EnergySolutions and another Utah-based company, Creekstone Energy, have teamed up to explore nuclear power options for data centers, the companies said last week.
Creekstone and EnergySolutions said in a Dec. 11 press release they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore advanced nuclear options at the Utah Creekstone Gigasite in Delta, Utah and possibly other locations.
The non-binding MOU outlines a process to study the feasibility of developing 2,000 megawatts or more from advanced nuclear capacity such as small modular reactors (SMRs), according to the release. The project is targeted to come online in the 2030s.The MOU encompasses exploration of multiple nuclear technologies, which include large-scale and small modular reactors (SMRs), of different designs. The state of Utah is seeking to become a nuclear energy hub.
During fiscal 2025, the legacy cleanup contractor at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico shipped more than 190 cubic meters of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).
That’s according to a quarterly update distributed Wednesday by Brad Smith, president and general manager of Newport News Nuclear-BWXT-Los Alamos (N3B). which is the DOE Office of Environmental Management cleanup contractor at the site.“Thanks to our team’s excellent performance, we exceeded our shipping goal this year by more than 200 percent,” Smith said in a summary emailed to Exchange Monitor.
In addition, N3B also finished cutting down to size corrugated metal pipes dug up at Los Alamos’ Area G’s Technical Area 54. The concrete-filled pipes with radioactive material have been buried at Los Alamos since the 1980s. New Mexico state officials continue to push DOE to increase the amount of defense-related transuranic waste being shipped from Los Alamos to WIPP.
Crews at the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site recently finished drilling two new groundwater monitoring wells and making a third one deeper, DOE’s nuclear cleanup office said Tuesday.
Data from the new wells on Pahute Mesa should improve groundwater monitoring at the longtime nuclear testing site, DOE’s Office of Environmental Management said in a news release. The project was completed by the Environmental Management office’s program services contractor Navarro Research and Engineering with the assistance of subcontractor Premier Drilling. Navarro Field Operations Manager Brian Haight said the project employed close to 100 people,
The Environmental Management office has been studying contamination of groundwater resulting from the historic nuclear testing at the property formerly known as the Nevada Test Site since 1989. DOE uses the data to forecast where contaminated water is headed and the rate of movement, according to the release.
Urenco USA has completed its first production of low enriched uranium plus (LEU-plus) and installed its third cascade of centrifuges for the advanced fuel at its New Mexico uranium enrichment plant, the company said in a Wednesday press release.
Urenco USA, an affiliate of the European Urenco Group, said it completed its initial production run of uranium enriched to 8.5% U-235. LEU-plus is uranium that is enriched between 5% and 10% U-235 and supports longer operating cycles for the current fleet and supplies fuel for advanced reactors. According to the release, this is the first time a commercial uranium enrichment in the United States has produced this level of enrichment. The company plans to begin production of commercial quantities of LEU-plus for its customers in mid-2026.
Urenco USA began production of LEU-plus on the third cascade Tuesday. The new centrifuge cascades were added as a part of a program to install 700,000 separative work units of capacity by 2027 at its National Enrichment Facility in Eunice, N.M. The company added all three new cascades this year. The first was installed in May and the second in September.