DOE Offers Private AI its Gov't DOE research facilities & power for AI

https://www.nextgov.com/artificial-intelligence/2025/04/energy-selects-16-sites-ai-data-center-construction-new-energy-development/404272/

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivers remarks outside the White House on March 19, 2025. Wright said in an April 3 press release that Energy has identified 16 public land sites for potential construction of data centers needed to further power the development of AI tools

April 3, 2025

The Department of Energy identified 16 locations on its own land to build the new infrastructure

The Department of Energy is moving forward with some of the Trump administration’s plans to support both artificial intelligence infrastructure development and energy production, identifying 16 public land sites for potential construction.

In a Thursday announcement, Energy confirmed that these 16 locations are uniquely positioned for the construction of data centers ready to process the large volumes of compute needed for AI applications. Some of these sites include in-place energy infrastructure, which will expedite the requisite permitting needed to begin research on new forms of energy generation, such as fusion. 

The advent of more AI-ready infrastructure and development of energy resources needed to generate power for that infrastructure are both tenants outlined in President Donald Trump’s January executive orders on AI and U.S. energy security. 

“The global race for AI dominance is the next Manhattan project, and with President Trump’s leadership and the innovation of our National Labs, the United States can and will win,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in the press release announcing the sites selected. “With today’s action, the Department of Energy is taking important steps to leverage our domestic resources to power the AI revolution, while continuing to deliver affordable, reliable and secure energy to the American people.”

The 16 sites span multiple states and are listed relative to nearby Energy facilities. They include: 

• Idaho National Laboratory
• Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant
• Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant
• Argonne National Laboratory
• Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
• National Energy Technology Laboratory
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Sandia National Laboratories
• Savannah River Site
• Pantex Plant
• Kansas City National Security Campus.

Alongside the announcement, Energy is launching a request for information to gather feedback from industry experts — specifically data center and energy developers — along with the general public on possible uses of Energy-controlled land for data center construction, operational models and economic considerations, along with other input. The RFI also states that it will collaborate with impacted local and Tribal governments to ensure the data centers are built responsibly.

In addition to soliciting comments, the press release said Energy is prioritizing a public-private partnership model to spearhead innovation in both AI and energy technologies and systems. 

The appeal for private industry is Energy’s pledge to allow partner companies and entities access to these data centers and the research facilities located alongside the 16 sites. 

“The sites also offer the industry a chance to partner with DOE’s world-class research facilities co-located on the sites, furthering advancements in both the power systems design needed to run the centers and developing next-generation data center hardware,” the press release stated.

Mary Beth Brangan

Producer/Director

SOS - The San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power's Legacy

Ecological Options Network

P.O. Box 1047, Bolinas, CA 94924

415-868-1900 - office

NRC Proposes $9,000 Civil Penalty Against Missouri-based Healthcare Provider

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release

No: III-25-006 April 4, 2025

Contact: Viktoria Mitlyng, 630-829-9662 Prema Chandrathil, 630-829-9663

NRC Proposes $9,000 Civil Penalty Against Missouri-based Healthcare Provider

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a $9,000 civil penalty against Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, for violations associated with maintaining proper control of NRC-regulated material.

The NRC identified two violations of NRC requirements involving failures related to preventing unauthorized removal of nuclear material and performing required surveys. The violations were documented in a November 2024 inspection report.

There was no impact on public health as a result of these violations.

The NRC issued the enforcement action after reviewing the circumstances surrounding the proposed violations, considering the information presented by the university in a letter, and taking into account corrective actions the university has or plans to take to comply with NRC regulations.

The university has 30 days to pay the fine, dispute it, or request involvement from a neutral third party.

25-006-iii.pdf

For Immediate Release: Palisades Restart Nuclear Licensing Board Rejects All Environmental, Safety, and Health Contentions: Watchdog Coalition Vows to Appeal

 

