Diagram of the Cigéo repository in France. (Image: Andra)
Having deemed the application admissible, France’s nuclear safety authority, Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN), will undertake a technical appraisal of Andra’s application to construct the Cigéo deep geological disposal facility for radioactive waste.
SHINE Technologies founder and CEO Greg Piefer shows the hot cell banks that will be used to produce Lu-177. (Image: SHINE)
Fusion tech company SHINE Technologies announced that it is opening the largest facility in North America dedicated to the production of non-carrier-added lutetium-177, a medical isotope used in targeted cancer therapies.
The Beaver Valley/Energy Harbor training management team poses in Beaver Valley’s Unit 1 simulator room. Left to right are: Phil Norgaard (fleet training manager), Jerry Manning (maintenance and technical training supervisor), Shari Cook (fleet training superintendent), Annaliese Piraino (instructional technologist), Mike Brasile (training manager), and Greg Pelka (operations training superintendent). (Photo: Energy Harbor)
The education and training of the nuclear power plant workforce is advancing in ways that are increasingly based on scientific knowledge about how the brain works. At the Beaver Valley nuclear power plant in Shippingport, Pa., instructional technologist and certified nuclear instructor Annaliese B. Piraino is applying the principles of educational psychology and neuroscience to the instructional practices.
The plant, which Texas-based Vistra Corporation acquired recently from Energy Harbor, consists of two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, each with a production capacity just over 930 MWe. The operators along with the maintenance and technical staff at Beaver Valley are beginning to show the benefits of the new neuroscience-based instructional approaches to training that are being implemented by Piraino and the Beaver Valley training department.
Comanche Peak nuclear power plant. (Photo: Meranda Cohn/Vistra)
When a technical problem with a feedwater pump at Unit 1 of the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant caused the unit to shut down temporarily on June 16, a new backup system was employed by grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to make up for the electricity loss.
ANS immediate past president Steven Arndt, Jeffrey Merrifield, and John Kotek on stage at the ANS annual meeting President's Plenary.
At the 2023 ANS Annual Meeting, Steven Arndt (as of the close of the meeting, ANS immediate past president) led a president’s session on the mission of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission—a not particularly surprising topic, given that he spent over 30 years at the agency in various roles.
Concept art of the planned Gadsden, Ala., MMR assembly plant. (Image: Ultra Safe Nuclear)
Ultra Safe Nuclear (USNC) announced on June 21 that it has selected the city of Gadsden, Ala., to host a $232 million MMR assembly plant. Modules for the company’s high-temperature, gas-cooled and TRISO-fueled microreactor, dubbed the Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR), would be manufactured, assembled, and tested at the “highly automated facility” once it is in operation.
Craig Piercy (left) discusses “The State of Nuclear” with panelists (sitting left to right) Brad Williams, Todd Abrajano, and John Kotek, as well as Amy Roma and Jackie Siebens, who participated via video feed.
The “The State of Nuclear” panel discussion on June 13 at the 2023 American Nuclear Society Annual Meeting focused on how geopolitical issues are affecting federal, state, and international laws, regulations, and funding regarding nuclear technology. The discussion was chaired by ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy.
EnergySolutions is to explore options for building new nuclear facilities at company-owned sites, such as Wisconsin’s Kewaunee site, currently being decommissioned.
Utah-based decommissioning company EnergySolutions has entered the early phases of exploring the possible use of former nuclear sites acquired by the company, such as the closed Kewaunee nuclear power plant in Wisconsin, as potential locations for future new nuclear generation sites.