Publications: Morning Briefing

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 […]

Members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation serving the area around the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) have lined up $10 million for upkeep of the haul road leading to the nation’s only disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste. The federal money will help shore up the U.S. 285 Relief Route, a […]

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has promoted Greg Ennis to senior vice president and chief financial officer of its Mission Technologies division, the company announced Oct. 2. Ennis will lead Mission Technologies’ financial organization and oversee accounting, financial reporting, financial planning and analysis, rates and budgets, and program cost control across the division, HII said. Ennis […]

BWX Technologies has received a contract worth approximately $189 million to manufacture nuclear reactor fuel for the U.S. Navy, the company said Oct. 1. The award calls for BWXT subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) in Erwin, Tenn., to manufacture and deliver fuel for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. Work is scheduled to be completed in […]

Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center in Lusby, Md., will add 190 megawatts to its current capacity under a new power purchase agreement (PPA) between the company and Amazon.  Amazon and Constellation announced this 20-year-long deal on Sept. 30. Constellation said the deal “will enable more than $3 billion in Maryland infrastructure investment, including […]

After being replaced by a new facility earlier this year, the old water treatment plant at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Richland, Wash., is being taken down. DOE announced Sept. 22 that the 283W water treatment plant has been removed from service and is being decommissioned after spending more than eight decades treating […]

OCTOBER: 06-08: Conference: The Nuclear Energy Institute Workforce Summit is scheduled at NEI headquarters on F Street in Washington, D.C.  13: Virtual Forum: ANWA Deterrence Center Forum on “Modernizing the Nation’s Strategic Nuclear Deterrence: The Strategic Role of Golden Dome” at 3-4:30 p.m. Eastern time. 27: Conference: The Energy Technology & Environmental Business Association (ETEBA) […]

Early delivery of equipment for a Savannah River Site (SRS) training facility is helping accelerate preparations for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plutonium pit production mission, the agency said in a press release. NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Scott Pappano visited SRS in September to review construction of the High-Fidelity Training and Operations Center (HFTOC), […]

Energy Secretary Chris Wright is on the move again and back to Ohio to visit Vistra Corp.’s Perry Nuclear Plant in Perry, Ohio on Oct. 5. According to a Department of Energy media advisory, Wright is expected to make an announcement that “will help lower electricity costs and strengthen grid reliability for the American people.” […]

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 National Nuclear Security Administration conducted a “subsurface, non-nuclear chemical high-explosive experiment” at the Nevada National Security Site aimed at improving U.S. detection of low-yield nuclear explosions, the agency said Sept. 30. The experiment was conducted in the P Tunnel in Area 12 at NNSS and involved chemical high explosives and radiotracers, according to the […]

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 Navy’s W93/Mk7 nuclear warhead and reentry system has entered the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase after achieving Milestone B, advancing the first new U.S. nuclear warhead program initiated in nearly four decades. The Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive Strategic Systems Programs announced Sept. 24 that the W93/Mk7 program had entered the EMD phase of […]

WASHINGTON – To meet the incoming energy and artificial intelligence (AI) demand, the United States’s nuclear supply chain needs a major uplift to help make reactor construction economical and timely, nuclear industry panelists said Tuesday here.  Nuclear power has been tied with AI as a baseload source of energy for data center operations over the […]

The Department of Energy is preparing a Manhattan Project-era facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex for demolition while recovering equipment that can be reused across dozens of National Nuclear Security Administration facilities. The department’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and NNSA are working with their respective contractors, United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) […]

Amentum’s joint venture was selected by United Kingdom-based Sellafield for a contract worth up to $2.78 billion (£2.1 billion) to be a “preferred supplier” for an asset care program. A preferred supplier agreement is a legal contract between a vendor and company that essentially selects the vendor as the company’s primary choice for a selected […]

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 […]

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 Department of Energy and its Hanford tank waste contractor are preparing to begin retrieving radioactive and chemical waste from the site’s 25th single-shell tank, marking another milestone in the decades-long cleanup effort. DOE’s Hanford Field Office and Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure are preparing to retrieve waste from Tank A-103 in the 200 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401) have signed an agreement to strengthen information sharing and cooperation on counter-unmanned aircraft systems. The memorandum of understanding establishes a framework for NNSA and JIATF-401 to exchange counter-UAS test data, research and operational insights as the agencies work to address evolving […]

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) found multiple problems with how Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has implemented nuclear safety controls, including deficiencies involving transuranic waste containers, and said the laboratory’s process for verifying safety-basis implementation needs improvement. The findings come from a DNFSB staff review of Revision 3 of SRNL’s documented safety analysis […]

The head of the environmental contractor for the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site told a South Carolina nuclear advisory board last week production accelerated at the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), a vital cog in cleaning up the site’s radioactive waste tanks. “When we took over the job, SWPF was processing at a rate […]

Holtec has paused fuel loading activity at the Palisades power plant in Michigan following an incident with its fuel assembly, the company said. In a progress report released by Holtec on Sept. 21, the company said one fuel assembly tilted from its upright position after it was placed. The fuel-handling machine grapple was disengaged later. […]

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 […]

President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping have reaffirmed commitment to building the “constructive relationship of strategic stability” pledged in May, but the two countries have yet to establish its meaning for growing nuclear and strategic competition. The leaders agreed during Xi’s Sept. 23-25 visit to Washington to build a strategic-stability relationship based on […]