As the American Nuclear Society’s 2024 Winter Meeting and Expo kicks off in Orlando, Fla., the nuclear industry’s eyes are turned toward the future—advanced technologies, updated regulations, a new administration, and importantly, the future of the workforce.

Oklo Inc. has that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Atomic Alchemy Inc., a U.S.-based radioisotope production company. The two companies announced a strategic partnership earlier this year.

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.

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.

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 (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 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.

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.

Diablo Canyon will host a commercial installation of the first on-site generative artificial intelligence deployment at a U.S. nuclear plant.

Pacific Gas & Electric is deploying Atomic Canyon’s Neutron Enterprise to assist the utility’s management of datasets associated with operations of Diablo Canyon. The software, which runs on Nvidia’s full-stack AI platform, enables intelligent document processing, computation of semantic embeddings, and generative capabilities. Its infrastructure allows nuclear facilities to process and analyze vast amounts of complex documentation with unprecedented speed and accuracy, according to the company.

Oklo Inc. announced yesterday that it has partnered with “two major data center providers” under letters of intent (LOIs) to deliver up to 750 MW of power from multiple 15 MW or 50 MW Oklo microreactors at data centers in “select” undisclosed U.S. markets.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has awarded a $2.3 billion operations and site mission support services contract for the Portsmouth Paducah Project Office (PPPO) to Mission Conversion Services Alliance (MCSA), a limited liability company made up of Atkins Nuclear Secured, Westinghouse Government Services, and Jacobs Technology, with Swift & Staley and Akima Centerra Integrated Services as teaming subcontractors.

Some 30 nuclear engineering departments at universities across the United States graduate more than 900 students every year. These young men and women are the present and future of the domestic nuclear industry as it seeks to develop and deploy advanced nuclear energy technologies, grow its footprint on the power grid, and penetrate new markets while continuing to run the existing fleet of reactors reliably and economically.

Last week's inaugural ministerial meeting of the IAEA World Fusion Energy Group (WFEG), in Rome, Italy, drew government ministers and senior officials who represented “dozens of countries” interested in fusion energy technology.

NorthStar Group Services announced it will work with Modern American Recycling Services (MARS) to pursue work dismantling and disposing of decommissioned U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers at the Port of Mobile, Ala. The work is to be performed by NorthStar subsidiary NorthStar Maritime Dismantlement Services and MARS subsidiary Modern American Recycling and Radiological Services.

As the United Nations’ COP29 climate summit kicked off this week, President Biden’s administration laid out plans to add 200 GW of nuclear power in the next 25 years through a combination of new reactor deployment, plant restarts, and upgrades at existing sites.

The added nuclear would triple the nation’s current capacity, which stands at around 100 GW.

The new U.S. road map—Safely and Responsibly Expanding U.S. Nuclear Energy: Deployment Targets and a Framework for Action—calls the deployment goals “ambitious but achievable,” including a short-term plan to jumpstart the domestic industry, adding 35 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by 2035.

Christine Roy

While flipping through the course catalog at the University of Massachusetts–Amherst, I read that civil engineers can design amusement park rides. I was instantly inspired and chose my major because I wanted to design something for Walt Disney World. After college, I started my dream job at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, which is famous for designing Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center, a celebration of human innovation, communication, and the progress of civilization. This was a win.

My introduction to nuclear

During my first two years at SGH, I experienced all aspects of working in the Engineering Mechanics & Infrastructure group, from analyzing structural failures to studying pipelines and modeling antennas. In 2006, I worked on my first nuclear facility. It consisted of structural analysis and design of the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit at Idaho National Laboratory.

Holtec International announced that it has completed the campaign to transfer Diablo Canyon’s spent nuclear to dry storage ahead of its planned schedule, paving the way for the continued operation of the central California nuclear power plant.

The American Nuclear Society is hosting a Supplier Showcase webinar, “Dose-Free, Radiation Visualization, and Mitigation,” tomorrow, November 13, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (EST) on the capabilities of radiation visualization using the RadVision3D product.

The webinar, sponsored by Transco Products Inc., is free for all viewers. Registration is required.

A fascinating interactive LEGO model of CROCUS, a zero-power, uranium-fueled, water-moderated fission reactor used for teaching and research purposes at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), has been created by Vincent Lamirand, a scientist at EPFL’s Laboratory of Reactor Physics and Systems Behaviour. Lamirand, who teaches courses on reactor experiments and radiation detection and leads the experimental research with CROCUS, is using the model to teach his students about the reactor. He is hoping that the LEGO company will eventually produce his model for the public to purchase.

As COP29 kicked off November 11, industry advocates worldwide are hoping to draw attention and increase buy-in to the need for more nuclear capacity.