Siting of Canadian repository gets support of tribal nation

November 21, 2024, 3:00PMRadwaste Solutions
Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation indicated its willingness to host a geologic repository in northwestern Ontario. (Photo: NWMO)

Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) announced that Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation has indicated its willingness to support moving forward to the next phase of the site selection process to host a deep geological repository for Canada’s spent nuclear fuel.

National awards presented at ANS Winter Conference

November 21, 2024, 12:00PMANS News

One of the few constants at American Nuclear Society national meetings is the recognition of exceptional individuals in the nuclear community. ANS President Lisa Marshall has named this season’s award recipients, who received recognition at this week's Winter Conference and Expo in Orlando, Fla.

ANS also announced the winners of awards presented by the Society’s professional divisions. These awards have been mailed to the recipients, and the divisions have recognized or will recognize honorees at various division functions and meetings this fall. The 19 professional divisions of ANS are constituent units and represent a vast array of nuclear science and technology disciplines.

NRC okays construction permits for Hermes 2 test facility

November 21, 2024, 7:00AMNuclear News
Concept art for a Hermes plant. (Image: Kairos Power)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced yesterday that it has directed staff to issue construction permits to Kairos Power for the company's proposed Hermes 2 nonpower test reactor facility to be built at the Heritage Center Industrial Park in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The permits authorize Kairos to build a facility with two 35-MWt test reactors that would use molten salt to cool the reactor cores.

Japanese researchers test detection devices at West Valley

November 20, 2024, 3:15PMNuclear News
Japanese research scientists Sadao Momota (left) and Minoru Tanigaki conducted surveys at the West Valley Demonstration Project to test their radiation detectors. West Valley’s Main Plant Process Building, which is undergoing deconstruction, is shown in the background. (Photo: DOE)

Two research scientists from Japan’s Kyoto University and Kochi University of Technology visited the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York state earlier this fall to test their novel radiation detectors, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced on November 19.

New welding school opens for high schoolers

November 20, 2024, 12:01PMANS Nuclear Cafe

With the support of a $500,000 grant from BWX Technologies (BWXT), the U.S. Navy, and BlueForge Alliance, the John D. Haynes School of Welding Technology has opened at Mount Vernon High School in Indiana. The welding school offers direct employment opportunities for students from the high school to BWXT’s Nuclear Operations Group, also located in Mount Vernon, Ind. Students can complete their high school degrees and their professional welding testing on a dual track, allowing them to enter the workforce immediately upon graduation.

SRS facility surpasses reprocessing milestone

November 20, 2024, 9:33AMRadwaste Solutions
The Salt Waste Processing Facility recently surpassed a production milestone by processing more than 10 million gallons of high-level waste at the Savannah River Site. (Photo: DOE)

The Savannah River Site in South Carolina has processed more than 10 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste in its Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF), the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has announced.

Brookhaven experiment offers new way to study nucleus structure

November 19, 2024, 3:00PMANS Nuclear Cafe
STAR study coauthors Jiangyong Jia (front) and Shengli Huang, both of Stony Brook University, in the control room of the STAR experiment at BNL’s RHIC. (Photo: Kevin Coughlin/BNL)

Recently published research done at Brookhaven National Laboratory is offering a new, high-energy method for studying the structure of atomic nuclei. Scientists have been using the Solenoidal Tracker at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), known as STAR, to track the particles produced by ion collisions in the particle accelerator. Their research was published earlier this month in Nature.

Chris Wright is Trump’s DOE pick

November 19, 2024, 12:01PMNuclear News

Wright

Oil industry executive Chris Wright has been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the next secretary of energy. Wright is also to serve on Trump’s new Council of National Energy, which, Trump said in a statement over the weekend, “will consist of all departments and agencies involved in the permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation, transportation, of ALL forms of American energy.” Trump previously named North Dakota governor Doug Burgum as head of that council.

Following the announcement of his selection, Wright posted on X, “My dedication to bettering human lives remains steadfast, with a focus on making American energy more affordable, reliable, and secure. Energy is the lifeblood that makes everything in life possible. Energy matters.”

