Nuclear

  • How Machine Learning Improves Visibility into Nuclear Power Plant Waste and Contamination Levels

    Nuclear power remains one of the cleanest forms of energy available to us. Unfortunately, current challenges in measuring nuclear power plant waste and contamination levels make it difficult to manage. The inability to effectively measure these levels makes it difficult to validate nuclear power, and in some cases, is even causing some political tensions. Machine […]

  • GE Hitachi Brings Virtual Reality Training Solution to the Nuclear Energy Industry

    WILMINGTON, NC—December 7, 2021—GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) today announced that it is utilizing its Nuclear Virtual Reality Solution (VRS) tool to help nuclear power plant operators train personnel for outage, operations and maintenance work. The solution helps plant personnel train for operational scenarios encountered during maintenance and refueling outages including vessel disassembly and reassembly, […]

  • Framatome and Rosatom sign long-term cooperation agreement

    December 2, 2021 – Framatome and Rosatom recently signed a new Strategic Cooperation Agreement further expanding the companies’ efforts to develop fuel fabrication and instrumentation and control (I&C) technologies. Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev, and Bernard Fontana, CEO of Framatome signed the agreement during the World Nuclear Exhibition held in Paris. “By working closely with […]

  • Darlington Nuclear Plant Will Get a BWRX-300 SMR as GE Hitachi Bags Lucrative OPG Selection

    Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will build a GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at its Darlington Nuclear Station in Clarington, Ontario, marking a major triumph for the nuclear vendor in a stiff competition for the much-watched utility-scale project. OPG announced the selection of the GE Hitachi BWRX-300 SMR over competitors X-energy […]

  • NRC Accepts Application for Kairos Pebble-Bed Reactor Construction Permit

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will review Kairos Power’s construction permit application (CPA) for its Hermes non-power demonstration reactor, which the firm has proposed to build at the East Tennessee Technology Park Heritage Center site, in Oak Ridge, and begin operating by 2026. The NRC formally accepted the CPA for review on Nov. 30, noting […]

  • Next AP1000 Nuclear Reactor Will Be Built in Ukraine

    Ukraine is set to host its first Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactor at state-owned Energoatom’s 2-GW Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in the western part of the country. Under a contract signed on Nov. 22 by Patrick Fragman, president and CEO of Westinghouse, and Petro Kotin, Energoatom’s acting president, the two companies will begin engineering and procurement for […]

  • DOE Revives Consent-Based Siting Process for Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Disposal

    Potentially jumpstarting long-paralyzed efforts to address the federal management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Nov. 30 issued a request for information (RFI) that could determine where the agency will temporarily consolidate and store spent fuel from nuclear reactors across the nation. Under the RFI, the DOE is seeking […]

  • Could Fusion Energy Transform the Power Industry By 2035?

    Fusion occurs when two atoms slam together to form a heavier atom, such as when two hydrogen atoms fuse to form one helium atom. A tremendous amount of energy is released in the process. This is the same process that powers the sun. In the sun’s core, where temperatures reach 15,000,000C, hydrogen atoms are in […]

  • Rosatom completes foundation concreting for the BREST-OD-300 reactor

    Another milestone achieved in construction of the innovative BREST-OD-300 fast neutron reactor at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine, a subsidiary of Rosatom’s TVEL Fuel Company, as the pouring of the nuclear island’s foundation slab has been completed. The BREST-OD-300 foundation slab, 90 x 82 meters and 2.5 meters thick, consists of nine separate […]

  • Southern Joining Bill Gates-Backed Group on New Reactor Project

    Major U.S. utility Southern Co. said it has agreed to design and build an advanced demonstration nuclear reactor at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) using technology developed by TerraPower, the Bill Gates-backed company that earlier this week announced it would site a new Natrium nuclear reactor demonstration project in Wyoming. Southern in a Nov. 18 news […]

  • Coal Plant Site Unveiled for 500-MW Natrium Advanced Nuclear Pilot

    A site at PacifiCorp’s retiring 600-MW coal and gas–fired Naughton Power Plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming, will house the Natrium demonstration, a pioneering commercial-scale 500-MW project that will pair a 345-MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system. Project stakeholders on Nov. 16 unveiled the site for the federally backed demonstration, which will validate […]

  • Is it Possible to Turnaround a Turnaround?

