Nuclear waste to be buried 650ft under the English countryside

Jonathan Leake
Thu, 16 May 2024 

New pit will ease pressure on the 17 nuclear waste disposal plants, the largest of which is the Sellafield site in Cumbria - Stuart Nicol

Swathes of nuclear waste are set to be buried in the English countryside after ministers agreed to dig a 650ft pit starting this decade.

The facility, which has yet to be allocated a site, will hold some of the 5m tonnes of waste that was generated by nuclear power stations over the past seven decades.

This will ease pressure on the 17 nuclear waste disposal plants currently in operation around the country, which consist of giant sheds and cooling ponds.

The largest facility is the Sellafield site in Cumbria.

Plans for the 650ft pit will see it house so-called intermediate-level waste, possibly in a mine on a pre-existing nuclear site to minimise planning objections.


The facility will be separate from the much deeper geological disposal site that will hold the UK’s most dangerous waste, such as plutonium, which is unlikely to be built until after 2050.

The proposals come amid fears Britain’s stockpile of nuclear waste will grow in the coming decades with nowhere to put it.

Concerns are particularly acute as the Government is currently planning to build at least three new nuclear power stations.

This will put the country at odds with the 1976 review of nuclear waste policy by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, which warned the UK was accumulating nuclear waste so fast that it should stop building reactors until it had a solution.

Ministers want to brand nuclear energy as a “green” and “sustainable” fuel.

However, experts on the Government’s own advisory body, the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, have said such terms are misleading if there is no safe place to store radioactive waste.

Plans for a nuclear waste pit were recently published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz), headed by Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho.

A government spokesman said: “In addition to long-term plans to dispose of the most hazardous radioactive waste in a geological disposal facility hundreds of metres underground, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will explore a facility closer to the surface for less hazardous radioactive waste.

“While a geological disposal facility is not expected to be ready until the 2050s, a shallower disposal facility – which is up to 200m below ground – could be available within 10 years.”

Nuclear waste can remain dangerous for tens of thousands of years, with fears of disposing of it underground stemming from the fact water can flow through waste, carrying radioactivity back to the surface.

However, once buried and sealed with cement, such waste will be practically impossible to reach should there be such a problem.

Nuclear accidents are rare but when they do happen the consequences can be deadly and extremely expensive.

This was evidenced by the disastrous fire at the Sellafield site in 1957, which released radioactivity across the UK and Europe.

Other accidents at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 and Fukushima, Japan, in 2011 were even more devastating.

The Government’s proposals come after policymakers recently announced the biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years.

Hinkley Point C is already under construction in Somerset at an estimated cost of £46bn, while Sizewell C in Suffolk is also about to start with a similar price tag.

A third giant nuclear station is also being planned alongside a fleet of so-called small modular reactors.

Andrew Bowie, the minister for nuclear energy, said: “We’re taking sensible steps to manage our radioactive waste, while reducing the burden on the environment and taxpayer.”

David Peattie, chief executive officer at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, added: “We will maintain the highest standards of safety and environmental protection to deliver our nationally important decommissioning mission.”

As for the much larger geological disposal facility, which will hold the UK’s deadliest waste, this will soon become Britain’s biggest and most expensive infrastructure project ever.

Two sites are under consideration for the facility, which is expected to be 3,500ft deep.

One lies off the coast of Lincolnshire and the other is off the coast of Cumbria around Copeland.

Medics at UCLA protest say police weapons drew blood and cracked bones

Molly Castle Work and Brett Kelman

USA TODAY
Updated Wed, May 15, 2024 

Inside the protesters' encampment at UCLA, beneath the glow of hanging flashlights and a deafening backdrop of exploding flash-bangs, OB-GYN resident Elaine Chan suddenly felt like a battlefield medic.

Police were pushing into the camp after an hours-long standoff. Chan, 31, a medical tent volunteer, said protesters limped in with severe puncture wounds, but there was little hope of getting them to a hospital through the chaos outside. Chan suspects the injuries were caused by rubber bullets or other “less lethal” projectiles, which police have confirmed were fired at protesters.

“It would pierce through skin and gouge deep into people’s bodies,” she said. “All of them were profusely bleeding. In OB-GYN we don’t treat rubber bullets. … I couldn’t believe that this was allowed to be (done to) civilians — students — without protective gear.”

The UCLA protest, which gathered thousands in opposition to Israel’s ongoing bombing of Gaza, began in April and grew to a dangerous crescendo this month when counterprotesters and police clashed with the activists and their supporters.

