The No. 2 Department of Energy manager at the West Valley Demonstration Project in western New York, Craig Rieman, has left to take another job within the agency, members of a local task force heard last week.
Bryan Bower, DOE’s manager of the West Valley cleanup, announced the move last Wednesday, June 28, during a meeting of the West Valley Citizen Task Force.
Riemen is effectively being replaced by two people, Bower said. Stephen Bousquet, project director for demolition of the Main Plant Process Building; and Jennifer Dundas, West Valley’s safety and site programs team leader, will become co-deputy directors, Bower said.
The Department of Energy is awarding a National Governors Association group a grant worth $2.6 million spread over five years to work on waste management and nuclear cleanup at federal sites, the agency said Wednesday.
The grant to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices is provided through DOE’s fiscal 2023 budget, the agency said in a July 6 press release.
The grant’s five-year performance period started July 1 and runs through June 30, 2028, DOE said. The grant will allow the governors group’s best practices center to “continue to provide a forum for states to work directly with DOE on a wide array of subjects including budget and regulatory issues, waste treatment and disposal options, and equitable decisions on waste management,” according to the release.
Westinghouse Electric has submitted its first batch of vendor design review paperwork to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for a microreactor capable of generating up to 5 kilowatts of electricity, the company said Wednesday.
Westinghouse filed four phase 1 submissions with the Canadian regulator on June 30, the company said. The Pennsylvania-based company also intends to turn in reports for joint review with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, under a memorandum of cooperation between the regulators, according to a press release issued Wednesday.
Westinghouse envisions its trademarked, factory-built “eVinci Microreactor” as a small mobile nuclear unit to generate heat and electric power suitable for military locations and other uses, according to a Westinghouse fact sheet. The mini-reactor can be loaded upon a tractor trailer, installed onsite within 30 days and go eight years without refueling, according to a Westinghouse video that can be accessed online. Westinghouse said this microreactor would work well for military bases, disaster relief sites and remotely-located mining operations.
