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United States Clinton NPP in life extension plan Constellation has applied to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to renew the licence of its Clinton Clean Energy Centre in Illinois. The fi ling begins a comprehensive review by the NRC to renew the station’s licence for another 20 years. The single unit 1,062 MWe boiling water reactor at Clinton began operation in 1987 and is currently licensed to operate until April 2027. “This facility has operated 24/7 during the
most extreme summer and winter weather to hit the Midwest in a generation, and we are doing everything possible to ensure it has the opportunity to continue to operate for another 20 years,” said Constellation President & CEO Joe Dominguez. “Sustained investment in our nation’s nuclear power plants, which provide about half of all the clean energy on the grid and are the most reliable source of energy, is essential.” The continued operation of Clinton has been enabled by state legislation enacted in 2016 recognising the unique environmental, economic and reliability benefits of nuclear energy. Enactment of the federal nuclear production tax credit in 2022 extended policy support until 2032. Renewing the NRC licence for Clinton will give Constellation the ability to keep the plant operating until 2047, although this will depend on future policy and market conditions. According to NRC, licence renewal application
must contain technical information and evaluations about the different types of plant ageing that might be encountered and how the licensee will manage or mitigate those effects. The NRC staff performs a safety review, requesting additional information from the applicant as necessary, and draws conclusions about whether the plant can be operated during the period of extended operation without undue risk. It is expected that the NRC staff will complete its review within 30 months from receipt if a hearing is required or within 22 months from receipt if no hearing is required.
United Kingdom JET’s sets new fusion energy record The Joint European Torus (JET) in Culham near Oxford, which closed at the end of December 2023 after 40 years of operation, “has demonstrated the ability to reliably generate fusion energy, whilst simultaneously setting a world-record in energy output”, according to the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). In JET’s final deuterium-tritium experiments
(DTE3), high fusion power was consistently produced for five seconds, resulting in a record of 69 MJ using just 0.2 mg of fuel. The experiments were conducted over seven weeks from August to October. “We can reliably create fusion plasmas using the same fuel mixture to be used by commercial fusion energy power plants, showcasing the advanced expertise developed over time,” said Dr Fernanda Rimini, JET Senior Exploitation Manager. Professor Ambrogio Fasoli, Programme
Manager (CEO) at EUROfusion, said: “Our successful demonstration of operational scenarios for future fusion machines like ITER and DEMO, validated by the new energy record, instil greater confidence in the development of fusion energy. Beyond setting a new record, we achieved things we’ve never done before and deepened our understanding of fusion physics.” According to Dr Emmanuel Joffrin, EUROfusion
Tokamak Exploitation Task Force Leader at France’s Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives (CEA): “Not only did we demonstrate how to soften the intense heat flowing from the plasma to the exhaust, we also showed in JET how we can get the plasma edge into a stable state thus preventing bursts of energy reaching the wall.~” He added: “Both techniques are intended to protect the integrity of the walls of future machines. This is the first time that we’ve ever been able to test those scenarios in a deuterium-tritium environment.” JET’s research will be important not only for ITER under construction in France but also for the UK’s STEP prototype power plant, Europe’s demonstration power plant, DEMO, and other global fusion projects. ■
round up
SMRs
US-BASED HOLTEC International has announced a combined nuclear-solar power plant design – CNSP (Combined Nuclear/Solar Plant). It combines Holtec’s SMR-300 SMR design with its HI-THERM HSP, solar thermal system as well as its Green Boiler to provide base load or on-demand power to counter the intermittency of solar plants.
A TEAM LED by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency has completed a series of large-scale demonstration tests to develop a new floating seismic isolation system for SMRs to support siting in areas of high seismicity. These followed almost a year of small-scale testing in co-operation with nuclear equipment supplier IHI Corporation and JGC holdings.
US-BASED WESTINGHOUSE Electric Company has signed an agreement with the UK’s Community Nuclear Power to deploy the UK’s first privately-financed small modular reactor (SMR) fleet in Northeast England, using Westinghouse AP300 SMRs. “It is a significant step in making this new energy sector a reality with commercial operation expected by the early 2030s,” Westinghouse said.
SLOVENIA HAS BEEN awarded consultancy and technical services under the Phoenix project to support the transition from coal to SMRs. The Phoenix project is part of the US State Department’s Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) programme established in 2021 to provide capacity- building support to partner countries developing nuclear energy programmes. In June 2023 Slovenia’s Ministry of the Environment, Climate & Energy applied to participate in the Phoenix project.
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