| NEWS The platform facilitates the collection,


aggregation, and analysis of on-site data, thereby supporting optimal investment planning and plant maintenance through data- driven insights. Key Features of the Metaverse Platform for


NPPs include: Point Cloud Data & CAD alignment to recreate NPPs in a metaverse; AI search; multi-user collaboration; engineering support tools; secure communication through encrypted interactions limited to authorised users. The Metaverse Platform will facilitate optimal


investment and maintenance planning by detecting failures in advance and predicting future equipment conditions, thereby realising data-driven decision-making. This enables Hitachi to address the diverse needs and challenges faced by electric utilities–such as improving equipment reliability, enhancing work management, and increasing operational efficiency–through data-driven value creation and problem-solving.


United States Centrus produces 900kg of HALEU US Centrus Energy Corp has produced 900kg of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). It is the first of its kind in the US and marks a key milestone in the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) HALEU Demonstration project. DOE contracted with Centrus subsidiary


American Centrifuge Operating in 2019 to construct a cascade of 16 advanced centrifuges in Piketon, Ohio, to demonstrate HALEU production. In November 2022, the company was awarded a follow-on contract to start up the cascade. Centrus began enrichment in 2023 for an initial 20kg and were then tasked with producing 900kg by the end of June 2025. The material will be used as part of DOE’s


HALEU allocation process to support the fuel qualification and testing of advanced reactor designs. The Piketon plant is currently the only US facility licensed to enrich uranium up to 19.75% and is the first US-owned plant to start enrichment production since the 1950s. Centrus Energy President & CEO Amir


Vexler noted: “As the only source of HALEU enrichment in the Western world, our product is urgently needed to power the next generation of reactors.” Mike Goff, Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, said the HALEU demonstration project is critical to DOE’s efforts to ensure there is enough HALEU material “to meet the near-term needs of our industry partners as they work to turn on their advanced reactors for the first time”. DOE recently extended its contract with


Centrus to produce an additional 900 kgs over the next year to help support the near-term needs of industry. DOE is also supporting efforts to provide more access to HALEU. These include recycling used nuclear fuel from government-owned research reactors and competitive awards to incentivise commercial HALEU production and private investment in the nation’s nuclear fuel supply infrastructure.


United Kingdom EDF confirms investment in Sizewell C EDF has confirmed that it will take a 12.5% stake in Sizewell C NPP under construction in the UK, a reduction on its current 16.2% stake. EDF is the first shareholder to announce its backing for the plant after the UK government confirmed funding of £14.2bn ($19.3bn) in its recent Spending Review. EDF said its latest investment would


represent a maximum of £1.1bn. The company has already invested around €600m ($703m). Bpifrance export credit agency will provide a £5bn debt guarantee to the NPP, according to the UK government. Confirming the EDF stake, the UK government


said: “further investors and details on the project’s financing will be confirmed at the point of the final investment decision (FID).” The FID, originally targeted for late last year, is now set for this summer. In April, Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, said the FID would be taken in June. The twin Hinkley Point C NPP in Somerset is


estimated to have exceeded £40bn of costs after years of delay. In January, the French auditor ordered EDF to refinance the Hinkley project before finalising an investment in Sizewell C. Jenny Kirtley, chairwoman of Together


Against Sizewell, noted: “If reports that EDF’s stake in Sizewell C will only be 12.5% are true…. This will have allowed the original Sizewell C promoter, EDF, to invest the bare minimum into the project, with the result that UK residents will be subsidising French industry and the French government for the next 75 years – during 15 years of construction and 60 years of operation.” Sizewell C will feature two EPRs producing


3.2 GWe for at least 60 years – similar to Hinkley Point C in Somerset – the first new nuclear construction project in the UK for about three decades. In 2016, EDF and China General Nuclear (CGN) agreed to develop Sizewell C with EDF holding an 80% stake and CGN 20%. However, the UK government subsequently blocked Chinese investments in UK infrastructure and undertook to invest £679m and become a 50% partner with EDF in the project. Following additional UK government funding, EDF’s stake fell to 16.2% and will now fall further to 12.5%. The UK government has been seeking private


sector investment in Sizewell C, launching a pre- qualification for potential investors as the first stage of an equity raise in September 2023. According to media reports, Canada’s


Brookfield Corporation is now set to become the largest private investor with a stake of around 20%. Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea said in June that it would also invest up to 20% in the project. Other potential investors that the government contacted are thought to include Amber Infrastructure Group, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, Equitix and Schroders Greencoat. The government has said it will remain a “significant shareholder” in the project, which it said will enable it to limit delays.


round up


POLICY IRANIAN PRESIDENT MASOUD Pezeshkian has signed into law a bill passed by Parliament that obliges the administration to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The new law also bars IAEA inspectors from entering Iran and prohibits the installation of surveillance cameras at nuclear facilities.


SAFETY & SECURITY CHORNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER Plant (ChNPP) says a new project will be financed under Grant Agreement No5 with the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development. The project aims to assess the damage and develop a plan of emergency repair activities for the New Safe Confinement (NSC) outer cladding and sealing membrane following a drone strike in February. The initial phase of the project will include surveys and assessment of the technical condition.


REGULATION AN INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC Energy Agency (IAEA) Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) team has concluded a full-scope review in China covering all facilities, activities and exposure situations. Karine Herviou, Head of the IAEA Department of Nuclear Safety & Security, said the team “recognised the Government’s unequivocal support to ensure a strong national safety regulator, including the provision of human and financial resources, while also proposing specific actions for further enhancements”.


CANADA-BASED ARC Clean Technology has achieved a major regulatory milestone with the completion of Phase 2 of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) Vendor Design Review (VDR) for its ARC- small modular reactor (SMR). CNSC concluded that no fundamental barriers to licensing had been identified. The technology is being advanced in partnership with New Brunswick Power (NB Power) at their Point Lepreau site.


COMPANIES THE POSSIBLE SALE of a 49% stake in the Akkuyu NPP under construction in Türkiye is covered by the 2010 intergovernmental agreement on implementation of the project, Rosatom noted, commenting on a Bloomberg report that Rosatom is negotiating selling a share in the plant to foreign investors. “The negotiation process continues, we are discussing opportunities with potential partners, including Turkish companies, Rosatom said.


www.neimagazine.com | August 2025 | 9


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