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The Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) supports the diverse civilian nuclear energy programs of the U.S. Government, leading Federal efforts to research and develop nuclear energy technologies, including generation, safety, waste storage and management, and security technologies, to help meet energy security, proliferation resistance, and climate goals.

The scorecard includes news updates, regulatory status, reactor design certification, early site permits, new plant construction progress, and expected operation dates.

Secretarial determination regarding the potential impacts of the transfer by DOE of up to 48 metric tons of low-enriched uranium to USEC Inc. in exchange for DOE receiving approximately 409 metric tons of uranium hexafluoride, the equivalent amount of natural uranium feed component, and the agreed-upon value resulting from the use of the approximately 299,000 separative work units of enrichment services, which will be retained by USEC, to fund a portion of DOE's cost share under the 2012 Cooperative Agreement between the DOE and USEC and the American Centrifuge Demonstration, LLC.

The Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Licensing Technical Support (LTS) program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), through this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks to facilitate the development of innovative SMR designs that have the potential to address the nation’s economic, environmental and energy security goals.

This report provides findings from a set of social science studies undertaken by the Center for Risk and Crisis Management (CRCM) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), which focus on public attitudes and preferences concerning the siting of nuclear repositories and interim storage facilities. Overall these studies are intended to be responsive to the recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC) that US Department of Energy (DOE) learn as much as possible from prior experience.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) sponsors a program of research, development, and demonstration related to advanced non-light water reactor concepts. A goal of the program is to facilitate greater engagement between DOE and industry. During FY12, DOE established a Technical Review Panel (TRP) process to identify R&D needs for viable advanced reactor concepts in order to inform DOE-NE R&D investment decisions.

The scorecard includes news updates, regulatory status, reactor design certification, and early site permits.

This report documents the establishment of a technical review process and the findings of the Advanced Reactor Concepts (ARC) Technical Review Panel (TRP).1 The intent of the process is to identify R&D needs for viable advanced reactor concepts in order to inform DOE-NE R&D investment decisions. A goal of the process is to facilitate greater engagement between DOE and industry. The process involved establishing evaluation criteria, conducting a pilot review, soliciting concept inputs from industry entities, reviewing the concepts by TRP members and compiling the results.

This report presents the results of a business analysis performed by Energy Resources International, Inc. (ERI) of the potential impact on the commercial enrichment market of the transfer of the enrichment services component (Separative Work Units or SWU) contained in DOE low enriched uranium (LEU) inventory during 2013. Under this transaction, 299,000 kg SWU would be introduced into the commercial market, but no transfer of natural uranium to the commercial market would take place.

Issued on January 11, 2013, the Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste is a framework for moving toward a sustainable program to deploy an integrated system capable of transporting, storing, and disposing of used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from civilian nuclear power generation, defense, national security and other activities.

The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program is a research, development, and deployment program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy. The program is operated in collaboration with the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI’s) research and development efforts in the Long-Term Operations Program. The Long-Term Operations Program is managed as a separate technical program operating in the Plant Technology Department of the EPRI Nuclear Power Sector with the guidance of an industry advisory Integration Committee.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is the fiscal year 2013 solicitation for Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) University Reactor Upgrades Infrastructure Support for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE).

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is the fiscal year (FY) 2013 solicitation for Nuclear Energy University Programs (NEUP) General Scientific Infrastructure Support for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE).

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) conducts crosscutting nuclear energy research and development (R&D) and associated infrastructure support activities to develop innovative technologies that offer the promise of dramatically improved performance for advanced reactors and fuel cycle concepts while maximizing the impact of DOE resources.

L’Enfant Plaza Hotel 
Quorum Room, (Main Floor)
Washington, D.C. 20024

The Used Fuel Management System Architecture Evaluation effort provides the Department of Energy and others with information regarding the various alternatives for managing used nuclear fuel (UNF) generated by the current fleet of light water reactors operating in the U.S. The objectives are to:

The scorecard includes news updates, regulatory status, reactor design certification, and early site permits.

The United States must continue to ensure improvements and access to this technology so we can meet our economic, environmental and energy security goals. We rely on nuclear energy because it provides a consistent, reliable and stable source of base load electricity with an excellent safety record in the United States. In order to continue or expand the role for nuclear power in our long- term energy platform, the United States must:

Continually improve the safety and security of nuclear energy and its associated technologies worldwide.

Recent experimental observations have made it clear that cavity formation can occur in light-water reactor internal components fabricated from austenitic stainless during the course of their service life. In order to assess the potential for cavity swelling in these components at end-of-life doses, it is necessary to develop a validated computational model that incorporates the relevant physical mechanisms and accounts for recent experiment data. Such a modeling activity is underway; the model development and some preliminary results are described.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program is developing the fundamental scientific basis to understand, predict, and measure changes in materials and systems, structure, and components (SSCs) as they age in environments associated with long-term operations (LTO) of operating commercial nuclear power reactors.

Materials issues are a key concern for the existing nuclear reactor fleet as material degradation can lead to increased maintenance, increased downtown, and increased risk. Extending reactor life to 60 years and beyond will likely increase susceptibility and severity of known forms of degradation. Additionally, new mechanisms of materials degradation are also possible. The purpose of the

Nuclear reactors present a very harsh environment for components service. Components within a reactor core must tolerate high temperature water, stress, vibration, and an intense neutron field. Degradation of materials in this environment can lead to reduced performance, and in some cases, sudden failure. A recent EPRI-led study interviewed 47 US nuclear utility executives to gauge perspectives on long-term operation of nuclear reactors. Nearly 90% indicated that extensions of reactor lifetimes to beyond 60 years were likely.

This research effort is a part of the Light-Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program, which is a research and development (R&D) program sponsored by Department of Energy (DOE) and performed in close collaboration with industry R&D programs that provides the technical foundations for licensing and managing the long-term, safe, and economical operation of current nuclear power plants. The LWRS program serves to help the U.S.

List of Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies Awards for Fiscal Year 2012

The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program is a research, development, and deployment program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy. The program is operated in collaboration with the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI’s) research and development efforts in the Long-Term Operations (LTO) Program. The LTO Program is managed as a separate technical program operating in the Plant Technology Department of the EPRI Nuclear Power Sector with the guidance of an industry advisory Integration Committee.