Legislation introduced Wednesday in the Senate to promote development of new U.S. nuclear power systems also aims to address the problem of radioactive waste produced by that technology.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined 14 colleagues from both parties to reintroduce the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act. The bill was first submitted in September, but did not get out of committee before the 115th Congress ended on Jan. 3.
Among the measures in the legislation: The Department of Energy would be directed to by Dec. 31, 2023, establish at least one nuclear power purchase agreement for over a decade, focusing on “first-of-a-kind or early deployment nuclear technologies”; it would be required to carry out at least two advanced nuclear reactor design demonstration projects by the end of 2025, and two to five more by the close of 2035; and the department’s Office of Nuclear Energy, which oversees waste-related activities, would prepare a 10-year strategic plan for nuclear research and development.
The attributes of that advanced nuclear technology would include reduced waste yields, the bill says. Goals for DOE-private sector research projects on advanced nuclear technologies would also encompass development of “technologies to manage, reduce, or reuse nuclear waste.”
“Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall establish a program to make available high-assay, low-enriched uranium, through contracts for sale, resale, transfer, or lease, for use in commercial or noncommercial advanced nuclear reactors,” according to the bill. “Each lease under this subsection shall include a provision establishing that the nuclear fuel that is the subject of the lease shall remain the property of the Department, including with respect to responsibility for the final disposition of all radioactive waste created by 5 the irradiation, processing, or purification of any leased uranium.”
The bill was referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Murkowski chairs.
A longtime executive in the United Kingdom nuclear industry will take over as chief executive officer of Magnox Ltd. later this year, the government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said Tuesday.
Gwen Parry-Jones will formally assume the CEO position in September, when Magnox Ltd. becomes a subsidiary of NDA, a nondepartmental government agency established in 2004 to oversee nuclear cleanup around the nation. Until then, she will lead the transition to the new management model.
Privately operated Cavendish Fluor Partnership through Aug. 31 manages Magnox Ltd., which is decommissioning 12 nuclear facilities – mostly retired power plants. In 2017, the government announced it would cancel the contract nine years before its previously scheduled conclusion.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in 2017 agreed to pay £97.5 million to settle two lawsuits from U.S.-based companies Bechtel and EnergySolutions, which had partnered in an unsuccessful bid for the award that went to Cavendish Fluor. The agency has been heavily criticized for weighting the procurement process in favor of the eventual awardee. An independent inquiry into the contract is ongoing.
Parry-Jones was previously executive director of operations development at Horizon Nuclear Power, which is working on nuclear new builds in the U.K. Prior to that, she served as generation development director and safety and assurance director for EDF Energy.
Her career began in 1989 as a reactor physicist at the Magnox Wylfa power plant. She held a number of managerial roles in the United Kingdom and Canada, for both British Energy and EDF Energy.
Tony Moore, Cavendish Fluor’s managing director for Magnox Ltd., will remain on the job until NDA takes over, an agency spokesperson said Friday.
The NDA has filled about 75 percent of the 37 management positions at Magnox Ltd. now held by Cavendish Fluor personnel. “All the positions that are critical for 1 September 2019 have identified appointees who are at various stages of the recruitment process,” the spokesperson said by email.
“An existing Transition Team is already in place to help ensure that the transfer is managed appropriately,” the spokesperson wrote. “Gwen, along with the other members of the new (designate) Magnox Executive Team, will ensure all the knowledge and understanding is transferred from the current leadership team.”
The remaining 2,800 Magnox Ltd. personnel will be kept on.
The full transition is expected to cost £5 million ($6.5 million).
NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes said Friday it has inked a deal to buy up to eight electron beam accelerators for production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99.
The Beloit, Wis., company said it already has submitted purchase orders for two Rhodotron TT300 HE electron beam accelerators from Belgium’s Ion Beam Applications S.A. It expects to buy the remaining systems over the next few years, according to a NorthStar press release.
Further terms of the deal were not immediately released.
“Investing in accelerator technology is a key component of NorthStar’s multi-pronged approach to deliver domestic and non-uranium based production of the medical radioisotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) across multiple processing platforms,” President and CEO Stephen Merrick said in the release. “We plan to use these accelerators to expand production capacity, enhance production efficiencies and create manufacturing redundancies to further secure reliable, non-uranium based Mo-99 radioisotope supply for U.S. customers and patients.”
Molybdenum-99 decays into the isotope technetium-99m, which is used widely throughout the world for diagnosing cancers and other medical imaging procedures.
NorthStar is developing neutron-capture and accelerator-based methods for molybdenum-99 production without use of nuclear weapon-usable highly enriched uranium.
Electron accelerators would convert enriched molybdenum-100 into “medically useful” molybdenum-99, according to NorthStar. The company says on its website that it has finished proof-of-concept work on the approach and is conducting engineering needed for construction of an accelerator facility.
From The Wires
From The News-Herald: Legislation expected within days on saving Ohio’s nuclear power plants.
From Reuters: Scientists find radioactive contamination from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan near remote Alaskan island.
From The Buffalo News: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers addresses delay in nuclear cleanup project in Lewiston, N.Y.
From the Odessa American: Texas House of Representatives committee hears testimony on bill on charges for waste disposal at Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact facility operated by Waste Control Specialists.
