NEWS |


round up


NEW BUILD THE HEAVY CIVIL Infrastructure (HCI) business of India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has won a significant order from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to support the construction of units 5&6 at the Kudankulam NPP in Tamil Nadu.


WORK HAS STARTED at the construction site of Leningrad II NPP laying the foundation for the turbine building of unit 3 – also known as Leningrad 7. General contractor TITAN-2 has started to install reservoir drainage at the site. Workers will have to make a three-layer building structure from a concrete and sand mixture in a pit with an area of about 8,000 square metres, creating a filter layer between it and the future foundation of the turbine building. TITAN-2 has also completed installation of the first tier of the internal containment shell for unit 7.


US-BASED START-up Deep Fission, which plans to place small modular pressurised water reactors in boreholes one mile underground, has selected its first three planned sites in Texas, Utah, and Kansas, signing Letters of Intent (LOIs) with partners at each location to pursue joint development projects. Deep Fission says its reactors are scalable from 15 MWe to 1.5 GWe.


JAPAN’S KANSAI ELECTRIC Power Co said it will resume a geological survey at its Mihama NPP in Fukui Prefecture in preparation for construction of a safer, next-generation nuclear reactor. Surveys for a replacement reactor at Mihama began in late 2010 but halted after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The new round will be more extensive to meet stricter safety regulations.


UK PLANNING AND development consultancy Turley has submitted a planning application for a new nuclear energy facility on a brownfield site that was formerly part of the Berkeley nuclear power plant in south-west England. The site comprises an area of previously developed land which formed part of the wider Berkeley nuclear power station. It is currently occupied by the Gloucestershire Science & Technology Park, acquired by Chiltern Vital Berkeley in 2024.


CHINA HAS SIGNED a contract for the construction of the nuclear islands for three reactors at the Xuwei NPP in Jiangsu province. The project, located near China National Nuclear Corporation’s Tianwan NPP, will supply both industrial heating and electricity by combining a Generation IV high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with two third-generation Hualong One pressurised water reactors.


UK-US SMR partnership


energy sources, before the SMR power plant becomes operational later in the 2030s. Holtec’s 320 MWe pressurised water reactor,


is in stage 2 of the GDA process, started in late 2023.


Above: Deployment of X-energy’s Xe-100 plant in the UK could benefit from a US unit Source: Centrica


A raft of deals to develop new nuclear capacity has been signed between UK and US companies focusing on deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors across a range of applications. The deal has been hailed as putting the country on course for a ‘golden age’ of nuclear power. The agreement – officially known as the


Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy – is expected to spur a major expansion of new nuclear projects in the UK. Through increased regulatory collaboration and harmonisation, the US and UK aim to accelerate the time it takes to license a new nuclear project from 3-4 years to around 24 months. Recent SMR and microreactor announcements include:


X-energy and Centrica British utility Centrica has teamed up with X-energy on a joint development agreement that could see up to 12 Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) built at the existing Hartlepool nuclear site in North East England. The project could begin full-scale activities


as early as next year with first electricity generation expected by the mid-2030s, subject to regulatory approvals. Hartlepool is already designated for new nuclear build. X-energy started early engagement with the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) in March and has signalled its intention to apply for the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of the Xe-100.


Holtec, EDF and Tritax at Cottam A memorandum of understanding (MOU) between reactor developer Holtec International, EDF UK and Tritax Management envisages building SMR-300s to power new data centres at the former Cottam coal-fired power station in Nottinghamshire which closed in 2019. The Cottam project is at an early stage, with


feasibility studies and early-stage investment discussion underway. The 1 GW data centre at the site is targeted to come online “by the end of the decade”. Initially, it will have a “significant contribution” from renewable


6 | October 2025 | www.neimagazine.com


Last Energy and DP World US-based microreactor developer Last Energy and logistics company DP World have inked a MOU to establish a single 20 MWe microreactor at the London Gateway logistics hub. Backed by £80m ($108m) in private


investment, the proposed PWR-20 unit would supply clean, baseload power needed to support expansion of London Gateway. Operation aims to start by 2030, potentially making the project one of the world’s first dedicated to powering port operations. Last Energy is already engaging with the


UK regulator. In June, ONR completed a preliminary design review of the PWR-20. Last Energy does not intend to complete a GDA for its microreactor. Instead, the company is in the process of applying for a nuclear site licence and environmental permit to build four privately-financed PWR-20s at coal-fired Llynfi power station site in South Wales. ONR has confirmed a site licence for the


Llynfi project could be received as early as December 2027. Last Energy told NEi the London Gateway


project would follow a ‘project-specific nuclear site licensing process’, aiming to complete approvals on a schedule for 2030 delivery.


TerraPower and KBR Building on an existing alliance, TerraPower and engineering company KBR have revealed plans evaluate potential sites for deployment of the Natrium advanced reactor technology in the UK. Natrium comprises a 345 MWe sodium-cooled


fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system, which enables the plant to quickly ramp up power supply when demand peaks. TerraPower said it remains on track to enter the UK’s GDA process in 2025.


Urenco and Radiant ink HALEU deal Uranium enrichment and fuel cycle company Urenco has signed an agreement to supply high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to support the deployment of Radiant’s Kaleidos microreactors. Kaleidos is a 1 MWe capacity transportable


HTGR design that uses HALEU tristructural- isotropic (TRISO) fuel, helium gas coolant and prismatic graphite blocks. Radiant is set to start testing of its Kaleidos development unit at the DOME facility at Idaho National Laboratory in 2026 and aims to deliver its FOAK unit to a US Air Force military base in 2028. Urenco previously signed a deal to enrich HALEU for Westinghouse’s eVinci reactor. ■


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