Tag: doe

Energy Department loans $1B to help finance the restart of nuclear reactor on Three Mile Island

The U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday that it will loan $1 billion to help finance the restart of the nuclear power plant on Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island that is under contract to supply power to data centers for tech giant Microsoft.

The loan is in line with the priorities of President Donald Trump’s administration, including bolstering nuclear power and artificial intelligence.

For Constellation Energy, which owns Three Mile Island’s lone functioning nuclear power reactor, the federal loan will lower its financing cost to get the mothballed plant up and running again. The 835-megawatt reactor can power the equivalent of approximately 800,000 homes, the Department of Energy said.

The reactor had been out of operation for five years when Constellation Energy announced last year that it would spend $1.6 billion to restart it under a 20-year agreement with Microsoft to buy the power for its data centers.

Constellation Energy renamed the functioning unit the Crane Clean Energy Center as it works to restore equipment including the turbine, generator, main power transformer and cooling and control systems. It hopes to bring the plant back online in 2027.

The loan is being issued under an existing $250 billion energy infrastructure program initially authorized by Congress in 2022. Neither the department nor Constellation released terms of the loan.

The plant, on an island in the Susquehanna River just outside Harrisburg, was the site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, in 1979. The accident destroyed one reactor, Unit 2, and left the plant with one functioning reactor, Unit 1.

In 2019, Constellation Energy’s then-parent company Exelon shut down the functioning reactor, saying it was losing money and Pennsylvania lawmakers had refused to subsidize it to keep it running.

The plan to restart the reactor comes amid something of a renaissance for nuclear power, as policymakers are increasingly looking to it to shore up the nation’s power supply, help avoid the worst effects of climate change and meet rising power demand driven by data centers.

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DOE And NRC Sign Addendum To Fast Track Commercial Reactor Licensing

The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently signed Addendum No. 9 to their 2019 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), paving the way for faster follow-on licensing of advanced nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel technologies.

This agreement, signed Oct 24th and effective immediately, comes as major concerns have been raised by reactor development companies and industry observers regarding the double work that may be required of developers when they bring their tested products over to the NRC. Demand for clean, reliable energy by data centers and major industrial companies has created a stronger need for change in the path to reactor design commercialization, with companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon signing long-term offtake agreements with reactor operators Constellation, NextEra, and Talen.

The addition to the MOU comes from the directives out of Trump’s executive orders signed back in May of this year. From section 5.d of the executive order “Ordering the Reform of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission”:

“Establish an expedited pathway to approve reactor designs that the DOD or the DOE have tested and that have demonstrated the ability to function safely. NRC review of such designs shall focus solely on risks that may arise from new applications permitted by NRC licensure, rather than revisiting risks that have already been addressed in the DOE or DOD processes.”

Surprisingly, the DOE and NRC took the executive order one step further and included a streamlined licensing process for nuclear fuel facilities as well. It becomes less surprising when we remember the current administration has highlighted multiple times the desire to reduce the reliance on foreign nuclear fuel supplies. Even with the Russian uranium import ban, the US is still importing over a fifth of the required enriched uranium from Russia through last year. The US government is looking to expand the domestic capacity of every step in the fuel chain as quickly as possible.

The new addendum will directly impact the companies already announced by the DOE as participants in their pilot reactor and fuel programs:

  • Reactor developers: Aalo Atomics, Antares Nuclear, Atomic Alchemy, Deep Fission, Last Energy, Oklo (two projects), Natura Resources, Radiant Industries, Terrestrial Energy, Valar Atomics
  • Fuel facilities: Standard Nuclear, Oklo, Terrestrial Energy, TRISO-X, Valar Atomics

Additional companies are expected to be announced for both of the programs in the near future, as the DOE still looks to expand the number of participants as an effort to increase the chance of success.

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US Nuclear Weapon Testing Won’t Involve Any Explosions, Energy Secretary Says

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday that no nuclear explosions will take place during the nuclear weapons testing ordered by President Donald Trump.

Wright told Fox News the tests are non-nuclear explosions and are intended to assess all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure “they deliver the appropriate geometry” and can set up a nuclear explosion.

“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests,” Wright said in a Fox News interview that aired on Nov. 2. “These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions.”

His remarks follow President Donald Trump’s social media post on Oct. 29 that he had instructed the Department of War to start testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with tests conducted by adversaries.

Wright said during the interview that the Trump administration is working on modernizing the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and that the tests will be carried out on the new systems.

“The testing that we’ll be doing is on new systems, and again, these will be non-nuclear explosions. These are just developing these sophisticated systems so that our replacement nuclear weapons are even better than the ones they were before,” Wright said.

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WAR ON WOMEN: College Women’s Volleyball Team Members File Federal Complaint Demanding Removal of Transgender Male-Born Player from the Team – Noting Dangerous Risks

Three brave young women filed a complaint with the Department of Education recently. The girls spoke out about their safety concerns and were benched by the coach and cut their playing time.

