Publications: Nuclear Energy & Radwaste Monitor

While President Donald Trump has not officially signed a civil nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, the announcement by a State Department official that one is in the works got pushback in Congress. Thomas Dinanno, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, told both the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees that […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Energy needs to figure out a waste management strategy before pushing for more nuclear power, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) told DOE officials in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing last week. “I can’t stress this enough; this to me is the issue we deal with first: […]

X-Energy and Talen Energy have signed a letter of intent to explore development of X-Energy Xe-100 reactors in Pennsylvania to serve the PJM, a regional transmission organization. PJM serves parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. Talen, a Houston-based power company, operates the Susquehanna Nuclear Station in Salem Township, Pa., within the PJM […]

After two Canadian agencies received more than 900 public comments on Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO) proposed deep geological repository in Ontario, the project has been referred to an independent review panel for additional vetting, officials said this week.  The Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC), which oversees the application, issued a notice of referral […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public input on Fermi America’s combined license application for Project Matador based in Carson County, Texas. NRC has opened up a 30-day comment period to gather feedback on the scope of its draft environmental impact statement it is preparing for the application. The period closes on April 20, according […]

Uranium Energy Corp has received approval from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to expand in situ recovery operations at Christensen Ranch in Johnson County, Wyo. In situ recovery is one of the two primary extraction methods used to mine uranium from the underground. The Corpus Christi, Texas-based uranium mining company said in its […]

Kärnfull Next submitted Sweden’s first small modular reactor (SMR) application this week under the country’s new legislation, Act of Government Approval of Nuclear Facilities. The application, which was submitted by ReFirm Målma AB, covers a proposed SMR campus in Valdemarsvik in southern Sweden and was submitted to Johan Britz, Minister for Employment and acting Minister […]

Austin, Texas-based Aalo Atomics unveiled its completed reactor building of its critical test reactor at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. Aalo held a March 19 ceremony for the finished reactor building on March 19, according to a company press release. The company said it completed the reactor structure in six months and expects […]

X-Energy has started the process to become a publicly-traded company, announcing last week it filed a draft registration statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). X-Energy, a nuclear company based in Rockville, Md., plans to trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol XE, according to the company’s March 20 press […]

Louisiana state officials have released a new Nuclear Strategic Framework, this week and also confirmed the state’s interest in the Department of Energy’s lifecycle hubs program.  Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) announced the new state initiative at the CERAWeek event in Houston on Tuesday. Louisiana also received  $45 million in federal funding for the Future […]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said this week it is planning several outer space projects, including the use of nuclear power for certain space exploration.  NASA outlined these new initiatives at its Ignition event held in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to discuss missions involving the moon and Mars.  Among other things, NASA seeks […]

The Donald Trump administration made it official Friday morning, announcing the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio has been selected for a multi-billion-dollar data center and power project thanks to a public-private-partnership agreement. In addition to the federal government, the partnership includes SoftBank and AEP Ohio, an American Electric Power company, DOE said in […]

Nevada, where memories of the Yucca Mountain saga still linger, will not seek to host one of the Department of Energy’s state lifecycle hubs, a state official told Exchange Monitor this week. In an emailed statement Monday to the Monitor, Fred Dilger, executive director of the Nevada Agency of Nuclear Projects, said the state will […]

Oklo reached several key regulatory milestones this week for demonstration reactors being developed in Idaho and Texas and a separate project also in Idaho. One approval came via DOE’s reactor pilot program at DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory. Oklo’s subsidiary company received the other two approvals as it also received one under the pilot program and […]

Arizona Public Service has officially notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of its intent to renew the operating licenses for the Palo Verde Generating Station in Tonopah, Ariz. The Phoenix-based energy utility said in a Monday press release it filed a notice of intent on March 13, informing NRC it plans to submit a subsequent license […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a rule to revise the fees it charges for license applications and certain other activities.  Under the proposed March 12 rule posted in the Federal Register, NRC would establish fixed caps on its service fees. Through Executive Order 14300, NRC has replaced its non-binding milestone schedules with fixed deadlines […]

The United States should consider additional safeguards to civil nuclear reactors in the event of a military attack, a defense analyst said at a Monday hearing. A panel of nuclear experts discussed in the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe hearing the Russian seizing of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and lessons learned from […]

AtkinsRéalis and Nvidia are working together to explore integration of the global tech company’s technologies to potentially advance nuclear-powered artificial intelligence (AI) factories. Montreal, Canada-based AtkinsRéalis said in a Monday press release that this collaboration could help it design a three-dimensional “digital twin” of infrastructure prior to real world construction.  With AtkinsRéalis having the exclusive […]

Rockville, Md.-based X-Energy, which has ambitions to build a vast nuclear fleet, signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding (MOU) this week with  Japanese engineering company IHI Corporation to explore collaboration on X-Energy’s small modular reactor (SMR) technology. The MOU is a part of the deals to come out of the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States needs to reestablish a robust domestic uranium enrichment program in order to meet future nuclear goals, Department of Energy Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish said here Thursday. “When I first came onboard, I recognized this really is the biggest risk to the nuclear industry,” Garrish said of […]

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy has unveiled a new effort to add 2,500 megawatts of nuclear power to the grid by 2027 through uprates to existing plants and restarting some closed reactors. The Utility Power Reactor Incremental Scaling Effort (UPRISE) program aims to bring 2,500 megawatts of additional power by 2027 and […]

The United States and Japan have struck deals, valued up to $73 billion, for a number of new energy projects this week as part of its Japan-U.S.Strategic Investment. In the new deals struck by the two countries Thursday, the two governments will invest up to $40 billion to construct GE Vernova Hitachi small modular reactors […]

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) recently laced into the Department of Energy over a recent categorical exclusion to bypass certain safety requirements for certain advanced reactors. On Feb. 2, DOE established a categorical exclusion from certain National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures. The new exclusion could effectively allow certain advanced reactors to be approved without first […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Department of Energy’s reactor pilot program could see “three to four” demonstration reactors reach criticality by July 4, DOE Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish told a Senate committee Thursday morning. Garrish, along with John Wagner, DOE Idaho National Laboratory director, and Mike Laufer, Kairos Power CEO, testified before the […]

ROCKVILLE, MD – With the Palisades Nuclear Plant nearing its restart, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is looking to fast track the review of the former Three Mile Island Unit 1 to resume operations by March 2027, an NRC panel said Thursday. During the NRC Regulatory Information Conference’s final day, a panel made of NRC […]

ROCKVILLE, MD – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will stay committed to independence and safety through the various changes to the agency, NRC Chair Ho Nieh said during the opening panel here Tuesday morning. Recently appointed chair Nieh opened up NRC’s 38th annual Regulatory Information Conference. Nieh said there have been a lot of narratives over […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has appointed former NRC staffer Anna Bradford to lead its Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, effective in May. Bradford is currently director of the Division of Nuclear Installation Safety at the International Atomic Energy Agency. Jeremy Groom, who is serving as the acting director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, will continue […]

An Amentum-led joint venture has won a $112 million framework contract to lead decommissioning and waste management at nuclear research sites in four European countries. The new contract, issued by the European Commission Joint Research Center, has a two-year base period, with an option of three possible two-year extensions, according to Amentum’s Tuesday press release. […]

Centrus Energy has announced multiple partnerships this week aiming to increase its fuel capacities and activities at its uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio. Centrus and Oklo agreed on Monday to seek a joint venture focused on deconversion services for high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) and advancing fuel-cycle technologies in Ohio. The company then agreed to […]