BWX Technologies announced today that it has been selected to supply the nuclear reactor and fuel for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program—the goal of which is to demonstrate a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine in orbit.
TerraPower plans to invest in South African HALEU laser enrichment technology
TerraPower announced today that it has signed a term sheet with ASP Isotopes Inc. as the first step of a planned investment in the construction of a high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU)...
BWXT approved to begin work under Hanford tank waste contract
BWX Technologies announced that the Department of Energy has approved Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) to begin work under a contract valued at up to $45 billion to clean up...
DOE names four companies to split $2.7 billion in future HALEU enrichment contracts
If we needed more proof that this is a “nuclear week”—in the words of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday, as she announced small modular reactor funding while celebrating...
The DOE picks six HALEU deconverters. What have we learned?
The Department of Energy announced contracts yesterday for six companies to perform high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) deconversion and to transform enriched uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to...
BWXT fuel processing subsidiary pauses operations amid Hurricane Helene; site is "safe"
BWX Technologies subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services Inc. suspended operations last Friday at a Tennessee facility to assess conditions following Hurricane Helene. A company spokesperson said the...
Project Pele is breaking ground in Idaho. What’s involved?
The Department of Defense announced September 24 that it has broken ground on the site at Idaho National Laboratory’s Critical Infrastructure Test Range Complex (CITRC) where Project Pele, a...
HALEU without hyperbole: ANS speaks up for science and transparent risk assessment
The American Nuclear Society recently issued an open letter in support of a science-based approach to the regulation of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuels for commercial nuclear...
NRC signs off on environmental review for Hermes 2 test reactors
Kairos Power accomplished another step forward for its Hermes 2 reactor plans as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week published its final environmental assessment and finding of no...
DOE awards $17 million to answer critical questions with HALEU data
The Department of Energy awarded $17 million on August 30 for 16 experiment and analysis projects expected to yield criticality data that will assist the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in...
ANS open letter to Science magazine challenging claims about HALEU
September 3, 2024Dr. Holden ThorpEditor-in-Chief, ScienceSubject: Science magazine Policy Forum article “The weapons potential of high-assay low-enriched uranium” published June 2024Dear...