Dear Palisades Trackers, Please share   NEWS FROM BEYOND NUCLEAR   For immediate release    Contact:    Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist, Beyond Nuclear, (240) 462-3216, kevin@beyondnuclear.org  Michael Keegan, chair, Don't Waste Michigan, (734) 770-1441, mkeeganj@comcast.net (Kevin Kamps can also connect reporters with the environmental coalition’s expert witness, Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer at Fairewinds) Palisades Restart Nuclear Licensing Board Rejects All Environmental, Safety, and Health Contentions Watchdog Coalition Vows to Appeal COVERT, MI and WASHINGTON, DC, APRIL 4, 2025-- On March 31, 2025, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) refused to grant a hearing on the merits for seven contentions brought by oppponents of Holtec International’s scheme to restart the Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shore in southwest Michigan.  See the 71-page ASLB ruling, posted online here. “How is the concerned public supposed to take part in these life and death decisions?!”, asked Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio, co-counsel of the intervening environmental coalition. "We consulted experts, drew from some 30 years' understanding of the weaknesses and troubled operating history of Palisades, offered targeted criticism of the dangerous shortsightedness of the restart, but in the end, the public is completely unwelcome to participate in this uncharted scam," Lodge added.  The coalition includes Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, Michigan Safe Energy Future, Nuclear Energy Information Service of Chicago, and Three Mile Island Alert of Pennsylvania. The coalition’s expert witnesses include Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson, environmental engineer, Stanford University professor, and world renowned advocate for renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, as the most time- and cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to mitigate catastrophic climate change. (See his testimony in this proceeding, here and here.) The coalition first petitioned to intervene and requested a hearing in December 2023, after Holtec submitted an Exemption Request to NRC for the restart, asking the agency to reverse Palisades' previous owner Entergy's certifications of permanent reactor shutdown on June 13, 2022. However, NRC immediately told the coalition it was too soon, and besides, Exemption Requests cannot be challenged. Nonetheless, the coalition included its challenge to the Exemption Request in its broader, relaunched intervention attempt in October 2024. Now, as revealed in the March 31, 2025 ruling above, by a 2-1 split on the ASLB regarding whether the Exemption Request is "inextricably intertwined" with Holtec's four License Amendment Requests (LARs), this legal and regulatory question is now very much in play. There is even an ironic agreement between Holtec and the environmental coalition that the Exemption Request is not "inextricably intertwined" with the LARs, versus the NRC staff, which maintains it is. The ASLB did not yet terminate the proceeding and grant Holtec approval for the unprecedented restart of the closed reactor, as the environmental coalition still has open, new and amended contentions, submitted in response to NRC’s January 31, 2025 publication of an Environmental Assessment. The coalition will meet today’s deadline to defend its remaining contentions before the ASLB, and has vowed to appeal the ASLB’s adverse March 31 rulings to the five NRC Commissioners. If need be, appeals will be taken to federal court after that. “We also plan to litigate against Holtec’s proposed BAND-AID fixes for Palisades’ dangerously degraded steam generator tubes, a self-inflicted wound due to two years of neglected maintenance,” said Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the coalition’s co-counsel. “The extensive steam generator tube failures identified by Holtec in September 2024 were foreseeable and foreseen and entirely of Holtec’s making,” said Arnie Gundersen, chief engineer at Fairewinds, and a coalition expert witness. “Yet Holtec seeks permission from NRC to restart Palisades without replacing the severely damaged steam generators. Due to its lack of nuclear operating experience, Holtec damaged the steam generators and bungled the Palisades' restart, a rookie error that could lead to a meltdown. I have never been more concerned about the safety of a nuclear power plant than I am about Palisades returning to operations,” Gundersen added. On January 7, 2025, in the lead up to a major NRC-Holtec technical meeting on January 14th, watchdogged by coalition representatives and deeply concerned local residents, Gundersen published a backgrounder, “The History of Steam Generator Damage at the Holtec Palisades Nuclear Reactor.” "As I have testified in these licensing proceedings, Holtec informed the U.S. Department of Energy that the Palisades steam generators were degraded and must be replaced in 2022," said Gundersen. "Instead of addressing the underlying damage from decades of operation under previous owners, and new stress corrosion cracking in the steam generators caused by Holtec's improper wet layup, Holtec said it would unplug the 600 tubes plugged about thirty years ago. Now, the firm claims the aged and rundown steam generators will last for 30 more years. During my 53 years of professional experience, I am unaware of any steam generator, with so many previously known and newly identified flaws, that has not been replaced," Gundersen added. (See paragraph #107, on pages 121-122 of 303 on the PDF counter.) Palisades’ previous owner, Consumers Energy, admitted to the Michigan Public Service Commission in 2006 that the already degraded steam generators needed complete replacement. However, NRC never required it, so Palisades’ next owner, Entergy, never did so from 2007 to 2022. Holtec has estimated replacing the steam generators would cost $510 million, but for the past year has made clear it has no plans to do so, despite the risks. (See Item #3, Table 3: Capital Projects, on page 9 of 42 on the PDF counter.) “The Japanese Parliament concluded that the root cause of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe of 2011 was collusion between the safety regulator, Tokyo Electric, and government officials,” said Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 35-miles downwind of Palisades. “There is such potentially catastrophic collusion in spades at Palisades, between the ASLB and NRC, Holtec, and government officials here. The entire Great Lakes region is being put at risk,” Kamps added. For more information about the coalition's resistance to Holtec's Palisades restart scheme, as well as its proposal to build two "Small Modular Reactors" on the same tiny site, see: https://beyondnuclear.org/newest-nuke-nightmares-at-palisades-2022-present/

