Kairos Power has finalized a contract with the Department of Energy to receive high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) for its Hermes demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
In Kairos’s Tuesday press release, the company said it will use the material to produce HALEU tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel pebbles for Hermes 1. It will also partner up with DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory using manufacturing processes created and optimized in Kairos labs.
Kairos was conditionally selected by DOE to receive HALEU in April under the agency’s HALEU Availability Program.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) received approval this week from Japan’s Nuclear Power Authority to begin the process of restarting Unit 6 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station.
TEPCO said Wednesday that the control rods for Unit 6 were withdrawn, meaning that it has initiated the reactor startup. “Preparations for the reactor startup have been underway since the submission of the pre-operational confirmation modification application on December 24, 2025,” according to TEPCO’s statement.
The seven-unit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant has been shut down for nearly 15 years after the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami. While the plant was unaffected by the natural disaster, it was shut down as a safety precaution.
AtkinsRéalis US Nuclear has appointed Jack Craig to serve as its senior vice president of energy and environment.
In Craig’s new role, he will oversee AtkinsRéalis’ major projects portfolio and work with current and prospective partners to expand AtkinsRéalis footprint with the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and National Nuclear Security Administration, according to the company’s Friday press release.
Craig’s most recent position was president and CEO of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. Under his leadership, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories “successfully advanced its mission across nuclear operations, environmental restoration, science & technology, and energy research, while executing more than $2 billion in major capital projects and guiding a workforce of over 4,200 employees,” according to the release. Craig is also a former senior DOE executive.
An Amentum-led consortium was awarded a $207 million contract Thursday from the Dutch government for its new nuclear program.
The NEXUS-NL consortium, made up of Amentum, Arcadis, NRG PALLAS and Tractebel, will work on the development of up to new 2,000 megawatt-scale power plants. The collaborative efforts support the Netherlands’s decarbonization goals and the Nuclear Energy Organization Netherlands, which will be established next month, according to Amentum’s press release.
The contract is a two-year framework with options for three additional one-year extensions. In the initial phase, the consortium will “oversee site characterization, technology selection, and planning work scope for site enabling, utility connections and transportation links,” according to the release.
The Department of Energy’s Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina has hired Roderick Jackson as its associate laboratory director for the science, energy and innovation directorate.
The science, energy and innovation directorate focuses on integrating fundamental research, energy reliability and innovation within a cohesive and mission-driven framework, according to a Jan. 14 press release. Jackson will now lead the recently established directorate.
Prior to joining SRNL, Jackson worked at the National Laboratory of the Rockies, where he led the strategic agenda for the lab’s Building Technologies Research portfolio. He also worked several years at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.