advanced reactors

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given its green light to a license amendment filed by Centrus Energy Corp., approving the nuclear fuel and services firm’s efforts to demonstrate High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) production at its enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio.  The approval marks a “major milestone” in Centrus’s $115 million, cost-shared contract with the […]

As leaders around the world take steps to decarbonize energy supplies, many people have focused their attention specifically on wind and solar power. What they may fail to recognize is that nuclear power provides more electricity in the U.S. than all other carbon-free sources combined. This is true in some other countries, such as France, […]

In the decade following World War II, the U.S. government took a keen interest in helping to create a commercial nuclear power industry. Although there were military leaders and members of Congress who

Wrapping up an eventful year for advanced nuclear, the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy announced $20 million in awards for the third of three pathways under its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP).  The ARDP program, which the DOE officially launched on May 14, will leverage Congressionally appropriated funding to enable actual construction of […]

With COVID-19 filling the news throughout 2020, it’s very likely you missed some of the most important developments that occurred in the power sector this year. Here’s a look at some of the highlights and big stories covered by the POWER staff this year. MOX Nuclear Fuel Loaded In January, Russian engineers announced the loading […]

A first-of-its-kind nuclear reactor that will use a 3D-printed core, advanced materials, and integrated sensors and controls is on track for completion by 2023. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, work is ramping up to demonstrate the Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR), an innovative micro-reactor program spearheaded by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and project partners, to include […]

Oklo, developer of a 1.5-MW passive compact fast reactor, will be the first to receive high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) nuclear fuel from Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to aid a first-of-its-kind demonstration of its Aurora microreactor, which could begin in 2024. Marking a significant boost for advanced nuclear innovation, which industry experts are banking on to […]

Efforts to commercialize production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, which is needed for an array of advanced reactors, ramped up this week with two major announcements.  As the Department of Energy (DOE) contracted Centrus Energy to demonstrate production of HALEU fuel for advanced reactors at the DOE’s American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, private […]

To propel interest and bolster development of advanced nuclear reactor designs, the Department of Energy (DOE) will demonstrate—by October 2020—the production of high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel in a first-of-its-kind $115 million project at the agency’s uranium enrichment facility in Piketon, Ohio.  HALEU is nuclear fuel that is enriched to a higher degree […]

The future of advanced reactors in the U.S. will remain murky unless the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) takes four key steps to support innovation and commercialization of new technology, three key industry groups have warned. U.S. leadership of nuclear technology is “at risk,” and if changes aren’t made it will lose its standing as a […]