Huff nominated to fill role of assistant secretary of energy for DOE-NE
Nuclear News + ECA staff | 1/19/2022
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Huff spoke at the most recent National Cleanup Workshop, where she gave insightful remarks on nuclear energy opportunities at DOE sites, discussing her top three priorities for the Office: to keep existing plants open, deploy new reactors, and responsibly manage used fuel.
Huff is on unpaid leave from her role as assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she led the Advanced Reactors and Fuel Cycles Research Group. Huff was also a Blue Waters assistant professor with the National Center
for Supercomputing Applications. Prior to joining the NPRE faculty at UIUC, Huff was a postdoctoral fellow in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nuclear Science and Security Consortium and the Berkeley Institute for Data Science at the University of California–Berkeley. Huff received her Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2013, and her undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Chicago.
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENGAGEMENT
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MARCH 1 & 2, 2022
The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board) will hold a virtual public meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, and Wednesday, March 2, 2022, to review information on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) activities related to spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Specifically, the meeting will cover research and development (R&D) on SNF and
HLW storage, transportation, non-site-specific disposal, DOE’s integrated waste management system, and its consent-based siting process to identify federal interim storage facilities.
Details for joining and viewing the meeting will be available on the Board’s website (www.nwtrb.gov) approximately one week before the meeting. The meeting will begin on both days at 12:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST) and is scheduled to adjourn at approximately 5:00 p.m. EST.
The meeting will be open to the public and there will be opportunities for public comments.
MARCH 4, 2022
The Department of Energy (DOE) has released a Request for Information (RFI) on how to site Federal facilities for the temporary, consolidated storage of spent nuclear fuel using a consent-based approach.
Responses to the RFI will inform development of a consent-based siting process, overall strategy for an integrated waste management system, and possibly a funding opportunity. DOE especially welcomes insight from people, communities, and groups that have historically not been well-represented in these discussions.
Responses must be received by March 4, 2022 by 5:00pm ET and may be submitted electronically to consentbasedsiting@hq.doe.gov, including “RFI: Consent-Based Siting and Federal Interim Storage” in the subject line of the email
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NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
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NNSA announces new progress on Los Alamos National Laboratory plutonium pit production
Los Alamos Reporter | 1/14/2022
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has reached a pivotal milestone on the Los Alamos Pit Production Project, approving the start of construction of the Decontamination and Decommissioning Subproject.
The D&D Subproject is the first of five subprojects to begin construction under the effort to restart plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Lab, a project known as LAP4. The D&D Subproject involves clearing out existing equipment and gloveboxes to make way for new pit-manufacturing equipment at the Lab. With approval of the subproject, work is anticipated to begin in Spring 2022. Once legacy equipment is removed, there will be space for new
production equipment installation to produce 30 plutonium pits per year at the lab by 2026.
“Achieving this milestone is a significant accomplishment and showcases NNSA’s commitment to modernizing the equipment and infrastructure needed to safely manufacture pits for the nuclear stockpile,” said Summer Jones, Assistant Deputy Administrator for Production Modernization. “LAP4 is a complex, challenging endeavor, and getting the approval to begin the D&D subproject is a big step toward restoring this important capability."
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Read about DOE's High Level Waste Interpretation
Have questions about DOE’s recent high-level waste (HLW) interpretation? Download ECA’s Key Points and FAQs on the issue to better understand what ECA believes are the potential benefits of implementation.
Interested in learning more? Read the ECA report “Making Informed Decisions on DOE's Proposed High Level Waste Definition” at www.energyca.org/publications
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Stay Current on Activities in the DOE World
Read the latest edition of the ECA Bulletin, a regular newsletter providing a detailed brief of ECA activities, legislative news, and major events from across the DOE complex. Have suggestions for future editions? Email bulletin@energyca.org.
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Learn More about Cleanup Sites with ECA's DOE Site Profiles
ECA's new site profiles detail DOE's 13 active Environmental Management cleanup sites and national laboratories, highlighting their history, missions, and priorities. The profiles are a key source for media, stakeholders, and the public to learn more about DOE site activities, contractors, advisory boards, and their surrounding local governments.
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