NEWS |
round up
NUCLEAR FUEL RUSSIAN FUEL COMPANY TVEL (part of Rosatom) has delivered fresh fuel to the Belarus NPP ready for partial refuelling during the 2023 scheduled maintenance outage. The fuel was manufactured at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant.
USED FUEL THE US NRC has approved the design certification for a used fuel metal storage cask developed by South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility and US-based NAC International. The Metal Storage Overpack (MSO) is intended for international applications and also for the Korea Dry Cask Storage industry as an alternative to concrete storage systems.
RADWASTE THE FRENCH NATIONAL Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra) has applied to the Nuclear Safety Authority for a construction licence the Cigeo deep geological disposal facility. Andra said this was the result of 30 years of progressive development under regular evaluation. With the application, Andra said Cigeo is getting ready for the construction phase.
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FROM underground vaults at the UK’s closed Berkeley NPP has been transferred using a concrete box to an interim on-site storage facility. Magnox Ltd said this was a landmark for its mission to clean up former civil nuclear sites. It involved development of a new waste storage package and innovative waste retrieval techniques.
V needed at the new reactor are expected to be several times less in comparison with the currently operating installations. MBIR will be used for materials testing for
Generation IV fast neutron reactors. The chief designer of the project is the NA Dollezhal Scientific Research & Design Institute of Power Engineering (JSC Nikiet) and the general construction contractor is JSC Orgenergostroy Institute.
MBIR will also be the basis of an international
research centre (ICC MBIR). It will replace the BOR-60 experimental fast reactor which is due to close in 2025. The RPV, manufactured at the Rosatom’s
Atommash plant in Volgodonsk (Rostov Region), is 12 metres long, 4 metres in diameter and weighs more than 83 tonnes. It was delivered to the site 16 months ahead of schedule in April 2022.
MBIR will use vibro-packed mixed-oxide fuel
(VMOX), a Russian variant of mox fuel in which blended uranium-plutonium oxide powders and fresh uranium-oxide powder are loaded directly into the cladding tube of the fuel assembly instead of first being manufactured into pellets. NIIAR intends to set up on-site closed fuel cycle facilities for MBIR, using pyrochemical reprocessing it has developed at pilot scale.
Saudi Arabia Domestic uranium plan Saudi Arabia plans to use domestically-sourced uranium to develop its nuclear power industry. According to Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz
Bin Salman Sahave, Saudi Arabia has large quantities of uranium, and “will exploit them commercially in the best way... We will deal with uranium reserves with full transparency, and we will search for the appropriate partners”. He added that recent exploration activities showed a diverse portfolio of uranium at different locations within the Kingdom, such as Jabal Saeed, Madinah, and Jabal Qariah. “The Kingdom intends to utilise its national
uranium resources, including in joint ventures with willing partners in accordance with international commitments and transparency
standards,” said Sahave. “This would involve the entire nuclear fuel cycle which involves the production of yellowcake, low enriched uranium and the manufacturing of nuclear fuel both for our national use and, of course, for export.” He confirmed that the Saudi National
Nuclear Programme for Atomic Energy includes construction of nuclear reactors, which will initially target two large commercial nuclear reactors before expanding further. Plans included the construction of 16 reactors
to generate about 20% of Saudi Arabia’s electricity and smaller reactors for desalination. In 2013, three sites were short-listed.
UAE
Nuclear-co-operation expanded South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to strengthen nuclear co-operation. During a four-day state visit to the UAE by
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, some 13 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were signed in the fields of nuclear power, energy, investment, and climate change. The MOU recognised “the importance of
nuclear power plants as a critical source of energy security and an important element for the growth of the clean economy”. The two leaders also “welcomed further
cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear energy through the UAE-ROK High-level Consultation on Nuclear Cooperation and agreed to seek ways to expand this cooperation into new areas, including evaluating the potential of small modular reactors (SMRs)”. In addition, an MOU on Net-Zero Acceleration
Strategic Cooperation was signed between Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec). This envisaged formation of a consultative body covering various fields in the future and expanding practical cooperation in the field of developing export markets for NPPs to third countries and joint procurement of business finance. The two companies plan to cooperate closely in future technology development and R&D joint research, such as SMRs and micro- reactors. U
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10 | February 2023 |
www.neimagazine.com
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