NEWS |
round up
NUCLEAR FUEL FRANCE BASED NUCLEAR start-up Newcleo has received a favourable opinion from the council of the Aube Department region in eastern France for the sale of land in the Nogentais area as the site for a mixed-oxide (mox) fuel manufacturing facility to fuel its planned small modular lead-cooled fast reactors. The fuel would be produced from nuclear materials recovered through fuel reprocessing.
RADWASTE APPROXIMATELY 2,000 US gallons of treated tank waste from the US Hanford Site have been solidified in grout and permanently disposed of at licensed commercial facilities as part of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management’s (EM’s) Test Bed Initiative. Following in-tank treatment at Hanford to reduce radioactivity by more than 99%, contractor Hanford Tank Waste Operations & Closure (H2C) shipped it to Waste Control Specialists in Texas and EnergySolutions in Utah.
CLEAN-UP THE US DEPARTMENT of Energy (DOE) says Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) crews transferred 40 used nuclear fuel baskets into safer, long-term storage vaults. Office of Environmental Management (EM) contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC) finished the final transfer – moving used fuel from older, first-generation vaults to new, second-generation vaults - several months ahead of schedule. The baskets contain fuel from unit 1 of the Peach Bottom plant, which was shipped to the Idaho National Laboratory site following the station’s closure in 1974.
ADVANCED REACTORS US TERRAPOWER HAS awarded three supplier contracts to support its Natrium project, under construction in Kemmerer, Wyoming. This is the fifth round of procurement awards for the project. The contracts went to AVANTech, Structural Integrity Associates and PAR Systems. TerraPower has already secured 100% of the long-lead items for the project, and has awarded the entire Natrium reactor enclosure system.
US-BASED TERRESTRIAL Energy and NRG PALLAS are starting the final phase of their graphite irradiation programme for Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR). The tests will enable Terrestrial Energy to finalise the qualification of graphite for licensing and future operation of its IMSR plant. The tests are conducted at the High Flux Reactor (HFR) Research Centre of NRG PALLAS in Petten (the Netherlands).
Canada Gentilly 1 decommissioning milestone Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has completed ahead of schedule the transfer of all used nuclear fuel from the Gentilly-1 Waste Management Facility (G1WF) site in Québec to Chalk River Laboratories (CRL). This marks completion of the Gentilly-1 Fuel Consolidation Project, clearing the way for the next steps in the decommissioning and environmental remediation of the facility. CNL undertook the work on behalf of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). “The efficient and safe completion of this important project reflects the deep expertise CNL has developed through years of complex, technical work in nuclear material management,” said Mark Chapman, senior director of the Fuel Program. “The project required detailed planning and coordination, including the development of specialised fuel- handling systems, and enhancements to storage infrastructure at CRL.” The fuel is now securely stored in modern purpose-built canisters at the Chalk River Laboratories – where it will remain until the Nuclear Waste Management Organisation’s planned long-term disposal facility for used nuclear fuel becomes available. CNL’s strategy is aligned with Canada’s national policy to reduce the number of waste sites by centralising the safe and secure storage of fuel waste. “The successful delivery of this project is
a reflection of the expertise, dedication, and collaboration across our entire organisation,” said Jack Craig, CNL President and CEO. Earlier this year, CNL submitted an
application to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to amend the G1WF’s licence to authorise decommissioning activities. As part of this regulatory process, the public and Indigenous Nations, communities, and organisations will be invited to review and provide input on CNL’s plans. If approved, the amended licence would permit CNL to begin decommissioning all remaining buildings and structures at the site.
Russian Federation New generation centrifuges installed Ninth generation gas centrifuges have been installed at Rosatom’s Electrochemical Plant (EKhZ -ElektroKhimicheskii Zavod) in Zelenogorsk (Krasnoyarsk). Upgrading of the main equipment in the uranium enrichment workshop has been completed. Installation of the modern gas centrifuges took six years. Most of the cascades were put into operation ahead of schedule. The project was part of a programme to modernise separation equipment in Rosatom’s Fuel Division TVEL, with the phased replacement of older gas centrifuges. TVEL said it was possible to maintain a high quality schedule thanks to effective organisation for: purchase of equipment and materials; installation; commissioning operations; effective interaction of all plant
10 | August 2025 |
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divisions and contractor organisations; the effective use of digitalisation of technological processes; the tools of the Rosatom production system; and project management. “It is symbolic that a significant historical
milestone in the modernisation of basic equipment was reached during the eightieth anniversary of the nuclear industry,” said EKhZ Director General Sergey Filimonov. “Technical re-equipment of our enterprise is a significant foundation for the successful implementation of the production programme of Rosatom’s Fuel Division in subsequent years, , including for the provision of nuclear fuel to new Russian- designed nuclear power units at home and abroad.” EKhZ produces low-enriched uranium for NPP fuel assemblies, a range of stable and radioactive isotopes and a number of other high-tech products. TVEL provides fuel to a total of 75 power reactors in 15 countries, research reactors in nine countries, as well as reactors for the Russian nuclear fleet. Every sixth power reactor in the world is powered by TVEL fuel. Rosatom’s fuel division is the world’s largest producer of enriched uranium, as well as the leader in the global stable isotopes market.
United States DOME microreactor experiments start The US Department of Energy (DOE) has conditionally selected Westinghouse and Radiant to perform the first tests using the Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) facility at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The first-of-a-kind experiments are intended to fast-track the deployment of US microreactor technologies. The DOME test bed, currently under
construction, is repurposing the lab’s Experimental Breeder Reactor-II containment structure to lower the risk of developing microreactor designs capable of producing 20 MWt or less and is on track to receive its first fuelled reactor experiment in early 2026. The facility is operated by DOE’s National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC). In 2024, Westinghouse, Radiant, and Ultra
Safe Nuclear were selected to receive federal funding totalling $3.9bn to support them in the front-end engineering & experiment design (FEEED) process in preparation for the testing of fuelled reactor experiments at DOME. Data collected from the experiments will be used to commercialise each reactor technology. Westinghouse and Radiant are currently working through the multi-phase DOE authorisation process to support the design, fabrication, construction, and testing of each fuelled reactor experiment. Westinghouse (Etna, Pennsylvania) will test the eVinci Nuclear Test Reactor to inform the development of its commercial transportable microreactor that uses advanced heat pipe technology to passively cool the reactor. The eVinci reactor is designed to produce 5 MWe on small sites.
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