 

FERC review of PJM colocation rules for data centers, large loads may extend past mid-year: analysts

FERC review of PJM colocation rules for data centers, large loads may extend past mid-year: analysts

“Participants involved in co-location arrangements should pay the costs of any grid services they consume and the arrangements must be reliable and operationally manageable,” PJM told FERC.

Published April 1, 2025

Ethan HowlandSenior Reporter

​​​​​​​

The Susquehanna nuclear power plant near Salem Township, Pennsylvania. The PJM Interconnection on March 24, 2025, outlined options for rules governing locating data centers and other large loads at power plants. The image by Jakec is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

The PJM Interconnection’s response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s investigation into the grid operator’s rules for colocated loads indicates FERC may not approve new regulations by mid-year, as some people initially thought, according to utility-sector analysts.

FERC on Feb. 20 launched a review of issues related to colocating large loads, such as data centers, at power plants in PJM’s footprint. The outcome of the review could set a precedent for colocated load in the power markets FERC oversees.

Talen Energy, Constellation Energy and PSEG Power, a Public Service Enterprise Group subsidiary, are among the companies that are considering hosting data centers at their nuclear power plants in PJM.

In its “show cause” order, FERC asked PJM and stakeholders to explain why the grid operator’s colocation rules are just and reasonable or to offer rules that would pass agency muster. FERC established a comment schedule that enables the agency to issue a response by June 20. The agency said it could make a decision on a PJM proposal within three months.

However, instead of proposing new colocation rules, PJM on March 24 said its existing rules are just and reasonable. The grid operator also offered five conceptual colocation options that have been proposed by stakeholders or developed by PJM.

PJM urged FERC to issue “detailed guiding principles” that the grid operator could use to craft colocation rules for the agency’s approval.

The lack of a proposal from PJM likely extends FERC’s review process, according to analysts.

“FERC may still act on the show cause order in June, but we don’t rule out a new iteration of process instead of a clear policy decision,” ClearView Energy Partners analysts said in a client note on Friday.

It will likely take FERC until late this year to approve changes to PJM’s colocation rules, according to Capstone analysts.

Morgan Stanley analysts said their “base case” expectation is a FERC decision in September. “We were hoping for a more definitive proposal to move the process forward more quickly,” the analysts said.

In its response to FERC, PJM noted that any colocation rules may be affected by state laws. “Regardless of what co-location arrangements are ultimately sanctioned by the commission, permitted by the states, and elected by developers, participants involved in co-location arrangements should pay the costs of any grid services they consume and the arrangements must be reliable and operationally manageable,” PJM said.

PJM also said it prefers that colocated load be deemed front-of-the-meter, “network” load, a designation that would require a colocated data center, for example, to pay for certain grid services.

Among the options PJM floated, it said it preferred three of them, partly because they would maintain resource adequacy. The colocation options are:

• Load that elects to be network load and brings its own generation (preferred).
• Load that will cut its electric use during grid emergencies (preferred).
• Load that elects to be network load and that participates as demand response (preferred).
• Load connected to the grid with protections to avoid delivery of system energy to serve the colocated load (less preferred).
• Load connected to the grid with protections to avoid delivery of system energy to serve the colocated load or for the co-located load to receiveback-up service from PJM with permission (less preferred).

PJM’s colocation options “bode poorly” for Talen’s proposed colocation arrangement at the company’s majority-owned Susquehanna nuclear plant with Amazon Web Services and other behind-the-meter deals, Capstone said, noting PJM gave the only “true” behind-the-meter proposal a “less preferred” grade.

“We view PJM’s three front-of-the-meter … options as most amendable to the broadest pool of stakeholders, yet these would erode economics for merchant generators and data centers relative to the ‘isolated’ arrangements previously sought,” the research firm said.

Responses to PJM’s comments, and those filed by other stakeholders, are due April 23.

