NEWS |
round up
HYDROGEN CANADIAN NUCLEAR LABORATORIES has achieved a breakthrough in hydrogen storage technology using a new magnesium alloy. Hydrogen can also be stored as a solid within a metal hydride – a hydrogen battery, which is safer and more cost effective than existing options.
AURORA ENERGY RESEARCH has released a report investigating the benefits of deploying both renewables and nuclear to support decarbonisation and reduce reliance on fossil fuels in the UK. The report was commissioned by Urenco.
COMPANY NEWS WESTINGHOUSE HAS SIGNED a definitive agreement with Spain’s Iberdrola and Naturgy to acquire 50% of Tecnatom. Once completed, Westinghouse will co-own and co-manage Tecnatom with Endesa through a joint venture.
THE ORANO GROUP has confirmed the acquisition of Daher group’s German nuclear activities – Daher Nuclear Technologies Gmbh (DNT) – and its United States subsidiary TLI.
ROMANIAN NUCLEAR UTILITY established a subsidiary, Uranium Concentrate Processing Factory-Feldioara for the processing of nuclear fuels.
FRAMATOME HAS SIGNED a contract with RWE Nuclear GmbH to provide consulting and support services for the development of an autonomous cybersecurity solution for a nuclear facility at a shut-down nuclear plant in Germany.
NUCLEAR FUEL RUSSIA’S CHEPETSK MECHANICAL Plant in Glazov has mastered the technology to produce zirconium sponge. Until now, ChMP, has produced only electrolytic zirconium powder using fluoride technology.
US-BASED CLEAN Core Thorium Energy said the first fuel pellets of its thorium- based nuclear fuel called Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life have been manufactured by Texas A&M’s Nuclear Engineering and Science Centre in partnership with the Idaho National Laboratory.
V programmes. “Cameco plans to be a key fuel supplier for the emerging small modular reactor and advanced reactor market,” said Tim Gitzel, Cameco’s president and CEO. Earlier Terrestrial Energy entered into an
agreement with Orano, as part of its fuel supply programme for operation of its IMSR. The agreement’s broad scope of services includes uranium enrichment, chemical conversion to IMSR fuel form, its production, transportation, packaging, and logistics. This agreement is part of Terrestrial Energy’s multiple-sourcing strategy for IMSR fuel supply. The Terrestrial Energy IMSR power plant is one of three SMR power plant designs under consideration for deployment at OPG’s Darlington site. The other candidates are GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 water-cooled SMR, and X-energy’s Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, both US companies. Also in October, ARC Clean Energy Canada announced it had signed a strategic MOU with Cross River Infrastructure Partners to develop sustainable industrial projects globally that employ ARC Canada’s advanced Small Modular Reactor (aSMR) technology. Cross River will be responsible for project origination and financing for projects requiring carbon-free power and/ or heat using ARC’s proprietary advanced technology — the ARC-100 100MWe, sodium- cooled fast reactor. ARC Canada is developing its technology in New Brunswick with the support of the Government of New Brunswick and New Brunswick Power (NB Power). However, the provinces of Ontario, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta have signed a MOU to collaborate on the advancement of SMRs as a clean energy option to address climate change and regional energy demands.
United Kingdom Five sites listed for STEP fusion energy plant A final decision on a site for the UK’s prototype fusion energy plant – the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production, or STEP – will be made by the minister for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy around the end of 2022. Five sites have been shortlisted as the
potential future home of the plant. They are Ardeer, in North Ayrshire, Scotland,
Goole (in the East Riding of Yorkshire), Moorside, in Cumbria, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, in Nottinghamshire, and Severn Edge in Gloucestershire. Following an assessment, the shortlist has
been reduced from the original long-list of 15, which followed an open call for candidates between December 2020 and March 2021. STEP is a government-backed programme to build a prototype fusion energy plant in the UK. The STEP plant aims to generate net electricity as well as demonstrate how the plant will be maintained and how it will produce its own fuel. The aim is for STEP to pave the way to the commercialisation of fusion and the potential
8 | November 2021 |
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development of a fleet of future plants around the world. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) is aiming to produce a ‘concept design’ by 2024, to have a fully evolved design and approval to build by 2032 and is targeting first operations in the early 2040s. UKAEA carries out fusion energy research on behalf of the UK government. In addition to its initial £222 million commitment to STEP, the government has already invested £184 million for new fusion facilities, infrastructure and apprenticeships at Culham Science Centre near Oxford and at Rotherham in South Yorkshire. Earlier the UK government published a
green paper on the future of fusion energy regulation and a separate Fusion Strategy. This paper sets out the UK Government’s strategy to move from a fusion science superpower to a fusion industry superpower. With this plan, the UK hopes to lead the world on the commercialisation and deployment of this technology.
China China opens its first vitrification plant China’s first plant for the vitrification of radioactive waste has officially been put into operation in the city of Guangyuan, Sichuan Province, according to the China Atomic Energy Authority (CNEA). Following a test run, the first tank of solidified glass was produced from liquid radioactive waste. The project headquarters stated that the facilities of the plant have met relevant operating conditions and deemed it fit to start formal operation. The project was approved by CNEA in 2004. It was designed jointly by China and Germany. The vitrification process, which takes place
at 1100°C or more, involves mixing liquid radioactive waste with melted glass raw material. The mixture is then cooled to form vitrified waste product. China National Nuclear Corporation Sichuan Environmental Protection Co Ltd was responsible for the construction of the vitrification plant. After the facility is put into operation, it is expected that hundreds of cubic metres of high-level liquid waste will be safely processed each year. The vitrified product will be buried in a repository hundreds of metres deep underground.
Russia
BN-800 moves to 60% mox fuel The BN-800 sodium-cooled fast reactor at unit 4 of Russia’s Beloyarsk nuclear power plant, which was shut down for scheduled maintenance on 29 September, will be refuelled to use more than 60% uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (mox) fuel. “During the current repair, fuel assemblies
with fresh mox fuel will be loaded into the reactor core,” said Beloyarsk deputy chief engineer Ilya Filin. “Thus, after completion of all the work, the BN-800 will be filled with U
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