NEWS |
round up
UPGRADES THE UPGRADING OF unit 2 at the Armenian NPP has been completed, extending the life of the station until 2036. Most of the overhaul (until 2019) was funded by an interstate loan from Russia, the remaining work was carried out at the expense of the budget of Armenia.
COMPANY NEWS US-BASED DEEP Isolation, a specialist in used fuel and high-level waste storage and disposal solutions, has acquired Freestone Environmental Services, a multi-discipline consulting firm based in Richland, Washington.
WESTINGHOUSE AND EDF have signed a MOU to produce cobalt-60 radioisotopes in select pressurised water reactors owned and operated by EDF in France. This MOU marks the first step for production in Europe of cobalt-60 for medical uses.
EDF HAS AWARDED Spain’s Tecnatom Group a contract valued at more than £30 million for pre-service inspection services at Hinkley Point C in the UK.
THE UK’S NATIONAL Nuclear Laboratory and Norway-based DNV are partnering to explore the potential of nuclear for the conversion of UK gas networks to hydrogen.
BALFOUR BEATTY KILPATRICK and EJ Parker Technical Services have been appointed to deliver the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) at Sellafield, a framework agreement worth £150-250m ($200-333m) over the life of the programme.
FUEL
URANIUM ONE HOLDING (a Rosatom company) and Canada-based Alpha Lithium Corporation agreed to establish a joint venture to develop the Tolillar lithium deposit in the Argentine province of Salta.
US-BASED OKLO and Centrus have signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to cooperate in the deployment of a High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) production facility.
SPAIN’S MINISTRY FOR Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) has formally rejected Berkeley Energia’s authorisation to build a uranium processing plant at the company’s Salamanca project in western Spain.
Ukraine Westinghouse signs contract with Energoatom for first AP1000 On 22 November Westinghouse Electric Company and Ukrainian nuclear utility Energoatom signed a contract in Kiev outlining details of an agreement to bring Westinghouse AP1000 reactors to the Khmelnitsky site. In August it was announced that Energoatom had selected Westinghouse AP1000 technology for new nuclear in Ukraine. The new agreement initiates engineering and procurement of long- lead items for the first unit Petro Kotin, Acting Energoatom President
said: “The Agreement signed with partners from Westinghouse opens a new stage in the development of Ukraine’s nuclear energy sector. Construction of new power units is essential for energy independence of our country. Moreover, we are becoming the driving force that will pave the way for Europe to carbon neutrality. Energoatom, in cooperation with our American
6 | January 2022 |
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partners, is ready to make the green transition to clean and affordable energy He added: “Our goal is 24GW of nuclear capacity by 2040.” This compares with 13GWe in operation at present. He noted that a memorandum of
understanding had been signed for five new units — two at Khmelnitsky and one at each of Rovno, South Ukraine and Zaporozhye. It also had two at a new site – Orbita in Chigrin in central Ukraine, which had been considered for a new nuclear plant during Soviet times. He said Energoatom was working towards site approval. He added that Ukraine is aiming for four new units at two new sites in 2032-2040. Westinghouse CEO Patrick Fragman said:
“We are delighted that our collaboration has received a new impetus. Ukraine produces more than half of its electricity from nuclear energy. And Westinghouse supplies about half of the fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants. We are waiting for the AP1000 reactors to appear here. Ukraine has a large number of challenges in U
Veolia received a WNE Award for its GeoMelt solution for the vitrification of problematic nuclear waste
EDF and Veolia have announced a 50:50 joint venture to develop a new sector based on Veolia’s Geomelt®
vitrification technology.
The JV will be known as Waste2Glass. The GeoMelt process immobilises radioactive
waste in a glass matrix to produce a stable and durable waste form that is easy to transport and store. It has already been used to treat 26,000 tonnes of radioactive and hazardous waste at two sites: Hanford in the USA and Sellafield in the UK. Waste2Glass, planned for launch in early
2022, will be able to take up the challenge of the industrial deployment of the GeoMelt® technology. This will make it possible to broaden and simplify the use of the vitrification process — which is typically used for high-level waste — for a wider range of waste types.
create Waste2Glass EDF and Veolia The Waste2Glass company will be based
in Limay in north-eastern France, near a new pilot unit that will incorporate the GeoMelt® process. This unit was recently commissioned by Veolia to carry out demonstrations and obtain the certifications required for the industrial deployment of the Geomelt process. “I am delighted that we have taken this further step in our collaboration with EDF with the creation of Waste2Glass. It will enable a real change of scale through the industrialisation of GeoMelt®
, which will make it possible to
treat radioactive waste more safely and more economically, with a reduction in storage volumes,” said Antoine Frérot, chairman and CEO of Veolia. EDF and Veolia are also partners in
Graphitech, a joint venture dedicated to the development of solutions for the decommissioning of graphite-gas reactors. Veolia group, which has almost 179,000 employees worldwide, designs and provides solutions for water, waste and energy management. Veolia Nuclear Solutions, which operates in
the USA, France, Canada, the UK and Japan offers a broad range of expertise in the nuclear and environmental sectors. In September 2021, Veolia Nuclear Solutions UK opened a new 32,000 square foot headquarters in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, said to be part of an ambitious growth strategy focused on developing and delivering nuclear waste treatment and remote handling technologies. VNS UK also plans investment in a new office in Birchwood Park, Warrington. ■
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