NRC to issue final rule for new technology emergency preparedness

August 15, 2023, 12:00PMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has directed its staff to issue a final rule and associated regulatory guide that applies risk-informed, performance-based emergency preparedness requirements to small modular reactors and other new technologies, the agency announced on August 14. The technologies include non–light water reactors, research and test reactors, and medical radioisotope facilities.

DOE invests $112 million in computational fusion energy research

August 15, 2023, 7:00AMNuclear News

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science announced $112 million in funding on August 14 for 12 projects designed by fusion scientists, applied mathematicians, and computer scientists to apply high-performance computing and exascale computers to complex fusion energy problems.

The list of projects and more information can be found on the Fusion Energy Sciences homepage.

WIPP workforce development plan established by DOE and local college

August 14, 2023, 3:02PMNuclear News
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy today announced a noncompetitive financial assistance cooperative agreement with Southeast New Mexico College, located in Carlsbad, N.M., for educational programs to enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of current Waste Isolation Pilot Plant employees while also building and training WIPP’s next-generation workforce.

Focus on China for new U.S. nuclear export controls

August 14, 2023, 12:00PMNuclear News

The Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has expanded the scope of its nuclear-related export controls on China and Macao (a special administrative region in southeastern China) by establishing additional nuclear nonproliferation controls and license requirements for items that could “contribute to nuclear activities of concern.” The BIS stated that the action, effective August 11, was taken in response to China’s military modernization and nuclear force expansion.

Illinois governor kills bill repealing ban on new nuclear construction

August 14, 2023, 9:30AMNuclear News

Rezin

Pritzker

Nuclear advocates may have applauded Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker two years ago when he signed legislation providing $694 million to three of the state’s struggling nuclear power plants, but they’re hissing him now: On Friday, Pritzker vetoed S.B. 76, a bill that would have lifted the state’s decades-old moratorium on new nuclear power plant construction.

Introduced in January by Sen. Sue Rezin (R., 38th Dist.), S.B. 76 called for deleting language in the Illinois Public Utilities Act that forbids nuclear plant construction in the state until the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency determines that the federal government “has identified and approved a demonstrable technology or means for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste, or until such construction has been specifically approved by a statute enacted by the General Assembly.”

IAEA launches new research project on deep borehole disposal

August 14, 2023, 7:00AMRadwaste Solutions
A schematic illustration of a deep borehole repository assuming disposal into a bedrock. (Image: Sandia National Laboratories via IAEA)

The International Atomic Energy Agency is launching a new Coordinated Research Project (CRP) to increase international knowledge and drive progress toward testing deep borehole disposal for intermediate- and high-level radioactive waste.

Cracking the code to transition a ‘paper reactor’ to a practical reactor

August 11, 2023, 3:44PMNuclear NewsYasir Arafat
PCAT is prepared for transport from INL to Pennsylvania for testing. (Photo: INL)

As global concerns about climate change and energy sustainability intensify, the need for cleaner and more efficient energy sources is more critical than ever. Nuclear power consistently emerges as an important part of the solution, driving the development of innovative technologies. While numerous fission technologies were built and proven in the early days of nuclear energy, times and regulations have changed. Between the 1950s and mid-1970s, Idaho National Laboratory built 52 reactors—then paused for five decades. Can this nation return to the frontier once again, embarking on new fission technologies? With a mature regulatory environment and increasing public support, how quickly can a new non–light water system be deployed in modern times?

WNA issues its new World Nuclear Performance Report

August 11, 2023, 12:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Bilbao y Léon

The World Nuclear Performance Report 2023 has been released by the World Nuclear Association (WNA), containing a mix of positive and negative news about the global nuclear power industry. On the positive side, according to the report, nuclear energy in 2022 supplied approximately 10 percent of the world’s electricity and roughly 25 percent of low-carbon clean electricity (second only to hydropower). On the negative side, the total amount of electricity supplied by nuclear energy declined by 4.2 percent in 2022 compared with the previous year, and the nuclear industry as a whole is “not growing fast enough to address the challenges of ensuring energy security, tackling climate change, and providing access to clean energy for all,” said WNA director-general Sama Bilbao y León in remarks at the launch of the report.

IAEA’s sealed sources management review service completes first mission

August 11, 2023, 9:30AMNuclear News
A new IAEA peer review service demonstrates the proper management of disused sealed radioactive sources. (Photos: IAEA [left] and TINT [right])

The International Atomic Energy Agency has carried out the first mission of its Disused Sealed Radioactive Sources Technical Centre peer review service, or DSRS TeC, at the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) in Bangkok. Held July 18–21, the inaugural mission was supported by funds from the United States.

General Fusion presses toward goal of magneto-inertial breakeven by 2026

August 11, 2023, 7:01AMNuclear News
General Fusion’s current plasma injector (PI3) is the 25th in a series of prototypes developed by the company. (Photo: General Fusion)

General Fusion announced on August 9 that it will build a fusion machine called Lawson Machine 26 (LM26) at the company’s new headquarters in the city of Richmond, British Columbia, near Vancouver. The machine is intended to achieve fusion conditions of over 100 million degrees Celsius by 2025 and progress toward scientific breakeven by 2026 to support the company’s vision of commercial fusion energy by the early to mid-2030s.