    Sponsored by:
    Mobideo

    By Paul Muir, CRO, Mobideo Why are Turnarounds So Challenging “A large turnaround can include up to 150,000 individual activities. With this level of complexity, approximately half of all shutdown projects are delayed by more than 20% and 80% go over budget by more than 10%. Frequently, the work scope increases unexpectedly by up to […]

  • Thorium-Fueled Reactors Offer Huge Potential Benefits for the Nuclear Power Industry

    Nuclear power opponents often point to radioactive waste as one of their main concerns. However, most people don’t realize that problems associated with long-lived waste can actually be solved in an economic way with technology that’s already well-proven. Long-lived actinides can be “burned” in a thorium molten salt reactor (MSR), or a breeder reactor. They […]

  • Industry’s First Complete Accident-Tolerant Nuclear Assembly in Operation at Calvert Cliffs

    The first complete accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) assembly is now operational at Exelon’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 in Maryland, bringing an industry-led quest to accelerate commercialization of the new nuclear technology closer to fruition. Inserted during the plant’s recent spring refueling outage, the lead fuel assembly (LFA) features a Framatome PROtect fuel design […]

  • AMS Awarded DOE SBIR Phase I and Phase II Grants

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Nov. 9, 2021) — Analysis and Measurement Services Corporation (AMS), a Knoxville‑based market leader in testing the instrumentation and control systems of nuclear power plants worldwide, has been awarded a Phase I research project as well as a Phase II continuation project through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Small Business Innovation Research […]

  • Framatome completes purchase of Rolls Royce Civil Nuclear Instrumentation and Control

    November 8, 2021: Framatome today announced the completion of its purchase of Rolls Royce Civil Nuclear Instrumentation and Control (I&C). Through this transaction, Framatome builds on its engineering expertise, enlarges its industrial footprint, and expands its global I&C systems development and deployment capabilities. “I&C systems serve as the ‘central nervous system’ of a nuclear power […]

  • Xcel Energy pioneering bridge between nuclear and the hydrogen economy

    Sponsored by:
    Xcel Energy

    A new frontier for nuclear energy in the United States is under exploration, and Xcel Energy is at the forefront with a project to produce hydrogen, most likely at its Prairie Island plant near Red Wing, Minnesota. “Our carbon-free nuclear fleet has been key to our energy system for decades,” said Pat Burke, vice president […]

  • Large Solar, Storage Project Planned at Former Nuclear Power Site

    Alliant Energy has announced its plan for a solar energy and storage facility at the site of the former Duane Arnold nuclear power plant near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The project when complete would position Alliant as the largest combined solar and storage operator in the state, and is part of Alliant’s plan to expand its […]

  • How an AP1000 Plant Is Changing the Nuclear Power Paradigm Through District Heating, Desalination

    Already remarkable for being the world’s second Westinghouse AP1000 reactor to be brought online, Shandong Nuclear Power Co.’s Haiyang nuclear power plant is pioneering two significant aspects of nuclear

  • A Newcomer to Nuclear Power, UAE Has Showcase Facility in Barakah

    Creating a nuclear power program in a country that is new to the industry requires a lot of work, but it helps to have some experienced support. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) found good partners and put in

  • Nuclear Power Foundation of China’s Future Generation

    China has its sights set on being the world leader when it comes to nuclear power technology. The country has brought its first Hualong One—a third-generation pressurized water reactor—online at the Fuqing

  • Can Nuclear Power Stay Relevant in a World Filled with Renewables?

    I have long been a supporter of nuclear power. I’ll admit I’m biased, having spent 13 years in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear power program and having worked for several more years in the commercial nuclear

  • Net-Zero Needs Nuclear: Why Following Science Is a Must to Meet Climate Targets

    Arguing whether or not climate change is “a thing” seems like it’s (thankfully) in our past. Climate change is part of our lexicon and our everyday habits are positively changing to reflect a new sense

  • Fluor to Collaborate with Bulgarian Energy Holding for Potential New Nuclear Power Units

    Companies to Focus on Decarbonization to Support Clean Energy Transition IRVING, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) announced today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD for the consideration of new nuclear units in Bulgaria. Bulgarian Energy Holding is comprised of a group of companies engaged in the electricity generation, […]

  • Groups Say Nuclear Power Is Helping Achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals

    Nuclear power contributes greatly to achieving each of the 17 United Nations (U.N.) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a 24-page report produced through a collaborative effort by a handful of organizations with ties to the nuclear power industry says. Among the issues addressed in the document are how the nuclear industry helps in eliminating hunger, improving […]

  • Carbon Capture and Hydrogen: The ‘Most Exciting’ Things in Energy Sector’s Future

    Insiders have long been talking about the energy transition taking place within the power industry. Most of the chatter has revolved around renewable energy, specifically wind and solar power, and the shift from coal- to gas-fired generation in the U.S. However, one expert from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) told POWER that carbon capture […]

  • Vogtle Start Dates Pushed Back Again

    Georgia Power has again pushed back the in-service dates for two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant, with Units 3 and 4 now projected to come online in the third quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2023, respectively. Georgia Power in an Oct. 21 news release said its needs more time […]