Framatome has announced the completion of the first fabricated metallic fuel element for TRIGA research reactors in more than a decade. TRIGA International - a joint venture between Framatome and General Atomics - will now ramp up fuel manufacturing to power US TRIGA reactors with support from the US Department of Energy.

Georgia Power has announced that the AP1000 - the first new nuclear unit to be built in the USA in more than three decades - has safely reached initial criticality.

X-Energy Reactor Company is to build a digital twin-based support centre as the first step in its Commercial Operations Services business to support the initial deployment of its advanced modular reactors. Meanwhile, Energy Northwest is hopeful that X-energy's recent announcement that the first Xe-100 reactor will be installed at a Dow site on the US Gulf Coast will help further plans for its own project in Washington state.

Days after California's energy commission agreed that continued operation of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant until at least 2030 was necessary, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted an exemption allowing the two units to continue operating while the agency considers Pacific Gas & Electric Co's application to renew the plant's licence.

The first award cycle of the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) Program limited eligibility to owners or operators of nuclear power reactors that had announced intentions to retire within the four-year award period, but the second round is also open to owners or operators of nuclear reactors that ceased operations after 15 November 2021.

Materials science company Dow and X-energy have signed a joint development agreement to develop a four-unit Xe-100 high-temperature gas reactor facility at one of Dow's US Gulf Coast sites.

Advanced nuclear fuel technology company Lightbridge and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have completed a collaborative project to demonstrate Lightbridge's nuclear fuel casting process using depleted uranium under the US Department of Energy's Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear voucher programme.

The 12-foot (3.7 metre) long heat pipe manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Company in a project supported by the US Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project is one of the largest of its kind made and will be used to support a test reactor the company aims to operate in 2026.
 

US utility Constellation has announced it will invest USD800 million in new equipment to increase the output of its Braidwood and Byron nuclear power plants in Illinois by some 135 MWe. They were among the Illinois nuclear plants saved from premature retirement by passage of the state Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in 2021.

Days after raising USD4.14 million towards research and development of its ZEUS portable advanced nuclear microreactor, NANO Nuclear Energy Inc has formed a subsidiary to develop, improve, and accelerate domestic US production of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU).

In an interview for the World Nuclear News podcast GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s President and CEO Jay Wileman explained why nuclear has a key role in achieving carbon reduction targets, and how regulatory harmonisation between different countries could help speed that process.

Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning said more time has been built into the schedules for both units to allow for unexpected issues, with unit 3 now expected to enter service in May or June and unit 4 at the end of this year or early in 2024.