ANS Nuclear Cafe

The ANS Nuclear Cafe is a blog owned and edited by the American Nuclear Society. Information contained on the ANS Nuclear Cafe has been provided by numerous sources. Therefore, the American Nuclear Society assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy of information contained herein. DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in posted articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Nuclear Society. The views expressed here are those of the individual authors. ANS takes no ownership of their views. The American Nuclear Society assumes no responsibility or liability for any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained on this site.


Energy experts urge reversal of 2025 shutdown plan for Diablo Canyon

February 7, 2022, 9:30AMUpdated February 7, 2022, 10:31AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Seventy-nine scientific and business luminaries, including a number of the world’s leading experts on climate and energy, have signed a letter imploring California Gov. Gavin Newsom to postpone the premature retirement of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, currently slated for closure in 2025.

Remembering the 1984 Nuclear Power Olympics

February 3, 2022, 12:04PMANS Nuclear Cafe

With the 2022 Winter Olympics officially starting tomorrow morning with the opening ceremony, Nuclear News dug through the archives for the perfect #ThrowbackThursday post: a look at the fictional 1984 Nuclear Power Olympics!

For those who are new to Nuclear News, “Backscatter” was a long-running column frequently penned by ANS member and amateur humorist Bill Minkler. The September 1984 Backscatter was a response to that year’s Summer Olympics; Minkler provided a review of the events and winners of his fictional counterpart, “held” in Hoboken, N.J.

The following text below is a reprint of Minkler's article from 1984. Enjoy!

Entergy Nuclear's grants benefit neighboring communities

February 1, 2022, 9:30AMANS Nuclear Cafe

In 2021, Entergy Nuclear provided dozens of grants, totaling $415,527, to nonprofit agencies in communities where Entergy’s nuclear plants operate, as well as its headquarters in Jackson, Miss. Overall, grants were awarded in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Michigan, the company announced on January 31.

The grant program administered through the nuclear plants focuses on funding education, literacy, healthy families, arts and culture, and other community improvement initiatives.

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Vogtle’s Unit 3 in-service date on target for this year

January 31, 2022, 12:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe
In a photo from November 2021, the Vogtle plant’s Unit 4 is in the foreground, and Unit 3 is in the center. Units 1 and 2, which entered service in the 1980s, are shown at the top of the photo. (Photo: Georgia Power)

A spokesperson for Georgia Power has confirmed that the projected in-service date for the new Vogtle-3 reactor remains the third quarter of 2022, according to an article published on January 27 on the Power magazine website. The in-service date for Vogtle-4 is targeted for the second quarter of 2023, the spokesperson said.

Machine learning and environmental remediation

January 28, 2022, 9:29AMANS Nuclear CafeAndrew Amann

Due to the large amount of water used by nuclear power plants, measuring the water’s impact on the environment is a huge data processing task. It is impossible to manually measure millions of gallons, along with tracking wildlife and the weather. The data computation needed to understand environmental patterns takes massive amounts of storage and strong algorithms to uncover anomalies.

Spent fuel reprocessing, or "Don't bother us with facts; our minds are made up."

January 27, 2022, 9:30AMANS Nuclear Cafe
The cover of the May 1977 issue of Nuclear News (left), an image of the story discussing Carter's decision to cancel the breeder reactor program (center) and the cover of the June 1977 Nuclear News (right).

The ANS Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Division will present a webinar today at noon EST (the recording will be available via the webinar archive to all ANS members) featuring an international panel of experts on nuclear waste reprocessing. The panel will explore the idea of separating certain radionuclides from waste using recycling technology that enables pure materials to be used for other purposes.

Tennessee governor backs nuclear energy and TVA's plans for SMRs

January 25, 2022, 3:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe

During a tour last week of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s two-unit Watts Bar nuclear power plant in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee said, "Nuclear energy is so important not only because it is an important part of TVA's power generation but also because of the value that clean energy via nuclear energy can have for sustainability in this country,” according to an article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Lee added that he would support TVA’s plans if it decided to build small modular reactors.

Indiana Senate bill will have state consider SMRs

January 24, 2022, 12:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Doriot

Koch

A new bill in the Indiana state Senate creates guidelines for state regulators to consider small modular reactors should utilities want to build them. Senate Bill 271 was sponsored by Sen. Eric Koch (R., Bedford), chair of the Senate Utilities Committee, and Sen. Blake Doriot (R., Goshen). Supporters of the bill said that SMRs could replace retiring coal plants and would supplement renewables.

The Indy Star reported on January 24 that the utilities committee passed the bill by a vote of eight to two and that it now heads to the full Senate.

The case of the Pu-powered pacemaker

January 20, 2022, 12:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe
The cover of the August 1969 issue of Nuclear News (left), an image of Brunhilde, the dog that had the first nuclear-powered pacemaker in the U.S. (center) and the cover of the December 1970 Nuclear News (right).

