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than 40 years old, operating well beyond life expectancy. It has repeatedly required unplanned and expensive maintenance”. DOE spends about $781m a year maintaining about 2,200 buildings; 2,500 other structures and facilities; 1,200 trailers; and support elements such as roads and utilities at these cleanup sites. “And those costs are spiraling. For example, as of June 2025, DOE reported over $1.5bn in repair needs across its efforts”. During the last five years, DOE’s budget for maintenance and repairs at cleanup sites has nearly doubled. “These costs are anticipated to further increase over time. In fact, the department’s budget request included over $950m in maintenance spending at cleanup sites for fiscal year 2026 alone,” GAO said. However, GAO noted some good news: “DOE


reports that the number of facilities at cleanup sites with deferred maintenance and repair needs has been declining since 2022. The department has made significant progress in reducing the number of facilities in poor or very poor condition. In fact, as of last June, DOE reported that 80% of all facilities were considered to be in ‘good’ or ‘very good’ condition.” Nevertheless, maintenance backlogs remain. And funds are still needed to complete those repairs. These backlogs were concentrated at four sites: Hanford – $467m for 1,547 facilities; SRS – $278.1m for 1,842 facilities; Oak Ridge – $62.8m for 547 facilities; and Idaho – $48.1m for 409 facilities. For all the other sites the backlog was $97m for 1,548 facilities. To help prioritise projects, DOE created a


Master Asset Plan in 2023 that looks at all sites’ conditions, maintenance needs, and work priorities. “But when we looked at it, we found it may not capture the reality of each site’s current needs... Specifically, eight of 13 sites reported that the plan doesn’t reflect their current maintenance needs.”


DOE has also identified projects that it says


could save money long term. This includes 19 projects totalling $120m. “But the department hasn’t communicated these potential costs-saving projects to Congress.” DOE’s Office of Environmental Management


(EM) reported over $1.5bn in repair needs across its about 4,300 operating facilities, as of June 2025. EM’s budget request included over $950m in maintenance spending in fiscal year 2026, an 80% increase since fiscal year 2020. GAO made four recommendations. The


Assistant Secretary for EM should: ● Ensure sites create and complete corrective action plans to correct data issues


● Ensure EM sites have procedures to accurately and comparably capture deferred maintenance and annual maintenance data


● Better incorporate more reliable information from EM sites in the Master Asset Plan, such as site project prioritisation for infrastructure maintenance to better reflect site needs


● Communicate to Congress the reductions in cost and risk to mission that can be achieved by specific projects identified by their prioritisation model.


China Fuel loading at Taipingling and Changjiang Fuel assemblies have been loaded for the first time at unit 2 of China’s Taipingling NPP in Guangdong Province and unit 3 of Changjiang NPP in Hainan Province both with Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors. At Taipingling 2, 177 fuel assemblies were


loaded into the reactor core after China’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued a 40-year operating licence for the unit. “Completion of the first fuel load at unit 2 marks the successful transition of the unit from the construction phase to the commissioning phase and represents a decisive step towards completing the first phase of the project,” China General Nuclear (CGN) said. The Taipingling project is planned to house a


total of six Hualong One units. Once all six are completed, the plant is expected to generate more than 55 TWh a year. This will be equivalent to reducing standard coal consumption by around 16.65m tonnes and cutting carbon dioxide emissions by about 50.82m tonnes annually. Taipingling 1&2 comprise Phase 1 of the


project. Taipingling 1 received an operating licence from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in December 2025 the unit was connected to the grid in February and began commercial operation in March. Construction Phase 2 (units 3&4) was approved by China’s State Council in December 2023, and construction of unit 3 began in June 2025. Preparatory work for Phase III ( units 5&6) is beginning. “Based on the successful experience of building and commissioning unit 1, the team further optimised construction technologies and management processes, successfully completed hot testing of unit 2 and implemented a range of digital applications including digital delivery, digital transformation of spare parts and exoskeleton robots,” CGN noted. Meanwhile, 177 fuel assemblies were also


loaded at Changjiang 3. China Huaneng said this “marks a decisive step towards the subsequent nuclear launch of the unit and its connection”. Changjiang 3&4, both with Hualong One


reactors, are planned to be fully operational in early 2027. First concrete was poured for the base slab of unit 3’s nuclear island in March 2021, and for unit 4 the following December. Cold hydraulic tests were completed at unit 3 in April followed by hot functional tests. Changjiang Phase II (units 3&4) involved


estimated investment of CNY40bn ($6.4bn), according to China Huaneng, which holds a 51% share in the project. China National Nuclear Corporation holds the remaining 49%. The construction period is expected to be 60 months. Both units should be fully operational in early 2027. The site is already home to two operating


CNP-600 pressurised water reactors – Changjiang 1&2 – which entered commercial operation in 2015 and 2016. In 2021, CNNC also began construction of a demonstration ACP100 small modular reactor (Linglong One) at the site.


round up


NUCLEAR FUEL FRAMATOME HAS SIGNED a technical cooperation agreement with the Czech       


THE US HAS RECEIVED         





RADWASTE KAZAKHSTAN’S LOWER CHAMBER        


ADVANCED REACTORS THE US DEPARTMENT         


SMRS


THE US DEPARTMENT  selected eight companies to support the        


US START-UP FIRST        


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