Newsroom Archive

“Micro-reactors” are one class of innovative nuclear technologies whose particular attributes hold out special promise to the nation’s largest energy user—the United States military. NEI's new roadmap lays out the actions needed to ensure the successful deployment of the first of these at a domestic military base by the end of 2027.

President Donald Trump late last week signed into law bipartisan legislation that seeks to eliminate some of the financial and technical barriers to bringing advanced nuclear reactors to market in the United States.

Andrew Winter, a senior manager of equipment reliability at Exelon Nuclear, has a unique occupation: he oversees maintenance schedules for the critical equipment that keeps nuclear power plants running safely and reliably. Winter oversees the maintenance strategy, including preventive maintenance programs, for 22 Exelon reactors at 13 sites. From water pumps to air compressors to power supplies, Andy and his team are responsible for inspecting and maintaining literally thousands of components per plant.

NuScale Power's selection of BWXT to begin optimizing the engineering design of NuScale's SMR for manufacture signals the company's move into the manufacturing phase and the company’s attention to optimizing fabrication processes and containing first-of-a-kind construction costs.

In a unanimous vote crucial to the future of the only nuclear power plant construction project in the United States, all four co-owners of the two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors being built at Georgia Power’s Vogtle site in Waynesboro, Georgia, agreed this week to continue the project.

The resilience of the nation’s 98 nuclear power reactors in the face of extreme events is a constant, however unpredictable the events themselves may be—Hurricane Florence included. Resilience is a measure of these facilities’ outstanding ability to withstand whatever Mother Nature can throw at them and quickly return to providing life-saving electrical service when people and businesses need it most.

NEI Vice President for Suppliers, New Reactors and International Programs Dan Lipman, and IAEA Deputy Director General Mikhail Chudakov signed a unique cooperation agreement on Sept. 20, enabling direct information exchange between NEI and the IAEA on issues relevant to the development, construction, operation and decommissioning of civilian nuclear power plants.

After 49 years of safe, clean, reliable operation, a nuclear power plant retires.

Before leaving town this week, Congress approved its energy and water spending package for fiscal 2019. The bill approves $1.33 billion in funding for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) nuclear energy research, development and deployment programs, an increase of $121 million over fiscal 2018.

The U.S. nuclear industry is making good progress on its innovative program to develop and install advanced accident tolerant fuel (ATF) in the existing reactor fleet by the early- to mid-2020s.