NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, the only domestic firm producing commercial molybdenum-99, has received a pair of 24-ton custom-built particle accelerators from Belgium, which will help it increase production at its Beloit, Wis., facility. NorthStar expects to receive final approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its Mo-99 production method by the end of next year and begin commercial production in early 2023.

A coalition of environmental groups has sent a letter to the Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration calling for additional environmental reviews of plans to increase plutonium pit production at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The expansion would "saddle the already-burdened communities represented by these groups with a significant amount of nuclear waste and pollution," the groups wrote in the letter.

People who were diagnosed with cancer and other illnesses after working at the Savannah River Site are eligible to receive up to $400,000 in compensation, according to a recent recommendation issued by the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health. The change, pending federal approval, would remove a requirement for those who worked at the site for at least 250 days from 1973 to 1990 to go through dose reconstruction.

The Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico has resumed accepting five shipments per week of transuranic waste after a two-month halt for annual maintenance work that included improvements to waste-handling and ventilation equipment. WIPP plans to receive 10 shipments per week after the pandemic subsides.

BWX Technologies will conduct naval nuclear reactor component manufacturing and material procurement activities for Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines under new contracts from the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The contracts, including future-year options, total about $2.2 billion.

Replacing diesel-fueled power with micronuclear reactors could lower power costs and increase reliability for the hundreds of Alaskan villages powered by microgrids, experts say. However, research by the University of Alaska's Center for Economic Development found that local experts are skeptical about the viability of small-scale nuclear technology in remote areas and would rather see it tested elsewhere first.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority has selected SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary Atkins to help design the Hydrogen-3 Advanced Technology facility, the world's first center for researching the use of tritium in fusion energy. The center, to be built at the Culham Science Center in Oxfordshire, will "support UK science and the development of fusion fuel cycle technology," said UKAEA's Steve Wheeler.

The European Commission has published its sustainable finance taxonomy for green investments and said it will include nuclear power under a complementary delegated act after a Joint Research Center report declared nuclear a green investment. No date has been set for the publication of the complementary delegated act, although scientific reviews are expected to be completed in June.

Participate in a special Earth Day discussion today from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT. Panelists representing a broad spectrum of environmental, social, and advocacy perspectives will participate in a discussion on "What does Earth Day mean to you?" Speakers include Isabelle Boemeke (nuclear energy influencer), Josh Freed (Third Way), Kirsty Gogan (TerraPraxis), Katie Mummah (Ph.D. student), and Rich Powell (ClearPath and ClearPath Action). Register now.