NUKE NEWZ

Defuelling completed at Japan's Monju reactor

21 October 202

All the fuel assemblies at the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor (FBR), which is being decommissioned, have now been transferred to a water-filled storage facility, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has announced.

The Monju FBR (Image: Nuclear Fuel and Power Reactor Development Corporation / IAEA)

When decommissioning of the reactor began in 2018, 160 fuel assemblies were being stored within a sodium-filled storage tank, while 370 fuel assemblies remained within Monju's sodium-filled core. JAEA began by removing the assemblies from the sodium-filled tank into the water-filled pond, then transferring assemblies from the core into the sodium-filled tank prior to being moved to the storage pond.

JAEA has now announced that the final fuel assembly was removed from the sodium-filled tank and placed in the water-filled pond on 13 October.

"As a result, fuel assembly removal, which is the main work in the first phase of the decommissioning plan, all work (530 assemblies) has been completed," it said.

"The used fuel will be transferred to domestic and foreign operators with licenses for reprocessing in Japan or in countries with which Japan has signed agreements for cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy," according to JAEA.

JAEA submitted a detailed plan to decommission Monju, in line with the government's basic policy, to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) in December 2017. The plan comprises four stages. In the initial stage, JAEA will transfer all fuel to an on-site storage pool by fiscal 2022. In the second and third stages, the liquid sodium coolant will be extracted from Monju and related equipment will be dismantled. The reactor building will be demolished and removed by fiscal 2047 in the final stage. The NRA approved that plan in March 2018.

A key part of Japan's nuclear energy programme, the 280 MWe Monju FBR in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, initially started in 1994. However, it was shut down after just four months when about 700 kilograms of liquid sodium leaked from the secondary cooling loop. Although there were no injuries and no radioactivity escaped plant buildings, the operator tried to conceal the scale of the damage. It eventually restarted in May 2010 but has not operated since refuelling equipment fell into the reactor vessel during a refuelling outage later that year. The equipment was subsequently retrieved and replaced but the NRA did not permit the reactor to restart.

In November 2015, following concerns over equipment inspections, the NRA determined JAEA was not competent to operate the reactor. In December 2016, the government formally announced its decision to decommission the idled Monju reactor.

The decommissioning of Monju will take 30 years and cost more than JPY375 billion (USD2.5 billion), the government estimates. This includes JPY225 billion for maintenance, JPY135 billion for dismantling the plant and JPY15 billion for defuelling and preparations for decommissioning.

Two sites added to Rolls-Royce SMR's UK factory shortlist

21 October 2022

Rolls-Royce SMR is carrying out site visits of the eight locations now in the running to host its first factory for small modular reactors.

How a Rolls-Royce SMR might look (Image: Rolls-Royce)

In July the company announced six potential locations for the factory, saying the shortlist was selected against a clear set of criteria, picked from more than 100 submissions from local enterprise partnerships and development agencies. They were: Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, Richmond in North Yorkshire, Deeside in Wales, Ferrybridge in Yorkshire, Stallingborough in Lincolnshire and Carlisle in Cumbria.

Two more locations - Shotton, Deeside, in North Wales and Teesworks, Redcar, in north east England - have now been added after the sites met the shortlist criteria for the first of three expected factories in the UK, which will produce the vessels for the 470 MWe pressurised water reactor.

Rolls-Royce SMR's chief operating officer David White is to oversee the construction of the factories which will be needed to construct the planned fleet of SMRs, each capable of generating the same amount of electricity as about 150 onshore wind turbines, and enough to power a million homes.

All the potential sites are to be visited over the next six weeks ahead of the next stage of the site-selection process.

White said: "The overwhelmingly positive response, resulting in more potential sites than we might have hoped for, means we have more information to assess but is vitally important in helping us select the right locations for our factory."

The Rolls-Royce SMR design was accepted for Generic Design Assessment review in March with the UK's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy asking the Office for Nuclear Regulation along with the environment regulators for England and Wales to begin the process.

