Nuclear power plants in the Midwest owned by Energy Harbor and Exelon are exploring ways to use their reactors to produce hydrogen in an effort to create new revenue streams. "I think the challenge in what we're looking to prove in the pilot project is the integration of this ... with our day-to-day nuclear operations," said Alan Scheanwald of Energy Harbor's Davis-Besse plant in Ohio.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans a free webinar on June 18 to discuss its annual safety performance assessment of Pennsylvania and Maryland nuclear power plants for 2019, including the Limerick, Beaver Valley, Calvert Cliffs, Peach Bottom and Susquehanna facilities. The NRC says all of the plants operated safely in 2019 and will receive a "normal level of oversight, which entails thousands of hours of inspection each year."
The Department of Defense's Drew Walter told an online forum that the "biggest" hurdles for plutonium pit production in South Carolina and New Mexico are funding and the necessary authorizations from Congress. Walter said the department supports the two-site strategy and that the government needs "to have picked this as our way ahead, and stick to it."
The federal government and Nevada have agreed on the "final language" of the settlement for a lawsuit over plutonium that was shipped from the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site to the Nevada National Security Site. The two parties still need to secure "final authorization" of the deal and are scheduled to update US District Judge Miranda Du on June 30 concerning the case.
The UK Atomic Energy Authority has signed a four-year collaboration deal with nine engineering firms for aid in the design and development of commercial nuclear fusion-related technologies. Work could include projects that support the UKAEA's development of the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production.
The European Commission has awarded a four-year, $11 million framework contract to an engineering consortium for a pre-conceptual design of the Demonstration Fusion Power Reactor, which is slated for construction by 2050 as a successor to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The consortium includes Ansaldo Nucleare, Empresarios Agrupados Internacional and Framatome, and will conduct a physical and technological evaluation of the DEMO architecture and system engineering processes.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has helped supply Belarus with a mobile radiation monitoring laboratory for determining if radioactive isotopes of cesium, strontium and transuranium elements are lingering in the air after the forest fires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Mikhail Patsiomkin of the Belarus Ministry for Emergency Situations says the mobile radiological laboratory was "a significant contribution of the IAEA to strengthening our activities in the fields of research and radioactive pollution monitoring."
Don't miss out on attending the first-ever ANS Virtual Annual Meeting, June 8-11. Featuring some of the biggest names in the nuclear community and more than 100 panel and technical sessions, the meeting is a can’t-miss event. Can't join live? Don't worry: Your registration provides you access to all the sessions on demand. Learn more.
