Advanced reactor developer Terrestrial Energy and Utah-based waste management company EnergySolutions announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the siting and deployment of Terrestrial Energy’s integral molten salt reactor plants at EnergySolutions-owned sites.

NorthStar Group Services announced it will work with Modern American Recycling Services (MARS) to pursue work dismantling and disposing of decommissioned U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers at the Port of Mobile, Ala. The work is to be performed by NorthStar subsidiary NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services and MARS subsidiary Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced it has awarded a 10-year, $3 billion contract to West Valley Cleanup Alliance (WVCA) for decommissioning and demolition work at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York. WVCA is a newly formed limited liability company made up of BWXT Technical Services Group, Jacobs Technology, and Geosyntec Consultant. Teaming subcontractors include Perma-Fix Environmental Services and North Wind Portage.

Chantilly, Va.-based Amentum has been awarded a 7-year contract estimated to be worth €5.5 million (about $6 million) to consult on the dismantling of steam drum separators in Units 1 and 2 of Lithuania’s Ignalina nuclear power plant. Once the country’s largest generator of electricity, Ignalina was permanently shut down in 2009 and the plant’s two RBMK-1500 reactors are expected to be fully decommissioned by 2038.

Oneid

EnergySolutions announced that it has launched Management Consultants International (MCI) to provide specialized consulting services for the nuclear, energy, chemical, oil, gas, technology, and manufacturing sectors. Operating separately from EnergySolutions, MCI will provide expertise to clients addressing multiplex issues before federal, state, and international agencies.

Nuclear industry veteran Pierre Oneid has been appointed president of MCI. He will also continue in his current role as executive vice president supporting EnergySolutions’ growth efforts. Formerly senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for Holtec International, Oneid joined EnergySolutions in May of this year.

QSA Global, a provider of radioisotope products, and Niowave, a Michigan-based producer of medical radioisotopes, announced that the companies will codevelop a scalable radium purification process using Niowave’s radium-226 processing technology to meet the demand for actinium-225, an alpha-emitter used in the treatment of cancer. According to the companies, the strategic partnership marks a significant advancement in the field of radiopharmaceutical technology, enhancing the supply chain for critical radioisotopes, including Ac-225.

Niowave uses a closed-loop cycle to produce high-purity Ac-225 and other alpha emitters from Ra-226 using a superconducting electron linear accelerator. According to the company’s website, the electron beam impinges on a photon converter to irradiate the Ra-226, inducing a photon-neutron reaction to Ra-225, which decays to Ac-225.

Fast reactor developer Oklo, which recently went public on the New York Stock Exchange, announced on May 13 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Atomic Alchemy to cooperate on the production of radioisotopes for medical, energy, industry, and science applications.

Utah-based waste management company EnergySolutions is expanding its operations in the United States and Asia, announcing last week that it had acquired Cabrera Services, a U.S. provider of environmental and radiological remediation services. It also signed a memorandum of understanding with Germany’s GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service to provide services to the Asian nuclear market.

Holtec International has agreed to pay $5 million in penalties to the state of New Jersey to avoid criminal prosecution over $1 million in tax credits that the company, along with Singh Real Estate Enterprises (SRE), sought in 2018. Holtec has also agreed to retain an independent reviewer approved by New Jersey to monitor future applications for state benefits.

The Department of Energy Isotope Program and QSA Global, a Burlington, Mass.–based manufacturer of sealed radioisotope sources, agreed to a joint product development project to initiate domestic production of iridium-192, which is used in industrial gamma ray radiography.

Utah-based EnergySolutions announced that it has completed its acquisition of essentially all of the assets and business lines of Williams Industrial Services Group and its subsidiaries, including its nuclear, fossil fuel, energy delivery, and paper mill operations. The Williams business lines will now become part of EnergySolutions’s newly created Nuclear Services division

U.S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (R., Tenn.) speaks at the ETEC NOW Conference in Knoxville. (Photo: Type One Energy

Type One Energy Group, a Madison, Wis. –based stellarator fusion energy company, announced the opening of new offices in Oak Ridge, Tenn., during the East Tennessee Economic Council’s fifth annual NOW Conference, held August 1–2 in Knoxville.

Type One Energy’s expansion into Oak Ridge follows the company’s recent funding of an oversubscribed seed round of $29 million. The company is also one of eight fusion developers that was selected by the Department of Energy in late May to receive a total of $46 million in funding to kick off the public-private Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, aimed at developing fusion pilot plant designs.

Used nuclear fuel and radioactive materials packaging company NAC International has established a Canadian subsidiary with the acquisition of all assets of Niagara Energy Products (NEP). Terms of the acquisition, announced on June 19, were not disclosed.

Fusion development company SHINE Technologies announced that it will begin offering radiation effects testing in a dedicated facility on the company’s Janesville, Wis., campus later this year. SHINE will use high-energy fusion neutrons to test mission-critical components that are susceptible to radiation-harsh environments on behalf of its aerospace and defense customers.

As part of its ongoing cleanup work, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is looking into the potential reuse of approximately 6,400 tons of radiologically surface-contaminated nickel that has been removed from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio. DOE-EM began decommissioning the Portsmouth plant, one of three Cold War–era gaseous diffusion plant in the United States, in 2011.

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

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

U.S. and Canadian regulators formalize relationship on advanced reactors

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) have reached a charter agreement that formally establishes a collaborative relationship on small modular reactors and other advanced reactor technologies. The two agencies have been cooperating on these technologies for several years, but the formal agreement is designed to better harmonize the American and Canadian regulatory processes to achieve safe, successful deployment. The charter specifically focuses on regulatory and safety issues regarding the licensing review of GE--Hitachi’s BWRX--300 SMRs, which Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has selected for deployment at its Darlington site and which the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) plans to build at Clinch River. OPG and TVA announced plans earlier this year to work together on the development and deployment these SMRs.

Framatome has signed a sale purchase agreement with Rolls-Royce to acquire its civil nuclear instrumentation and control business, the companies announced on December 7. The I&C business includes all Rolls-Royce activities and teams based in France, the Czech Republic, and China.

Framatome has completed its acquisition of BWX Technologies’ U.S. commercial nuclear services business, the France-based company announced on June 2. With this transaction, the company said, Framatome expands its portfolio of equipment and tooling for nuclear power plant inspections and maintenance.

BWXT will receive an 118,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and the associated 11 acres of land from Framatome in the cashless exchange.