First Street reopens, new and improved; North Boulevard work starts Monday

Good news, eastsiders, the city of Idaho Falls has reopened First Street between Fanning Avenue and St. Clair Road.

The newly paved stretch reopened Wednesday at 5 p.m., in time for the evening commute. The summer project, which started July 8, involved replacing the water line from Lomax Street to the Idaho Canal, also storm drain improvements and road reconstruction. Idaho Falls Power replaced aging street lights and Davey Tree Service trimmed trees away from power lines.

The roadway was completely closed to provide a safe work environment for construction crews and to expedite the project. It was completed on schedule, according a press release from the city.

Beginning Monday, Union Pacific Railroad crews will be reconstructing two railroad crossings on North Boulevard, just north of Science Center Drive. Motorists should plan alternate routes.

This is likely to affect people who work in the INL Research Center and employees of Northwest Cosmetics Laboratory. But the tie-rod ends and shocks in their cars and trucks will be a lot better off.

The anticipated completion time is one week, barring unforeseen conditions. Motorists should avoid the area and plan alternate routes. Traffic will be detoured to 29th North (Stanley Street). The Idaho Falls Street Division will be providing traffic control.

Additional information on City of Idaho Falls construction projects can be found on the homepage of the city’s website or by clicking HERE

Ronald McDonald Family Room at EIRMC slated to open Friday

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Idaho will be holding a ribbon-cutting at noon Thursday for the brand new Ronald McDonald Family Room at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. The remodeling of what was office space has been going on since April. When it officially opens on Friday, it will provide a “home away from home” for families with ill or injured children.

Following the Ribbon Cutting, RMHC of Idaho will be hosting a Community Open House from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Community members are invited to come tour the space, enjoy some refreshments, and learn how about how the Family Room will bring comfort to families.

In preparation for the program’s first day, RMHC of Idaho is also asking the community to help “stock the Family Room.” To ensure the space has everything needed to support families, they’ve put together an online wish list. The community can help by purchasing items off this wish list and either having them shipped straight to the Family Room or dropping them off during the open house.

When children are sick, the thing they need most is family. The Ronald McDonald Family Room will provide a home-like environment for parents and families of children receiving treatment at EIRMC. It will allow families a quiet place to get something to eat, take a shower, do laundry, watch tv, take a nap, or even stay the night, steps away from their hospitalized child. The Family Room will be staffed by RMHC of Idaho employees and through the generous efforts of community volunteers.

For more information about the Family Room visit rmhcidaho.org/familyroom.

Idaho Innovation Center announces classes for small business

The Idaho Innovation Center is holding several classes and workshops aimed at helping small businesses. A non-profit business incubator, IIC regularly partners with the Small Business Development Center and the Regional Development Alliance to assist business owners with business needs. Consultation and counseling are provided for free.

If you are interested in these services, call (208) 523-1026 to set up an appointment.

Here is a list of upcoming events.

Aug. 30, 10:30-noon: New tax law and financial strategies for small business. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cultivating-your-business-tax-financial-strategies-for-smallbusinesstickets-69217119267

Sept. 9, 6-9 p.m.: QuickBooks class. Meets 9/9, 9/11, 9/16, 9/18, 9/23. Fee:  $199

Sept. 18, noon-2 p.m.: Elevating Your Business class. Meets every Wednesday for 7 weeks. A fun class that will help you learn to market your business more effectively. Fee: $149

Sept. 27, 10:30-noon: Human Resources for Small Business. Free workshop. Registration through Eventbrite mid-September.

Oct. 25, 10:30-noon: Advertising and Marketing. FreeE workshop. Registration through Eventbrite mid-October.

Center for Advanced Energy Studies to receive NuScale control room simulator

Young guests SCRAM a NuScale Power Module on a control room simulator during a Friends & Family Day in Oregon. The Center for Advanced Energy Studies in Idaho Falls is slated to get a NuScale simulator in the next year, courtesy of a grant announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday it has awarded three grants to support the installation of NuScale reactor plant simulators at Oregon State University, Texas A&M University-College Station, and the Center for Advanced Energy Studies (CAES) in Idaho Falls.

NuScale is the Corvallis, Oregon-based company that is collaborating with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) on the Carbon Free Power Project. The project involves installation of 12 small modular reactors (SMRs) at Idaho National Laboratory's desert site by the mid-2020s. The facility will be capable of generating 720 megawatts of electricity. NuScale’s technology is the world’s first and only SMR to undergo design certification review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which is scheduled to complete its design review by September 2020.

The DOE grants are for $843,986 total, of which $285,763 is to build the Idaho Falls simulator at CAES, on MK Simpson Boulevard. CAES is a consortium made up of Idaho National Laboratory, University of Idaho, Idaho State University, Boise State University and University of Wyoming.

