| NEWS
United States HALEU demo project prepares American Centrifuge Operating (ACO), a subsidiary of Centrus Energy Corp, is moving closer to operating an advanced centrifuge cascade in Piketon, Ohio, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear says. The facility will produce US’ first high-assay low- enriched uranium (HALEU) which is needed to develop and deploy advanced reactors. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently cleared the facility to start up enrichment operations and the demonstration project is on track to produce 20 kg of HALEU before the end of the year. ACO is now authorised to enrich limited quantities of uranium hexafluoride gas into HALEU. The work builds on a three-year project with DOE to manufacture and assemble 16 advanced centrifuges into an enrichment cascade. Following the production of 20 kg of HALEU later this year, ACO will produce 900 kg the following year, with additional options to produce more in future years pending congressional appropriations. “This is a significant step in establishing
commercial production of HALEU in the US,” said Jon Carmack, DOE’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Fuel Cycle & Supply Chain. “It will not only help fuel the dozens of promising new reactor technologies currently under development but also support more than 100 local jobs in the Piketon area.” ACO will now work toward completing the construction of an on-site HALEU storage area and wrap up final testing activities prior to operating the cascade. Centrus began construction of a cascade of
centrifuges in 2019 under contract with the DOE and in 2022, secured a competitively-awarded follow-on contract to finish construction and bring the cascade into operation. The operational readiness reviews were required under Centrus’s NRC licence, which was amended in 2021 to make the Piketon site the only NRC-licensed HALEU production facility. HALEU fuel contains uranium enriched to between 5% and 20% uranium-235 and will required for most of the next-generation reactor designs. Nine of the 10 designs selected for funding under DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, including the two demonstration reactors, will rely on HALEU, as will the first non-light water reactor to enter licensing review by the NRC. Separate from the operations contract,
Centrus is investigating the possibility of scaling up the Piketon facility with additional centrifuge cascades to increase production. However, this depends on sufficient funding or offtake contracts being secured. Centrus says a full-scale HALEU cascade, consisting of 120 individual centrifuge machines, with a combined capacity of approximately 6,000 kg of HALEU a year (6 MTU/year), could be brought online within about 42 months of securing the required funding. An additional cascade could then be added every six months after that.
France
ASN begins assessment of Cigéo France’s Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN – Nuclear Safety Authority) is to start technical examination of the file related to the planned Cigéo deep geological disposal facility. The National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra) submitted the creation authorisation application (DAC – demande d’autorisation de création) to the Ministry for Energy Transition in January. The 10,000-page application, effectively requesting a construction licence, comprises 23 key documents. ASN said it considers that the Cigéo
DAC file is “admissible” and will initiate its technical examination. The DAC “will be examined according to procedures adapted to the exceptional nature of this project , involving in particular the IRSN [Institute for Radiation Protection & Nuclear Safety], the ASN permanent groups of experts and the National Evaluation Commission. The results of this work will be presented to Parliament.” Cigéo is sited on the border between the Meuse and Haute-Marne departments of France and is designed to dispose of the highest levels of radioactive waste at a depth of 500 metres in a geological layer which has been stable for several million years. This project is the outcome of over 30 years of research by Andra with the support of researchers from the national and international scientific community, including 20 years of on-site scientific experiments in Andra’s Underground laboratory. Andra says Cigeo represents a disposal solution for 83,000 m3 of medium and low-level long- lived radioactive waste, half of which is already produced. According to ASN, the filing of the DAC “marks
the start of the file examination procedure” starting with a technical examination expected to take three years. The procedure comprises two essential phases, the technical examination and the consultations. The technical examination, led by ASN, must ensure that the project “presents all the guarantees necessary to meet the safety requirements applicable to it”. In parallel with this technical investigation,
National Evaluation Commission will draw up an opinion on the file, which will be sent to Parliament. ASN has allowed five years overall to study Andra’s file ending with the public inquiry expected towards the end of 2026. If ASN’s final opinion is positive, Andra will launch construction in 2027 leading to a pilot phase with the first cold tests. This will take the form of a “small pilot district” with around 20 cells for high-level waste out of the 900 planned and four cells out of 22 for medium-level waste. For the rest, a new authorisation will be necessary. The first radioactive waste packages are
expected in 2035 or 2040 for a pilot industrial phase planned until 2050 for medium-level, long-lived waste. High level wastes are not expected before 2085. Cigeo will gradually expand underground until 2150, when it closes.
round up
D&D
US-BASED HOLTEC International is using its HI-LIFT heavy load handling technology to speed up decommissioning work at unit 3 of the US Indian Point NPP in Buchanan, New York State. All three units at the Indian Point Energy Centre have been closed. Holtec purchased of the Indian Point Energy Centre from Entergy in 2021 to undertake its decommissioning. Holtec expects decommissioning is take 12-15 years.
CLEAN-UP JAPAN’S NUCLEAR REGULATION Authority has begun a final safety inspection before treated water stored at the Fukushima Daiichi MPP is released into the Pacific Ocean. The previous day plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings installed the last equipment needed for the release — the outlet of the undersea tunnel constructed to release the water 1 km offshore.
CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENT US POWER UTILITY Constellation has agreed to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of one of Microsoft’s data centres in Boydton, Virginia. The centre will receive up to 35% in environmental attributes from nuclear power, complementing purchases of new wind and solar.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT THE CANADIAN NUCLEAR Safety Commission has renewed the non-power reactor operating licence for two Slowpoke-2 research reactors. The licence held by the Royal Military College of Canada was renewed for 20 years and the licence for École Polytechnique de Montréal was renewed for 10 years.
ADVANCED REACTORS THE US DEPARTMENT of Energy (DOE) has awarded seven Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) vouchers to industry partners to support the development of promising advanced nuclear technologies. The companies will be able to leverage the expertise and research capabilities at selected DOE national laboratories to support their projects towards commercial deployment.
POLAND’S NATIONAL CENTRE for Nuclear Research (NCBJ - Narodowe Centrum conceptual design for a new high- temperature gas-cooled research reactor, to be called HTGR-POLA. The helium- cooled reactor will provide 30 MW of thermal power.
www.neimagazine.com | August 2023 | 13
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