To minimise the construction phase of the programme, the Rolls-Royce SMR is fully modularised with the reactor, about 16 metres by 4 metres, able to be transported by road, rail or sea. Targeting a 500-day modular build, the firm says this concept minimises the onsite time and effort required to construct and build the plant, with about 90% of manufacturing and assembly activities carried out in factory conditions.

Holtec, Hyundai to accelerate SMR development

20 October 2022

Holtec International of the USA and South Korea's Hyundai Engineering & Construction have agreed to accelerate the programme to complete the balance of plant design of the remaining systems and structures for the SMR-160 advanced small modular reactor.

Holtec's Kris Singh (left) and Hyundai E&C's Young-Joon Yoon at the signing of the agreement (Image: Holtec)

The agreement was signed on 18 October by Holtec President and CEO Kris Singh and Hyundai E&C President and CEO Young-Joon Yoon at Holtec's Technology Campus in Camden, New Jersey.

The two companies - supported by Kiewit and Mitsubishi Electric - have been collaborating to develop a standard design, which will be deployable in most regions of the world without any significant modification, reducing the time from the customer's authorisation to proceed to the commissioning of the plant, Holtec said.

Hyundai E&C said it will participate in the detailed design necessary for the installation of the SMR-160 in consideration of the local natural environment and characteristics, such as climate, temperature, and humidity. 

The new agreement builds on the teaming agreement signed in November 2021 under which Hyundai E&C will perform the detailed design of the balance of plant and prepare the full plant construction specification for the SMR-160, which Holtec has been developing since 2010. The Korean company will also develop the integrated 3D plant model for construction using its Building Information Modelling management process. The partnership also provides for project delivery rights for Hyundai, subject to certain provisions.

"The team recognises the urgent need to provide a clean energy eco-system that integrates the SMR-160 nuclear power plant with a competitive solar energy facility, and the clean energy storage and delivery system (called Green Boiler) being developed by Holtec to meet the needs of the post-fossil fuel economies of the world," Holtec said.

"Over the past year, Hyundai E&C and Holtec have fostered a solid partnership through close collaboration in design and engineering, working tirelessly to accelerate commercialisation and to solidify Team Holtec as the leader in the global clean energy marketplace," it added. "Joint efforts are being made to install SMR-160-centered ecosystems in over fifteen countries inclined to deploy SMR-160 and Green Boiler to meet their electricity and district heating needs."

Hyundai E&C has been developing the SMR-160 plant design construction specification through close association with Holtec, with the design and associated Safety Analysis Report underpinning a construction permit application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the first SMR-160 plant in the USA.

Holtec is considering deploying the first SMR-160 at Oyster Creek in New Jersey, where it is currently in the process of decommissioning a former boiling water reactor.

Yoon said, "By accelerating completion of the SMR-160 development programme, we have further strengthened our cooperative relationship with Holtec, paving the way for a wide array of collaborations. As a power plant project developer, Hyundai E&C has taken a giant step toward becoming a total solution provider for clean energy at all stages - from business discovery, planning, and development, to construction, including future new technology development."

The SMR-160 is a pressurised light-water reactor, generating 160 MWe (525 MWt) using low-enriched uranium fuel, with flexibility to produce process heat for industrial applications and hydrogen production. The design has completed the first phase of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's three-phase pre-licensing vendor design review, and is undergoing pre-licensing activities with the NRC.

Holtec said it aims to secure a US construction licence in 2025, and is "actively exploring the possibility" of deploying an SMR-160 at Oyster Creek - which it acquired from Exelon in 2019 following the plant's closure the previous year - and at two other sites in the southern USA.

In March this year, Holtec and Hyundai E&C agreed to cooperate in the area of nuclear plant decommissioning. As part of the agreement, Hyundai E&C will participate in decommissioning activities at Holtec-owned decommissioning sites in the USA to build their capabilities and experience in preparation for decommissioning projects in South Korea, which will be undertaken by the two companies. The agreement also provides for the two companies to further expand their cooperation internationally.

