Orano USA signed a contract with an unidentified nuclear power plant in a Southern state to transfer and store used nuclear fuel onsite.
The contract between Maryland-based Orano USA and the nuclear energy facility was announced on Thursday in a press release. The Orano USA spokesperson said the company was not able to disclose the contract amount or partner at this time.
BWX Technologies, a Virginia-based company, is opening a 170,000 square-foot facility dedicated to advanced nuclear technology in Lynchburg, Virginia.
The new labs and workspaces will be used for NASA, the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, national research labs, state government and commercial use, according to the company’s March 26 press release.
On Monday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a bill into law that will include nuclear as a part of the state’s clean energy resources.
The House Bill 1040, sponsored by state Rep. Alex Valdez (D) and Rep. Ty Winter (R), acknowledges the estimated increase in the demand for electricity and describes the path towards meeting that with nuclear while also aligning with its goal of eliminating its carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
The bill outlines nuclear as the largest source of carbon-free electricity in the United States, stating that nuclear power produces 50% of the nation’s carbon-free electricity.
Former Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-La.), a defender of nuclear energy and former chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, died March 25 at age 92.
Johnston was a moderate Democrat who served in the Senate from 1972 to 1997. He started in the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1964, and then the Louisiana Senate in 1967. He ran for the U.S. Senate after losing a race for Louisiana governor by a close margin.
Johnston was either a ranking member or chair of the Energy and Natural Resources committee from 1973 to 1996, during which time the most serious nuclear reactor accident in the United States happened at Three Mile Island Unit 2 in 1979, according to Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
