Advanced Nuclear & SMRs

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received the first part of Blue Energy’s construction permit application to build a BWRX-300 small modular reactor in Texas, NRC said last week. According to NRC’s Oct. 8 Federal Register notice, Blue Energy filed the application on Sept. 15, with a limited work authorization to perform certain early construction work […]

(MARVEL) microreactor project progresses towards criticality after recently hitting some milestones, DOE said Tuesday. The MARVEL microreactor project, led by DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), had its final documented safety analysis approved by DOE’s Idaho Operations Office, INL said in its press release. The lab said this approval is a prominent regulatory milestone needed to […]

BWX Technologies’ microreactor was selected by Prodigy Clean Energy and two Canadian Indigenous tribes to be the technology for the Transportable Nuclear Power Plant at Belledune in New Brunswick, Canada. The BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor – or BANR – is designed to be a high-temperature gas-cooled transportable microreactor with a generating capacity of 22 megawatts […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy released a $50 million grant opportunity this week to research and develop a reactor cladding material in an effort to improve component quality while lowering costs. The Office of Nuclear Energy said the silicon carbide material is a “promising” fuel cladding material for advanced fuel and is […]

The Department of Energy and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) Thursday, deepening the interagency effort to apply nuclear technology for space. The MOU, titled “Accelerating American Leadership in Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion,” establishes a framework for work on “space nuclear development, spanning advanced research and fuel […]

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed two state bills into law on Sept. 30 that focus on exploring the viability of advanced nuclear fission and fusion. The first bill, Assembly Bill 2647, introduced by California Assembly member Lisa Calderon (D), is aimed towards conducting a study on the potential role of advanced reactors in meeting […]

BWX Technologies’ microreactor was selected by Prodigy Clean Energy and two Canadian Indigenous tribes to be the technology for the Transportable Nuclear Power Plant at Belledune in New Brunswick, Canada. The BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor – or BANR – is designed to be a high-temperature gas-cooled transportable microreactor with a generating capacity of 22 megawatts […]

The Department of Energy’s Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) microreactor project progresses towards criticality after recently hitting some milestones, DOE said Tuesday. The MARVEL microreactor project, led by DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL), had its final documented safety analysis approved by DOE’s Idaho Operations Office, INL said in its press release. The lab […]

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed two state bills into law on Sept. 30 that focus on exploring the viability of advanced nuclear fission and fusion there. The first bill, Assembly Bill 2647, introduced by California Assembly member Lisa Calderon (D), is aimed towards conducting a study on the potential role of advanced reactors in […]

The United States and South Korean governments reached a $120 billion investment agreement on Sept. 30, collaborating on building eight large-scale reactors in the United States. The initiative, named Project Power, involves efforts from both governments, Westinghouse, Korea Electric Power Corporation and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. Under the project’s framework, the two countries will […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected Oklo’s recent request to reinstate its project to PJM’s interconnection study cycle in a Sept. 24 order. FERC denied Oklo’s complaint, which was filed Aug. 27, because Oklo failed to show that PJM violated any of its procedures when dropping the project from its study cycle. PJM is […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) a construction permit Tuesday for its Clinch River Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project in Oak Ridge, Tenn. TVA’s Clinch River SMR becomes the second domestic SMR project to receive a construction permit, after TerraPower received the first one in March for its Natrium reactor in […]

WASHINGTON – Nuclear industry panelists Jess Gehin and Ed McGinnis told the audience here at the POWER Magazine’s Experience POWER conference that all reactor designs will play a role in the upcoming future. Gehin, associate laboratory director for nuclear science and technology at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, said during a Tuesday panel […]

WASHINGTON – As the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission continues to shape up, Under Secretary of Science Dario Gil said the agency is committed to making sure fusion technology is a “success.” Gil said during POWER Magazine’s Experience POWER Tuesday keynote that DOE has set out a goal, emphasized in its Fusion Roadmap, to have […]

Houston-based startup Deployable Energy was selected by the Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) to test its reactor design at the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) testbed. The full-power testing at the DOME testbed, located at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, will commence in 2027. The Deployable Energy selection for microreactor testing comes after […]

