NEWS |
round up
PLANT OPERATION THE CANADIAN NUCLEAR Safety Commission (CNSC) has granted a 10-year Power Reactor Operating Licence to NB Power for the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station.
JAPAN’S SAPPORO DISTRICT Court has ordered that the reactors at the Tomari NPP should remain offline. Hokkaido Electric had been hoping to restart the plant, as surging fuel costs for thermal power plants have pushed down its revenues.
JAPAN’S SHIMANE PREFECTURE has approved a plan to restart unit 2 at Chugoku Electric Power Co.’s Shimane NPP. The company is seeking to restart the 820MWe boiling water reactor (BWR) in 2023 at the earliest. It has been offline since 2012, and will be first BWR to restart since the 2011 Fukushima.
EDF ENERGY SENT a memo to staff saying it would not postpone the closure of the two reactors at the Hinkley Point B in the UK, which are scheduled to be shut down on 8 July and 1 August. It added that an extension would involve compiling a detailed safety case that would have to be approved by the UK’s nuclear regulator.
UPGRADES FOLLOWING THE MODERNISATION and optimisation of the cooling towers, production at the Dukovany NPP by approximately 15,500 MWh.
SWEDEN’S VATTENFALL IS preparing to increase in the power of the Forsmark NPP unit 1 reactor by just over 100MWe, half of which can be done during the next outage in autumn. The power at the Forsmark 2 reactor was increased by just over 100MWe in 2013.
EQUIPMENT GE STEAM POWER has signed a $165 million agreement with Indian state-run engineering firm Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) for the supply of three nuclear steam turbines for the first phase of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd’s domestic nuclear programme.
PRODUCTION OF EQUIPMENT has begun for unit 1 of El-Dabaa NPP due to begin construction in Egypt. An Egyptian delegation paid a working visit to the Leningrad NPP and Russian machine- building enterprises that manufacture NPP equipment.
China’s largest NPP at Hongyanhe
fully operational
Unit 6 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power station, the first NPP to be built in northeast China, is now fully operational. The station, which is located in Liaoning Province, has a total installed capacity of over 6710MWe, making it the largest operating nuclear power station in China. Construction of the plant began in August
2007. The first phase comprised four CPR-1000 pressurised water reactors (units 1-4), which were in operation by 2016. The construction of two more units began in 2015. Hongyanhe Phase II, units 5&6, comprises two 1080 MWe CGN-designed ACPR-1000 reactors. Construction of unit 5 began in March 2015 and unit 6 in the following July. Unit 5 began commercial operation in July 2021.
Japan Japanese industry hit by admissions on test falsifications Japan’s industrial sector has been rocked by admissions from major manufacturers that they have falsified or failed to check quality assurance data – sometimes for decades. Local reports noted that the failings had recently emerged although companies were told to thoroughly review their testing practices about five years ago.
In April, Mitsubishi Electric admitted to
fraudulently conducting quality assurance tests on transformers destined for Japanese and overseas sites after an investigation by an external committee. According to reports in Japan’s Asahi Shimbun the committee confirmed “improper statements” in inspection reports, including design deviations and test failings. The investigation is continuing and a further report from the investigators is expected shortly. In May a second manufacturer, Japan Steel
Works Ltd, also admitted to faking inspection data on components over 25 years. Local reports said that fabricated data included components such as rotor shafts – 70 products of over 500 delivered in 2021. The company reportedly denied that serious operational issues have arisen from the fraudulent data but admitted it is discussing replacement with some customers. The reports said that if products failed to meet the standards during inspections, the company’s product department instructed the inspection department to fake the data so that they would pass. It also omitted some of the procedures to avoid delivery delays.
8 | July 2022 |
www.neimagazine.com
Hongyanhe NPP is owned and operated by Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Company, a joint venture between CGN and State Power Investment Corporation, each holding a 45% stake, with the Dalian Municipal Construction Investment Co holding the remaining 10%. The Hongyanhe plant is also expected to
provide district heating. In March, the Liaoning Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Company signed a cooperation agreement with China’s State Power Investment Northeast Electric Power Company for the construction, operation and maintenance of a key nuclear heating demonstration project based at the plant. The project is expected to provide heating to an area of 242,400 m2 this winter. ■
in the town of Hongyanhe
The products in question were shipped for use at thermal or nuclear power plants, but it did not say which. An investigation is expected to report in October. A third company, Kobe Steel Ltd, is reportedly
in the early days of disclosure of falsification of steel manufacturing data. It and its subsidiaries have supplied products to the nuclear industry since the 1960s. Business newspaper Nikkei said the practice of shipping products that did not meet customer specifications was referred to as tokusai and it had become institutionalized at Kobe Steel companies. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) and Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry asked the country’s nuclear plant owners to provide details of Kobe Steel products supplied to their reactors. Among the customers is the Rokkasho-mura
plutonium reprocessing plant whose owner, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL), previously admitted it had fabricated records on safety inspections.
Czech Republic ČEZ to take over Škoda JS Czech state power company ČEZ Group is to become a sole owner of Czech nuclear energy company Škoda JS, a subsidiary of Russian engineering group United Heavy Machinery (OMZ) which is controlled by Gazprombank. Because of the current situation in Ukraine, both OMZ and Škoda JS are on the USA sanctions list, which would have impacted its ability to maintain key services and supplies for ČEZ’s NPPs. Along with Škoda JS, ČEZ will also acquire
Škoda’s shares in the science and research facility ÚJV Řež. This will increase the shares U
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