The US is about to change the way it approves new nuclear reactors. Last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) finalized Part 53, the first significant update to civilian nuclear power regulations since at least 1989. The agency says the change, set to take effect May 3, will cut the cost of approving a new reactor design by more than 50 million and reduce approval time to 18 months or less. Not that companies developing new reactors have been standing around waiting. Earlier this month, Oklo got approval from the NRC to handle, process, and distribute radioisotopes from its facility at Idaho National Laboratory and signed an agreement with the US Department of Energy to build a 75 MW pilot reactor at the lab. On March 4, TerraPower got a construction permit from the NRC for the 345 MW sodium-cooled reactor it’s building in Wyoming. Those developments followed news that X-energy won approval to fabricate fuel for small modular reactors (SMRs) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and that Kairos will receive 27 million in support from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Last year, the US Department of Energy and the Army said they intend to deploy SMRs under their own authorities as early as this year (though the military’s 2028 target seems more realistic). It’s all a lot to follow, frankly. Conventional nuclear reactors are not part of C&EN’s core chemistry coverage. But SMR and other advanced reactor designs use new chemistry for their fuel handling and heat transfer and are of interest as
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