Advanced Nuclear & SMRs

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is independent from the Biden administration’s energy goals, but that shouldn’t “be an impediment to innovation and deployment,” the agency’s chairman said at an industry summit Tuesday. The NRC’s regulatory independence is a critical element of ensuring public trust, Christopher Hanson said during his opening remarks to the U.S. Nuclear Industry […]

Cold War and Manhattan Project locations being cleaned up by the Department of Energy could be viable candidates for new nuclear power plants, a federal official said during an online presentation Wednesday. About a dozen of the 16 nuclear cleanup properties run by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) boast “unique characteristics” potentially attractive […]

Cold War and Manhattan Project locations being cleaned up by the Department of Energy could be viable candidates for new nuclear power plants, a federal official said during an online presentation Wednesday. About a dozen of the 16 nuclear cleanup properties run by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) boast “unique characteristics” potentially attractive […]

Cold War and Manhattan Project locations being cleaned up by the Department of Energy could be viable candidates for new nuclear power plants, a federal official said during an online presentation Wednesday. About a dozen of the 16 nuclear cleanup properties run by the DOE Office of Environmental Management (EM) boast “unique characteristics” potentially attractive […]

The U.S. and Slovenia, still weighing construction of its second civilian nuclear reactor, signed a memorandum of understanding concerning strategic civilian nuclear cooperation, the State Department announced Tuesday. The memorandum will “strengthen and expand strategic ties between the United States and a partner country by providing a framework for cooperation on civil nuclear issues and […]

With a looming Halloween deadline, at least seven more cities have dropped out of the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) mini reactor project, the latest municipal bail out from the Department of Energy-subsidized venture. Bountiful, Utah, a town that has been on the fence about the project for months now, opted to leave the […]

With a looming Halloween deadline, two more cities have dropped out of the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) mini reactor project, the latest municipal bail out from the Department of Energy-subsidized venture. Bountiful, Utah, a town that has been on the fence about the project for months now, will hold a final vote Tuesday […]

The group of cities that originally signed on to buy the energy produced by NuScales Power small reactors has agreed to extend the deadline to drop out of the project by another month after two have withdrawn over cost and waste concerns.  The original deadline to leave the Nuscales’ Carbon Free Power Project was Sept. […]

The group of cities that originally signed on to buy the energy produced by NuScales Power small reactors has agreed to extend the deadline to drop out of the project by another month.  The original deadline to withdraw from Nuscales’ Carbon Free Power Project was Sept. 30. By now, two of the 35 cities that […]

Developmental nuclear power reactors do not provide an easy solution to management of the radioactive waste generated by the technology, according to a onetime head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “Plans to revitalize US nuclear power, which is in dire economic straits, depend on the potential for new, ‘advanced’ reactors to reduce and recycle […]

Legislation introduced Wednesday in the Senate to promote development of new U.S. nuclear power systems also aims to address the problem of radioactive waste produced by that technology. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined 14 colleagues from both parties to reintroduce the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act. The bill was first submitted in September, but did not […]

Legislation introduced Wednesday in the Senate to promote new U.S. nuclear power systems also aims to address the problem of radioactive waste produced by that technology. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined 14 colleagues from both parties to reintroduce the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act. The bill was first submitted in September near the tail end of […]

The Department of Energy said Monday it plans to hire a Centrus Energy subsidiary to demonstrate a new nuclear fuel product for use in federal research into advanced reactors. In a notice of intent on the FedBizOpps.gov website, DOE’s Nuclear Energy Oak Ridge, Tenn., Site Office said American Centrifuge Operating would be hired to develop […]

Tom D’Agostino, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, has joined the board of directors of small modular reactor company NuScale Power, the company announced Monday. D’Agostino, who served as head of the NNSA from 2007 to 2013, replaces former board member Dave Dunning, NuScale said in a press release. He has been with […]

Tom D’Agostino, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, has joined the board of directors of small modular reactor company NuScale Power, the company announced Monday. D’Agostino, who served as head of the NNSA from 2007 to 2013, replaces former board member Dave Dunning, NuScale said in a press release. He has been with […]

