U.S. energy secretary visits Tri-Cities. Clean energy is on the agenda. Tri-City Herald | 8/12/2022
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U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, left, made her first visit to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland on Thursday with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. The tour included the lab’s Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center, where PNNL researchers work to improve managing the power
grid. Secretary Granholm’s Washington state, three-day visit was primarily focused on advancing clean energy development. Her visit included a visit to PNNL’s Sequim office and then a hydropower dam tour, before traveling to the Tri-Cities. She was to visit the Hanford nuclear site on Friday. Secretary Granholm's trip comes on the heels of a bipartisan letter
signed by the governors of Washington and Oregon state urging the Biden administration for needed funding to clean up the Hanford site. The letter, sent on Tuesday, asked that the administration’s next annual budget request bump the Hanford site’s budget to nearly $3.8 billion and continue that increased funding from fiscal 2024 for years to come. In June, the Biden administration took the unusual step of revising its Hanford
budget request for fiscal 2023 from its initial request by about $191 million to just over $2.6 billion. But that’s not enough as the Hanford site in Eastern Washington enters its next phase of cleanup, the letter states. Continuing funding at the present level will exponentially balloon the overall cost of Hanford cleanup, delay work by
decades, and increase the risk of a catastrophic infrastructure failure or release of contamination, those signing the letter agree. Continue reading >>
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September 21-23, 2022 NEW VENUE: CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT IN ARLINGTON, VA! We are pleased to host the 2022 National Cleanup Workshop at the Crystal
Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA. Join us to discuss a new era of cleanup success. Hear from senior DOE officials, local government officials, and industry leaders about DOE's cleanup priorities, the future of the workforce, and more. Additional information on registration and hotel room blocks is available here. We look forward to seeing you in September! |
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X-energy, DOW to collaborate on SMR deployment Nuclear News | 08/9/22 Small modular reactor (SMR) developer X-energy and materials science giant Dow on Tuesday announced the signing of a letter of intent aimed at deploying X-energy’s Xe-100 reactor technology at one of Dow’s U.S. Gulf Coast facilities. The companies expect the
SMR plant, which would provide power and process heat to the Dow facility, to be operational by approximately 2030. Dow is the first manufacturer to declare its intention to develop SMR technology options and intends to take a minority equity stake in X-energy, according to the announcement. Signers’ language: “Nuclear energy has always offered the promise of broad economy-wide decarbonization,” said Clay Sell, X-energy chief executive officer, in a joint press release. “Today’s announcement marks an important step in turning that aspiration into reality. Dow has a remarkable 125-year history of bringing innovative solutions to
the market, and their leadership is a critical driver in meeting decarbonization goals in the energy intensive industrial sector. X-energy is proud to combine our leading nuclear technology with Dow’s production capabilities to deliver a global materials supply chain that is safer, cleaner, and greener than ever before.” Jim Fitterling, Dow chairman and CEO, stated, “Advanced small modular nuclear technology is going to be a critical tool for Dow’s path to zero-carbon emissions and our ability to drive growth by delivering low-carbon products to our customers. X-energy’s
technology is among the most advanced, and when deployed will deliver safe, reliable, low-carbon power and steam. This is a great opportunity for Dow to lead our industry in carbon-neutral manufacturing by deploying next-generation nuclear energy.” The tech: The Xe-100 unit is an 80-MWe high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor that can be scaled into a four-pack 320-MWe power plant. As a pebble bed HTGR, it would use TRISO particles encased in graphite pebbles as the fuel and helium as the coolant. Capable of providing high-temperature steam at
565°C as well as electricity, the Xe-100 could enable decarbonization of industrial end-use applications, including oil sands operations, mining applications, and other industrial processes. Continue reading >>
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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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