The US Nuclear Energy Institute has called on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to move quickly to define, foster and retain resiliency on the country's electricity grid before further nuclear generating capacity is lost through premature plant retirements. Meanwhile, the independent, non-partisan Center for Climate and Energy Solutions has issued a new report outlining how US policymakers can preserve the emission benefits of nuclear energy.
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The US Department of Energy has approved the start of construction of a new underground ventilation system at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The USD288 million Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System is one of a number of infrastructure projects planned for the New Mexico facility. 
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has written to Congress informing it that he has effectively ended the project to construct a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The facility, about 70% complete, was intended to dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium by turning it into fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. 48.jpg "US_House_and_Capitol_(AOC)-48")
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill that would expedite licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository and provide for centralised interim storage of the country's used nuclear fuel. HR 3053 - the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2018 - was passed by 340 votes to 72.
The Tennessee Valley Authority has completed a multi-year series of major construction works to protect the Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants from the most extreme of weather events. The final project, a new seven-foot (2.1 metre) high concrete flood wall at Fort Loudoun Dam, would hold back the waters of the Tennessee River in the event of an extreme flood. 
A study by US regional transmission organisation PJM Interconnection on the effects of the proposed closure of four nuclear units on grid reliability ignores the units' contribution to fuel diversity and zero-carbon emissions, FirstEnergy Solutions said on 30 April.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration yesterday announced the successful testing of a uranium-fuelled Stirling engine for use in possible future missions to Mars. Testing of the Kilopower reactor - which could be used to provide power to missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond - began at NASA's Nevada National Security Site in November 2017 and was completed in March.
A third training class of nuclear operators for Vogtle units 3 and 4 have passed their US Nuclear Regulatory Commission initial licensing exam. Fifty-six licensed operators are now available for the units, where construction milestones continue to be met. Employees of the United Arab Emirates' nuclear regulator have also completed a reactor operator training programme.
Swedish utility Vattenfall has signed contracts - the values of which have not been disclosed - for the supply of fuel assemblies for units at the Forsmark and Ringhals nuclear power plants. France's Framatome is to supply fuel for Forsmark 3 and Ringhals 3 and 4, while US-Spanish joint venture GNF Enusa will produce fuel for Forsmark 1 and 2.
The US Department of Energy has selected 13 projects to receive USD60 million of cost-shared R&D funding for advanced nuclear technologies, including the first awards under the US Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development initiative. Recipients include NuScale Power's small modular reactor, which has become the first SMR to complete the first phase of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission design certification process.