advanced reactors

British officials said the UK government will invest about £200 million (more than $251 million) for a project to build Europe’s first production facility for high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU). Officials have said the fuel will be needed to supply the coming generation of nuclear power, including advanced nuclear reactors. Britain has said it wants to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted Global Nuclear Fuel—Americas (GNF) the regulatory body’s first-ever authorization to produce nuclear fuel with uranium-235 (U-235) enrichments up to 8% for commercial power generation. GNF, GE Vernova’s nuclear fuel arm, on Feb. 15 said the NRC approved a license amendment that will allow its nuclear fuel fabrication facility […]

A roadmap released by the UK government on Jan. 11 aimed at quadrupling the country’s nuclear power capacity by 2050 sets out a series of goals and actions that could enable the delivery of 3 GW to 7 GW every five years from 2030 to 2044. In its 78-page Civil Nuclear Roadmap, the UK lays […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for uranium enrichment and storage services as part of a measure aimed at stimulating a domestic supply chain for high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The action follows an RFP released in November 2023 for services to deconvert enriched uranium into metal, oxide, and […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has unveiled three nuclear microreactor developers that will design the first experiments at Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL’s) new Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed, which repurposes the Experimental-Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) containment structure.  Westinghouse, Radiant Nuclear, and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) will receive a combined $3.9 million to further their […]

BREA, CA ­– July 14, 2023 – Curtiss-Wright’s Nuclear division announced today that its Brea, CA facility has received ISO 9001:2015 certification for its quality management system (QMS). This globally-recognized certification allows the company to provide valves, vessels, actuators, control systems, and engineering services for use in construction of next generation Advanced Reactor (AR) and […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has allowed Centrus Energy—a firm contracted by the  U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) production with domestic technology—to introduce uranium hexafluoride (UF6) into its uranium enrichment centrifuge cascade in Piketon, Ohio. The development marks yet another critical milestone for Bethesda, Maryland–headquartered company in its efforts […]

Nuclear energy—not just nuclear power—is seeing a burst of innovation unlike anything seen since the 1950s. While the strong momentum for the dispatchable zero-carbon energy source is promising, prominent pitfalls threaten necessary progress.

Kairos Power, an advanced nuclear reactor developer, has commissioned a molten salt purification plant (MSPP) that will produce “large quantities” of a high-purity coolant for reactors based on its fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (KP-FHR) technology. The MSPP, one of the largest of its kind, is located at materials supplier Materion Corp.’s campus in Elmore, Ohio. […]

The American Nuclear Society (ANS) warned the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that the continued unavailability of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel within the United States is risking “significant deployment delays” of advanced reactors. In a February 14th letter,  ANS President Steven Nesbit and ANS Executive Director and CEO Craig Piercy urged the DOE to expedite the creation of a HALEU availability […]