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Canada Bruce unit three returns to service Bruce Power has returned unit three to service more than seven months ahead of schedule following its major component replacement (MCR). The unit three MCR project was delivered safely and successfully, continuing Ontario’s track record of delivering nuclear refurbishments on time, on budget and with quality by a skilled workforce, industry partners and a robust ‘Made- in-Canada’ supply chain. As a result, the company is expecting to


return approximately C$150m ($107m) to Ontario ratepayers through the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). Provisions built into the Bruce Power refurbishment agreement with the IESO ensure that the people of Ontario benefit from savings realised during the Life-Extension Programme and operation of Bruce. Unit three’s return to service builds on a series


of strong performance milestones achieved throughout the project, including completion of key phases ahead of schedule driven by lessons learned from earlier refurbishments; unit six was also ahead of schedule and under budget. Most notably among several innovations, the


unit three MCR marked the first time that robotic tools were used on a reactor face to rebuild a CANDU reactor. Bruce Power and its partners also set a CANDU refurbishment record for calandria tube removal by completing it 11 days ahead of schedule. The eight pressurised heavy-water CANDU reactor units at the Bruce site in Ontario (Bruce A – units one to four, and Bruce B – units four to eight) began commercial operation between 1977 and 1987. Bruce Power’s C$13bn Life Extension Programme, which includes asset management and MCR, began in 2016. MCR, which began with unit six and also includes units three to eight, will extend the life of the site until 2064. With the unit four MCR already under way, it represents the midway point for Bruce Power’s Life-Extension Programme to refurbish units three to eight.


United States Xcimer launches Phoenix US-based laser startup Xcimer Energy has activated Phoenix, a 38m-long prototype system and the world’s largest privately owned laser. Housed in Denver, Colorado, the system serves as a foundational proof of concept for affordable, industrial-scale inertial fusion energy (IFE). In 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF)


proved that laser fusion works using a complex, 192-beam solid-state glass laser architecture. Xcimer Energy is approaching fusion with a radically simplified system. Phoenix utilises a Krypton Fluoride excimer


laser core, which it says dramatically cuts overall costs and resists thermal stress far better than solid-state alternatives. Instead of nearly 200 beamlines, Xcimer’s operational architecture is built around just two. The technology leverages stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), which compresses a microsecond-long gas laser pulse into the hyper-fast nanosecond timescales needed.


“NIF proved laser fusion physics works,” said


Xcimer co-founder and president Alexander Valys. “Our thesis is that commercial laser fusion becomes possible only if the laser system itself becomes dramatically simpler, cheaper and more manufacturable.” Building Phoenix forced the company to restore


specialised, Cold War-era knowledge regarding electron-beam-pumped excimer lasers, an area of high-energy physics the US had nearly lost. Phoenix currently operates at pulse energies


in excess of 1kJ. While this is a milestone for gas optic technology, commercial grid fusion will require hitting targets with greater than 12MJ of energy. Xcimer is navigating a multi-phase


development timeline to get to achieve this: ● Phoenix (2026): active demonstration of core tech and integrated SBS pulse compression at Denver laser bay


● Anvil (2028): commercial-scale excimer amplifier delivering 200kJ on target in a complete two-sided beamline


● Vulcan (early 2030s): 4MJ–12MJ laser system targeting wall-plug breakeven and supporting high-energy-density and national-security applications – Xcimer expects to select a Vulcan site this year


● Athena (mid-2030s): Commercial-scale laser fusion power plant designed for continuous grid-scale electricity generation aiming for an output of roughly 400MWe


United Kingdom Reactor vessel installed at Hinkley 2 The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) has been installed at unit two of the Hinkley Point C NPP under construction in Somerset, UK, which will host two 1.63GWe European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs). The RPV was installed using ‘Big Carl’, the world’s largest crane. EDF Energy said using Big Carl to lift the 500t cylinder was an innovation for unit two “and another example of the project finding ways to improve performance between units 1 and 2”. The first reactor was lifted using a large temporary overhead lifting system. The new method saves space, time and money. The RPV was manufactured at Framatome’s


Saint-Marcel plant in Chalon-sur-Saône. After being lifted, the RPV was inserted through a 19.5m-high equipment hatch for installation in the reactor building. Once inside, the 13m-long RPV was lifted and rotated into a vertical position by the large internal “polar” crane and lowered carefully onto a support ring with a clearance of just 40mm on either side. The installation process took two days and was completed less than a year after the steel dome was lifted into place to close the second reactor building. Unit two is being built 20%–30% faster than


unit one, leveraging that experience. The unit two reactor building is further ahead than at the same stage for unit one, with more equipment installed, as well as more structural steel work and the outer containment layer already in place. Three large heat exchangers have already been installed in unit two, compared with none at the same point in unit one.


round up


EDF AND UK-BASED Centrica are prepared to invest £800m ($1.07bn) to extend the operating life of the Sizewell B NPP in Suffolk to 2055 from 2035. EDF and Centrica are closing in on a draft agreement with the UK Government to secure this 20-year lifetime extension. The proposed funding aims to keep the plant operational, mitigating a projected nuclear generation gap as older advanced gas-cooled reactors face scheduled retirements.


EQUIPMENT NRG PALLAS AND FCC Construcción have signed an agreement that ensures the procurement, fabrication and seamless implementation of specialised hot cells for the state-of-the-art Pallas reactor in Petten, the Netherlands, which will replace the ageing high flux reactor. For the Pallas reactor, hot cells are long-lead components. Securing their production early prevents upstream structural delays as they must be integrated directly into the civil architecture of the primary reactor building.


POLICY THE BULGARIAN COUNCIL of Ministers has formally granted a targeted sanctions derogation to allow the Kozloduy NPP to import critical iron and steel products, original components and technical assistance from Russian suppliers. This decision exempts the power plant from certain restrictions within EU Council Regulation 833/2014, allowing public procurement contracts to fulfil existing agreements deemed necessary for technical security.


ARGENTINA’S NATIONAL ATOMIC Energy Commission (CNEA Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica) marked its 76th anniversary and National Atomic Energy Day by presenting the Guidelines of the Argentine Nuclear Policy 2026. The event, led by CNEA president Martín Porro and Secretary of Nuclear Affairs Federico Ramos Napoli outlined a major strategic shift towards private capital integration and commercial viability.


THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION (EC) has dropped its preliminary inquiry and decided not to launch an in-depth investigation into Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation regarding the Czech Dukovany NPP project. After a 16-month preliminary review, the EC concluded there were no grounds to believe that KHNP gained an unfair advantage through state subsidies.


www.neimagazine.com | July 2026 | 9


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