Power & Operations


ASLB delays decision on “concrete cancer” impact

April 17, 2020, 10:47AMNuclear News

An Atomic Safety and Licensing Board notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other concerned parties that it will not render its decision on a challenge to a license amendment regarding concrete degradation at Seabrook until this summer. The decision on the challenge—which was brought by the C-10 Research and Education Foundation, an opponent of license renewal for the New Hampshire plant—had been expected on April 9.

NRC issues regulatory guidance to licensees

April 17, 2020, 8:25AMNuclear News

Recognizing the challenges that nuclear materials licensees may face in meeting certain regulatory requirements, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has developed options for licensees that may need regulatory relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The options for providing regulatory relief were outlined in an April 7 letter from the NRC to licensees authorized to possess by-product, source, and special nuclear materials, including licensed nuclear materials users, uranium recovery, decommissioning (both materials and users), fuel facilities, and spent nuclear fuel storage facilities.

NRC likely to grant second license renewals

April 16, 2020, 2:14PMNuclear News

Surry Power Station. Photo: Dominion Energy.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its final supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) on April 6 for Dominion Energy’s subsequent license renewal (SLR) application for Surry-1 and -2, concluding that the potential environmental impacts from continued operation of the units are not substantial enough to prevent the agency from considering issuance of the SLRs. The NRC had issued its final safety evaluation report on the Surry SLR application on March 9, with a similarly positive conclusion.

Agency provides COVID-19 testing equipment

April 15, 2020, 1:20PMNuclear News

The International Atomic Energy Agency has dispatched equipment to more than 40 countries to enable them to rapidly detect the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the agency announced on April 1. The IAEA said that the action is part of its response to requests for support from about 90 member states in controlling the number of infections worldwide.

NEI urges feds to speed recovery, support grid

April 7, 2020, 9:38AMNuclear News

Maria Korsnick, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Larry Kudlow on March 19, citing the “severe financial strain” being anticipated or experienced by the organization’s member companies due to the COVID-19 crisis. Korsnick offered a number of policy and legislative proposals that, she said, “would be of immediate benefit in helping the people and the companies of our nation’s nuclear energy sector to withstand the ongoing operational and economic disruption.”

CISA updates guidance on essential workforce

April 6, 2020, 11:35AMNuclear News

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has updated its list of who should be considered an indispensable part of the nation’s critical infrastructure workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding more specificity for the nuclear sector.

The update was released on March 28, one week after CISA issued Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community and National Resilience in COVID-19 Response, Version 1.0. In that initial document, the agency made only three explicit references to nuclear employees, identifying workers “needed for safe and secure operations at nuclear generation,” as well as those involved in critical manufacturing or hazardous materials work at nuclear facilities.

Virus impacts could slow Vogtle construction project

April 3, 2020, 10:30AMNuclear News

Ongoing efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic could hinder progress at the reactor construction project currently under way at the Vogtle nuclear plant near Waynesboro, Ga., according to a Southern Company report filed on April 1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Metropolis Works receives 40-year license renewal

April 2, 2020, 9:16AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on March 24 relicensed the only uranium conversion plant in the United States, Honeywell International’s Metropolis Works.

Metropolis Works can now operate until March 24, 2060, potentially logging operations for over a century. Built in 1958 to produce uranium hexafluoride (UF6) for the U.S. government, Metropolis Works began selling UF6 on the commercial market in 1968.

NRC agrees to relax work-hour control regulations

March 29, 2020, 7:27AMNuclear News

On March 28, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission informed the industry via letter that nuclear plant operators can apply for 60-day exemptions from the agency’s work-hour control regulations—found in 10 CFR 26.205—to address workforce issues arising from the COVID-19 public health emergency. The pandemic has compelled some operators to limit the number of employees physically present at plants to “essential” personnel.

Hot thermal tests completed at Fuqing-­5

March 17, 2020, 11:07AMNuclear News

According to a statement from the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), a key hot performance test was conducted on Unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in Fuzhou, in East China’s Fujian Province, on March 2. The CNNC said it is the world’s first nuclear power project using Hualong One technology, also known as HPR 1000, a third-­generation reactor design developed by China. A total of five nuclear power units adopting HPR 1000 technology are under construction by CNNC in China and other countries.

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First test cycle successfully completed at Hatch plant

March 16, 2020, 12:03PMNuclear News

The lead test rods for the world’s first installed accident tolerant fuel (ATF) have completed a full cycle at Unit 1 of the Hatch nuclear power plant in Baxley, Ga. Southern Nuclear Operating Company operates the two-unit plant.

During a planned spring 2020 maintenance and refueling outage at Unit 1, operators transferred a sampling of the lead test rods from the reactor to the spent fuel pool. An initial inspection of the fuel in comparison to standard zirconium rods has been completed.

Defense Department invests in three microreactor designs

March 16, 2020, 11:16AMNuclear News

Three reactor developers got a boost on March 9 when they were each awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to design a reactor that can fit inside a standard shipping container for military deployment. The DOD’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), in partnership with the Department of Energy, proposes to build and demonstrate a 1–10 MWe reactor within four years that, if successful, could be widely deployed to support the DOD’s domestic and operational energy demands.

U.S. NRC approved RadICS Platform

March 14, 2020, 9:26AMSponsored ContentRPC Radics LLC

List of authors:

  1. Mr. Ievgenii Bakhmach, “RPC Radics” LLC, Chief Executive Officer
  2. Mr. Ievgen Brezhniev, “RPC Radics” LLC, Strategic Marketing Director
  3. Mr. Vyacheslav Kharchenko, Director of Scientific and Technical Center, PC “RPC Radiy”
  4. Mark J. Burzynski, SunPort, Chief Executive Officer
  5. Sean Kelley, SunPort, Chief Operating Officer

Radiy is proud to present the RadlCS Digital Instrumentation and Control (l&C) Platform that was approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on July 31, 2019.

Multiple violations found at TVA nuclear plants

March 13, 2020, 11:34AMNuclear News

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently identified a number of what it refers to as “apparent violations” of agency regulations at Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear facilities.

On March 2, the NRC issued TVA an Office of Investigation (OI) report, which pointed to an apparent violation of employee protection requirements at the utility’s Sequoyah nuclear plant, located near Soddy-­Daisy, Tenn. According to the report, a former Sequoyah employee had been “constructively discharged” for raising concerns from 2015 to 2018 with TVA’s Corporate Nuclear Licensing group regarding regulatory noncompliance and for expressing concerns about a chilled work environment. The former employee reportedly expressed these concerns both to TVA’s Employee Concern Program and to other employees.