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navigate opportunities in the fusion supply chain; the Diagnostics Centre for Excellence (DICE); and, the Cumbria Robotics Operation Skills Centre (CROSS). In parallel, UK Fusion Energy Ltd (UKFE) published its new Fusion Strategy describing how it will partner with industry and UKAEA to build the capacity necessary to develop and build STEP Fusion – the UK’s prototype fusion power plant – and successive fusion power plants. The strategy sets out how the UK will secure
a leading position in the emerging global fusion market estimated to be worth up to £12,000bn ($16,135bn) by 2100. Backed by £1.3bn in government investment, the strategy outlines a pathway from science to commercial fusion. UKFE will act as the national fusion systems
integrator bringing together industrial partners, research expertise, and advanced digital and AI capabilities to deliver STEP Fusion at West Burton in Nottinghamshire. The plant is expected to begin operations in 2040. UKFE also confirmed two major programme
milestones. It has awarded a £70m contract to Tokamak Energy as its first engineering systems partner for next-generation magnet technologies. UKFE also signed a £30m agreement with
Dassault Systèmes to expand STEP’s Product Lifecycle Management capability through the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Together, the Government’s UK Fusion
Strategy, UKAEA’s Strategy and UKFE’s Strategy signal a clear and coordinated national mission to translate decades of scientific development into commercial fusion energy.
United States Dome Test Bed completed Construction of the National Reactor Innovation Center’s (NRIC’s) Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has now been completed. The new facility will enable the rapid development, testing and demonstration of privately developed advanced nuclear reactors. NRIC’s DOME was constructed around the
containment system of the decommissioned Experimental Breeder Reactor-II and is designed to host experimental reactors up to 20 MWt using high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) in an environment that safely supports nuclear systems going critical for the first time. NRIC is developing an end-to-end reactor
testing ecosystem to support reactor developers from the initial design, through testing, and decommissioning. NRIC is working with the first group of reactor developers to complete engineering and experiment design, and to draft nuclear safety documentation to prepare their technology for potential testing in DOME. The test bed features a containment building
to house reactor experiments, a control room area, and a yard with ancillary equipment such as power and radiological ventilation. The NRIC- DOME has penetrations that connect utilities, electricity, instrumentation and control wiring,
and ventilation in the yard and in the control room area to systems and equipment inside. DOME will now open its doors to reactor developers, starting with Radiant, which has started their scheduled year-long test campaign of the Kaleidos Demonstration Unit. Staging will begin later this spring with initial startup of the reactor anticipated in the summer. DOME experiments are scheduled through an annual competitive application process. The sequencing of experiments is based on several criteria, including technology readiness, fuel availability, regulatory approval plan and the ability of applicants to self-fund their testing campaigns. The next request for applications will open this spring.
Russian Federation ATF MOX fuel trialled Three innovative fuel cassettes have been loaded into the VVER-1000 reactor at unit 1 of Russia’s Balakovo NPP. Each contains 312 chromium-coated fuel elements over a classic zirconium alloy, 18 of which contain uranium- plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. The chosen combination of these fuel and
structural materials is important for solving the strategic task of involving both fast reactors and classical thermal light water reactors in a closed fuel cycle. MOX technology allows the use of secondary materials from nuclear reprocessing – depleted uranium and plutonium extracted from used nuclear fuel for the production of fresh fuel. Chromium-plated fuel element cladding,
originally developed for accident tolerant fuel, not only improves core stability and safety in the event of severe accidents but due to their surface properties make it possible to move to fully automated fabrication of fuel assemblies to minimise the radiation impact on personnel. Rosatom’s first uranium-plutonium fuel
for VVER reactors was REMIX fuel – its pilot operation was completed at the Balakovo NPP in March. The plutonium content in the new MOX fuel is several times higher than in REMIX fuel. It also contains depleted uranium rather than enriched uranium. This will make it possible to optimise the economics of fuel fabrication, use regenerated nuclear materials more flexibly, and also utilise the reserves of accumulated depleted uranium. Rosatom specialists calculate that, if the VVER fuel assembly is equipped with 25% fuel rods based on MOX fuel, and the remaining 75% with standard fuel rods with enriched uranium (including regenerated material), then the overall plutonium content will be equivalent to REMIX-assemblies The working name for a similar hybrid
fuel assembly with a mixed fuel type is heterogeneous REMIX. TVEL specialists believe that the introduction of heterogeneous REMIX fuel will reduce the consumption of natural uranium by more than 20%. “The strategic goal of Rosatom and our
image for the future is a two-component nuclear power system in which fast and thermal
round up
REGULATION THE US NUCLEAR Regulatory Commission (NRC) has received an application from Westinghouse Electric Company to renew and update the design certification for its AP1000 reactor, incorporating construction and operating experience from recently completed US reactors. The application seeks to align the certified AP1000 design with the as-built configuration of Vogtle NPP units 3&4, which entered service in 2023 and 2024..
NUCLEAR FUEL POLISH COMPANY SGE has signed two nuclear fuel-related agreements with Spain’s ENUSA Industrias Avanzadas and GNF ENUSA Nuclear Fuel (GENUSA). The two contracts complement one another and support SGE’s broader model of building a platform for BWRX-300 small modular reactor fleet deployment across European markets.
FRANCE’S FRAMATOME HAS signed a (Czech Republic), Fortum (Finland), MVM Paks NPP (Hungary), and Slovenské elektrárne (Slovakia) - to advance development of its European VVER 440 fuel design. This represents a long-term cooperation agreement with the utilities to secure the future diversification and fuel supply of their 440 MW VVER pressurised water reactors.
ROSATOM’S FUEL DIVISION TVEL has delivered nuclear fuel for the initial core of the VVER-1200 reactor at unit 3 of China’s Xudabao NPP « in Liaoning province. The fuel load was manufactured at the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates as part of TVEL’s contract to supply fuel for Xudabao 3&4 , which are being built by Rosatom.
RADWASTE THE MAYOR OF A Tokyo village has expressed willingness to allow the government to conduct a survey on the suitability of Minami-Torishima Island, which is located at the easternmost edge of Japan’s territory in the Pacific, as an underground disposal site for high-level radioactive waste (HLW).
US-BASED NUCLEAR WASTE storage and disposal company Deep Isolation Nuclear has been selected for the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) ARPA-E SCALEUP Ready programme. This will support the commercial deployment of Deep Isolation’s Universal Canister System (UCS) for integrated nuclear waste management. The project team includes Westinghouse, NAC International, Halliburton, Occlusion Nuclear Solutions, Amentum and the Deep Borehole Demonstration Center (DBDC).
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