Holtec in July submitted an application for a USD7.4 billion federal loan to enable it to increase capacity for SMR production at its existing manufacturing facilities, to construct and operate four SMR-160s in the USA and to build a new Holtec Heavy Industries (HHI) complex for higher capacity manufacturing of components and modules for SMR-160s. It is still evaluating the location of HHI, but said the proposed mega-plant would likely be close to the site of its first US SMR-160.

Bangladesh PM inaugurates Rooppur 2 reactor vessel installation

20 October 2022

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has hailed the benefits to come at an event coinciding with the installation of the reactor pressure vessel at Rooppur 2, the second unit of Bangladesh's first nuclear power plant.

Unit 2 is due to begin operation in 2024 (Image: Rosatom)

The prime minister joined the event virtually, saying: "Rooppur NPP will help us provide a better life for our compatriots. Once again, I thank Russia for helping to build this power plant. We paid attention to the overall safety and reliability of the construction of a nuclear power plant. Safety was our main concern."

Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachov, who is visiting Bangladesh, marked the occasion saying: "A year ago, we witnessed the installation of the first reactor vessel in its regular place, and today the same operation was completed at the second reactor. We see that the construction of the first nuclear power plant in Bangladesh is proceeding actively, despite the obstacles that the pandemic has created for us.

"I am sincerely grateful to the entire team of builders for their well-coordinated work. I express my gratitude to the authorities of the Republic of Bangladesh for their full support of the project. Together, every day we bring closer the launch of the nuclear power plant, which the people of Bangladesh are waiting for."

The Dhaka Tribune reports that during a visit to the construction site on Tuesday the Science and Technology minister Yeafesh Osman said the overall project was now 53% complete, and the first unit more than 70% complete.

The newspaper reported the Rooppur NPP Project Director Shaukat Akbar as saying they were hoping to meet the target of starting production of the first unit on a trial basis in October 2023 and "be fully ready to supply in 2024".

The Rooppur plant, which is about 160 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, will have two Russian VVER-1200 reactors with a capacity of 2400 MWe. As part of the installation process the 334-tonne reactor vessel was moved through the transport lock into the containment of the reactor building and installed in the design position.

During his visit, Likhachov also took part in the opening ceremony of the station's new training centre where staff from Bangladesh will be trained in specialised classrooms and production facilities.

Equipment being installed in ANSTO's Synroc radioactive waste processing facility

20 October 2022

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) says construction has been completed and processing equipment is now being installed in the Synroc facility which is due to begin operations in 2025.

The ANSTO Synroc demonstration facility has been operating since 2017 (Image: ANSTO)

The Synroc ("Synthetic Rock") facility will treat intermediate-level liquid radioactive waste from the production of nuclear medicine by immobilising the waste in a highly durable solid wasteform for final disposal. Synroc is an Australian innovation based on crystalline or mineral phases that have survived in natural geological environments at elevated temperatures in the presence of water for hundreds of millions of years.

In the Synroc process, the radioactive liquid waste is first mixed with additives that create a slurry that is then dried to produce a free-flowing powder. The granular powder is thermally treated before it is dispensed into cans where it is sealed. The can is then placed inside a furnace that is contained within a hot isostatic press (HIP), where heat and pressure are applied to lock in the radionuclides. Under these conditions the powdered mixture fuses together to form a solid without releasing any emissions. The can contracts to form a cylindrical shape which is designed for storage efficiency.

Although Australia does not have any nuclear power plants, it has a sizeable nuclear medicine industry with ANSTO producing 12,000 doses each week for patients, as well as exporting more.

ANSTO says there is growing international interest in the Synroc technology. 

"Along with the benefits of a nuclear medicine production comes a responsibility to safely manage the by-product radioactive waste. That’s what our waste treatment technology has been designed to achieve," said ANSTO’s Synroc Technologies Technical Director Gerry Triani.

