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round up
SAFETY AND SECURITY AN INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC Energy Agency Operational Safety Review Team of experts has completed mission to France’s Civaux NPP. The mission, carried out at the request of French government, concluded that the plant had strengthened operational safety by addressing the findings of an IAEA review which took place in 2019.
COMPANY NEWS FRAMATOME HAS ANNOUNCED the acquisition of the energy and defence subsidiaries of the EFINOR group, operating in the nuclear energy and naval defence sectors in France and the UK. Through this acquisition, Framatome reinforces its industrial welding skills and its range of qualified welding procedures, and boosts its expertise in component manufacturing, engineering and services.
NUCLEAR FUEL EXPERIMENTAL ACCIDENT TOLERANT fuel (ATF) elements are being tested in the MIR research reactor at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (NIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad, Russian fuel company TVEL (part of Rosatom) said. This is part of the programme to develop Russian ATF for VVERs and foreign-designed pressurised water reactors.
CHINA NUCLEAR BAOTOU Nuclear Fuel Components Co, part of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), has produced a dummy AP1000 fuel assembly using entirely domestically-manufactured components. CNNC said it can now meet both domestic and export requirements and production of fuel for Westinghouse- designed AP-1000 reactors has now been localised.
RUSSIAN SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTES will begin testing fuel rods for SMRs. The Luch Scientific Production Association in Podolsk has supplied samples of fibre uranium-niobium fuel elements (fuel rods) of various modifications for reactor testing at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad.
FRANCE’S FRAMATOME HAS signed a new agreement with Vattenfall Nuclear Fuel for long-term nuclear fuel supply. Under this contract Framatome will continue to secure fuel deliveries of Atrium 11 boiling water reactor fuel until 2034 to unit 3 of Vattenfall’s Forsmark NPP in Sweden.
V Finland Green Party in first to support nuclear Finland’s Green Party (Vihreät De Gröna) voted by a large majority at its party conference to adopt a pro-nuclear approach. The party manifesto now states that nuclear is “sustainable energy” and demands the reform of current energy legislation to streamline the approval process for small modular reactors (SMRs). Finland’s is the first Green Party to adopt such a position. “This is a historical moment in the history of
the green movement, as we are the first green party in the world to officially let go of anti- nuclearism,” said Tea Törmänen, who attended the conference as chair of the Savonia/Karelia chapter of Viite, the pro-science internal group of the party. The Green Party shift represents a win for the Finnish Greens for Science and Technology, (Viite) which was founded in 2008 as an internal party grouping to “advance political decision-making that is based on scientific knowledge.” The platform also supports licence
extensions for existing nuclear reactors, and supports replacing the planned Fennovoima Hanhikivi NPP with “an equal amount of stable, low-carbon baseload energy production”. Finland’s Green Party holds 20 seats in the national parliament and is part of the government coalition, holding the foreign ministry, the internal ministry and the ministry of environment and climate.
United States Palisades NPP permanently closes ahead of schedule Control room operators at US power company Entergy have removed the Palisades NPP reactor from service for the final time. Operators made the conservative decision to shut down the plant early due to the performance of a control rod drive seal. The plant was originally scheduled to permanently shut down on 31 May, but it came about on 20 May. The final shut down marks the end of more than 50 years of electricity generation at the plant, which began commercial operation in 1971. Following the removal of used fuel from the reactor, the facility will be transferred to Holtec International for decommissioning as previously agreed. In December 2021, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved the transfer of the Palisades NPP licences from Entergy Nuclear Operations to Holtec International, as owner, and Holtec Decommissioning International (HDI), as decommissioning operator. The shutdown of Palisades, which was announced in 2017, completes Entergy’s strategy to exit the merchant power generation business and coincides with the expiration of the station’s 15-year power purchase agreement with Consumers Energy. The single-unit 798MWe PWR was shut down
after continuously generating electricity for 577 days since it was last refuelled – a site and
12 | June 2022 |
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world record production run for a plant of its kind. Palisades remains ranked in the. NRC’s highest safety category and is regarded by its peers as one of the top industry performers. Holtec’s filings with the NRC detail its plans
to complete the dismantling, decontamination, and remediation of Palisades to NRC standards by 2041, more than 40 years sooner than if Entergy had continued to own the facility and selected the maximum 60-year NRC SAFSTOR option for decommissioning. Palisades, the smallest of Michigan’s three
operating nuclear plants, is licensed to operate until 2031. The other Michigan plants are American Electric Power’s two-unit DC Cook plant and DTE Energy’s single-unit Fermi 2, operated by Detroit Edison.
China Conventional island foundation completed for Linglong 1 SMR The concrete foundation slab has been completed for the conventional island of the ACP100 multi-purpose small modular reactor (SMR) demonstration project (Linglong One). Being built at China’s Changjiang NPP on the island province of Hainan, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said construction of the slab – 60 metres long and 53 metres wide – lasted 169 days and it was completed 10 days ahead of schedule. CNNC said it contains some 1300 tonnes
of steel reinforcement and was built in nine sections. The thickness of the foundation for the steam turbine base is 2.5 metres, while the thickness of the other sections ranges between one and four metres. Construction of the 125 MWe ACP100
integrated PWR began in July 2021. The reactor. under development since 2010, is designed for electricity production, heating, steam production or seawater desalination. The preliminary design was completed in 2014. The major components of the primary coolant circuit are installed within the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). In 2016, the design became the first SMR to pass a safety review by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The preliminary safety analysis report for a single unit Changjiang demonstration plant was approved in April 2020. Construction time is expected to be 58 months. The project involves a joint venture of
three main companies: CNNC subsidiary China National Nuclear Power as owner and operator; the Nuclear Power Institute of China as the reactor designer; and China Nuclear Power Engineering Group being responsible for plant construction. For the demonstration plant, the RPV is being supplied by Shanghai Boiler Works Limited, the steam generators by a CNNC subsidiary and other reactor internals by Dongfang Electric Corporation. The Changjiang site already hosts two
operating CNP600 PWRs with two Hualong One units also under construction and due to enter commercial operation by the end of 2026. ■
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