In interviews with KFF Health News, Chan and three other volunteer medics described treating protesters with bleeding wounds, head injuries, and suspected broken bones in a makeshift clinic cobbled together in tents with no electricity or running water. The medical tents were staffed day and night by a rotating team of doctors, nurses, medical students, EMTs, and volunteers with no formal medical training.

At times, the escalating violence outside the tent isolated injured protesters from access to ambulances, the medics said, so the wounded walked to a nearby hospital or were carried beyond the borders of the protest so they could be driven to the emergency room.

“I’ve never been in a setting where we’re blocked from getting higher level of care,” Chan said. “That was terrifying to me.”

Three of the medics interviewed by KFF Health News said they were present when police swept the encampment May 2 and described multiple injuries that appeared to have been caused by “less lethal” projectiles.

Less lethal projectiles — including beanbags filled with metal pellets, sponge-tipped rounds, and projectiles commonly known as rubber bullets — are used by police to subdue suspects or disperse crowds or protests. Police drew widespread condemnation for using the weapons against Black Lives Matter demonstrations that swept the country after the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Although the name of these weapons downplays their danger, less lethal projectiles can travel upward of 200 mph and have a documented potential to injure, maim, or kill.

The medics’ interviews directly contradict an account from the Los Angeles Police Department. After police cleared the encampment, LAPD Chief Dominic Choi said in a post on the social platform X that there were “no serious injuries to officers or protestors'' as police moved in and made more than 200 arrests.

In response to questions from KFF Health News, both the LAPD and California Highway Patrol said in emailed statements that they would investigate how their officers responded to the protest. The LAPD statement said the agency was conducting a review of how it and other law enforcement agencies responded, which would lead to a “detailed report.”

The Highway Patrol statement said officers warned the encampment that “non-lethal rounds” may be used if protesters did not disperse, and after some became an “immediate threat” by “launching objects and weapons,” some officers used “kinetic specialty rounds to protect themselves, other officers, and members of the public.” One officer received minor injuries, according to the statement.

Video footage that circulated online after the protest appeared to show a Highway Patrol officer firing less lethal projectiles at protesters with a shotgun.

“The use of force and any incident involving the use of a weapon by CHP personnel is a serious matter, and the CHP will conduct a fair and impartial investigation to ensure that actions were consistent with policy and the law,” the Highway Patrol said in its statement.

The UCLA Police Department, which was also involved with the protest response, did not respond to requests for comment.

Police face-off with pro-Palestinian students after destroying part of the encampment barricade on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, California, early on May 2, 2024. Police deployed a heavy presence on US university campuses on May 1 after forcibly clearing away some weeks-long protests against Israel's war with Hamas.

Jack Fukushima, 28, a UCLA medical student and volunteer medic, said he witnessed a police officer shoot at least two protesters with less lethal projectiles, including a man who collapsed after being hit “square in the chest.” Fukushima said he and other medics escorted the stunned man to the medical tent then returned to the front lines to look for more injured.

“It did really feel like a war,” Fukushima said. “To be met with such police brutality was so disheartening.”

Back on the front line, police had breached the borders of the encampment and begun to scrum with protesters, Fukushima said. He said he saw the same officer who had fired earlier shoot another protester in the neck.

The protester dropped to the ground. Fukushima assumed the worst and rushed to his side.

“I find him, and I’m like, ‘Hey, are you OK?’” Fukushima said. “To the point of courage of these undergrads, he’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s not my first time.’ And then just jumps right back in.”

Sonia Raghuram, 27, another medical student stationed in the tent, said that during the police sweep she tended to a protester with an open puncture wound on their back, another with a quarter-sized contusion in the center of their chest, and a third with a “gushing” cut over their right eye and possible broken rib. Raghuram said patients told her the wounds were caused by police projectiles, which she said matched the severity of their injuries.

The patients made it clear the police officers were closing in on the medical tent, Raghuram said, but she stayed put.

“We will never leave a patient,” she said, describing the mantra in the medical tent. “I don’t care if we get arrested. If I’m taking care of a patient, that’s the thing that comes first.”

The UCLA protest is one of many that have been held on college campuses across the country as students opposed to Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza demand universities support a ceasefire or divest from companies tied to Israel. Police have used force to remove protesters at Columbia University, Emory University, and the universities of Arizona, Utah, and South Florida, among others.

