Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

WASHINGTON – Representatives across several energy industries consider natural gas the short-term source to power artificial intelligence (AI) and nuclear power will become the long-term solution. Industry experts  said both natural gas and nuclear power will be needed to meet the growing energy demand created by AI and data centers, during last week’s  Data Center […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing issued a conditional loan up to $4.2 billion to provide uprates at several of Vistra Corp’s nuclear power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said this week. The announcement came during Wright’s visit to the Vistra’s Perry Nuclear Plant on Monday afternoon. According […]

(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 […]

Berkeley, Calif.-based Deep Isolation was issued a drilling permit by a Texas state agency for its full-scale, non-nuclear borehole demonstration project in Cameron, Texas, the company said Oct. 1. The Texas Railroad Commission issued the permit. With this regulatory approval, Deep Isolation said in its press release, the borehole disposal pilot project can move from […]

The United States Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) appointed Michael Janicke to be its executive director effective Monday, the independent federal agency said. Janicke takes over as the official head of the NWTRB almost a year after the former executive director Daniel Ogg retired from the position in December 2025. Neysa Slater-Chandler was the […]

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 […]

Constellation Energy continues its pursuit of uprating several of its operating reactors as the company signs its latest power purchase agreement with Google Tuesday. Constellation and Google agreed to a 20-year “clean energy collaboration” to add 890 megawatts of nuclear energy onto the PJM Interconnection grid, according to the press release. The agreement includes investments […]

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 […]

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) with 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 state-of-the-art improvements across […]

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 […]

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 Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact late last week for Constellation Energy’s former Three Mile Island Unit 1 proposed restart. This issuance comes after NRC released its draft environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the former Three Mile Island reactor, now referred […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

BWXT Technologies (BWXT) sees a potential multibillion-dollar opportunity as the U.S. government rebuilds domestic nuclear-fuel capabilities for national security, including enrichment capacity and production of unobligated uranium, company executives said during a Sept. 29 investor day. The company is currently working under a roughly $1.5 billion National Nuclear Security Administration contract to develop capabilities for […]

The growing interest in building more nuclear power across the United States calls for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build up its workforce to meet the incoming workload, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report this week. Over the past couple of years, nuclear power has gained bipartisan support on Capitol Hill and […]

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 […]

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, […]