Workers at the Calcine Retrieval Project at the Idaho National Laboratory site are being trained to operate a light detection and ranging-equipped drone in preparation for mapping the interior of a high-level radioactive waste storage vault.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratory have successfully tested a new power system based on a closed-loop Brayton cycle to deliver electricity to the grid. The system could dramatically increase the efficiency of power plants including current and new advanced reactor systems as well as gas-fired and concentrated solar plants.

Elizabeth Muller, CEO and co-founder of Deep Isolation, says that the firm is targeting having a first deep borehole nuclear waste disposal site up and running within "five to ten years".

Southern Company has notified the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission of its intent to apply for a 20-year extension to the operating licences of both units at the Edwin I Hatch nuclear power plant in Georgia.

The decision by the California legislature to pass a bill that will enable the state's only remaining nuclear power plant to continue operation until 2030 has been greeted as the right choice for the state.

As California declares an extreme heat emergency its legislators have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a bill that will enable the state's only nuclear power plant to remain in operation for up to five years longer than currently planned.

Core Power, MIT Energy Initiative and the Idaho National Laboratory have been granted research funds by the US Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy University Program for a three-year study into the development of offshore floating nuclear power generation in the USA.

Lawmakers in California have until 31 August - when the current legislative session ends - to vote on a proposed bill that would extend operations at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The American Nuclear Society has written to state legislators urging quick passage of the bipartisan legislation.

Robot technology is being used in preparations for future deactivation and remediation work at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, sharing lessons learned from other decommissioning projects.

Holtec International says it has "significantly boosted" its clean energy R&D budget and now aims to bring the first SMR-160 online as early as 2029 - a year ahead of its previous schedule. It plans to pair the SMR-160 with a clean energy storage and generation system dubbed the Green Boiler.

Centrus and GLE have welcomed the USD700 million support package to develop high-assay low-enriched uranium included in the US Inflation Reduction Act to develop the infrastructure needed to fuel next generation of nuclear reactors.

The US Department of Energy awarded USD40 million in funds for the six-year project to complete the basic design of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, which it says is instrumental in paving a path towards X-energy's multi-billion-dollar demonstration project and the USA's first commercial facility to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium-based fuel for next-generation reactors.