"Synroc is an innovative, safe and effective radioactive waste treatment technology which can be built into nuclear supply chains anywhere in the world," he added.

The building is now being fitted with the equipment for the Synroc process, "designed for remote operations inside a shielded hot-cell environment".

A full-scale demonstration Synroc plant has been operating for the past five years, showing, ANSTO says, that the technology offers a "safe and efficient means of treating their waste in a disposal ready product".

Feedwater pump damage delays Finnish EPR commissioning

19 October 2022

The start of regular electricity production at the Olkiluoto 3 EPR in Finland, currently scheduled for December, is likely to be delayed after damage was discovered in the internals of the feedwater pumps located in the plant's turbine island during maintenance and inspection work.

Olkiluoto 3 (Image: TVO)

In the feedwater pumps, water from the feedwater tank is pumped into the steam generators. Operator Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) said the damage detected at the pumps has no impact on nuclear safety.

The company said the Areva-Siemens plant supplier consortium had informed it that the schedule impact of the feedwater pumps' damage is not yet known.

However, TVO said the damage will "most likely have an effect on the continuation of Olkiluoto 3's nuclear commissioning and the start of regular electricity production. A schedule estimate is to be completed during the upcoming days."

The Areva-Siemens consortium constructed the Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) plant under a fixed-price turnkey contract. They have joint liability for the contractual obligations until the end of the guarantee period of the unit. Construction of OL3 began in 2005, with completion of the reactor originally scheduled for 2009, but the project has had various delays and setbacks.

OL3 attained first criticality on 21 December last year and was connected to the grid on 12 March. The 1600 MWe pressurised water reactor is currently in an ongoing test production phase. It was operated at full capacity for the first time in late-September.

Efforts to create Zaporizhzhia safety zone continue amid fresh concerns

19 October 2022

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has reiterated the urgency of establishing a safety zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

All six of the reactors at Zaporizhzhia are currently shutdown (Image: IAEA)

Grossi said that the nuclear plant had restored the connection to its last remaining 750 kilovolt power line on Tuesday 18 hours after its external power was lost for the third time in 10 days. Unlike the two previous occasions, when emergency diesel generators had to provide the backup power, this time the plant continued to receive electricity from an off-site 330kV backup line.

Although no fresh shelling was reported in the IAEA’s Tuesday update, it said that four landmines had exploded near the plant and work on restoring a second 330 kV backup line had been delayed by the shelling of infrastructure elsewhere in Ukraine.

The IAEA staff at the site also reported that the deputy director general of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Valeriy Martynyuk, had been released after more than a week. The previous director general of the plant had also been detained earlier this month before, in his case, being released into Ukraine-controlled territory.

Grossi welcomed the release of Martynyuk, but called it "another concerning development that I sincerely hope will be resolved swiftly".

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s nuclear power plant operator Energoatom said that two other senior staff - the head of IT services and the assistant general director - had been detained on Monday and Ukraine’s nuclear regulator SNRIU said the occupiers did not have "adequately trained and legitimate personnel" to manage the plant so were "trying to force Ukrainian specialists to enter into employment contracts".

In other developments on Wednesday, Russia’s Tass news agency reported that Russian forces had stopped an attempted landing of Ukrainian forces on more than 30 boats near Energodar, suggesting that they might have been planning to attempt to recapture the Zaporizhzhia plant, which has been under the control of the Russian military since early March.

With the nuclear power plant located on, or near, the front line of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Grossi said that recent events meant he believed "even more on the need to reach agreement" as soon as possible with the two sides on a safety and security zone at and around the plant.

In an interview with La Nacion newspaper during his current trip to Argentina, Grossi explained the process was "advancing" and said the two sides thought the idea of a safety zone was feasible and both had agreed to work with the IAEA. Asked if the accusations made by the two sides in the war complicated matters, he said he had to try to ignore that and instead his task was to “constantly keep my eyes on the goal that I have to achieve: which is to protect the plant".