Reports: Israel destroyed active nuclear weapons research facility in Iran

November 19, 2024, 9:35AMNuclear News

U.S. and Israeli officials are now confirming that an October 25 Israeli attack in Iran destroyed an active top secret facility for nuclear weapons research, Axios reports. The strike is said to have significantly hampered efforts by Iran to resume weapons research, despite ongoing denials from the country’s leaders that there is an active weapons program.

IAEA works to advance women in the nuclear community

November 19, 2024, 7:01AMNuclear News
An agreement was signed by IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi (right) and LinkedIn cofounder Allen Blue. (Photo: D.Calma/ IAEA)

A new program called Practical Arrangement, which has been created through a collaboration of the International Atomic Energy Agency and LinkedIn, aims to bring networking and training opportunities to women in the nuclear field. The partnership will provide essential resources, including training, research, and access to LinkedIn’s global network.

Framatome to produce Lu-177 at Romania’s Cernavoda

November 18, 2024, 9:30AMNuclear News
Bernard Fontana (left) of Framatome and Cosmin Ghiță of Nuclearelectrica. (Photo: Framatome)

Framatome and SN Nuclearelectrica, a partially state-owned Romanian nuclear energy company, have entered into a long-term cooperation agreement to produce the medical isotope lutetium-177 at Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania. Lu-177 is a beta-emitting radioisotope used in targeted radionuclide therapy for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors and prostate cancer.

Six Ukrainian reactors reduce power following military campaign

November 18, 2024, 7:05AMNuclear News
Photo: IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported that Ukraine’s operating nuclear power plants reduced electricity production yesterday morning as a precautionary measure following widespread military activities across the country that reportedly targeted its energy infrastructure.

Nuclear waste: Trying again, with an approach that is flexible and vague

November 15, 2024, 3:08PMNuclear NewsMatt Wald
The Orano TN-NUHOMS dry fuel storage system at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. The system holds 50 canisters of spent nuclear fuel. (Photo: SONGS)

The Department of Energy has started over on the quest for a place to store used fuel. Its new goal, it says, is to foster a national conversation (although this might better be described as many local conversations) about a national problem that can only be solved at the local level with a “consent-based” approach. And while the department is touting the various milestones it has already reached on the way to an interim repository, the program is structured in a way that means its success will not be measurable for years.

Clean Core Thorium Energy marks fuel testing milestone and agreement with L&T

November 15, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News
INL team removing and staging irradiated ANEEL fuel rodlets in the ATR canal. (Photo: Clean Core)

Clean Core Thorium Energy (Clean Core) announced November 12 that test rodlets of its patented thorium-uranium fuel design known as ANEEL (advanced nuclear energy for enriched life) have reached a burnup milestone in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory.

Veolia claims new method of recycling copper from nuclear facilities

November 15, 2024, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
Photo: Veolia UK

Veolia UK announced that it has developed a new method for salvaging copper from electrical cables from decommissioned nuclear facilities. The process, which handles and disposes of the contaminated plastic coating that protects the core from radiation, reduces the time and cost of treating the waste while preserving the copper for recycling, the waste management company said.

N.S. Savannah: Bridging the gap between decommissioning and historic preservation

November 15, 2024, 7:03AMNuclear NewsErhard W. Koehler and Anne Jennings
N.S. Savannah, the first commercial nuclear-powered cargo vessel, en route to the World’s Fair in Seattle in 1962. (Photo: U.S. National Archives)

It’s safe to say that readers of Nuclear News are familiar with decommissioning. It’s even safe to assume that experienced decommissioning practitioners are familiar with the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and how it applies to typical projects. What’s different about the N.S. Savannah is that the entire project site is a historic property—and in fact, is a federally owned National Historic Landmark (NHL), a status that confers the highest level of protection under law. Federal owners of NHLs are obligated to minimize harm in both planning and actions. Distilled to its salient point, no federal owner of an NHL should destroy it if there’s a reasonable alternative. That level of preservation is not what we normally associate with nuclear decommissioning. This perfectly summarizes the challenges, and opportunities, that decommissioning Savannah offered. The story of how the Maritime Administration (MARAD) managed these two otherwise contradictory processes showcases how historic preservation and decommissioning can positively intersect, provides a pathway for other historic facilities, and further adds to the already illustrious history of one of our nation’s significant 20th century landmarks.