At UCLA, student protesters set up a tent encampment on April 25 in a grassy plaza outside the campus’s Royce Hall theater, eventually drawing thousands of supporters, according to the Los Angeles Times. Days later, a “violent mob” of counterprotesters “attacked the camp,” the Times reported, attempting to tear down barricades along its borders and throwing fireworks at the tents inside.

The following night, police issued an unlawful assembly order, then swept the encampment in the early hours of May 2, clearing tents and arresting hundreds by dawn.

Police have been widely criticized for not intervening as the clash between protesters and counterprotesters dragged on for hours. The University of California system announced it has hired an independent policing consultant to investigate the violence and “resolve unanswered questions about UCLA’s planning and protocols, as well as the mutual aid response.”

Charlotte Austin, 34, a surgery resident, said that as counterprotesters were attacking she also saw about 10 private campus security officers stand by, “hands in their pockets,” as students were bashed and bloodied.

Austin said she treated patients with cuts to the face and possible skull fractures. The medical tent sent at least 20 people to the hospital that evening, she said.

“Any medical professional would describe these as serious injuries,” Austin said. “There were people who required hospitalization — not just a visit to the emergency room — but actual hospitalization.”
Police Tactics ‘Lawful but Awful’

UCLA protesters are far from the first to be injured by less lethal projectiles.

In recent years, police across the U.S. have repeatedly fired these weapons at protesters, with virtually no overarching standards governing their use or safety. Cities have spent millions to settle lawsuits from the injured. Some of the wounded have never been the same.

During the nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, at least 60 protesters sustained serious injuries — including blinding and a broken jaw — from being shot with these projectiles, sometimes in apparent violations of police department policies, according to a joint investigation by KFF Health News and USA TODAY.

Fractured skulls, lost eyes: Police break their own rules when shooting protesters with ‘rubber bullets’

'Less lethal' can still maim and kill A visual guide to weapons police use on protesters

Those maimed say enough is enough Police use of rubber bullets, bean bag rounds has left a bloody trail for decades.

In 2004, in Boston, a college student celebrating a Red Sox victory was killed by a projectile filled with pepper-based irritant when it tore through her eye and into her brain.

“They’re called less lethal for a reason,” said Jim Bueermann, a former police chief of Redlands, California, who now leads the Future Policing Institute. “They can kill you.”

Bueermann, who reviewed video footage of the police response at UCLA at the request of KFF Health News, said the footage shows California Highway Patrol officers firing beanbag rounds from a shotgun. Bueermann said the footage did not provide enough context to determine if the projectiles were being used “reasonably,” which is a standard established by federal courts, or being fired “indiscriminately,” which was outlawed by a California law in 2021.

“There is a saying in policing — ‘lawful but awful’ — meaning that it was reasonable under the legal standards but it looks terrible,” Bueermann said. “And I think a cop racking multiple rounds into a shotgun, firing into protesters, doesn’t look very good.”

This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — an independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. KFF Health News is the publisher of California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: UCLA protest violence: medics say police broke bones and drew blood

GREENWASHING

EDF secures 'green' financing for extended operation of reactors

French utility EDF has signed green bank loans for a total amount of about EUR5.8 billion (USD6.3 billion), which will be used to finance the life extension of its existing nuclear power plant fleet in France.

The Tricastin plant comprises four 900 MWe PWRs (Image: EDF/Toma/M Hake)

The loans - which have maturities of between 3 and 5 years - have been arranged with major international banks, including BNP Paribas, Bank of America, Crédit Agricole CIB, ING, Natixis CIB, Société Générale and Wells Fargo.

EDF announced its Grand Carénage life extension programme for the existing fleet in France in 2011. Under this investment programme, the company planned to spend around EUR55 billion by 2025 on upgrading its plants to improve their performance and enable their continued operation beyond 40 years. The programme also includes safety upgrades in response to the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan.

The investment was optimised and revised to EUR45 billion in 2018, and in 2020 EDF adjusted the programme's cost to EUR49.4 billion.

A green bilateral loan worth EUR1 billion was announced by EDF and Credit Agricole CIB in November 2022.

EDF noted that the investments in the extension of the operation of its reactors "are aligned with the European taxonomy".

In July 2022, the European Parliament voted to include certain nuclear and gas activities within the European Union's list of officially approved "green" investments.

