ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF

July 17, 2024, 3:02PMRadwaste Solutions

The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

INL accelerates nuclear energy research with Bitterroot supercomputer

July 17, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News
INL’s new Bitterroot supercomputer installed in the Collaborative Computing Center. (Photo: INL)

A new supercomputer named Bitterroot started operating in June at Idaho National Laboratory’s Collaborative Computing Center (C3) and is speeding up nuclear energy research by improving access to modeling and simulation tools. Bitterroot arrived at INL in March, and the announced July 15 that the supercomputer was open to users on June 18 after installation and an extensive program of testing.

The IAEA targets seafood contaminants and plastic pollution in oceans

July 16, 2024, 3:02PMNuclear News
Researchers take samples of a microorganism that could produce toxins. (Photo: CEAC)

Oceans link all the continents of the world, and fish don’t respect boundary lines. So it’s fitting that a global organization—the International Atomic Energy Agency—is helping nations detect and monitor both plastic pollution and biotoxins in marine algae that can lead to outbreaks of contaminated seafood.

NRC holds public hearing on proposed Palisades restart

July 16, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News
The Palisades nuclear power plant during days of operation. (Photo: Entergy Nuclear)

Dozens gathered last week at a public hearing hosted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to get feedback on the proposal to restart the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan.

The NRC is beginning its environmental review of plans to repower Palisades after it was shut down in May 2022 and was headed for permanent decommissioning. If the restart is successful, this would be the first return to service of a shuttered U.S. nuclear plant.

Solar, wind output surpass nuclear in first half of 2024

July 16, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News
U.S. nuclear vs. renewable electricity generation. (Image: Ember)

The combined energy generation in the United States from solar and wind during the first half of the year was more than that of nuclear plants for the first time, according to data from energy think tank Ember.

Electricity generation from utility-scale solar and wind assets during the first half of 2024 was a record 401.4 terawatt-hours, compared with 390.5 TWh from nuclear reactors

Application is open for IAEA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Program

July 16, 2024, 7:00AMANS Nuclear Cafe
Photo: IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency has announced the opening of this year’s application process for its Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Program (MSCFP), which is designed to “inspire and encourage young women to pursue a career in the nuclear field, by providing highly motivated female students with scholarships for master’s programs and an opportunity to pursue an internship facilitated by the IAEA,” according to the program description.

TEDx talk explains nuclear recycling and nonproliferation technologies

July 15, 2024, 12:04PMANS Nuclear Cafe
Jenifer Shafer during her TEDx talk on nuclear energy. (Screen capture: YouTube)

Jenifer Shafer, the associate director for technology at the Advanced Research Projects Agency­–Energy (ARPA-E), recently delivered a TEDx talk in which she explained the basic concepts of nuclear waste recycling, including related nonproliferation issues. As Shafer wrote in a post on LinkedIn, “In my talk, I explored the misconceptions surrounding nuclear waste and discuss[ed] the possible emerging opportunities regarding nuclear fuel recycling. It’s crucial that we understand the real potential of nuclear energy, and leveraging our ‘nuclear treasure,’ in shaping a sustainable future.”

UMich research IDs coal plants with peak potential for a nuclear transition

July 15, 2024, 9:31AMNuclear News
The color-coded scatterplot shows the feasibility of coal-to-nuclear transitions at smaller coal plants (1,000 MWe or less) across the United States, plotted by latitude and longitude. Red and warm colors represent the high feasibility. (Image: Muhammad Rafiul Abdussami, Fastest Path to Zero, University of Michigan)

Comprehensive analysis of 245 operational coal power plants in the United States by a team of researchers at the University of Michigan has scored each site’s advanced reactor hosting feasibility using a broad array of attributes, including socioeconomic factors, safety considerations, proximity to populations, existing nuclear facilities, and transportation networks. The results could help policymakers and utilities make decisions about deploying nuclear reactors at sites with existing transmission lines and a ready workforce.

Duke looks long term for possible next-generation nuclear for Florida site

July 15, 2024, 6:59AMNuclear News

Duke Energy Florida is considering long-term plans for new nuclear development on 5,000 acres it owns near Gainesville.

According to testimony filed in Duke’s three-year, $818 million rate hike request with the Florida Public Utilities Commission, “In the 2038–2048 timeframe, this would be an attractive site for [the] addition of a new zero-emitting load following resource . . . including the potential development of next generation nuclear [small modular reactor] technology.”

Lisa Marshall: Leading by example

July 12, 2024, 3:29PMNuclear NewsPaul LaTour

Lisa Marshall
2024-2025 ANS President

The importance of an education was instilled in Lisa Marshall at a young age by her grandmother. Born in Trinidad, Marshall was raised by her grandparents after her parents emigrated to Canada in pursuit of their educational goals. “My grandmother, Winifred, saw education as the route to the next level,” Marshall said, adding that the family wasn’t even sure if her grandmother had finished elementary school. “She wanted more for us than she had, and she believed the best way to achieve that was through an education.”

When Marshall was young, Winifred walked with her on the road from their house to school every day and was there to greet her when the school day was done. When Marshall was older, she went home for lunch, which her grandmother prepared. “She was a stabilizing force in my life,” Marshall said. “She kept me safe and nourished me. She taught me to be independent. And she always stressed the education part.”

