Westinghouse helps fuel nuclear energy revival

Driving the news: Department of Energy (DOE) officials visited Cranberry last week and announced $50 million for eight projects across the nation that are advancing nuclear fuel technology.

• Westinghouse's PowerBlock program received $7 million to develop nuclear fuel that is made faster and has more flexible uses.

Context: Developing nuclear fuel can take decades, making it more difficult to get new nuclear projects started, said Conner Prochaska, director of DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy department.

• The DOE's goal is to help create nuclear fuel projects that can be completed within seven years, said Prochaska.
• This could lower the cost of fuel and help spur a boom in nuclear reactor development, said Prochaska.

What they're saying: "This is investing in the next generation of fuel," said Prochaska.

Zoom in: Nuclear fuel demand is twofold, said Westinghouse chief technology officer Lou Martinez Sancho.

• New microreactors — like Westinghouse's eVinci and Terra Innovatum's SOLO — are being developed and will need fuel when they're ready for implementation.
• Conventional nuclear power plants — like the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station — are outlasting their initial estimated lifespans and will need more fuel to stay operational.

Zoom out: A nuclear revival is underway across the nation, as hyperscale data centers look to nuclear to power their facilities.

• Even the controversial reactor at Three Mile Island in Central Pennsylvania is restarting to fuel a Microsoft data center.

The bottom line: Prochaska believes Pittsburgh is "an active center for the nuclear renaissance."