The Federal Transit Administration has announced a new $10 million funding opportunity for research and development on how to improve transit operational efficiency amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

FTA said Thursday in a Federal Register notice it intends to fund projects that tackle operational efficiency across the areas of vehicle and facility disinfection, exposure mitigation measures, public confidence in transit systems and innovative mobility that reduces COVID-19 risks.

The funding opportunity also seeks ways to improve transit mobility for COVID-19-affected individuals. State and local government entities, tribes and recipients of urbanized and rural area formula funds may apply for the funding opportunity through Nov. 2.

FTA will use fiscal 2020 funds to finance the effort.

Bechtel has partnered with TerraPower to provide plant design, licensing, procurement and construction through federal grant application to build a demonstration plant for the Natrium reactor and energy system architecture, Bechtel reported on Thursday. 

"Natrium fulfills the industry vision of what a true advanced reactor should be—safer, simpler, easier and less costly to construct, less expensive to operate, and able to provide energy that is competitive with fossil fuels and complementary to solar and wind power," said Barbara Rusinko, president of Bechtel's Nuclear, Security and Environmental global business unit. 

Under the demonstration plant project, Bechtel will join a team that includes GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, PacifiCorp, Energy Northwest, and Duke Energy. The Bechtel-TerraPower partnership is part of TerraPower’s proposal for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DoE) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program.

DoE’s Program has aimed to support the deployment of two first-of-a-kind advanced reactor designs in the next five to seven years. The Natrium system has integrated an advanced, cost-competitive sodium fast reactor and a molten salt energy storage system, similarly to solar thermal generation. 

Bechtel will help develop an affordable, advanced design that will adapt to changes in electricity demands driven by solar and wind energy fluctuations. The Natrium technology will divide nuclear and non-nuclear facilities and systems to simplify the licensing process and lower construction costs.

The Natrium reactor will be able to safely operate at higher temperatures and lower pressures than conventional nuclear reactors. The heat is used to generate steam for a turbine and industrial processes. The system's gigawatt-hour-scale energy storage can also be optimized to meet the needs of specific markets.

"Our Natrium technology is an elegant solution to a challenge utilities face as they need clean power that is available 24/7 to support their growing renewable portfolios and make progress toward clean energy targets," said Chris Levesque, TerraPower president and CEO. "Bechtel has decades of experience with major infrastructure projects and we're proud to have them as a member of the team focused on delivering the Natrium technology in the late 2020s."

Twenty-four federal organizations covered by the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act post data on public facing websites and in an online federal repository to comply with transparency requirements under the OPEN Government Data Act, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says.

GAO reported Thursday those agencies also released datasets about the COVID-19 pandemic or provided coronavirus-related source links as of last month in accordance with the Federal Data Strategy.

However, the office determined that a lack of policy from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA) to support error identification and correction in electronic records is affecting the availability of agency progress reports.

The government audit organization recommended that OMB provide guidance and report the performance of CFO Act agencies with regard to establishing comprehensive data inventories.