In this first installment of a #ThrowbackThursday post, Nuclear News provides a review of radioisotope-powered pacemakers in response to an article in The Wall Street Journal. The article, published earlier this week, looks at the issue of disposing of nuclear-powered pacemakers, although considering how few are still in use today, it seems like this is really much ado about nothing.

Manchin supports nuclear provisions in Biden’s Build Back Better plan

January 14, 2022, 3:25PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) has been in the news over the past week—and that’s good news for the nuclear community. Last week, The Hill reported on Manchin’s support for climate action, and according to Bloomberg News this week, Manchin is “big on nuclear” and supports the tax credits for nuclear power plants included in the administration’s Build Back Better plan.

Exelon Generation shares plans for future as Constellation

January 12, 2022, 9:30AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Exelon Generation—owner and operator of the nation’s largest power reactor fleet—held an online event yesterday outlining the company’s business strategy as it prepares to separate from Exelon Corporation under the name Constellation. The separation is expected to become final on February 1.

Brooke Poole Clark announced as NRC’s next secretary

January 11, 2022, 3:03PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Clark

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced today the selection of Brooke Poole Clark as the new secretary to the Commission, effective spring 2022. Clark will replace Annette Vietti-Cook, who is retiring after nearly 40 years of service at the NRC.

In her new position, Clark will provide executive management services to support the Commission and implement Commission decisions. She will be responsible for scheduling Commission meetings, managing the Commission's decision-making process, codifying Commission decisions in memoranda, processing and controlling Commission correspondence, and maintaining the Commission's historical records collection, among other tasks.

Researchers find way to make new cancer medicine

January 11, 2022, 12:13PMANS Nuclear Cafe
INL scientists Matt Snow and Jessica Ward hold a natural vanadium solution that will be separated into the cancer-treating isotope scandium-47. (Photo: INL)

Idaho National Laboratory researchers have, for the first time, used a novel technique using high-energy photons to produce scandium-47 from the element vanadium. The project is a collaboration with Jon Stoner and John Longley from Idaho State University’s Idaho Accelerator Center and Tara Mastren from the University of Utah. The results are published in the journal Applied Radiation and Isotopes.

New GAIN website tracks significant advanced reactor milestones

January 5, 2022, 3:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe

A new website, Milestones in Advanced Nuclear, has been launched by the Department of Energy's Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN). The website features news stories about advanced reactor activities and offers a “Contact an expert” section for submitting questions and comments for response from GAIN.

Why is Jimmy Carter trending on Twitter?

December 17, 2021, 11:59AMANS Nuclear Cafe
The young Jimmy Carter, years before his presidency. (Click to view entire graphic.)

Jimmy Carter is trending on Twitter this week because of his ties to nuclear power. Carter, the 39th president of the United States, was a member of Rickover’s nuclear navy about 70 years ago when he was assigned to help in the aftermath of an accident at the Chalk River Laboratory in Ontario, Canada.

Getting INL to net-zero carbon emissions by 2031

December 13, 2021, 3:00PMANS Nuclear CafeDonna Kemp Spangler

Kandasamy

Daunting tasks are nothing new for Jhansi Kandasamy. Her record of accomplishments over three decades suggests that she is often the first to succeed where others fall short. “I like to be the first,” she said with a laugh.

Her latest first? Kandasamy was recently named Idaho National Laboratory’s net-zero director. She is charged with achieving net-zero carbon emissions for INL within the next 10 years and her plan is to be 75 percent toward that goal within the next five years.

John Wagner, INL director, announced the Net-Zero initiative on Earth Day 2021, and he acknowledged it won’t be easy. “I understand this is an audacious goal,” he said, “but overcoming significant national challenges is exactly what national laboratories were established to do.”

At Senate hearing, Markey attacks, Hanson defends

December 8, 2021, 9:36AMANS Nuclear Cafe

Markey

At an otherwise congenial Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversight hearing held last week by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. Ed Markey (D., Mass.) made clear his strong disagreement with the agency’s November 3 decision to approve a proposed rule amending regulations for nuclear plants undergoing decommissioning.

“I fear the NRC now stands for Not Recognizing Concerns,” Markey said. “The NRC has decided that the best way to shield itself from criticism around the decommissioning process is to take itself out of the process. In the latest version of the proposed decommissioning rule, the NRC would have no ability to approve, no ability to change, no ability to deny plants’ decommissioning proposals, known as post-shutdown decommissioning activities reports. Its only job would be to acknowledge receipt of the report. Our independent nuclear safety regulator would serve as a glorified filing cabinet. Ceding the job of regulator to the nuclear industry itself is not a win for safety, communities, or for the energy sector.”