The trans player Ximena Gomez smashed a spike into the face of one of the girls causing a concussion.

The three brave women behind the lawsuit, Madison Shaw, Gracie Shaw and Brielle Galli filed the complaint after being forced to play with the trans-identifying player.

Here is a copy of the girls’ complaint to the Department of Education.

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Dept. of Education Plans to Pull Federal Funds from Five Virginia School Districts over Transgender Policies

The Department of Education said it plans to cut federal funds to five Northern Virginia school districts that have refused to rescind their policies allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on “gender identity” rather than biological reality. 

The five school districts — including Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax County Public Schools, Loudoun County Public Schools, and Prince William County Public Schools — announced last week that they had rejected the Trump administration’s requests to change their transgender policies, Fox News reported. The Education Department announced in July, following an investigation, that the districts are allegedly in violation of Title IX for sex discrimination. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 bars discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.  

Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann told the outlet that the department will begin the process of suspending or terminating federal funding to the five districts. 

“The U.S. Department of Education generously granted an extension for five Northern Virginia School Districts to come into compliance with Title IX and follow federal law – unfortunately, the additional time did not result in a fruitful outcome,” Biedermann said. “The Agency will commence administrative proceedings to effect the suspension or termination of federal financial assistance to these divisions. The Virginia districts will have to defend their embrace of radical gender ideology over ensuring the safety of their students.”

Loudoun County was the first of the five districts to announce that it had rejected the Trump administration’s request. The board voted 6-3 in a closed-session meeting on Tuesday to keep Policy 8040, which allows students to used restrooms and locker rooms according to their subjective sense of “gender identity,” according to the report.

A spokesperson for the district said the federal interpretation of Title IX is at odds with state laws.

“After consultation with legal counsel, the Board voted 6-3 not to comply with this request due to the tension between the OCR position and current law. We will continue to monitor developments closely to ensure continued legal compliance and the protection of all students,” the spokesperson told the outlet on Wednesday. 

The other four districts reportedly asked the department to hold off on pilling funds until the courts clarify whether Title IX applies to gender identity. 

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DOE cancels $4.9B loan for energy project Illinois lawmaker calls a ‘scam’

The U.S. Department of Energy has canceled $4.9 billion in federal loans for the Grain Belt Express, a proposed multistate transmission line that faced pushback from Illinois landowners over concerns about property rights and eminent domain.

State Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, praised the DOE’s decision and called the project a “scam” driven by global investors and green energy lobbyists.

“This is a huge win for taxpayers in Illinois and across the United States,” Miller said in an interview. “It was an assault on property rights, on the livelihoods of Illinois farmers, and I’m proud to stand with my constituents against this scam.”

The 800-mile Grain Belt Express aimed to carry wind power from Kansas eastward but drew rural backlash over eminent domain, including opposition at a 2024 Meade County Kansas Corporation Commission hearing where resident Barbra Parker spoke.

“The current plan would place it approximately 150 feet from my front door. Over the years, through that very door, have walked my grandfather, my father, my grandmother, my mother, myself, and now my daughter Kate — four generations of farmers and ranchers,” said Parker. “So I’m asking Invenergy to work with me on possibly adjusting the route or considering micrositing alternatives. I’m asking that the commission oversee and ensure that micrositing is used.”

Micrositing in wind energy means fine-tuning turbine placement to boost output and reduce environmental impact.

Supporters say the Grain Belt Express would improve grid reliability, deliver lower-cost clean energy to major population centers and generate economic activity along its route.

In 2023, when the ICC approved the project, Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association said in a news release, “This project will deliver billions in energy cost savings. Energy infrastructure investment is key to ensuring our region maintains our traditional energy cost advantage and manufacturing competitiveness.”

Miller criticized the project as a costly green energy push that threatens farmland and drives up electric bills.

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Dept of Education Investigates 5 Universities Over Scholarships to Non-Citizens

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened investigations into five universities to determine whether they are granting exclusionary scholarships for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or undocumented students in violation of civil rights law.

The department announced the national origin discrimination investigations on Wednesday into the University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan, and Western Michigan University.

DOE said the investigations are based on complaints submitted to OCR by the Legal Insurrection Foundation’s Equal Protection Project, and will ultimately assess whether the schools are in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition against national origin discrimination.

“On January 21, 2025, President Trump promised that ‘every single day of the Trump Administration, [he] will, very simply, put America first.’ Neither the Trump Administration’s America first policies nor the Civil Right Act of 1964’s prohibition on national origin discrimination permit universities to deny our fellow citizens the opportunity to compete for scholarships because they were born in the United States,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement.

“As we mark President Trump’s historic six months back in the White House, we are expanding our enforcement efforts to protect American students and lawful residents from invidious national origin discrimination of the kind alleged here,” he added. 