Holtec International submitted its preliminary safety analysis report (PSAR) for its two Palisades small modular reactors (SMRs) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday. The PSAR provides NRC with detailed technical and safety information for its two SMR-300 reactors, named Pioneer Units 1 and 2, located at the recommissioning Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, […]

Westinghouse and the University of South Carolina announced a partnership Tuesday to create a nuclear workforce development program centered around building Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor design. The two entities said they will look to build a nuclear training center that could provide multidisciplinary certificate programs for multiple types of engineering students that are pursuing work in […]

The Navy on Tuesday announced it took “preliminary acceptance” of the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) aircraft carrier from Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) to work on testing and build crew experience while the company completes final ship systems. The service said this process will allow the crew to conduct at-sea testing […]

Houston-based startup Deployable Energy was selected by the Department of Energy’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) to test its reactor design at the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) testbed. The full-power testing at the DOME testbed, located at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory, will commence in 2027. The Deployable Energy selection for microreactor testing comes after […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) a construction permit Tuesday for its Clinch River Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project in Oak Ridge, Tenn. TVA’s Clinch River SMR becomes the second domestic SMR project to receive a construction permit, after TerraPower received the first one in March for its Natrium reactor in […]

WASHINGTON – As the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission continues to shape up, Under Secretary of Science Dario Gil said the agency is committed to making sure fusion technology is a “success.” Gil said during POWER Magazine’s Experience POWER Tuesday keynote that DOE has set out a goal, emphasized in its Fusion Roadmap, to have […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected Oklo’s recent request to reinstate its project to PJM’s interconnection study cycle in a Sept. 24 order. FERC denied Oklo’s complaint, which was filed Aug. 27, because Oklo failed to show that PJM violated any of its procedures when dropping the project from its study cycle. PJM is […]

Two California lawmakers introduced a bill Sept. 24 that, if enacted, would provide $10 billion in funding to the fusion industry to help spur commercialization of the advanced nuclear technology. Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), members of the House Space Science and Technology Committee, based the bipartisan bill, American Leadership in Fusion […]

X-energy’s nuclear fuel subsidiary, TRISO-X, completed the vertical construction of its first fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the company said Sept. 24. With the primary building of the 214,000-square-foot structure up, X-energy said in a press release that its subsidiary is going to move forward with the next stage of work that includes […]

The Department of Energy’s environmental contractor at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina has started building its final supersized Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) at the nuclear property near Aiken, S.C. Like its half-dozen jumbo-sized SDU predecessors, SDU-12 will be 43 feet high, 375 feet in diameter, and have a total capacity of 34.5 million […]

South Korea-based Samsung C&T Engineering & Construction Group (Samsung C&T) made a strategic investment of up to $100 million in Kairos Power, the companies said this week. According to Kairos Monday press release, the $100 million will be made up of a “direct investment and in-kind engineering services,” which will be subject to regulatory approvals, […]

Framatome signed a commercial contract this week that allows it to provide nuclear fuel reload with uranium-235 over the industry standard of 5% to an operating reactor, which was not named in the release. According to the company’s Monday press release, within the agreement, Framatome will provide a number of higher enriched fuel reloads using […]

The Pentagon began its energy expo this week, showcasing several advanced energy projects the military is developing. The Energy Sentry – Pentagon: DoD’s Energy Innovation Expo, that spans from Sept. 22 to 24, displays over 100 projects the Pentagon is deploying across the Army, Navy, Air Force and elsewhere. Among the many projects, advanced nuclear […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration highlighted the Laboratory for Laser Energetics’ (LLE) role in U.S. nuclear weapons research as the University of Rochester facility marked its 50th anniversary, according to a press release this week.  LLE pioneered chirped-pulse amplification, a laser technology that helped advance inertial confinement fusion and high-energy-density physics.  NNSA said LLE’s Omega […]

Uranium recovery at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina will resume next month when the site’s H Canyon facility restarts head end operations, meaning it will begin the initial processing stage.  During an SRS Citizens Advisory Board (CAB) meeting on Tuesday, the site’s DOE Office of Environmental Management executive Edwin Deshong […]