Despite its significant benefits, the public perception of radiation is generally negative due to its inherent nature: it is ubiquitous yet cannot be seen, heard, smelled, or touched—as if it were a ghost roaming around uncensored. The public is frightened of this seemingly creepy phantom they cannot detect with their senses. This unfounded fear has hampered the progress of the nuclear industry and radiation professions.

The ANS Scholarship Program offers student members both merit- and financial need–based scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Thanks to our donors, the American Nuclear Society will be able to award over $250,000 to students for the 2025–2026 academic year.

Denver-based Energy Fuels Inc., one of the largest uranium producers in the United States, has signed a landmark agreement with the Navajo Nation on the transport of uranium ore along federal and state highways that cross through Navajo land. The agreement allows the resumption of uranium ore transport from Energy Fuels’ Pinyon Plain Mine in northern Arizona to the company’s White Mesa Mill in southern Utah, where the ore is processed into natural uranium concentrates (U₃O₈).

The Canada-Poland Nuclear Energy Cooperation Agreement was signed this week by the prime ministers of the two countries, supporting plans for developing Poland’s first nuclear power plants to aid its transition away from coal.

WM Symposia, the nonprofit organization dedicated to providing education and information exchange on global radioactive waste management, has announced its WM2025 award winners. Each year, WM Symposia and its supporters recognize and present awards to several individuals based on their contributions in radioactive waste and radioactive material management.

From lifting moratoriums to launching studies to labeling it as clean, state lawmakers are exploring ways to give nuclear energy a boost in 2025. Here’s a look at some of the pronuclear legislation under review.

A framework agreement to continue the work of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) will enter into force on March 1.

Robertson

Candice Robertson will continue to lead the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and will become office’s principal deputy assistant secretary, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) reported on January 28. Robertson was appointed to the EM-1 position in June 2024, replacing William “Ike” White, who was nominated by President Biden to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Jeff Avery, who served as DOE-EM’s principal deputy assistant secretary, has moved to the National Nuclear Security Administration as the acting associate administrator for management and budget.

Roger Jerrell, who served in the EM office during the President Trump’s first administration, is returning to DOE-EM as a senior advisor. Jerrell most previously served as general counsel for UCOR of Oak Ridge, Tenn.

South Carolina public utility Santee Cooper and its partner South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) called a halt to the Summer-2 and -3 AP1000 construction project in July 2017, citing costly delays and the bankruptcy of Westinghouse. The well-chronicled legal fallout included indictments and settlements, and ultimately left Santee Cooper with the ownership of nonnuclear assets at the construction site in Jenkinsville, S.C.

Nuclear Newswire has learned that the Trump administration last week requested that all members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board resign, except for the board’s chair, Peter Swift.

Ontario Power Generation announced this week new contracts with BWXT Canada worth more than C$1 billion ($695.4 million) for projects at the Pickering and Darlington nuclear power plants.

The ANS Public Policy Committee (PPC), represented by PPC chair Bradley Williams, approached the Board of Directors at the Winter Conference in November in Orlando with a request to approve a revision to Position Statement #12 regarding fusion energy.

In the past year and a half, the International Atomic Energy Agency has established the Nuclear Security Training and Demonstration Center (NSTDC) to help countries strengthen their nuclear security regimes. The center, located at the IAEA’s Seibersdorf laboratories outside Vienna, Austria, has been operational since October 2023.

Iowa’s lone nuclear plant may soon see new life as NextEra Energy takes a step toward relicensing the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant.

Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) stated that if everything goes well, it can complete the assessment of the operating license for the country’s deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel “well before the end of the year.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a new mission statement to formalize the agency’s pledge to “be a part of the solution” in bringing new nuclear energy projects to life across the country.

At the end of 2024, the candidates for the annual American Nuclear Society election were announced. Since then, Catherine Prat, an ANS member since 2012, launched a successful write-in campaign to be considered for a seat on the Board of Directors. Having received at least 200 signatures from Society members in favor of her nomination, Prat is now a candidate by petition, bringing the total number on the ballot to 18 candidates who have been nominated for the positions of ANS vice president/president-elect, treasurer, and six board positions (four U.S. directors, one non-U.S. director, and one student director). Ballots will be sent via email on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, and must be submitted by 1:00 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.

Shuler

WM Symposia, which hosts the annual Waste Management Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., presented the 2025 WM Lifetime Achievement Award to James M. Shuler, a former Department of Energy manager with a career of more than 50 years in radwaste packaging and transportation.

The award recognizes the long-term commitment of the recipient to solving major nuclear waste challenges, which may include education, research, public policy, or implementation of solutions for managing nuclear wastes, and whose actions have contributed to the resolution of significant nuclear waste management issues.

The Tennessee Valley Authority announced last week the selection of several partners—Bechtel, Sargent & Lundy, and GE Hitachi—to advance plans for what the company hopes will be its first small modular reactor project at its Clinch River site.

When Exelon Generation shut down Three Mile Island Unit 1 in September 2019, managers were so certain that the reactor would never run again that as soon as they could, they had workers drain the oil out of both the main transformer and a spare to eliminate the chance of leaks. The company was unable to find a buyer because of the transformers’ unusual design. “We couldn’t give them away,” said Trevor Orth, the plant manager. So they scrapped them.

Now they will pay $100 million for a replacement.

The turnaround at the reactor—now called the Crane Clean Energy Center—highlights two points: how smart Congress was to step in with help to prevent premature closures with the zero-emission nuclear power production credit of 0.3 cents per kilowatt-hour (only two years too late), and how expensive it is turning out to be to change course.