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nuclear reaction (divergence) to proceed. This included results of the installation tests carried out since the commissioning authorisation. ASN authorised the launch of divergence operations in September and the EPR achieved first criticality. The subsequent test programme to achieve a power level of 25% was temporarily delayed by technical problems. At that time, an EDF spokeswoman explained
that reactor startup is a long process and an EPR is a complex machine so it was not unusual to encounter technical problems during. The shutdown “proves the safety system is working well,” she noted. Following the grid connection, EDF said in
a statement: “Teams have achieved the first connection of the Flamanville EPR to the national grid... the reactor is now generating electricity. Since the first nuclear reaction in September… EDF teams have conducted a series of tests and inspections to gradually increase the reactor’s power.” Luc Rémont, Chairman and CEO of EDF stated:
“The coupling of the Flamanville EPR is an historic moment for the entire nuclear sector. I would like to salute all the teams who have met the challenges encountered during this project with the greatest tenacity and never compromising on safety. EDF said that “in accordance with the
startup operations, the phases of testing and of connection and disconnection to the grid will continue for several months, under the supervision of the ASN, until the reactor reaches 100% power. Starting up a reactor is a long and complex operation. It requires the full mobilisation of teams and is carried out at each stage with the highest level of safety and industrial reliability”. The reactor is expected to operate at 100% capacity until the first planned outage for maintenance and refuelling – the Visite Complète 1 (VC1).” EDF said VC1 “should mainly take place in 2026” and that electricity produced by then will be around 14 TWh. President Emmanuel Macron said in a
statement on LinkedIn that this was a “great moment” for France noting that the EPR is “one of the world’s most powerful nuclear reactors”. He added: “Re-industrialising to produce low-carbon energy is French-style ecology. It strengthens our competitiveness and protects the climate.” Macron earlier decided to boost nuclear power by ordering six EPR2 reactors with options for eight more, which could cost tens of billions of euros. In 2022, he called for a “renaissance” for the nuclear industry to transition away from fossil fuels. “What we have to build today is the renaissance of the French nuclear industry because it’s the right moment, because it’s the right thing for our nation, because everything is in place,” he said. EPRs are currently operating in China and
Finland. The first EPR began operating at China’s Taishan NPP with unit 1 beginning commercial operation in 2018 followed by Taishan 2 in September 2019, some five years behind
schedule. Construction of Taishan 1 started in November 2009. The project was led by TNPJVC, a joint venture founded by CGN (51%), EDF (30%) and a regional utility called Yuedian (19%). Construction of the EPR at unit 3 of Finland’s
Olkiluoto NPP began in 2005 and various setbacks and delays meant the plant was some 14 years behind the original schedule and significantly over budget. OL3’s final price tag was put at around $11bn ($12bn), some three times the initial estimate. Two EPR units are currently under construction at Hinkley Point C in the UK.
United States Urenco to enrich uranium up to 10% The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has authorised Urenco USA (UUSA) to increase uranium enrichment levels up to 10% U-235. “This positive progress is important to support the nuclear industry to create fuels that will reduce outage cycles for current reactors, provide fuels for some advanced reactor types, and assist our current and future customers,” said John Kirkpatrick, UUSA Managing Director. In 2023, UUSA announced plans to increase
capacity at its uranium enrichment plant in Eunice, New Mexico operated by Louisiana Energy Services (LES) by 15%. It said the project will see multiple new centrifuge cascades added to the plant as the first project to be delivered as part of a capacity programme, which “will strengthen the nuclear fuel supply chain both in the US and globally”. Kirkpatrick noted, “UUSA currently has a capacity of 4.4m separative work units (SWU), which supplies one-third of the domestic enrichment demand, and we are licensed to produce up to 10m SWU.” NRC will now review UUSA’s implementation
of requirements in an amendment, which is anticipated in late spring 2025. UUSA will be authorised to produce enrichment levels of up to 10% U-235 in all cascades at the facility. LES was recently listed by the US Department
of Energy (DOE) as one of six potential domestic suppliers selected to compete for contracts to supply the department with low enriched uranium (LEU – less than 5% U-235). The other companies are: American Centrifuge Operating, General Matter, Global Laser Enrichment, Laser Isotope Separation Technologies and Orano Federal Services. DOE said the aim is to ensure “access to
affordable, reliable electricity and good-paying clean energy jobs, while building resilient supply chains free from Russian influence”. Through these contracts, DOE said it will acquire LEU generated by new domestic sources – either at entirely new facilities or from projects that expand existing capacity. All contracts will last for up to 10 years and each awardee will receive a minimum contract of $2m. Russia currently has about 44% of the world’s
uranium enrichment capacity and supplies approximately 35% of US imports for nuclear fuel. In May, President Biden signed into law a ban on Russian LEU imports that became
round up
NUCLEAR FUEL RESEARCH IS UNDERWAY to justify innovative nuclear fuel for Russia’s planned Generation IV BN-1200 sodium-cooled fast neutron reactors. The BN-1200 reactor has two possible cores with different types of uranium-plutonium nuclear fuel, which are simultaneously being investigated. These include a mixed oxide (mox) fuel as well as a dense nitride (SNUP) fuel.
NUCLEAR TRANSPORT SOLUTIONS (NTS), a subsidiary of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has been awarded £10.5m ($13.4m) by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, to develop transport capabilities for the UK’s future use of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). NTS will co-fund and deliver a multi-year programme of work alongside government and nuclear sector partners to develop the key technologies, capabilities and assets required.
GLOBAL LASER ENRICHMENT, jointly owned by Australia’s Silex Systems (51%) and Canada’s Cameco (49%), has acquired a 665-acre land parcel for its planned Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility in Kentucky. The land, previously owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and managed by the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources (KDFWR), was acquired through an agreement involving the Commonwealth, KDFWR, and the Paducah-McCracken County Industrial Development Authority.
US GENERAL ATOMICS has completed its first round of testing at Idaho National Laboratory on unfuelled samples of a new high-temperature ceramic fuel cladding. This is part of a series of tests with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to commercialise the SiGA fuel cladding early next decade. General Atomics is developing cladding made from silicon carbide (SiC), which can withstand temperatures up to 3,800°F – 500°F higher than the melting point of the zirconium alloy currently widely used in light water reactors.
TESTS ARE UNDERWAY using the MIR.M1 research reactor at Russia’s Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (NIIAR – Nauchno Issledovatelskii Institut Atomnikh Reaktorov) in Dimitrovgrad of nuclear fuel for VVER reactors with a burnable erbium neutron absorber and uranium enrichment of about 5%. Currently, most reactors at NPPs use fuel enriched to 3-4.95% of uranium-235.
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