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Dep’t of Energy says continuing Biden-era energy policies will increase blackout risk by 100-fold

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released its annual “Resource Adequacy Report,” earlier this month, and it warns that blackouts are coming if the country carries out the Biden-era plan to retire fossil fuel power plants. That is not sitting well with climate activists. 

The report’s executive summary opens with a declaration that the U.S. possesses “abundant energy sources and capabilities such as oil and gas, coal, and nuclear.” It warns that the speed at which utilities are retiring fossil fuel-powered generators and replacing them with unreliable and intermittent wind and solar power threatens to increase the risk of power outages by 100X in 2030. 

“This report affirms what we already know: The United States cannot afford to continue down the unstable and dangerous path of energy subtraction previous leaders pursued, forcing the closure of baseload power sources like coal and natural gas,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. 

The Biden-Harris administration’s report in April 2024 under then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm took on a noticeably different tone. Their executive summary warned that relying on fossil fuel resources to meet reliability requirements is “risky,” and natural gas generators should be replaced with hydrogen or fitted with carbon capture, a technology DOE engineers warned wasn’t affordable or scalable. Granholm’s report mentioned climate change 14 times, but the Trump administration’s report doesn’t mention it at all.

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The Next Energy Revolution Is Coming. Is The DOE Ready?

The last energy revolution that changed the world — natural gas fracking — happened in part thanks to the Department of Energy (DOE). Early R&D funding, support for horizontal drilling, and key public-private partnerships helped fracking get off the ground and turn America into an energy powerhouse.

Now, we are on the cusp of another energy revolution, this time focused on the clean technologies of advanced nuclear, geothermal, natural hydrogen, and fusion. Fortunately, the United States is rich in these energy resources. The challenge with these technologies isn’t a lack of supply; it’s the speed and scale at which we can bring this energy online. 

American innovators and entrepreneurs are ready to deliver solutions, but outdated bureaucracy and inefficiency within the DOE threaten to delay progress. With a leader like Secretary Chris Wright, who brings real-world experience from the private sector, the DOE has an opportunity to once again become a force multiplier for energy innovation — if it embraces smart, structural reforms.

Here’s where the DOE can start.

1. Streamline Contracting and Applications

The DOE’s current application and contracting process is burdensome and redundant. Companies often face unnecessary delays just trying to navigate paperwork, such as being required to secure community benefits agreements or labor partnerships before the technology in question is even commercially viable. To make matters worse, organizations must submit separate applications for each DOE program or office, even when pursuing similar goals.

The DOE can address this issue by standardizing applications across the department, eliminating duplicative requirements, and leveraging modern tools like AI to automate non-critical aspects of the process. These changes would increase efficiency, lower barriers to new entrants, and accelerate the introduction of transformative technologies to market.

2. Cut NEPA Red Tape — Where DOE Has Authority

While protecting the environment and holding polluters accountable is an essential role for the government, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has been weaponized to stall or block critical energy projects. While the DOE does not have full control over NEPA’s broader structure, and Congress should seriously consider repealing this outdated law, DOE does have discretion over how NEPA is applied to its programs and supported projects.

One key opportunity is for DOE to expand the use of categorical exclusions — designations for projects that do not significantly impact the environment and therefore do not require full-scale environmental assessments. This is especially important for new energy technologies that haven’t yet reached commercial scale or environmental risk.

DOE can also streamline internal review timelines, accelerate grant negotiations, and release funding as soon as projects meet agreed-upon milestones. These kinds of administrative reforms are entirely within DOE’s control and could make a real difference in the pace of deployment.

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Energy Department Deploys Helicopters Over D.C. — Scanning for ‘Radiological or Nuclear Irregularities’ Ahead of Trump’s Historic Inauguration

As the nation’s capital braces for President-elect Donald Trump’s historic inauguration, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is ramping up unprecedented security measures.

Helicopters equipped with cutting-edge radiation detection technology are buzzing low over Washington, D.C., scanning for potential “radiological or nuclear irregularities.”

In an exclusive look at the security preparations, CBS’ Nicole Sganga joined Department of Energy senior scientist Jacqueline Brandon aboard one of the agency’s highly specialized helicopters.

Flying in a meticulous grid over the National Mall, the aircraft’s mission is clear: detect and neutralize threats like dirty bombs or other nuclear hazards.

“You’re trying to create a blueprint of what the radiation in Washington, DC, looks like ahead of the inauguration,” Sganga asked during the flight.

“Correct,” confirmed Brandon. With only two helicopters of this kind in the Department of Energy’s arsenal, every second of airtime counts. “If we find a radiological irregularity, we’ll investigate it even further,” she added.

Equipped with highly sensitive technology capable of detecting minute variations in radiation levels, these helicopters serve as an airborne watchdog.

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