"Housing the simulator at CAES in will facilitate collaboration with four university research institutions and experts in these fields at INL," said Richard Christensen, the lead collaborator from UI. "This simulator acquisition for these efforts is consistent with the UI's land grant mission to strengthen teaching, scholarly, and creative capacities statewide through new research pathways."

NuScale’s reactor simulator is a virtual nuclear power plant control room that includes an interface that accepts input from operators and displays parameters simulating plant response. The simulator facilitates research into human factors engineering, human-system interface design, advanced diagnostics, cyber security and plant control room automation. When completed, the simulator facilities will be used for research, education, K-12 outreach and public advocacy regarding nuclear power and small modular reactor (SMR) technology.

National Reactor Innovation Center or "NRTS 2.0"? INL gets back to its nuclear roots

U.S. Sens. Jim Risch, left, and Mike Crapo, right, were on hand for the press conference Wednesday announcing the National Reactor Innovation Center coming to Idaho National Laboratory. Between them are DOE-Idaho Director Robert Boston (left) and INL Director Mark Peters. (Photo courtesy eastidahonews.com).

Before the more 21st century-sounding National Reactor Innovation Center was decided on, Idaho National Laboratory Director Mark Peters said he was entertaining “NRTS 2.0” as a name.

NRTS stands for National Reactor Testing Station, which came to eastern Idaho in 1949 with the Atomic Energy Commission and later became INL. In a way, Wednesday’s announcement that INL would be the official home of NRIC marked a return to the lab’s roots, which have never completely gone away.

Over the past 70 years, NRTS/INL was home to 52 reactors, only four of which remain in operation. What Wednesday’s announcement means is that INL is going to be the place for nuclear collaboration between the public and private sectors. That is already happening with the Carbon Free Power Project, which involves INL, NuScale, an Oregon-based subsidiary of Fluor, Inc., and Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), a consortium of municipally owned electrical utilities, one of which is Idaho Falls Power. If all goes as planned, NRIC will be the site for 12 of NuScale’s prefabricated small modular reactors (SMRs). Licensing by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is well under way, and a startup is anticipated for the mid-2020s.


The NuScale project is anticipated to create around 1,000 construction jobs to eastern Idaho, with a few hundred after the project has gone online. A lot of companies are watching the NuScale/UAMPS project very closely. Aside from the actual reactors, Idaho stands to benefit further from becoming a supply chain hub, Peters said at a press conference Wednesday, also attended by Idaho U.S. Sens, Mike Crapo and Jim Risch.

NRIC has also been designated as the site for the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), a fast-neutron source the DOE has deemed necessary for the next generation of nuclear reactors. Unlike light water reactors and pressurized water reactors, advanced reactors will be cooled by materials such as molten salt and thorium. They offer the possibility of burning spent nuclear fuel from LWRs and PWRs, and thus a solution to the waste disposal problem that continues to dog nuclear development in the United States. But before anything can happen, a lot of testing has to be done and a domestic source of fast neutrons is necessary. This is what Experimental Breeder Reactor-II did at Argonne National Laboratory-West between 1964 and 1994, before it was shut down.

“It’s hard to put an exact number on the amount of reactors that will be demonstrated here,” Peters said. “We’re talking to a lot of companies who have approached the laboratory and the department. I think there are a lot of interested players out there in the nuclear energy space.”

Also on hand for the announcement Wednesday was William D. Magwood IV, director-general of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), an intergovernmental agency under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Magwood was DOE’s Director of Nuclear Energy 20 years ago when he announced at an Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Meeting that INL (then INEEL) had been designated the department’s lead nuclear laboratory.

As the Post Register’s business reporter at the time, I was covering that meeting and cynically thought to myself, “There’s a prize of dubious value.” Nuclear in the United States was at a low ebb in the late 1990s, so it wasn't unreasonable to think this.

A lot has happened in 20 years, but 20 to 30 years is how long it takes anything to happen in the nuclear industry, Peters said. Nuclear energy research in the U.S. might have been hanging on by a thread in 1999, but the threat of climate change and global warming was beginning to register in more and more minds, making carbon-free energy alternatives like nuclear a lot more appealing. In fact, it was a panel of scientific advisers who told President Bill Clinton to keep the nuclear option open.

In 2000, INEEL, Bechtel and Oregon State University researchers began a three-year project called the Multi-Application Small Light Water Reactor (MASLWR), which would become the basis for NuScale.

I have given up on writing stories quoting anyone predicting what they think is going to happen, near- or long-term. But the announcement that INL is returning to its nuclear roots is a big story with big implications for the region.