Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear (USNC), developer of a high-temperature, gas-cooled microreactor design that has drawn interest from potential customers and research and development funding from the Department of Energy, announced yesterday that it has filed a petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to facilitate its sale to Standard Nuclear Inc. The filing, made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., includes USNC and its subsidiaries, Ultra Safe Nuclear-Technologies, USNC-Power, and Global First Power.

The municipality of South Bruce, located near the Bruce nuclear power plant in southwestern Ontario, voted narrowly in favor of being a willing host to a potential deep geologic repository for Canada’s spent nuclear fuel. The official declaration of results from the municipality showed that 51 percent of South Bruce residents voted in favor of the referendum, with 1,604 voting "yes" and 1,526 voting "no." Voter participation was 69 percent, surpassing the 50 percent voter turnout required to make the vote binding by law.

With more than 40 fusion development companies announcing plans and funding, it’s hard for a newcomer to stand out, but Pacific Fusion is giving it a try. The company, based in Fremont, Calif., was founded in summer 2023 and emerged from “stealth mode” last Friday with $900 million in committed funding from investors, a team that includes people directly involved in the successful ignition experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), and a technical paper that makes a case for a pulsed magnetic fusion approach to fusion energy.

The life and career of James Wm. Behrens have been intertwined with the American Nuclear Society since his joining as a member in 1979. Now, to recognize Behrens for his philanthropic and programmatic commitment to ANS, the conference room at ANS's new headquarters has been named in his honor.

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced yesterday that is has recommenced a trial exercise to retrieve nuclear fuel debris from Unit 2 of Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. TEPCO is attempting to retrieve a small amount of fuel debris from Unit 2’s pressure vessel for analysis before beginning a large-scale removal of the debris.

Sweden’s Land and Environmental Court has granted the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB, or SKB) an environmental permit to build and operate a geologic repository for the country’s spent nuclear fuel near the Forsmark nuclear power plant, about 86 miles north of Stockholm. The permit also includes the building of a spent fuel encapsulation plant at the central interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at Oskarshamn, about 200 miles south of Stockholm.

The U.S. Navy’s Surface Ship Support Barge, converted in the 1960s from a WWII T2 tanker to a support barge to accept spent nuclear fuel during the refueling of nuclear aircraft carriers, was dismantled and disposed of by the nuclear decommissioning company APTIM as a first-of-its-kind vessel dismantlement project for the Navy. The project was executed under contract with Naval Sea Systems Command; however, regulatory oversight was accomplished through an interagency framework agreement between the U.S. Navy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Commercial nuclear power is illegal in Australia, and it has been since the 1990s. This past June, however, the country’s main opposition party announced plans to build seven commercial nuclear reactors in the 2030s and 2040s on sites presently occupied by aging coal-fired plants—should the party’s Liberal–National Coalition win power in federal elections next year. This statement has reignited a public debate regarding the potential role of nuclear energy in Australia.

In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the outskirts of Fort Collins, Colo.—home to Colorado State University—work began this month on a new laser facility funded by a public-private partnership. The private portion is $150 million from Marvel Fusion, announced in August 2023, while $12.5 million—the latest funding for CSU from the Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)—will support the new facility as part of LaserNetUS, a laser research network operated by DOE-FES to provide access to laser facilities for multidisciplinary researchers from the United States and abroad.

Deep Isolation announced that it hosted its third technical workshop for the UPWARDS project, a Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) initiative aimed at developing a universal canister system (UCS) for the disposal of radioactive waste streams from advanced reactors. The workshop, held at R-V Industries in Honey Brook, Pa., focused on the large-scale manufacturing and commercialization of the UCS.

Holness

The Jamaican government last week signed a memorandum of understanding with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories to bring nuclear power to the island nation.

Addressing the signing ceremony at Jamaica House on October 22, Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness said the partnership reflects the government’s unwavering commitment to diversify the country’s energy portfolio with new, clean, and sustainable alternatives.

“[It] marks a pivotal moment in Jamaica’s energy transformation as we take a bold and forward-thinking step by signing this memorandum of understanding," he said. "This move is about reducing your cost of living, a major part of it being the cost of energy."

Unit 2 at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant near Red Wing, Minn., underwent an outage in fall 2023, which included extensive work on the reactor vessel using a novel approach to replace baffle-former bolts and lower radial clevis insert bolts. The work relied on extensive analysis beforehand to determine which bolts to replace such that only the new bolts were structurally credited for performance of their safety function. This proactive approach eliminated the need for costly contingencies associated with inspections.

Despite progress made over the past years, the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has not seen an adequate return on investment in cleaning up the Sellafield nuclear site on England’s Cumbria coast, according to a new report by the U.K.’s National Audit Office, which scrutinizes government spending.

Nuclear reactor design and analysis never stops, and engineers have an extensive computational toolbox from which to draw for their work. Since 1979, one such tool has been the RELAP5 modeling and simulation software. Now, American Nuclear Society journal Nuclear Technology has announced plans for a special issue dedicated to RELAP5 developments and applications.

Submission of abstracts is open now; email guest editor George Mesina by November 15 to express interest.

The 2024 edition of Climate Change and Nuclear Power has been released by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The 99-page report focuses on the need for a significant increase in investment to achieve goals for expanding nuclear power.

The report: According to the IAEA, the report delves into the financing of nuclear projects as ambitious climate targets draw nearer. It also explores the imperative for financial frameworks to help nuclear energy become a cornerstone of global decarbonization efforts and highlights the challenges and best practices in financing nuclear projects.

Julie and Jim Byrne on their wedding day, May 22, 1976.

As I was finishing my studies at the University of Pittsburgh and about to graduate with a degree in civil engineering, I talked to a local navy recruiter about a position with the Seabees. He told me there were no Seabee billets, but that the navy had a nuclear power program that might interest me. When I said yes, it wasn’t long before I was whisked off to Washington, D.C., to interview with someone named Admiral Hyman Rickover. The one thing they told me was to stand up to “the kindly old gentleman.”

The day started with technical interviews and then I was ushered into the admiral’s office. I was a typical college student, and I spent my money on food and beer and not on haircuts. On seeing me, Admiral Rickover told me that I looked like a girl. After a bit of back-and-forth, he asked me a couple of other questions. His last comment to me was that I must know something and to get out of his office.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will host a “comment-gathering meeting” for stakeholders involved with the agency’s University Nuclear Leadership Program (UNLP) so that NRC staff can understand their views and concerns.

Gago

The governing board of the World Association of Nuclear Operators has appointed José Gago as the new WANO chair. He was formerly the general manager and chief executive officer of the Asociacion Nuclear Asco-Vandellos (ANAV) in Spain.

Gago will succeed the current chair, Tom Mitchell, on March 1, 2025, after Mitchell completes his full six-year term in the role.

Background: Gago has been ANAV’s governor at the WANO Paris Centre’s governing board since 2012 and was elected its chairperson in 2020. He has been the president of the Spanish Nuclear Society and a member of the Foro Nuclear board of directors, and he has kept close contact with the nuclear industry, serving on several advisory boards and participating in the International Atomic Energy Agency expert missions.

An article on the Huffington Post examines the prospects for re-establishing nuclear energy in Puerto Rico, uncovering a mix of positive and negative attitudes toward nuclear power in the U.S. territory.