diff --git a/news/PR-0728.rst b/news/PR-0728.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ffd0dce82a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/PR-0728.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+**Added:** None
+
+**Changed:** None
+
+**Deprecated:** None
+
+**Removed:** None
+
+**Fixed:**
+- adding special build flag to enable old hdf5 interface for PyNE when compiling
+  against hdf5@1.12+
+
+**Security:** None
diff --git a/src/pyne/CMakeLists.txt b/src/pyne/CMakeLists.txt
index 46a85d0bfc..6b21bfeca4 100644
--- a/src/pyne/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/pyne/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,4 +12,8 @@ if (CMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "Intel")
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELWITHDEBINFO "-O0 -g")
 endif ()
 
+if(NOT (${HDF5_VERSION} VERSION_LESS 1.12.0))
+    SET(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -DH5Oget_info_by_idx_vers=1 -DH5O_info_t_vers=1 -DH5Oget_info_by_name_vers=1")
+ endif()
+
 dagmc_install_library(pyne_dagmc)