White House backs HALEU enrichment with a request for $2.2 billion

October 26, 2023, 3:15PMNuclear News
Image: DOE

Just a few hours after a new Speaker of the House of Representatives was elected on October 25, the White House sent a list of funding priorities for “critical domestic needs” to Congress for consideration as legislators restart the stalled annual appropriations process. Those priorities include $2.2 billion for low-enriched uranium (LEU) and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) enrichment capabilities. And to ensure that investment in domestic HALEU enrichment pays off, the White House is also calling for a long-term ban on enriched uranium from Russia.

From the pages of Nuclear News: Industry update October 2023

October 26, 2023, 12:07PMNuclear News

Here is a recap of industry happenings over the past month:

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

TerraPower signs contracts to advance Natrium

TerraPower and Centrus Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding to expand their collaboration in the development of commercial-scale production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to fuel TerraPower’s Natrium sodium-cooled fast reactor, which is designed with a molten salt–based energy storage system. TerraPower is planning its Natrium demonstration project for a site in Kemmerer, Wyo., with a target operational date of 2030. Centrus plans to produce as much as 20 kilograms of fuel by the end of 2023 at its production facility in Piketon, Ohio, and to further scale up production with additional centrifugal cascades.

New LLW sorting facility opens in Ontario

October 26, 2023, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
Representatives from OPG, Laurentis Energy Partners, and EnergySolutions Canada, as well as the mayor of Kincardine, Kenneth Craig, cut the ceremonial ribbon to officially open WCSR facility. (Photo: OPG)

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) subsidiary Laurentis Energy Partners has opened, in partnership with EnergySolutions Canada, a new 42,000-square-foot facility in Kincardine, Ontario, that will minimize waste associated with nuclear energy generation in the Canadian province, the company announced this week.

UMich offers online collection on “Nuclear Futures”

October 26, 2023, 7:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe

A new NSTOR collection, "Reimagining Nuclear Futures: Emerging Voices on Technology, Policy, and Society," has been launched by Aditi Verma, assistant professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at the University of Michigan. The collection features technology policy op-eds, essays, and papers from emerging scholars in nuclear engineering and adjacent fields.

The collection is open access with no publication charges through the end of 2024.

NSTOR—Nuclear Science and Technology Open Research—is offered through the American Nuclear Society.

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Three developers get FEEED funding to test microreactors in INL’s DOME

October 25, 2023, 3:01PMNuclear News

The Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) awarded $3.9 million to three advanced nuclear energy developers on October 23 to design experiments to test microreactor designs in the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at Idaho National Laboratory.

Progress touted in D&D of Idaho’s naval nuclear prototypes

October 25, 2023, 12:04PMRadwaste Solutions
Crews demolish one of two massive steam condensers at the Naval Reactors Facility’s A1W prototype reactor facility in Idaho. Click photo to enlarge (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said that crews at the Idaho National Laboratory site are making “significant progress” decommissioning the Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse (S1W) reactor, the prototype pressurized water reactor that supported the development of the USS Nautilus, the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine.

DOE awards new Hanford medical services contract

October 25, 2023, 9:30AMNuclear News

The Department of Energy has awarded a new small business contract to Inomedic Health Applications, Inc. (IHA) to provide continued occupational medical services to Hanford Site employees. According to the DOE, IHA is a small, disadvantaged, woman-owned business located in Hampton, Va.

UCOR partners with college to fill cleanup roles

October 25, 2023, 7:00AMNuclear News
UCOR chemical operator apprentices (seated) take instruction at the Liquid and Gaseous Waste Operations at ORNL. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management cleanup contractor UCOR has increased its ability to recruit employees through a recent partnership with Tennessee’s Roane State Community College.

DOE to discuss SNF transport plans during SONGS D&D meeting

October 24, 2023, 3:00PMRadwaste Solutions
The San Onofre nuclear power plant. (Photo: SONGS)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy will provide an update to the San Onofre Community Engagement Panel (CEP) on spent fuel transportation preparations on Thursday, October 26, at its quarterly meeting. The virtual meeting will begin at 2:00 p.m. (PDT) via Microsoft Teams video conference.

Members of the public can view the meeting online by visiting the SONGS community website for the link to the Microsoft Teams meeting and to register to comment.

Holtec completes Indian Point dry storage campaign

October 24, 2023, 12:03PMRadwaste Solutions
The Indian Point fuel campaign crew at the plant ISFSI. (Photo: Holtec)

Holtec International marked a milestone last week in its decommissioning of Indian Point Energy Center with the transfer of all the plant’s spent nuclear fuel to dry storage. According to the company, the last fuel assembly from Indian Point-3 was placed into dry cask storage at 2:22 a.m. on October 14.

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Training program focuses on supply chain

October 24, 2023, 9:30AMANS Nuclear Cafe
The 2023 SRNS SCM apprentices and interns pose with SRNS president and chief executive officer Dennis Carr (on the far right). Front row, from left: Nicholas Diacetis, Ekaterina Lyamtseva, Rachel Boyd, Brandy Edwards, Morgan Wise, Taylor Davis. Back row, from left: Jonathan Forde, Roy Niblett, Blake Elam, Kale Arrington, Derek Amick, and William Lawson.

