Nuclear Taskforce

The US Department of Energy has opened applications for funding of up to $900 million USD to support the initial domestic deployment of Generation III+ small modular reactor technologies. The funding aims to assist the private sector in establishing a "credible and sustainable pathway" to deploying a fleet of Gen III+ SMRs that "advances environmental protection and community benefits, creates new, good-paying, high-quality jobs, and reinforces America’s leadership in the nuclear industry". #nuclear tinyurl.com/3ahz26j6

X-Energy Reactor Company, LLC (“X-energy”), a leader in advanced nuclear reactor and fuel technology, today announced a Series C-1 financing round of approximately $500 million, anchored by Amazon.com, Inc. (“Amazon”). The investment will help meet growing energy demands by funding the completion of X-energy's reactor design and licensing as well as the first phase of its TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Amazon and X-energy are also collaborating to bring more than 5 gigawatts of new power projects online across the United States by 2039, representing the largest commercial deployment target of SMRs to date. “Amazon and X-energy are poised to define the future of advanced nuclear energy in the commercial marketplace,” said X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell. “To fully realize the opportunities available through artificial intelligence, we must bring clean, safe, and reliable electrons onto the grid with proven technologies that can scale and grow with demand. See https://lnkd.in/eH2Wt_yg

Australia will donate 49 of the army’s M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine in the nation’s most significant and lethal contribution to the country’s war against Russia, amid warnings that Vladimir Putin is bolstering his forces with North Korean troops in a dangerous new development for Kyiv. It is one of the largest single contributions of Western tanks to Ukraine since the war began, exceeding the US’s own donation of 31 M1A1s. Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the weapons would “deliver more firepower and mobility to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and complement the support provided by our partners for Ukraine”. “This is a good day for Ukraine and frankly a bad day for Vladimir Putin,” Mr Conroy said. Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, welcomed the announcement, saying his country was in dire need of Western weapons as Putin ramped up his alliance with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. “We are very grateful for the support, especially now in the light of the deployment of troops from North Korea,” he said. “So we see, this is now becoming much more relevant to the Indo-Pacific, and therefore it’s a very strong response from the Australian government.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Sunday that Pyongyang had escalated its support for Moscow beyond supplying weapons, and was now “ transferring people from North Korea to the occupying military forces”. See https://lnkd.in/g3QxBSD2 #AUKUS Michael Sharpe

Report to Congress on the Virginia Submarine Program, AUKUS Pillar 1 The following is the Oct. 10, 2024, Congressional Research Service report, Navy Virginia-Class Submarine Program and AUKUS Submarine (Pillar 1) Project: Background and Issues for Congress. From the report - An alternative to Pillar 1 as currently structured would be a U.S.-Australia military division of labor under which U.S. SSNs would perform both U.S. and Australian SSN missions while Australia invested in military capabilities for performing non-SSN missions for both Australia and the United States. Such a U.S.-Australia military division of labor might be broadly similar to military divisions of labor that exist between the United States and some or all of its NATO or other allies for naval capabilities such as aircraft carriers, SSNs, large surface combatants, and amphibious ships, and for non-naval capabilities such as (to name only some examples) nuclear weapons, space assets, and ISR capabilities. Under a U.S.-Australia military division of labor for performing SSN missions and non-SSN missions • the forward rotations of U.S. and UK SSNs to Australia planned under Pillar 1— SRF-West—would still be implemented; • up to eight additional Virginia-class SSNs would be built, and instead of three to five of them being sold to Australia, these additional boats would instead be retained in U.S. Navy service and operated out of Australia along with the five U.S. and UK SSNs that are already planned to be operated out of Australia under Pillar 1 as SRF-West; and • Australia, instead of using funds to purchase, build, operate, and maintain its own SSNs, would instead invest those funds in other military capabilities—such as, for example, long-range anti-ship missiles, drones, loitering munitions, B-21 long-range bombers, or other long-range strike aircraft—so as to create an Australian capacity for performing non-SSN military missions for both Australia and the United States. See https://lnkd.in/gH4st54T #AUKUS Michael Sharpe

