For seventy years, the United States has been accumulating a problem. It was a problem it once had a plan to solve, but it gave up on that plan almost fifty years ago. During the Cold War, the US intentionally produced weapons-grade plutonium in quantities that were in excess of military needs — about a […]
The American Nuclear Society — the professional organization of nuclear engineers and scientists in the United States — published Position Statement #47 in January 2026. It is titled “Management of Surplus U.S. Nuclear Material.” It calls out uranium-233 specifically. And it says, in the clearest possible professional language, that what DOE is doing to our […]
A recent article at Decouple examined the CANDU reactor as a potential destination for reprocessed uranium (RepU) from LWR spent fuel. The concept is straightforward: CANDU reactors run on natural uranium, and the U-235 remaining in spent LWR fuel exceeds the natural uranium threshold, so RepU blended with depleted uranium to produce a natural uranium […]
I just returned from two days in Reno, Nevada, where the Army Research Office’s DEVCOM ARO had convened a workshop at the University of Nevada titled “Closing the Gap: Research Priorities for U.S. REE Supply Chain Resilience.” Researchers from Idaho National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore, Colorado School of Mines, the University of Minnesota, and the National […]
There’s a genuinely exciting story coming out of Oak Ridge right now. Isotek Systems — the contractor operating at Building 3019 and Building 2026 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory — has extracted more than 17 grams of thorium-229 (Th-229) from the uranium-233 (U-233) inventory stored there. That represents a 1,700% increase in the world’s supply […]
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce met yesterday in a hearing entitled “American Energy Dominance: Dawn of the New Nuclear Era.” Several witnesses from the nuclear industry gave testimony and responded to questions. Representative Gary Palmer of the sixth Congression district of Alabama asked a question to Dr. John Wagner of Idaho National Laboratory […]
Russia Withdraws From Cold War Plutonium Deal With US Russia withdraws from 25-year-old weapons-grade plutonium agreement The Russians are exiting the Plutonium Management and Disposition Agreement (PMDA) with the United States. To be honest, the treaty has been pretty dead for a long time now, largely since the United States abandoned their strategy to make […]
Senate Joint Resolution 67 was introduced into the Alabama state Senate on Thursday, April 10, by state Senator Greg Albritton. It passed the Senate on April 15, and passed the House earlier today. It goes to Governor Kay Ivey for her signature. (UPDATE: Gov. Ivey signed the resolution on April 23!) For many years, we […]
Flibe Energy’s approach to sustainable nuclear energy is a liquid-fluoride reactor that runs on the thorium fuel cycle. Our design builds upon the technologies that were demonstrated and proven during the early days of nuclear development. To better understand the validity of our approach, we will look at the history of these early nuclear programs […]
Targeted alpha therapy is an example of a technology that is used to kill cancer. It shows particular promise against dispersed cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. A radioisotope that undergoes alpha decay is chemically bonded to an antibody and injected into the body. The antibody seeks out and binds to the desired cell, then […]