Canadian community says it is willing to host a geologic repository

July 12, 2024, 12:00PMRadwaste Solutions
The NWMO’s Laurie Swami (center right) congratulates Ignace mayor Kim Baigrie (center left) on the community’s confirmation of its willingness to host a deep geologic repository for Canada’s spent nuclear fuel. (Photo: NWMO)

The township of Ignace in northwestern Ontario has indicated its willingness to host a potential deep geologic repository for Canada’s spent nuclear fuel. The town council voted unanimously on July 10 to pass a resolution indicating its willingness to participate in the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO's) process for selecting a repository site, making it the first Canadian community to officially move forward with the next phase of a site selection process that began in 2010.

Frank Augustine—ANS member since 1983

July 12, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News

Augustine today, at home.

Augustine in 1991, during his years at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.

We welcome ANS members who have careered in the community to submit their own Nuclear Legacy stories, so that the personal history of nuclear power can be captured. For information on submitting your stories, contact nucnews@ans.org.

In college I started in physics, but in 1977, during my sophomore year, I decided to pick a more practical major: nuclear engineering. Like many young people, I wanted to make the world a better place.

During my junior year, the Three Mile Island accident occurred. Many of us in nuclear engineering wondered whether we had chosen the wrong major, but our professors assured us there was a future in nuclear power. It seemed at the time a common-sense solution to the predicted shortages of oil and gas, and it was far safer than coal. I stayed the course and ended up getting my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nuclear engineering.

Fast burst reactors: A historical primer

July 12, 2024, 7:02AMNuclear NewsJeremy Hampshire
The Godiva I device, an unreflected 54-kg sphere of 93.7 percent pure uranium-235, before (left [in the scrammed state]), and after (right) the February 3, 1954, criticality excursion that released 5.6 × 1016 neutrons and warped or broke several support structures of the device. (Photos: DOE)

Fast burst reactors were the first fast-spectrum research reactors to reach criticality by using only prompt neutrons with high-enriched uranium as fuel, creating a pulse for microseconds. Among many achievements, fast burst reactors were the first research reactors to demonstrate the ability of thermal expansion to terminate a pulse and to show how this could aid in reactor safety. In addition, fast burst reactors were pivotal in early fission studies including critical mass determination, criticality safety, the study of prompt and delayed neutrons, and much more.

From the pages of Nuclear News: Industry update July 2024

July 11, 2024, 3:00PMNuclear News

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

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

Radiant purchases nuclear-grade graphite for its microreactor

Microreactor startup Radiant Industries and Amsted Graphite Materials, the largest American-­owned synthetic graphite producer, have reached an agreement to collaborate on reducing U.S. reliance on foreign sources of nuclear-grade graphite. The collaboration began with Radiant placing a purchase order with Amsted for its Kaleidos microreactor, a 1-MW high-temperature, gas-cooled portable microreactor that has a graphite core and uses TRISO fuel.

Hanford receives first simulated waste for melter testing

July 11, 2024, 12:17PMRadwaste Solutions
Workers at the Hanford Site’s WTP unload a tanker truck carrying sodium hydroxide. (Photo: DOE)

Workers at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington state recently unloaded a shipment of more than 10,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide delivered to the site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP). The liquid sodium hydroxide will be the first chemical fed into the plant’s melters to simulate Hanford’s radioactive and chemical tank waste.

NRC publishes report to Congress on security findings

July 11, 2024, 9:03AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has posted an unclassified version of its annual report to Congress on the results of the agency’s security inspection activities in 2023.

The report covers the NRC’s security inspection program, including force-on-force exercises, for commercial nuclear power reactors and Category I fuel cycle facilities. It keeps Congress and the public informed of the NRC’s oversight of the protection of the nation’s civilian nuclear power infrastructure and strategic special nuclear material.

General Atomics’ silicon carbide composite cladding is put to the test

July 11, 2024, 7:00AMNuclear News
SiGA woven silicon carbide nuclear fuel cladding. (Photo: DOE)

Because of its hardness and its hardiness in the face of high temperatures, silicon carbide has been used for industrial purposes for decades. It has proven its worth as a key component of tiny TRISO fuel particles. But SiC has a weakness—in its pure form it is too brittle for use in structural components, such as 12-foot-long light water reactor fuel cladding tubes.

What did Atomic Man teach us about radiation exposure?

July 10, 2024, 3:00PMNuclear NewsJames Conca
The radiochemistry laboratory, nicknamed the McCluskey Room, in the Hanford Site’s Plutonium Finishing Plant is where Harold McCluskey was contaminated in 1976, and where workers reentered more than 40 years later to clean up the mess left over from that accident. Health physics technician Clay Rowan is shown here taking radiological measurements near racks of glove boxes similar to one that exploded onto McCluskey. (Photo: DOE)

In 1976 at the Hanford Site in Washington state, a 64-year-old chemical operations technician named Harold McCluskey was working on columns filled with special exchange resins in a glove box at the Plutonium Finishing Plant.