Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. As we head into what looks like a rainy weekend here in Washington, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking across the civilian nuclear power space this week.
Granholm visits Michigan nuclear research facility
The Secretary of Energy this week attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new Michigan State University facility aimed at producing rare nuclear isotopes for energy and medical applications, according to the university.
Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor herself, joined a cadre of state politicians including current Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) to unveil Michigan State’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) Monday, the university said in a press release. The former Michigan governor was still in office in 2008, when MSU was selected as the future site for the FRIB project.
“Along with boosting the nation’s innovative capacity and global competitiveness, this facility will help us discover new things about our universe and ourselves, find new ways to diagnose and treat cancer, and strengthen our national security,” Granholm said during the ceremony.
According to the university, FRIB is home to the “world’s most powerful heavy-ion accelerator.” The facility could produce rare isotopes that until now have never been found on Earth.
NRC announces $9M in grants for nuclear science, engineering students
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is giving out over two dozen academic grants to institutions pursuing research in nuclear science and engineering, the agency said in a press release.
The roughly $9 million investment, which NRC announced Wednesday, will be split across 25 individual grants at 20 different academic institutions. Among the recipients are four-year universities, two-year trade schools and community colleges, NRC said.
The awards include undergraduate scholarships, trade scholarships, graduate fellowships and faculty development grants. NRC will award up to $20,000 for undergraduate scholarships and up to $200,000 for graduate students, the agency said. For trade grants, NRC will provide up to $10,000 for students in two-year programs. Faculty awards will be up to $450,000 over a three-year period.
NRC will issue its next opportunity to apply for educational grants in July, the agency said.
Pro-nuclear groups sound the alarm on proposed NRC rules change that creates ‘undue regulatory burden’ for advanced nukes
Two nuclear-friendly organizations last week penned a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission raising concerns about the wording of proposed changes to federal regulations for nuclear reactor safety, arguing that the update threatens the rollout of advanced reactors.
The proposal to update licensing conditions for nuclear reactors to require a “high assurance of protection” for physical security at reactor sites “perpetuates confusion” and constitutes “regulatory overreach beyond NRC’s legal mandate for nuclear security,” the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the Breakthrough Institute wrote in a letter to the commission dated April 27.
The use of “high assurance” in the proposed guidelines “perpetuates a misconception among some NRC staff that security is more important than safety,” the letter said. “This semantic disconnect has the very real potential to expose developers of light-water small modular reactors (SMRs) and non-light-water advanced reactor technologies to regulatory overreach and undue burden.”
To avoid that outcome, NRC staff should replace the phrase “high assurance of protection” with “reasonable assurance of adequate protection,” the letter said. The agency should also update associated regulatory guidance documents that include this perceived “regulatory encroachment.”
“Safe and secure nuclear energy is a vital component of climate-warming mitigation and national energy independence,” ANS and Breakthrough said. “The near-term and longer-term recommendations herein present a unique opportunity for NRC to [be a] transformational agency, correct problematic rule language, and halt long-standing NRC staff practices that place undue regulatory burden on the currently operating fleet and present unnecessary barriers to new nuclear deployment.”