Zaporizhzhia is Europe's largest nuclear power plant with six reactors. The Ukrainian plant has been under Russian military control since early March, but has continued to be operated by its Ukrainian staff. Parts of the plant, including some buildings close to the reactors, have been damaged during shelling at times during the conflict, which each side has blamed on the other. The nuclear power plant is within the part of Ukraine that Russia's president said his country was annexing two weeks ago, with a new Russian company created to run the nuclear plant. Ukraine has rejected Russia's annexation announcement, and insists it continues to operate and regulate the plant.

History-in-the-making for Canadian

uranium mining

18 October 2022

The recovery of uranium-bearing solution during the ongoing Phoenix in-situ leach (ISL) feasibility field test (FFT) is a historic moment for uranium mining in Canada, according to Denison Mines Corp.

Tanks to store the recovered solution were installed at the Phoenix deposit in August (Image: Denison)

The successful recovery of uranium-bearing solution means that injection of lixiviant - the leaching phase of the FFT - which began in September has now ended. Preparations are under way to transition to the neutralisation phase, which is expected to be completed before the end of the year. The final phase of the test - management of the recovered solution - is expected to start in the spring of 2023.

Denison President and CEO David Cates said the recovery of uranium-bearing solution "reflects the culmination of several years of technical de-risking and provides tangible validation" of the company's selection of ISL - sometimes referred to as in-situ recovery (ISR) - as the mining method for Phoenix following a 2018 pre-feasibility study for the entire Wheeler River project. "With this result, Denison has truly showcased its industry leadership in bringing the low-cost ISR mining method to the high-grade uranium deposits of the Athabasca Basin," he said.

Wheeler River, in northern Saskatchewan, is host to the high-grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits which were discovered by Denison in 2008 and 2014, respectively. The project includes combined indicated mineral resources of 132.1 million pounds U3O8 (50,812 tU) at an average grade of 3.3% U3O8, as well as combined inferred resources of 3.0 million pounds U3O8 at an average grade of 1.7% U3O8. The project is a joint venture between Denison and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited (JCU), with Denison holding an effective 95% ownership interest (90% directly, and 5% indirectly through its 50% ownership of JCU).

The 2018 pre-feasibility study considered the potential economic merit of developing Phoenix as an ISL operation and Gryphon as a conventional underground mining operation. Taken together, the project is estimated to have mine production of 109.4 million pounds U3O8 over a 14-year mine life.

ISL recovers minerals from ore in the ground by dissolving them in situ. The solution is then pumped to the surface where the minerals can be recovered. This causes little surface disturbance and generates no tailings or waste rock, but requires suitable geology: the orebody needs to be permeable to the liquids used, and located so that groundwater away from the orebody cannot become contaminated. More than half of the world's uranium production is now produced by ISL, but the technique has not so far been used in Canada.

The FFT is using a commercial-scale ISL test pattern to enable a combined assessment of the hydraulic flow properties at the deposit and the leaching characteristics that have been assessed through a metallurgical core-leach testing programme. This will provide further verification of the parameters needed for the successful application of ISL at Phoenix, as well as validating and informing design elements including expected production and remediation profiles.

"The recovery of uranium-bearing solution at targeted rates and grades is history in the making," Kevin Himbeault, Denison's vice president of Plant Operations & Regulatory Affairs, said. "Initial analysis indicates the hydrogeological system has responded as expected with pH trends, flow characteristics and uranium recovery meeting expectations."

The next phase of the FFT - the neutralisation phase - will involve the recovery of the remainder of the leached mineralised solution and is intended to verify the efficiency and effectiveness of the process for returning the zone to environmentally acceptable conditions. During this phase, a mild alkaline solution will be injected into the leaching zone to neutralise the area and reverse the residual effects of the acidic solution injected during the leaching phase.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News