RECOMMENDED READING

• FERC launches colocation review, plus 6 other open meeting takeawaysBy Ethan Howland • Updated Feb. 21, 2025
• FERC rejects interconnection pact for Talen-Amazon data center deal at nuclear plantBy Ethan Howland • Nov. 4, 2024
• AEP, others press for FERC guidance on ‘gargantuan’ issue of data center colocationBy Ethan Howland • Nov. 4, 2024

Trump officials unfreeze $1.3B for rural co-ops to buy Michigan nuclear plant power (April 2, 2025)

https://www.mlive.com/environment/2025/04/trump-officials-unfreeze-13b-for-rural-co-ops-to-buy-michigan-nuclear-plant-power.html

Trump officials unfreeze $1.3B for rural co-ops to buy Michigan nuclear plant power

• Updated: Apr. 02, 2025, 12:50 p.m.
• |Published: Apr. 02, 2025, 12:49 p.m.

An aerial view of Palisades Nuclear Power Plant along Lake Michigan in Covert, Michigan on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. Holtec International aims to bring the decommissioned plant back online in 2025, and Trump administration officials have released funding for rural electric cooperatives to purchase the entire 800-megawatt output from the plant.Joel Bissell | MLive.com

By Lucas Smolcic Larson | lsmolciclarson@mlive.com

Officials with Donald Trump’s administration will unfreeze more than a billion dollars for rural electric cooperatives in Michigan and Indiana to purchase power from the Palisades nuclear plant, should a planned facility restart succeed.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on March 25 that several programs authorized under Joe Biden’s signature climate law, paused when Trump took office, would release funds. That includes one offering more than a half-billion dollars each in nuclear subsidies for Michigan’s Wolverine Power Cooperative and Indiana’s Hoosier Energy for Palisades’ output.

The move is another example of the Trump administration doubling down on low-carbon nuclear power, even as it pulls back Biden-era clean energy investments across the nation, seeks to boost fossil fuel production and undo environmental rules focused on combating climate change.

In mid-March, Trump’s Department of Energy said it had released funds under a $1.52 billion loan guarantee approved under Biden to help reopen the 1970s-era nuclear plant near South Haven.

The USDA grants for Wolverine and Hoosier under the Empowering Rural America, or New ERA, program now follow suit. The $9.7 billion program is a component of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions while boosting reliability for rural electric co-ops.

The announcement comes with one potential catch.

The co-ops will have 30 days to voluntarily align their plans with the Trump agenda, which the USDA described as an “opportunity to refocus their projects on expanding American energy production while eliminating Biden-era (diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility) and climate mandates.”

It’s unclear if the voluntary revisions will become mandatory conditions for receiving the money. The USDA did not respond to a request for comment.

Wolverine is still reviewing the USDA notice but doesn’t currently plan on making any changes to its proposed project, said Vice President of Communications Casey Clark in a statement. Wolverine believes in the merits of its plans as submitted, and they align with the Trump administration’s interest in strengthening reliability and affordability of domestic energy production, Clark said.

“This is a welcome and positive step. Palisades is vital to Michigan’s electric reliability and affordability,” she said.

A spokesperson for Hoosier Energy didn’t respond to a voicemail and email requesting comment.

Media and officials gather in the training control room at the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Mich., Sept. 30, 2024. U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture deputy secretaries visited the plant to promote loans and grants for Holtec International’s effort to restart the closed nuclear plant. While some of that funding was frozen when Donald Trump took office, the agencies are now releasing it. (Garret Ellison | MLive)Garret Ellison

Some Michigan energy policy observers said the change in guidelines appears consistent with the Trump administration’s approach.

The Biden administration routinely added grant provisions requesting an outline of what DEI components would be built into project, and Trump officials seem to be asking applicants to strip that out across many programs, said Ed Rivet, executive director of the Michigan Conservative Energy Forum.

“In the end, I believe most of the grants will go out, sans a DEI component in the project,” Rivet said.

Trump USDA officials, even while releasing Inflation Reduction Act funds, have criticized the law.

“The IRA was marketed as a cure-all but delivered more bureaucracy than benefits for rural families,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in a statement announcing the release of the New ERA funds. “This course correction puts those investments back to work to support President Trump’s vision for energy independence and sets rural America on a path to lasting prosperity.”

The move comes after the Michigan and Indiana cooperatives and nearly 50 others that stand to benefit from Biden-era programs supporting clean and renewable energy lobbied the USDA to support the efforts, frozen as soon as Trump took office.

