The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy kicked off a new initiative Thursday centered around bolstering the domestic nuclear fuel supply chain by 2033.
The new initiative “Nuclear Dominance – 3 by 33” has the federal government working with industry to build up the many aspects of the nuclear supply chain, including uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication, fuel recycling and reprocessing. The initiative will be completed by the Office of Nuclear Energy via the Defense Production Act (DPA) Nuclear Fuel Cycle Consortium, according to the DOE’s press release.
On Thursday, the consortium held an event at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center with partners and the public to outline its three goals for the initiative, according to the release. Basically, the program seeks to shore up nuclear fuel supplies for both existing reactors and future advanced reactors in the United States.
Oklo, NVIDIA and the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have entered into agreement on Thursday to explore artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled research and nuclear research and development at LANL.
According to Oklo’s press release, the collaboration will use Oklo’s sodium fast-reactor design, NVIDIA AI infrastructure and LANL’s technical expertise in materials science and nuclear fuels in an effort to support critical infrastructure development and expedite nuclear power commercialization.
“This agreement brings together reactor deployment, high-performance compute, and world-class fuel and materials science expertise” Oklo CEO Jacob DeWitte said. “We believe this will advance our plutonium-bearing fuel work on Oklo’s Pluto reactor, which was selected under DOE’s Reactor Pilot Program, and help bring resilient power in support of the Genesis Mission.”
The Department of Energy’s nuclear remediation contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is preparing to accept used fuel from Penn State University that could assist with both energy and medical research, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said recently.
INL can accept Training, Research, Isotope, General Atomics (TRIGA-) fuel for the first time in decades after the state and federal government signed a waiver to the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement. The revised agreement set cleanup milestones at INL, DOE said in an April 14 press release.
This sort of used fuel is typically found in university research reactors, according to the release. DOE said the laboratory’s Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center fabrication shop and Amentum-led contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition have used special tools to make stainless steel sheets, bases and lids for the used fuel canisters.
The Energy Technology & Environmental Business Association (ETEBA) is holding its Small Business Summit May 26-28 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, Colo., a Denver suburb.
A link to the conference, which focuses on business opportunities at the Department of Energy and the national laboratories, can be found here.
Department of Energy contractor BWX Technologies (BWXT) is expanding its heavy-manufacturing footprint by signing a deal to acquire Precision Components Group (PCG) and two of its subsidiaries.
The privately-held PCG had $125 million for 2025 revenue and a workforce of roughly 400 people, Lynchburg, Va.-based BWXT said in a Monday press release. BWXT did not reveal a sales price in the release. The deal is expected to close during the second half of 2026, BWXT said in the release.
The acquisition adds more than 500,000 square feet of U.S. heavy-manufacturing capacity, BWXT said in the release. PCG will continue to supply parts and services for Electric Boat, Bechtel Plant Machinery and other U.S. Navy programs, BWXT said in the release.
At the Y-12 National Security Complex, officials are integrating advanced conveying technology from MagneMotion into the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), according to the site’s website.
The system uses a type of motor technology to move materials, replacing traditional conveyor methods with independently controlled carts. It has been used in the automanufacturing industry, and is said to allow “gloveboxes to remain sealed, preventing contamination outside the gloveboxes.”