Neutron Bytes

Guest Blog Post for Neutron Bytes by: Elliot Marsh, NeutronRise A looming pothole on the road to the nuclear renaissance is not a reactor design and it is not a physics problem. There is a shortage of certified workers, across several skilled trades, who can build a nuclear plant to the industry’s quality-assurance standards and produce the documentation that proves they did. Building a reactor of any size or design depends absolutely on that workforce.

Guest Blog Post By:  Elliot Marsh, NeutronRise Neutron Bytes recently framed this shift in a compass reading on the status of nuclear renaissance. The binding constraint on advanced nuclear reactors, micros and SMRs, has moved upstream into fabrication, and it no longer sits in reactor physics. The designs are largely settled. The factor that now decides whether a plant is built on schedule is whether the heavy steel at its core can be forged, certified, and delivered to the project site on time.

Atomic Canyon Launches Nuclear Industry Virtual Assistant Where is the NRC on the Use of AI?

In the range of sizes of nuclear reactors that are needed for a true nuclear renaissance they will come in three sizes. To use visual metaphors, size one, the microreactors at 1-15 MW, are no bigger than a breadbox. Size two, the small modular reactors at 50-300 MW are no bigger than a Buick. Size 3, the big iron plants at 1000 MW or more, are definitely bigger than a barn.

TerraPower Signs Hyundai as EPC for Eight 345 MW Natrium Reactors DOE Awards X-Energy $1 Billion to Build Four 80 MW HTGRs at DOW Plant in Texas Deployable Energy Gets Equity Investment from Solaris Energy Curio Receives $2.5M from ARPA-E for Spent Fuel R&D Terrestrial Energy and Zachry Group Sign Engineering Services Agreement Nuclea Energy to Acquire Moltex Energy TVA Sees Options for SMRs at Bellefonte Site ORNL, Kyoto Fusioneering to Develop Technology Test Facility in Tennessee China...

Guest post by Elliot Marsh, NeutronRise Why HALEU transport, a problem of criticality and licensing, not radiation, lives on the critical path to advanced-reactor startup. Every developer of microreactors and small modular reactors (SMRs) knows you can’t move fresh fuel from the fabrication plant to the customer site in a pickup truck.

Restarting a Nuclear Reactor: Three-Mile Island’s Workforce and Legal Challenges Guest Blog Post by: Elliot Marsh, NeutronRise This is a summary of the full report. Full text of the report https://neutronrise.com/can-you-restart-a-nuclear-reactor/ The big picture: Constellation Energy is executing a fast-track effort to bring Three-Mile Island Unit 1—renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center—back online by late 2027.

Vaibhav Sinha, Ph.D., who holds this degree in nuclear engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology, has created a vibrant cartoon series called “Nuclear Fun Hub” and is posting the cartoons on Linkedin. He has graciously allowed Neutron Bytes to post some of his humorous and informative creations with entertain and educate readers on a wide variety of nuclear energy topics.

Nuclear Fuel Deals Frame the Future of Advanced Reactors Centrus Energy Signs LEU / HALEU Fuel Deal with X-energy Newcleo Files Regulatory Engagement Plan with NRC for a MOX Fuel Manufacturing Facility in the U.S. CCTE Announces Nuclear Fuel Supply Agreement with BWXT Canada ORNL, Type One Energy Ink Fusion Fuel Deal Fusion Firm Shine Technologies Developing AI Process to Support Nuclear Fuel Recycling The question of whether sufficient nuclear fuel will be available for advanced micro and...

Oklo’s Groves Research Reactor Achieves First Criticality Los Alamos National Laboratory’s ZiaCore Microreactor Achieves Criticality ARC100 to be Built at INL ARC 100 Signs Term Sheet with Turkey’s IC Nuclear & Industry Holtec, Entergy and Hyundai Scope Potential SMR-300 Projects in Gulf States Bechtel Onboard in Poland as EPC for Three Westinghouse AP1000s Valar Atomics Books $1 Billion in Funding for Its SMR The Groves low-power test reactor is the first reactor under the program to achieve...