nuclear waste “safely and securely for generations to come.”

NNSA’s NEST team prepares for Super Bowl

January 31, 2022, 3:01PMNuclear News

Los Angeles residents may see low-altitude aircraft near the sites of Super Bowl LVI activities on February 1 and 2. That’s when the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration will send a Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) helicopter to measure expected background radiation as part of standard preparations to protect public health and safety for the National Football League’s biggest game.

More information and video footage of NEST’s work is available online.

Vogtle’s Unit 3 in-service date on target for this year

January 31, 2022, 12:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe
In a photo from November 2021, the Vogtle plant’s Unit 4 is in the foreground, and Unit 3 is in the center. Units 1 and 2, which entered service in the 1980s, are shown at the top of the photo. (Photo: Georgia Power)

A spokesperson for Georgia Power has confirmed that the projected in-service date for the new Vogtle-3 reactor remains the third quarter of 2022, according to an article published on January 27 on the Power magazine website. The in-service date for Vogtle-4 is targeted for the second quarter of 2023, the spokesperson said.