2023 Utility Working Conference: Building resiliency

August 10, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear News

More than 700 registered attendees descended on Florida’s Marco Island for the ANS Utility Working Conference this week, with many traveling through a wave of severe storms to get there—a fitting start to a meeting themed “Building Resiliency in a Rapidly Changing World.”

Three days of panels and educational sessions formally opened on Monday, August 7, with a plenary on “The Nuclear Industry’s State of Resiliency” featuring three invited speakers: Annie Caputo, NRC commissioner; Bob Willard, president and chief executive officer of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations; and Jeff Lyash, president and CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Matthew Rasmussen, general chair of the UWC and senior vice president for engineering and operations support at TVA, introduced the speakers following opening remarks from ANS President Kenneth Petersen and ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy. Together, the plenary speakers pointed to challenges ahead in ensuring effective leadership, nuclear plant resilience, and energy security—and found cause for celebration in the recent and long-awaited announcement of commercial operation at Vogtle-3.

Bomb-sniffing canines report for duty at Hanford

August 10, 2023, 12:02PMNuclear News
K-9 officer Dee and her partner, Patrol Officer Manny Rodriguez, during a training exercise. (Photo: DOE )

The Department of Energy’s Hanford Site has introduced its newest team members, Dee and Freda, two highly skilled explosive-detecting K-9 officers. The police dogs will work with Richland Operations Office contractor Hanford Mission Integration Solutions to help ensure the safety and security of the legacy nuclear reservation near Richland, Wash.

Swedish regulator proposes framework development for nuclear power

August 10, 2023, 9:31AMNuclear News
The Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden. (Photo: Daniel Kihlgren)

The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM) has issued a final report to the Swedish government regarding its investigation into how the regulatory framework for the country’s nuclear power might be improved.

Changing of the guard for Nuclear Technology journal

August 10, 2023, 7:02AMANS News

Immediate past president Steven Arndt announced at the ANS Annual Meeting that Yassin Hassan, Distinguished Professor, Regents Professor, and the L. F. Peterson ’36 Chair II in Engineering at Texas A&M University, will be the next technical editor of ANS’s Nuclear Technology journal.

Following the 2022 Annual Meeting, ANS past president Andrew Klein (2016–2017), professor emeritus of nuclear science and engineering at Oregon State University and the current editor of NT, announced that he would retire at the end of his term in June 2023. That started the clock for ANS’s Technical Journals Committee to begin the search for a new technical editor. After numerous virtual meetings and interviews, the committee, chaired by ANS members Robert Little and Elia Merzari, recommended Hassan to Arndt per the ANS bylaws.

SRS saves money through double-stack project

August 9, 2023, 3:00PMRadwaste Solutions
SRS reached a landmark achievement with the placement of 2,000 double-stacked canisters of vitrified HLW. (Image: DOE)

To expand interim storage of vitrified high-level radioactive waste at the Savannah River Site, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and its liquid waste contractor Savannah River Mission Completion (SRMC) have double stacked 2,000 canisters in one of the site's two glass waste storage buildings (GWSB). GWSB 1 consists of a below-grade, seismically qualified concrete storage location containing support frames for the vertical storage of 2,262 10-foot-tall canisters.

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ANS young members know failure is not an option

August 9, 2023, 12:00PMNuclear News

Young members have always been an asset to the American Nuclear Society, attending the Annual and Winter Meetings; joining Society divisions, groups, and student sections; and leading their own events and webinars. ANS would like to highlight some of its young members for their contributions to bringing nuclear energy to the larger world beyond our industry.

Bruce-6 nears a return to service

August 9, 2023, 9:30AMNuclear News
The Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario, Canada. (Photo: Bruce Power)

Unit 6 at the Bruce nuclear power plant in Kincardine, Ontario, achieved a sustained fission chain reaction over the weekend—a key step in returning the 817-MWe CANDU reactor to commercial operation, Bruce Power announced yesterday.

Glass added to heated Hanford Vit Plant melter

August 9, 2023, 7:00AMRadwaste Solutions
A 300-pound bag of frit is in position to be poured into the melter at Hanford’s LAW Facility. (Photo: Bechtel National)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced that the first batches of glass-forming beads, called frit, were poured last week into a melter at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant. The melter, which has been heated to 2,100ºF, will be used to immobilize Hanford’s radioactive and chemical tank waste, turning it into a stable glass form through vitrification.

NRC report looks at uranium-zirconium fuel system

August 8, 2023, 3:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a new report, Metal Fuel Qualification--Fuel Assessment Using NRC NUREG-2246, “Fuel Qualification for Advanced Reactors,” which documents experience with the zirconium-clad ceramic fuel system in fast reactors and presents the fuel qualification case for a data-supported fuel design and set of operating conditions. The research includes identifying as-fabricated conditions (e.g., dimensions, chemistry) and in-pile conditions (e.g., linear heat generation rates, burnup, temperature) and anticipated operational occurrences.