Reviewing the top nuclear headlines from 2023

January 7, 2024, 10:10AMNuclear News

The new year is here, and so it is time for the Nuclear News review of 2023's top stories. The recap will appear in the January issue of the magazine, on its way to American Nuclear Society members right now. In the meantime, all ANS members can read the year's issues in the ANS member center, and also review some of the most-read stories from Nuclear Newswire below. Here’s to a Happy New Year!

Notes from an international workshop on spent fuel management

January 5, 2024, 9:40AMRadwaste Solutions
Some of the participants at the NEA Workshop on Extended Storage and Transportation of Spent Fuel and Radioactive Waste from Current and Future Reactor Technologies. (Photo: NEA)

A recent event co-organized by the Nuclear Energy Agency, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Holtec International brought together about 100 international experts for a workshop on spent fuel and radioactive waste.

Fusion Science and Technology seeks editor-designate

January 5, 2024, 7:00AMANS News

The American Nuclear Society is soliciting qualified members who are interested in becoming the editor of Fusion Science and Technology (FST). Leigh Winfrey, SUNY-Maritime, has served as editor of FST since January 2018. During her term, she has successfully shepherded FST, maintaining the journal’s reputation for technical excellence and arranging a schedule of eight issues annually covering the most important topics in fusion science and technology.

Winfrey has indicated that she intends to step down from the editorship as of June 2025, providing an opportunity for a fresh voice to lead FST. Consequently, ANS is seeking a qualified individual to fill this position. The selected person will be appointed editor-­designate and will undergo a period of training before taking over the full editor’s role.

Coalition pushes Senate for $1.2 billion for the grid

January 4, 2024, 12:10PMANS Nuclear Cafe

A coalition of energy and grid industry associations led by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) today requested $1.2 billion in repurposed supplemental funding in upcoming negotiations on the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for Distribution Transformer and Grid Components.

IAEA: Zaporizhzhia shores up backup electricity sources

January 4, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has taken action to ensure an immediate supply of backup electricity at the site in case the main external power line is lost.

Amid Ukraine's ongoing military conflict with Russia, Zaporizhzhia has experienced frequent power cuts. Since August 2022, the plant has suffered eight events with a complete loss of off-site power, according to a statement from International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

From the pages of Nuclear News: Industry update January 2024

January 4, 2024, 7:00AMNuclear News

Here is a recap of industry happenings from the recent past:

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

DOE, DOD support X-energy’s microreactor work

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has signed a one-year cooperative agreement with X-energy designed to advance the development of a design for a transportable mobile microreactor. Under the agreement, the DOE will support X-energy’s work on the architecture and technology for the 3- to-5-MWe microreactor’s preliminary design. X-energy is also the recipient of a Department of Defense contract to develop an enhanced engineering design for a transportable microreactor that will be suitable for both defense and commercial applications.

Savannah River Site offers select interns a career fast track

January 3, 2024, 3:00PMNuclear News
While interning at SRS, Texas Tech senior Jinju Philip spent time in the quality assurance program inside the Defense Waste Processing Facility. He now works part time in the Technical Student Program as a system engineer for the site’s tank closure effort. (Photo: SRMC)

The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site is giving nine college students the opportunity to jump-start their careers this year through a hybrid work program that allows them to finish their engineering or computer science studies while also interning at SRS.

IAEA director general: “Cause for concern” over North Korea’s nuclear program

January 3, 2024, 9:31AMNuclear News

Grossi

Recent observations have indicated that warm water has been discharged near the light water reactor at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in North Korea, which is consistent with the purported commissioning of the LWR—a process that takes time for any new reactor—and suggests that the reactor has now reached criticality.

“The LWR, like any nuclear reactor, can produce plutonium in its irradiated fuel, which can be separated during reprocessing, so this is cause for concern,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. “It remains the case that without access to the facility, the agency cannot confirm its operational status.”

Safety concern: Grossi went on to say that the agency does not have sufficient information to make an assessment about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea site, but that nuclear safety remains the paramount issue when starting a new reactor. Agency inspectors have had no access to North Korea since they were expelled in 2009.

Cambodia makes progress in nuclear security, IAEA finds

January 2, 2024, 3:00PMNuclear News
Members of the IAEA’s INSServ team visit the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in Cambodia. (Photo: IAEA)

The International Atomic Energy Agency completed an advisory service mission to Cambodia on December 11–22 that focused on assessing the country's security regime for nuclear and other radioactive material out of regulatory control (MORC).

