Industry

Wright

Chris Wright, president-elect Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, spent hours today fielding questions from members of the U.S. Senate’s committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

During the hearing, Wright—who’s spent most of his career in fossil fuels—made comments in support of nuclear energy and efforts to expand domestic generation in the near future. Asked what actions he would take as energy secretary to improve the development and deployment of SMRs, Wright said: “It’s a big challenge, and I’m new to government, so I can’t list off the five levers I can pull. But (I’ve been in discussions) about how to make it easier to research, to invest, to build things. The DOE has land at some of its facilities that can be helpful in this regard.”

The U.S. departments of Energy and State have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Republic of Korea’s ministries of Trade, Industry and Energy and of Foreign Affairs for the two nations to partner on nuclear exports and cooperation.

Nuclear manufacturer BWX Technologies has announced its plan to acquire Kinectrics Inc. for approximately $525 million. The deal is expected to close in mid-2025.

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

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

DOE signs up first foreign partner for ARPA-E project

The Department of Energy has selected Finland’s VTT Technical Research Centre as the first-ever foreign partner to join an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) research project. The program is designed to accelerate the commercial development of fusion energy, with a focus on developing materials for the fusion reactor wall that can withstand extreme temperatures and radiation.

The U.S. General Services Administration has announced a historic long-term purchase of electricity, including carbon-free electricity, from Constellation New Energy Inc. to power 13 federal agencies. In combination with another GSA contract, Constellation secured more than $1 billion from the deal.

Constellation is launching a pilot program that allows its Washington, D.C., customers to purchase 100 percent nuclear energy for their homes.

It's been another successful publishing year for the American Nuclear Society's Nuclear News, Radwaste Solutions, the online Nuclear Newswire, and the NN Daily newsletter.

For Nuclear News, below are the publishing themes for 2025.

If you have story ideas for any of these themes or for Radwaste Solutions, please contact Nucnews@ans.org.

Lisa Marshall
president@ans.org

Several questions loom after federal and state elections: What does the future hold for nuclear science and technology? Will there be a shift in direction? How do we continue and expand our impact on energy and nonenergy initiatives? The American Nuclear Society is an organization of people, policies, and products. We innovate, educate, and facilitate collaboration. We advance the field, serving our members and engaging with communities. With every travel assignment, I have witnessed the collective passion and action of our members toward fuller participation and societal enhancement based on nuclear technology. The work is not done, but there is forward momentum.

We have never been a field that does not answer the call, and at this year’s Winter Conference and Expo, we explored the very apt theme “Now comes the hard part.”

Among the plenaries and technical sessions were panels about engaging and educating the next generation of nuclear professionals, the growth of nuclear engineering departments in higher education, a student design competition, and—as one might expect in November during an election year—keeping nuclear out of the political fray.

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

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

Partnership formed for Idaho microreactors

Aalo Atomics has partnered with Idaho Falls Power to focus on the deployment of seven Aalo-1 microreactors that would provide a total of 75 MWe of power. The sodium-cooled microreactors—each with a 10-MWe capacity—are to be built at Aalo Atomics’ new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas. The reactor’s safety system, incorporating uranium zirconium hydride fuel, is designed to automatically shut down the reactor should it overheat. Aalo Atomics, which is currently constructing an Aalo-0 nonnuclear test reactor in Austin, intends to build an Aalo-X experimental reactor at Idaho National Laboratory before shifting to the Aalo-1 commercial unit. The Aalo-1 is not expected to come on line before 2030.

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.

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency in late November reported on a range of “New at the NEA” activities.

Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) has acquired a 665-acre parcel of land for its planned Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF) in Kentucky.

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

ADVANCED REACTOR MARKETPLACE

Startup Longview Fusion signs CRADA with LLNL

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Longview Fusion Energy Systems have reached a cooperative research and development agreement that builds upon the LLNL National Ignition Facility’s repeated demonstrations of fusion energy gain and supports Longview’s efforts toward the commercialization of fusion energy. The agreement calls for the national lab and the California company to combine their laser fusion science and technology expertise for the purpose of developing a performance/economic model that can optimize Longview’s fusion power plant designs. In addition, critical requirements are established for Longview’s fusion technology systems and facilities, while a technology road map to mature these systems is being developed. The new agreement complements a set of Department of Energy programs involving LLNL and Longview that are designed to accelerate the delivery of laser fusion energy according to the Biden administration’s Bold Decadal Vision for fusion commercialization.

Diablo Canyon will host a commercial installation of the first on-site generative artificial intelligence deployment at a U.S. nuclear plant.

Pacific Gas & Electric is deploying Atomic Canyon’s Neutron Enterprise to assist the utility’s management of datasets associated with operations of Diablo Canyon. The software, which runs on Nvidia’s full-stack AI platform, enables intelligent document processing, computation of semantic embeddings, and generative capabilities. Its infrastructure allows nuclear facilities to process and analyze vast amounts of complex documentation with unprecedented speed and accuracy, according to the company.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has awarded a $2.3 billion operations and site mission support services contract for the Portsmouth Paducah Project Office (PPPO) to Mission Conversion Services Alliance (MCSA), a limited liability company made up of Atkins Nuclear Secured, Westinghouse Government Services, and Jacobs Technology, with Swift & Staley and Akima Centerra Integrated Services as teaming subcontractors.

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 discovery of a rare species of bee by environmental regulators has blocked the plans of tech conglomerate Meta to build an artificial intelligence data center powered by nuclear energy—at least temporarily. Numerous media outlets, including Popular Science, have reported that the unnamed species of bee was detected by regulators who were surveying the land designated for the new data center—land that is located next to an unnamed nuclear power plant from which Meta had planned to obtain electricity.

Lisa Marshall
president@ans.org

October 11, 2024, marked the 70th anniversary of the American Nuclear Society. Taking a long view, we have not looked back and instead have tackled challenges and moved forward with lessons learned. Whether we pull examples from energy or nonenergy aspects of our nuclear enterprise, our planet has benefited from nuclear science and technology, and ANS has been there every step of the way.

As the Society reflects on its own history, let us remember:

• The first commercial nuclear power stations started operation in the 1950s.
• Nuclear energy now provides about 9 percent of the world’s electricity from about 440 power reactors.
• Nuclear provides about 25 percent of the world’s low-carbon electricity.
• Nuclear is the world’s second-largest source of low-carbon power.
• More than 50 countries utilize nuclear energy in about 220 research reactors. In addition to research, these reactors are used for training and for the production of medical and industrial isotopes.

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.

Kairos Power and Google announced over the weekend a new power purchase agreement to provide the tech giant with 500 megawatts of clean energy by 2035.

Under the agreement, California-based Kairos Power will develop, construct, and operate a series of advanced reactor plants and sell energy, ancillary services, and environmental benefits to Google. Plants will be sited in “relevant service territories” to supply clean electricity to Google data centers. The first reactor is planned to be deployed by 2030 to support Google’s 24/7 carbon-free energy and net-zero goals.