This week, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) has signed the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, which among other things would lift the Illinois moratorium on large new nuclear reactors.
The act, Senate Bill 25, was passed by the state House by a 70 – 37 vote and the state Senate by a 37 – 22 vote in late October 2025. The law will allow the construction of nuclear reactors, small modular reactors (SMRs) or large reactors.
Pritzker previously signed a law in 2023 that helped lift part of the state’s nuclear moratorium which allowed for reactors of 300 megawatts or fewer to be built in Illinois.
Department of Energy and Santa Clara, Calif.-based Oklo have signed an agreement to support the construction and operation of a radioisotope pilot plant under the DOE reactor pilot program.
Jacob DeWitte, Oklo’s CEO, said the agreement establishes a framework for “execution and risk reduction,” according to Oklo’s Wednesday press release. Oklo’s subsidiary Atomic Alchemy will use the pilot radioisotope facility as the groundwork for future commercial plants that use medical and research radioisotopes, Oklo said.
With the agreement with DOE, Atomic Alchemy has “withdrawn its previously submitted Nuclear Regulatory Commission construction permit application for the Meitner-1 commercial radioisotope production facility at Idaho National Laboratory to focus on the Radioisotope Pilot Facility,” according to the release.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) appointed two of its long-time staffers this week to serve in high-level management positions.
NRC appointed Sabrina Atack as deputy executive director for reactor and preparedness programs and Caroline Carusone as deputy executive director for nuclear materials, administrative and corporate programs. Both hirings are effective immediately according to NRC’s Tuesday press release.
Both Atack and Carusone have worked in management roles previously. From July 2025 until now, Atack served as the acting deputy director for operations. Prior to Carusone’s recent appointment, she was deputy director and deputy chief information officer in the Office of Chief Information Officer.
The Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank has been awarded $275,000 to install a nuclear control room simulator at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise (UVA Wise) in Wise, Va.
According to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) Dec. 18 press release, the installed nuclear control room simulation will be from NuScale’s Energy Exploration Centers. UVA Wise said it planned to confirm the simulation order in December and begin the installation and training this month.
Youngkin said the small modular reactor (SMR) control room simulation will support workforce and professional training.
Holly Harrington has retired as a senior level adviser with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) after a long career as a fed.
“It’s been nearly 40 years of government service and it’s been a good run!” Harrington said via her LinkedIn page over the New Year’s weekend. “At the NRC, I was part of our largely unheralded Fukushima response and had the honor of working with international colleagues on improving nuclear power communications,” Harrington said.
Harrington spent more than 21 years with NRC as a senior adviser, speechwriter and public affairs officer. Her federal career also included working at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Veterans Health Administration, according to her online bio.
Sargent & Lundy, an architectural engineering firm headquartered in Chicago, announced several executive appointments this week.
The company selected Pareez Golub, Kuldip Mohanty and Daniel Webb to be senior vice presidents. Previously, Golub was a project director for the company’s nuclear power services, Mohanty served as chief technology officer and Webb served as a project director for nuclear power projects, according to Sargent & Lundy’s Tuesday press release.
In addition to the senior vice presidents, the firm hired numerous vice presidents. Sargent & Lundy appointed 10 new vice presidents. The new positions became effective Jan. 1. The ten new vice presidents are:
- Peter Carusona
- Patrick Daou
- Brian Faga
- Anne Moon
- Wayshalee Patel
- Adam Redd
- Nancy Taleb
- Greg Wagner
- Jason Weller
- Joe Zmuda