Honeywell has said it intends to re-open the USA's only domestic uranium conversion facility,
the Metropolis Works plant, in Metropolis, Illinois. Preparations for a 2023 restart will begin this year.

Brookfield Business Partners is considering whether to sell Westinghouse Electric Company, the investment company's CEO, Cyrus Madon, said in a conference call with analysts on 5 February to discuss its fourth-quarter financial results. Bermuda-headquartered Brookfield completed its purchase of Westinghouse from Japan's Toshiba Corporation in August 2018. This marked Westinghouse's exit from US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as a restructured company.

US energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions will likely take years to return to pre-COVID levels, according to projections in the US Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook 2021. Energy-related CO2 emissions are projected to increase post-2035, but remain lower than the 2007 peak of 6 billion tonnes in the period to 2050.

Lead assemblies of Framatome's GAIA Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel have completed their first 18-month fuel cycle at a US nuclear power plant. This is the first time a full-length EATF concept with both pellets and cladding has completed a fuel cycle in a reactor.

Speakers at the US Energy Association's 17th Annual State of the Energy Industry Forum last week called for the reimagination of the electricity grid and likened the efforts needed to develop alternative energy carriers, particularly for hard-to-decarbonise sectors, to a "moonshot".

US President Joe Biden yesterday signed executive orders to follow through on his promise to take aggressive action to tackle climate change and build on the executive actions that he took on his first day in office, including re-joining the Paris Agreement and the immediate review of "harmful rollbacks" of environmental standards under his predecessor Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a UN survey has found that almost two-thirds of people around the world now view climate change as a global emergency.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories announced yesterday that it has completed all shipments of highly enriched uranium target residue material from Canada to the USA, bringing its TRM Repatriation Project to "a safe and successful conclusion". The culmination of nearly a decade of work and planning removes "a major nuclear liability" from the Chalk River Laboratories campus, CNL said.

The use of advanced nuclear technologies could help the world meet increasing electricity demand whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the deployment and commercialisation of advanced reactors faces many challenges, according to a discussion on nuclear innovation at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review a topical report on Westinghouse Advanced Doped Pellet Technology Fuel, which the company has said is a major achievement for the advanced fuel portfolio it is developing as part of its EnCore fuel programme.

Following his inauguration yesterday, US President Joseph Biden has formally signed an executive order to re-enter the Paris Climate Change Agreement and directed US departments and federal agencies to "immediately commence work to confront the climate crisis". The USA's re-entry will come into force in 30 days.

A proposed restructuring of GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment LLC has received the final key approval from the US government. The restructure will see Australian research and development company Silex Systems and Canadian company Cameco Corporation increase their holdings in the company to 51% and 49%, respectively.

Romanian national nuclear company Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica has been awarded a non-refundable grant of USD1.28 million by the US Trade and Development Agency for use in the identification of potential sites in Romania to host small modular reactors. The USTDA is an independent federal government agency focused on connecting US companies with export opportunities in emerging markets.