In letters submitted to Rollins through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, they said the subsidies would help offer reliable nuclear power from Palisades to 100 rural counties in Michigan and Indiana, consistent with Trump’s goal of “American energy dominance.”

Wolverine is set to receive some $650 million to buy Palisades power, with Hoosier getting nearly $675 million for electricity from the plant and other solar power, according to New ERA project summaries now scrubbed from the USDA website.

Wolverine, based in Cadillac, is a nonprofit that sells wholesale energy to six member cooperatives that service wide swaths of the Lower Peninsula.

Together with Hoosier, it has a 30-year agreement with Holtec International, the company leading the Palisades restart, to purchase its entire 800-megawatt output, enough to power 800,000 homes.

Holtec has said it hopes to bring Palisades back from decommissioning — which would be a first in U.S. history, though other plants have returned after yearslong outages — by October. It still faces permitting hurdles and the need to repair plant components.

Repowering the closed plant has drawn cheerleaders and critics, with some environmental advocates concerned about the lack of a national repository for radioactive waste, which now stays on the site of nuclear facilities. Others say nuclear carries meltdown risks, though boosters retort that incidents are exceedingly rare and safety measures extremely stringent.

A nuclear resurgence has bipartisan support at the state and federal level from Republicans drawn to nuclear power’s baseload reliability and from climate-minded Democrats drawn to its low carbon emissions.

By 2030, Holtec also has plans to open twin 300-megawatt small modular reactors, or SMRs, viewed as the next generation of nuclear technology, at Palisades.

A Monday, Sept. 30 2024 aerial view of the Palisades nuclear plant warehouse and training area. Holtec International wants to build two small modular reactors (SMRs) at this site by 2030. Rural electric cooperatives with rights to buy the power say federal subsidies give Holtec confidence in carrying out the investments.Garret Ellison

In a letter to the USDA, officials with Hoosier Energy said the cooperatives’ agreement to buy Palisades power includes rights to electricity from the SMRs, which could be some of the first of their kind in the U.S.

The federal nuclear subsidies give Holtec confidence to proceed with the plans, the co-op said.

Sign up to receive Lake Effect, MLive’s weekly climate and environment newsletter.

MLive Environmental Reporters Garret Ellison and Sheri McWhirter contributed reporting.

Tornado Missile Exemption for Peach Bottom ISFSI

Subject: Tornado Missile Exemption for Peach Bottom ISFSI

Docket Numbers: 07200029, 05000277, 05000278

ADAMS Accession No.: ML25037A246

ADAMS Hyperlink: https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML25037A246

 

Using Web-based ADAMS, select “Advanced Search”

Under “Property,” select “Accession Number”

Under “Value,” enter the Accession Number

Click Search.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release

No: 25-015 April 2, 2025

CONTACT: Christine Saah Nazer, 301-415-8200

NRC Makes Available License Application for a Method to Remediate Abandoned Uranium Mine Waste

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received an application from Disa Technologies, Inc., requesting a license to use High-Pressure Slurry Ablation technology to remediate abandoned uranium mine waste at inactive mine sites. The application is available for public viewing on the NRC website.

The NRC staff is reviewing the application to determine if it is complete and acceptable to start the detailed technical review. If accepted, the NRC will first issue an acceptance letter to Disa and then publish a notice of opportunity to request an adjudicatory hearing on the application before the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.

High-Pressure Slurry Ablation is a mechanical process that separates minerals in mine waste into different parts. One part contains the uranium that can be recovered or disposed. The other part could be clean and left onsite.

25-015.pdf 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission - News Release
No: III-25-003 March 21, 2025
Contact: Viktoria Mitlyng, 630-829-9662 Prema Chandrathil, 630-829-9663

NRC Proposes $14,400 Civil Penalty Against Missouri-based Hospital

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a $14,400 civil penalty against Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, for violations associated with providing appropriate oversight and guidance for a medical treatment using NRC-regulated material.

The NRC identified four violations of NRC requirements involving failures related to a written directive, proper treatment procedures, training, and staffing of a Radiation Safety Officer. The violations were documented in a December inspection report.

There was no impact on public health as a result of these violations.

The NRC issued the enforcement action after reviewing the circumstances surrounding the proposed violations, considering the information presented by the company during a pre-decisional enforcement conference, and taking into account corrective actions the company has or plans to take to comply with NRC regulations.

The company has 30 days to pay the fine, dispute it, or request involvement from a neutral third-party.

25-003-iii.pdf