Bomb-usable uranium mystery solved: Now we know the identity of the irresponsible company seeking an NRC permit to build a highly enriched uranium-fueled reactor: Space Ocean Corporation in Brownsville, #TX. They want to build another KRUSTY. www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2621/...

On July 19 a Troxler moisture density gauge containing 8 millicurie cesium-137 and 40 mCi americium-beryllium sources was stolen from a locked garage in Johnstown, #Ohio by someone in a ski mask using bolt cutters. Sure sounds like the gauge was targeted for theft -- but why?

Not sure how I missed this, but here is the reason for the comment yesterday by Jennifer Wheeler of TRISO-X about inadequate contractor oversight. The company approved application of defective welds and then failed to inspect them. A rush to failure. www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2615/...

I hear that the company has an innovative linear plasma design that should give @helionenergy.bsky.social a run for its money. wedc.org/realta-fusio...

On June 29 the Curium radioisotope facility in #Indiana experienced another contamination event when a technician dropped a vial containing 6.53 curies of lutetium chloride. The count rate on the pants, shoes, and socks of the technician went off the instrument scale.

On Friday the Fermi-2 #nuclear reactor in #Michigan automatically scrammed from 83 percent power after the loss of a transformer caused a loss of power to both reactor protection system electrical buses. The reactor is still down today.

On Wednesday night the South #Texas Project-2 #nuclear plant automatically scrammed after the main and auxiliary transformers locked out. Not clear if this was related to Tropical Storm Arthur. The reactor is still down today.

Yikes! The Millstone-2 #nuclear reactor in #Connecticut was manually scrammed yesterday after a control element assembly dropped to the bottom of the core. The reactor had been shut down since June 5 because of ... you guessed it ... a misaligned control element assembly.

I found this exclusive picture of the Antares Mark-0 microreactor as it went critical yesterday. Nothing like being on the cutting edge of #nuclear technology!

The Hatch-1 #nuclear reactor in #Georgia is back up to full power today for the first time since it automatically scrammed on April 23 after the main turbine control valves closed for an unknown reason, causing reactor pressure to increase.

A terrifying #fridaythethirteenth surprise from @NRCgov: it has issued a license for the X-energy TRISO-X #nuclear fuel fabrication facility 3 months ahead of schedule. Looks like a lot of exemptions were hastily granted to make this happen.

My goodness. On Friday an Unusual Event was declared for more than 3 hours at the Clinton-1 #nuclear reactor in #Illinois after the emergency reserve aux transformer shorted out, causing a loss of offsite power. A worker was electrocuted and killed. A warning sign of the impact of reduced oversight?

On Saturday the Hatch-2 #nuclear reactor in #Georgia was manually scrammed at 70 percent power when both reactor recirculation pumps stopped working during a test of the main turbine control valve. The reactor was still down this morning.

Yesterday an Unusual Event was declared for nearly two hours at the Oconee-1 #nuclear reactor in #SouthCarolina when the reactor coolant system developed a leak of 26 gallons per minute during maintenance of a letdown filter.

On Tuesday the Susequehanna-1 #nuclear reactor in #Pennsylvania was manually scrammed at full power after the main transformer experienced a cooling loss. The reactor is still down today. Should be a warning to Amazon about the reliability of this plant to power its data center.

Yesterday the Watts Bar-2 #nuclear reactor in #Tennessee automatically scrammed at full power after a loss of secondary power caused both feedwater pumps to shut down and the turbine to trip. The reactor, which is on my "Terrible Thirteen," list, is still down this morning.

On Friday operators lowered the power of the Browns Ferry-2 #nuclear reactor in #Alabama to 39 percent after it lost one of its recirculation pumps. They then had to scram it manually after it lost the other pump. And for some reason Unit 3 is only at 70 percent today.

Yesterday the Vogtle-1 #nuclear reactor in #Georgia was manually scrammed at full power after a main feedwater pump stopped working. The reactor is still offline today.

This one is too close for comfort: Yesterday the 1.1 MW Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute research reactor (only a few miles from #WashingtonDC) experienced a rapid power excursion and scram during startup. The steady-state power limit was briefly exceeded.

Yesterday an Unusual Event was briefly declared at the troubled Quad Cities #nuclear plant in #Illinois after a Unit 2 battery cell undergoing testing caught fire. It was extinguished by the fire brigade after 9 minutes. Unit 1 is still down after the scram last week.

A serious contamination incident occurred on 4/8 at the Curium facility in #Indiana after two liquid radioactive waste lines broke when workers were repairing a strontium-82 production hot cell. Dose rates > 1000 rem/hr were detected and one worker exceeded the annual dose limit.

On Thursday a licensed operator at the #Arkansas #Nuclear One-1 plant tested positive for alcohol. Their unescorted access was terminated.

Yesterday an Unusual Event was declared at the Palo Verde-1 #nuclear reactor in #Arizona after a forced shutdown of the single emergency diesel generator providing AC power at the time. The reactor is in a refueling outage and the core is in the spent fuel pool. I couldn't find any news accounts.

Yesterday the River Bend #nuclear plant in #Louisiana was manually scrammed at 81 percent power after all normal service water pumps suddenly stopped operating. The reactor is still shut down this morning.

More problems with the safety of the NuScale small modular #nuclear reactor design. 11 (!) NRC staff members dispute management's acceptance of NuScale's claim that the DC power system does not need to be safety-related even though it is critical for maintaining reactor pressure boundary integrity.

Within the last 3 weeks 2 iridium-192 Category II radiography cameras were stolen from trucks in the United States: a 74-curie source in #NorthCarolina and a 95.4-curie source in #Texas. Both thefts are rated 2 on the International Atomic Energy Agency event system. Coincidence or conspiracy?

Yesterday an Unusual Event was declared at Turkey Point-4 in #Florida after the #nuclear reactor, which is down for refueling, lost offsite power to the one available electrical bus. An emergency diesel generator started up and the event was terminated after nearly 2 hours.

Hot off the press: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission just issued a notice of violation to Holtec at the decommissioning Pilgrim #nuclear plant in #Massachusetts for a security problem at its spent nuclear fuel storage facility. Is this really a company that should be building new reactors?

Another day, another problem at Entergy Nuclear's Troubled Grand Gulf (TGG) #nuclear plant in #Mississippi. On Saturday the reactor was manually scrammed at 84 percent power after a loss of power to the steam seal controller.