Summer’s inoperable diesel leads to NRC safety finding

January 2, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News
The V. C. Summer nuclear power plant. (Photo: South Carolina Electric and Gas Co.)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has finalized an inspection finding as “white” related to an inoperable emergency diesel generator at the V. C. Summer nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville, S.C. Under the NRC’s reactor oversight process, a white inspection finding reflects low-to-moderate safety significance.

“Maintaining the operational readiness of all safety-related equipment is crucial for the plant's ability to respond effectively in emergencies,” said Laura Dudes, NRC Region II administrator. “While not indicative of immediate risk, this finding underscores the need for continuous vigilance and improvement in the plant’s corrective action process.”

Notes from COP28

January 2, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear NewsCraig Piercy

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

Dubai, UAE—

If you have followed the coverage of the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties, commonly known as COP28, you probably have figured out that it’s a bit of a three-ring circus: part diplomatic summit, part industry meeting, and part Comic-Con.

The pedestrian avenues of Expo City Dubai unfurl in a flower-like shape and require sustained situational awareness. Look down at your phone for a moment, and you are just as likely to run into the security detail for a head of state as you are a group of indigenous tribe members sporting full face paint and ceremonial regalia. However, once you get over the surreality of the place, it begins to make sense.

Traditionally, COPs are divided into two areas. The inner Blue Zone, managed by the UN, is where country delegations meet to finalize and present their “gift baskets” of voluntary carbon emission reductions, while so-called observer organizations (including the American Nuclear Society) hover at the edges, hoping to get a glimpse of the progress.

ARCSC holds second workshop

January 2, 2024, 7:00AMANS News

The Advanced Reactor Codes and Standards Collaborative (ARCSC) held its second workshop on November 30, 2023, in Washington, D.C. The hybrid event had just over 200 participants, including representatives from standards development organizations (SDOs), the Electric Power Research Institute, the Nuclear Energy Institute, national laboratories, government agencies, vendors, advanced reactor designers, and consultants as well as representatives from other U.S. industry and international organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency. ANS Standards Board chair Andrew Sowder, senior technical executive at EPRI, welcomed attendees to EPRI’s offices, where the workshop was held.

2024 GAIN vouchers will foster seven new advanced reactor technologies

December 23, 2023, 6:01PMNuclear News
A still from a video on Westinghouse Electric Company’s eVinci microreactor, one of seven advanced reactor technologies that received support in GAIN’s latest round of nuclear energy vouchers. (Image: Westinghouse)

The Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) announced December 19 that seven firms will get vouchers to access the nuclear research facilities and expertise of the national laboratory complex in the first round of fiscal year awards. Each company is paired with one or more national laboratories to work on concepts from advanced reactor fueling to fuel recycling to climate forecasting.

Lawmakers urge federal funding for Palisades restart

December 23, 2023, 3:30PMNuclear News
Palisades nuclear power plant. (Photo: Holtec)

A bipartisan group of nine House members is calling on the Department of Energy to give “fair, full, and swift consideration” to Holtec International’s application for DOE Loan Programs Office funding to restart the company’s Palisades nuclear plant, closed last year by the facility’s previous owner, Entergy.

Time flies…

December 23, 2023, 9:43AMNuclear NewsCraig Piercy

Craig Piercy
cpiercy@ans.org

"Craig, when you are climbing a mountain, make sure you stop once in a while to enjoy the view.”

An old colleague would sometimes say this to me. It’s hard to believe, but last month marked four years as the Executive Director/CEO of the American Nuclear Society.

If you were an ANS member in the fall of 2019, you know the Society was amid a decade-long decline. Membership numbers were falling, the operational deficit was rising, staff morale was poor, and productivity was low. The fear among the elected leadership was that without significant change, ANS could cease to exist in any meaningful or functional way.

I am immensely grateful for the elected leadership of that time—people like ANS past presidents Bob Coward (2017–2018) and Marilyn Kray (2019–2020), who delivered the ANS Change Plan 2020, which provided a road map for modernizing the organizational structure of ANS.

The Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor

December 22, 2023, 3:00PMNuclear NewsJeremy Hampshire
The Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor site, circa 1963. (Photo: Duke Energy)

The Carolinas-Virginia Tube Reactor (CVTR), also known as Parr due to its location in Parr, S.C., was a 65-MWt (17-MWe) pressurized tube reactor. Construction began in January 1960, and the reactor reached initial criticality in March 1963. Commercial operation commenced in December 1963, and the reactor was permanently shut down in January 1967 after the test program was complete.