So far this year, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Supply Chain Management (SCM) apprenticeship program has transitioned 12 new graduates to its team. According to SRNS, the apprentices and interns were attracted to the training program through new recruiting connections that SRNS has established with universities and colleges in the Aiken, S.C., area. The SCM program, which is designed to transition participants into full-time positions at the Savannah River Site, has recently increased internal incentives.

ANS announces 2023 Presidential Citations, division awards

October 24, 2023, 7:01AMANS News

One of the privileges of being president of the American Nuclear Society is awarding presidential citations to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding effort in some manner for the benefit of ANS or the nuclear community. Citations are conferred twice each year, at the Annual and Winter Meetings. ANS President Kenneth Petersen has named this season’s recipients, who will receive recognition at the upcoming Winter Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C.

ANS also announces the winners of awards presented by the Society’s professional divisions. These awards will be mailed to the recipients, and the divisions will recognize honorees at various division functions and meetings this fall. The 19 professional divisions of ANS are constituent units and represent a vast array of nuclear science and technology disciplines.

IAEA and FAO launch global food security initiative

October 23, 2023, 3:02PMNuclear News
Dongyu Qu, director general of the FAO (center left) with Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA and Najat Mokhtar, deputy director general and head of the IAEA Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications (far right) on the sidelines of the World Food Forum. (Photo: D. Calma/IAEA)

The International Atomic Energy Agency and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations launched Atoms4Food on October 18 at the 2023 World Food Forum in Rome as a flagship initiative to help boost food security and tackle growing hunger around the world. Atoms4Food will support countries as they apply nuclear techniques to boost agricultural productivity, reduce food losses, ensure food safety, improve nutrition, and adapt to the challenges of climate change.

Argonne physicist leads research on nuclear clock

October 23, 2023, 12:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Shvyd’ko

A major step toward the creation of the most precise atomic clock ever—with an accuracy of one second in 300 billion years—was recently reported in Nature by an international team of researchers working at the European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL) facility. The researchers, led by senior physicist Yuri Shvyd’ko of Argonne National Laboratory, created a pulse generator based on the element scandium that demonstrated an extremely narrow resonance frequency capable of maintaining unprecedented time accuracy.

Atomic and nuclear clocks: In atomic clocks, the electrons in the atomic shells of certain elements—most commonly cesium—are raised to higher energy levels with microwave radiation. The microwave frequency is tuned to maximize the radiation absorption within a particular resonance range.

Canadian-German joint venture to produce medical Ac-225

October 23, 2023, 9:30AMNuclear News

German-based radiopharmaceutical biotech company ITM Isotope Technologies Munich and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories are launching a new joint venture company for the industrial-scale production of actinium-225, which is used in targeted alpha therapies to fight cancer. The new company is being called Actineer.

Slovakia adds fifth reactor to nuclear fleet

October 23, 2023, 7:55AMNuclear News
Slovakia’s Mochovce nuclear plant, located about 62 miles east of Bratislava, the nation’s capital. (Photo: Slovenské Elektrárne)

The Unit 3 reactor at Slovakia’s Mochovce nuclear power facility has completed the commissioning process, becoming a full-fledged member of the country’s nuclear fleet, plant owner Slovenské Elektrárne has announced.

Robot dog fetches radiation data: Surry’s award winner makes new strides

October 20, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear NewsJoshua Bell
Spot performs autonomous rounds in Surry’s auxiliary building during the initial pilot. (Photo: Dominion Energy)

Among the typical bustle of outage activities at the Surry Power Station in Virginia during the fall of 2022, an unfamiliar sound broke through the commotion. Even with hearing protection in place, a faint whir thunk, whir thunk, whir thunk could be heard, announcing the arrival of the latest innovation in nuclear power. Dominion Energy, owner and operator of Surry, had combined new technologies from robotics company Boston Dynamics and radiation detection company Gamma Reality Inc. to provide radiological condition monitoring throughout the plant that could protect technicians from radiation exposure. The result? A quadruped robot with real-time 3D radiation mapping and data fusion capabilities.

McMaster researcher has concrete idea for SMRs

October 20, 2023, 12:01PMANS Nuclear Cafe
McMaster University’s Ousmane Hisseine is investigating how novel concrete materials can make SMRs safer. (Photo: McMaster University)

Ousmane Hisseine, an assistant professor of civil engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, is using his expertise in concrete infrastructure in hopes of improving the safety of small modular reactors.

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DOE issues additional Cleanup to Clean Energy RFIs

October 20, 2023, 9:32AMRadwaste Solutions

The Department of Energy has released two additional requests for information related to its Cleanup to Clean Energy initiative, which aims to repurpose certain DOE-owned lands—portions of which were previously used during the nation’s nuclear weapons program—into sites for clean energy generation, including include solar, geothermal, wind, and nuclear electricity.

ANS Winter 2023 to kick off with a can’t-miss Young Professionals Congress

October 20, 2023, 7:01AMANS News

In the last few years, public investment in both new and existing nuclear technology has expanded alongside a rise in public support and acceptance. Now is the perfect time for the nuclear industry to seize this momentum by coming together to maintain current nuclear plants, expanding the nuclear workforce, strengthening the supply chain and infrastructure, increasing public- and private-sector investments, and continuing to advocate for the benefits of nuclear power.