The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, along with technical experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, China, and Ghana, last week finished converting Ghana’s GHARR-1 miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) to run on low-enriched uranium fuel rather than highly enriched uranium.
The NNSA said in a Wednesday announcement that this work, part of its effort to minimize the use of nuclear weapon-usable HEU in civilian applications worldwide, involved conducting feasibility analyses to confirm that the reactor could safely operate with LEU fuel, then testing the new fuel to ensure it would function as intended in the reactor, the NNSA said.
The MNSR, used in universities, hospitals, and research centers, is the first such Chinese-origin reactor to be converted outside of China, the agency said. Ghanaian researchers have noted that this reactor is the first of five worldwide to work towards conversion, ultimately through repatriation of the reactor’s HEU core to China and installation of the new LEU core in its place.
The NNSA said it is now working with Nigeria, China, and the IAEA to convert Nigeria’s MNSR reactor next year.
Huntington Ingalls Industries and the United Steelworkers have struck a deal for a new labor agreement at the Newport News Shipbuilding division, the company announced on July 14.
Members of the labor union at Newport News approved in a 1,985-131 vote the new agreement, which continues through Nov. 14, 2021. Its provisions include a 1.5 percent salary increase for each employee represented by the union, followed by a 2.6 percent increase next year, and 3 percent hikes the two years after that, Huntington Ingalls said.
Monthly pensions will also increase from $1,550 to $1,800 starting Oct. 1 for those who have served with the company continuously since at least June 2004, and newer hires will participate in a new retirement account contribution plan, the company said. The agreement will also give employees access to the company’s Family Health Center and other related benefits.
“The agreement continues to include language that enables Newport News to maintain critical flexibility to get work, keep work and perform work in a cost-effective manner,” Huntington Ingalls said.
Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News division is the sole designer and builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the United States, and one of two shipyards that designs and builds nuclear-powered submarines.
Another division of Huntington Ingalls, the Technical Solutions business segment, includes Stoller Newport News Nuclear, which provides the Energy Department with nuclear waste management and environmental services and is one of the parent companies for Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the contractor managing the DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