Ed McGinnis was appointed deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, a promotion for the long-time DOE civil servant who had been deputy assistant secretary for international nuclear energy policy and cooperation since 2007. In his new role, which did not require Senate confirmation, McGinnis is the number-two man at the DOE office responsible for civilian […]

Ed McGinnis was appointed deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, a promotion for the long-time DOE civil servant who had been deputy assistant secretary for international nuclear energy policy and cooperation since 2007. In his new role, which did not require Senate confirmation, McGinnis is the number-two man at the DOE office responsible for civilian […]

Ed McGinnis was appointed deputy assistant secretary for nuclear energy, a promotion for the long-time DOE civil servant who had been deputy assistant secretary for international nuclear energy policy and cooperation since 2007. In his new role, which did not require Senate confirmation, McGinnis is the number-two man at the DOE office responsible for civilian […]

A venture capitalist studying options for spent nuclear fuel storage and reprocessing in South Carolina said Wednesday his group will not pursue an interim storage license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, instead shifting focus to new reactor design and reprocessing. Mike Stake, head of the Spent Fuel Reprocessing Group, originally told the NRC in July […]

New legislation on enhancing nuclear energy research and developing new nuclear reactor technologies has reached the U.S. Senate. Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) in January introduced the legislation, called the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act of 2017, which is intended to enhance civilian research and development of nuclear energy technologies. The bill highlights the need to maintain […]

A venture capitalist studying options for spent nuclear fuel storage and reprocessing in South Carolina said Wednesday his group will not pursue an interim storage license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, instead shifting focus to new reactor design and reprocessing. Mike Stake, head of the Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Group, originally told the NRC in July […]

The next generation of nuclear power reactors could reshape the way in which nuclear waste is stored, Lloyd’s Register said in a report this week. “Many of the latest reactor designs can achieve ‘deep burn’ of nuclear fuel – leading to a smaller and much shorter-lived waste stream,” the report says. “The potential of these […]

The Energy Department has named Raymond Furstenau, a nearly 30-year DOE veteran, as acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy, following the departure of John Kotek. The office leads DOE efforts in establishing a strategy for managing the nation’s high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Kotek, who […]

Global engineering specialist Amec Foster Wheeler said Tuesday it will lead a team of firms that will study the optimum means for decommissioning the ITER fusion device now being built in southern France. The yearlong project will encompass “a concept-level study of the duration, sequencing and cost for dismantling the ITER machine, once it comes to the […]

The current and anticipated closure of U.S. nuclear power plants is a troubling development as states eye meeting their carbon dioxide emissions reductions requirements under the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said Monday. The nuclear industry and its supporters today tout zero-carbon atomic energy facilities as a means of addressing […]

SHINE Medical Technologies announced Wednesday that its headquarters will later this year be relocated from Monona, Wis., to Janesville, Wis., where the company is preparing to build a medical radioisotope production facility. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February approved SHINE’s construction permit to build the its $100 million plant. The company is vying to become the first […]

Support for innovation in cleaner electric power technologies, including carbon capture and storage, nuclear, and renewable energy generation, should be ramped up in the United States at the national and state levels, a report Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says. “Some of these technologies have seen recent cost and price […]

SHINE Medical Technologies, which plans by 2019 to open a medical radioisotope production facility in Janesville, Wis., said Tuesday it has reached a supply agreement with China’s largest distributor of radio-pharmaceuticals. SHINE will provide China’s HTA Co. Ltd. with molybdenum-99, a medical isotope that decays into technetium-99m, which is used in imaging procedures for cancer, […]

The premature closure of nuclear power plants is a detriment to U.S. climate change goals, former assistant energy secretary Susan Tierney said during a June 17 Democratic Party event in Phoenix. Tierney, who was set to become deputy energy secretary under President Barack Obama in 2009 before she withdrew her candidacy, appeared during a regional […]

SHINE Medical Technologies, which plans by 2019 to open a medical radioisotope production facility in Janesville, Wis., said Tuesday it has reached a supply agreement with China’s largest distributor of radio-pharmaceuticals. SHINE will provide China’s HTA Co. Ltd. with molybdenum-99, a medical isotope that decays into technetium-99m, which is used in imaging procedures for cancer, […]