Atomic Canyon has announced a new project with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to use the Frontiers supercomputer to build a safe, efficient, open-source artificial intelligence model for the nuclear sector - and the Aurora supercomputer at the Argonne National Laboratory is confirmed to have surpassed the exascale threshold.

The return of some former staff, the revamping of training facilities including the control room simulator, the submission of regulatory documents and the ordering of new fuel are all highlighted as part of steps taken towards the repowering of the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant in the USA.

The act prohibiting the importation into the USA of unirradiated, low-enriched uranium that is produced in the Russian Federation or by a Russian entity has been signed into law by President Joe Biden.
 

US production of 82,533 pounds U3O8 (32.1 tU) in the first quarter of 2024 was the highest Q1 production since 2018 and almost 80% more than production for the whole of 2023.

NANO Nuclear Energy Inc said it intends to use the net proceeds from its initial public offering to continue R&D of its proprietary ZEUS and ODIN microreactor designs as well as its high-assay low-enriched uranium activities.
 

CPS Energy has agreed to acquire an additional 2% ownership of the South Texas Project from Constellation and has entered a long-term power purchase agreement for 200 MWe of capacity following the resolution of disputes over Constellation's 2023 acquisition of NRG Energy's share of the two-unit nuclear power plant.

US company Holtec International has established a wholly-owned subsidiary aiming to "energise the presently placid business sector of modification and maintenance", with the initial project being the restart of the Palisades plant.

The US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration has signed bilateral agreements with Japan and South Korea to cooperate in optimising the nuclear non-proliferation features of their respective research reactor models aimed at export markets.

The Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act, which will ban the importation into the USA of low-enriched uranium that is produced in Russia or by a Russian entity, will now go to President Biden to be signed into law.

Georgia Power has announced the start of commercial operations at the second of the two AP1000 units built as an expansion of the existing two-unit Vogtle plant. The plant is now the largest generator of clean energy in the USA.

An International Atomic Energy Agency review mission has praised steps taken to develop the necessary infrastructure for a safe and sustainable nuclear power programme in Poland. Meanwhile, Bechtel marks the start of site field work for the country's first nuclear power plant.

Framatome has broken ground on a USD50 million expansion of its Operational Center of Excellence in Lynchburg, Virginia, which provides specialised training and tooling to service and maintain North America's nuclear power plant fleet and develops solutions for advanced and small modular reactors.