Queensland - AUKUS Forum 🇦🇺 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Join us to hear from defence industry leaders, world leading researchers and industry experts as we build a whole new ecosystem to build the #AUKUS Partnership. Rodney Young, Brad Lynch, Dr. Clyde Webster, Amy McDonnell, Mick Green, Tony Birch, Tim Owen AM JP, Catherine Krimmer, Chelsea Harris, Judd McCann, Chad Johnson, Geoff Bower, Annette Williams, Abhiney Arora, Jatin Patel, Samuel Jesuadian, Craig Tunley, Jade Plummer, Cheyanne Stevens, Ian Johnson, Mick Elliott With thanks to our Advisory Board Co-Chairs, former Defence Minister Hon. Joel Fitzgibbon GAICD and former US Ambassador The Hon. Arthur Sinodinos AO 13th and 14th November at Biloela, Queensland. BANANA SHIRE COUNCIL, IBM, Aon, Masters & Young, ARM Hub (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing), Goal Group, Industry Capability Network - Queensland (ICN QLD), Akana Ittatoba Pty Limited, Andromeda Industries Pty Ltd, Callide Manufacturing Company, First Grade Contract Maintenance, Missile Industries Corporation - MissileCorp, Crest Robotics Register https://lnkd.in/gF_aCj7G

Uranium #enrichment services provider Urenco has installed the first new centrifuges as part of an expansion of its plant in Eunice, New Mexico. Urenco announced plans to increase capacity at its Eunice plant - the only operating commercial uranium enrichment facility in North America - by 15%. New commitments from US customers for non-Russian fuel underpin this investment, the company noted. Urenco said it is on schedule to begin producing enriched uranium from newly installed centrifuges in 2025. "Our enrichment site in Eunice is ideally located to serve our US customers and the wider global market to help meet energy security and decarbonisation goals," said Urenco CEO Boris Schucht. "This facility has successfully operated for more than a decade and the expansion is further proof of the domestic supply it consistently delivers. See https://lnkd.in/giMfX8DZ

TEAMWORK 🤝: U.S. and UK researchers have successfully created these test capsules to help test advanced materials in future reactors. The capsules contain samples of advanced metal alloys and graphite that could be used in advanced reactors. The project is a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) and the UK National Nuclear User Facility to help advance nuclear R&D. The materials were fabricated in the UK and shipped to the U.S. where they will undergo irradiation testing at Idaho National Laboratory to examine performance. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eAeFP_QR

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The means of preventing, or prevailing in, a major war are made here by the 27,000 who work in three shifts, around the clock and the calendar, including Christmas Day, in the 550-acre shipyard of Newport News Shipbuilding. This means that national security also depends on changing attitudes in high schools and community colleges. There was a time when high school teachers might have told slackers, “If you don’t get your grades up, you’ll have to work at the shipyard.” Today, they can say, “Get your grades up and you can have six-figure careers at the shipyard.” Forty years ago, the nation was producing one ballistic missile submarine and up to three attack submarines a year. The post-Cold War holiday from history meant too few projects for shipyards, which are now too few. There were eight yards during the Reagan administration’s drive for a 600-ship Navy. There are now four yards. The Navy has fewer than 300 ships. Today, colleges have large cohorts of bored, lethargic and often sullen students who are on campuses for defensive reasons: to acquire a credential deemed necessary for a “good job.” A recent study by the Burning Glass Institute and the Strada Institute for the Future of Work found that 52 percent of college graduates are, a year after graduation, in jobs that do not require a college education to acquire. Even more are probably in jobs that do not require a college degree to perform them. We have a surplus of young graduates who left campus encumbered by debt and lacking skills that can immediately add substantial value to the economy. We have a scarcity of welders, electricians and others who are indispensable for the construction of perhaps today’s most astonishingly complex human creations: nuclear submarines. The civilian industrial component of the national security infrastructure aged and dispersed after the Soviet Union expired. Rear Adm. Todd Weeks, a former submarine commander and currently program executive officer for building strategic submarines, says that although national security is less connected with the general population than formerly, craftsmen “are just as important as those who man the ships.” See https://lnkd.in/gm3SKWd5 #AUKUS Michael Sharpe

Attention Defence and Nuclear Professionals! The University of Adelaide is offering Professional Certificates in Space Law, Nuclear Law, and Defence Contracting Law. These programs are an excellent opportunity to deepen your expertise and stay ahead in our rapidly evolving field. If you’re interested in learning more, join their upcoming information session: 📅 Date: Monday, 14th October 2024 ⏰ Time: 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM ACDT 📍 Location: Adelaide Law School, Ligertwood 515, North Terrace Campus Don’t miss this chance to enhance your professional development and network with peers. For more information and to register, click here ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gkj-rpuR Hope to see you there!

United States - Hundreds of the nation’s coal plants could be a good fit for advanced reactors – opening up new job opportunities for communities across the country. 👉: https://bit.ly/49Q6ZTA