NEWS |
round up
POLICY CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR GAVIN Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 1172 into law, making California the first state in the US to recognise fusion energy as a separate and distinct technology from traditional nuclear fission. The legislation highlights the safety and environmental advantages of fusion energy and lays the foundation for future state regulations.
ROSATOM AND MYANMAR’S Ministry of Science & Technology have signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on nuclear infrastructure assessment and enhancement. The MOU was signed on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week.
SWEDEN’S GOVERNMENT AND the Swedish Democrats have introduced a new bill to parliament - New Nuclear Power for Sweden – a first step. The bill proposes that the provision in the Environmental Code which prohibits the construction of nuclear reactors in places other than where nuclear power is already available be removed. In addition, it proposes removing a provision limiting the number of reactors in operation to ten.
SAFETY & SECURITY AN INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC Energy Agency International Physical Protection Advisory Service (IPPAS) mission has completed a peer review mission in the Netherlands to assess the nuclear security regime. The team concluded that the Netherlands is committed to a high level of nuclear security and recommendations for further enhancement.
THE US NUCLEAR Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a warning to the single unit VC Summer NPP in South Carolina over a cracked pipeline in the cooling system. The plant has reported a series of similar incidents over the past 20 years. Plant owner Dominion Energy said it is planning to improve the reliability of its back-up system.
TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER Company Holdings (Tepco) has begun releasing a second batch of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP amid continuing tensions with neighbouring countries. Tepco said it completed inspections after the initial release in September, and found no reason to alter procedures.
Kazakhstan
Fuel assemblies delivered to China Kazakhstan’s National Nuclear Company Kazatomprom has delivered another consignment of fuel assemblies to China from its Kazakh-Chinese fuel plant, Ulba-TVS. The founders of the joint venture company were the Kazatomprom subsidiary Ulba Metallurgical Plant (UMZ) with 51% and CGNPC Uranium Resources Company Limited (CGNPC-URC – part of China General Nuclear Power Group – CGN) with 49%. The Ulba-TVS plant was commissioned in November 2021 after receiving certification from French company Framatome, the owner of the production technology for the AFA 3G design fuel assemblies. The plant also received recognition as a certified nuclear fuel supplier from end user CGNPC-URC. “This project is proof that our countries can sell, and are already selling, high-tech industry products,” said Samruk-Kazyna Board Chairman Nurlan Zhakupov at the ceremony of accepting nuclear fuel for the Yangjiang NPP. “I want to especially note the personal contribution of the leadership of the CGN group and Kazatomprom, UMZ and Ulba-TVS that enabled our teams to fulfil production plans and tasks,” he added. The plant supplied a batch of assemblies
containing more than 30 tonnes of low enriched uranium. The Yangjiang NPP in Guangdong province has six units with CPR-1000 and ACPR- 1000 pressurised water reactors. Ulba-TVS continues to increase production volumes to reach full production capacity of 200 tonnes of uranium in the form of fuel assemblies a year by 2024. The company has a guaranteed sales market for 20 years going forward.
Delivery of the first batch of fuel assemblies
from the Ulba-TVS to China took place in December followed by a second in May 2023. By the end of this year, several more shipments are expected to be delivered to China.
Russia Testing begins at Brest fuel facility Comprehensive testing of equipment has begun at the nuclear fuel fabrication/refabrication module (MFR) which will support Russia’s Brest-OD-300 lead-cooled fast reactor under construction at the Siberian Chemical Plant (SCC, part of Rosatom’s Fuel Company TVEL) in Seversk. The Brest reactor is part of the pilot demonstration power complex (ODEK) facility which SCC has been responsible for implementing since 2011 as part of the Breakthrough (Proryv) project intended to demonstrate closed fuel cycle technology. As well as the reactor and MFR, ODEK will also include a module for reprocessing irradiated fuel. Construction of Brest, which will be the world’s first reactor to use liquid lead as a coolant, began in 2021 and it is scheduled to begin operation in 2029. The MFR is scheduled for operation in 2024.
10 | November 2023 |
www.neimagazine.com Equipment testing has begun at the MFR on
the production line for mixed nitride uranium- plutonium (SNUP) fuel, which will be loaded into the reactor. In September 2023, the first tests took place at the section for pressing blocks - blanks for the subsequent production of nuclear fuel pellets. About 600 blanks were made.
Aluminium oxide powder was used as a
simulator during testing. “This material is well pressed, making it
possible to clearly view the geometry of the blanks,” explained Alexey Filippov, leading specialist at the section for receiving, preparing and manufacturing the fuel pellets. “The use of modern equipment allows us to achieve the required productivity using model powders.” Specialists from SCC and Atomtekhenergo JSC examines the density of the resulting product. Blanks pressed using different pressure were selected for individual testing. The aim is to achieve the optimal operating mode of the press machine. The next comprehensive test will be at the nuclear fuel pellet pressing site. The fuel pellets will be loaded into fuel rods (elements), from which fuel assemblies will be made.
Austria IAEA World Fusion Outlook 2023 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has issued a report noting that recent progress suggests fusion could be part of the global long-term plan for net zero and climate change mitigation and satisfy rising electricity demands. However, it also lists the many steps still needed to realise this technology. Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi released the report, the World Fusion Outlook (WFO), during the opening day of the 29th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC) in London. The major challenges to fusion identified in
the WFO are: ● Plasma heating: achieving and sustaining temperatures in excess of 100m °C;
● Plasma confinement: confining the hot fusion plasma inside the reactor core;
● Fusion materials: finding the right materials to withstand the extreme conditions from which to construct the fusion reactor wall and vessel;
● Fusion fuel: developing the technology to breed the tritium component of the fusion fuel using the neutrons released in an ongoing reaction;
● Energy extraction: steadily extracting the enormous amount of energy that is produced and converting it into electricity or using it as process heat; and
● Maintenance: operating fusion power plants with high availability, which requires novel, rapid maintenance schemes, including remote handling.
Nuclear fusion and plasma physics research are carried out in more than 50 countries and fusion reactions have been successfully
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