In February 2021, the country's nuclear safety regulator, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), set the conditions for the continued operation of EDF's 900 MWe reactors beyond 40 years. The regulator said it considered the measures planned by EDF combined with those prescribed by ASN will ensure the safety of the units for a further 10 years of operation.

In August 2023, unit 1 of the Tricastin nuclear power plant in southern France became the first French power reactor licensed to operate beyond 40 years.

EDF operates three pressurised water reactor designs, known as the 900 MWe, the 1300 MWe and the 1450 MWe N4. Its 32 operating 900 MWe reactors came into commercial operation between 1977 and 1988, and include the oldest of the country's current nuclear fleet. Such reactors are in operation at EDF's Blayais, Bugey, Chinon, Cruas-Meysse, Dampierre, Gravelines, Saint-Laurent and Tricastin nuclear power plants.

ASN said the improvements and measures will be applied to each reactor individually during their fourth periodic safety reviews, scheduled to run until 2031. These reviews will take the particularities of each facility into account, it said. The measures planned by EDF for each reactor will be subject to a public inquiry.

13 May 2024

Authorisation issued for Flamanville EPR commissioning

08 May 2024

France's nuclear regulator has authorised the commissioning of the Flamanville EPR reactor, which has a summer 2024 target for connection to the grid.

Flamanville (Image: Screengrab from EDF/Youtube)

The authorisation from the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) means EDF can now load nuclear fuel into the reactor and carry out start-up tests and then operation of the reactor. Within hours of the authorisation being announced EDF said it had begun to load nuclear fuel assemblies into the reactor vessel - adding that it would take several days to load the 241 fuel assemblies.

The ASN decision follows a public consultation which ran from 27 March until 17 April.

ASN issued technical requirements alongside the authorisation saying it would supervise the performance and monitoring of installation start-up tests after fuel loading and also specify methods for acting on feedback from other EPR-type reactors around the world. The first EPR units came online at Taishan in China, where unit 1 became the first EPR to enter commercial operation in 2018 followed by Taishan 2 in September 2019. In Europe, Olkiluoto 3 in Finland entered commercial operation in 2023 and two units are under construction at Hinkley Point C in the UK.

Construction work began in December 2007 on the 1650 MWe unit at the Flamanville site in Normandy - where two reactors have been operating since 1986 and 1987. The dome of the reactor building was put in place in July 2013 and the reactor vessel was installed in January 2014. The reactor was originally expected to start commercial operation in 2013. In December 2022 the total cost at completion of the project was estimated by EDF to be EUR13.2 billion (USD14.2 billion).

China and France aim to strengthen nuclear energy cooperation

09 May 2024

China's CGN and France's EDF have signed a Letter of Intent on deepening and expanding cooperation on nuclear energy - it came as President Emmanuel Macron hosted a visit to France by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

(Image: China Xinhua News/X)

Acording to the Chinese Foreign Ministry report on the talks, President Xi said the two countries should step up cooperation in a number of areas, including "nuclear energy, innovation and finance", with President Macron responding that France was "ready to step up cooperation with China" in areas including "nuclear energy for civilian use".

During the visit there were a number of business cooperation agreements outlined, with the Letter of Intent on Deepening Related Cooperation in the Nuclear Energy Field signed by Yang Changli, Chairman of China General Nuclear (CGN), and EDF Chairman and CEO Luc Raymond.

According to CGN the letter of intent means "the two parties will further expand and strengthen cooperation in aspects such as nuclear power engineering construction, talent training, EPR operations and leadership training in the field of nuclear power operations to achieve common development".

CGN and EDF have worked together over many years, dating back to the Daya Bay nuclear power plant's construction, which began in the 1980s, and CGN said that deepening and expanding cooperation areas "is of great significance to the development of civil nuclear energy in both countries and the business development of the two groups".

China and France are two of the world's biggest generators of nuclear energy, with both having large-scale plans to expand capacity in the coming years. According to World Nuclear Association figures, both countries currently have 56 operable reactors. China's have a capacity of 54 GW and it has 27 more reactors under construction which would provide 28.9 GW more capacity. France currently has 61 GW nuclear energy capacity, with one more 1.6 GW reactor under construction. 

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Campaigners say “no thanks – no more nukes” outside US embassy in London

 

13th May 2024Leave a Commenton Campaigners say “no thanks – no more nukes” outside US embassy in London

“It’s absolutely essential that we are not participating in a further nuclear escalation. Our view is no more U.S. nuclear weapons, no thanks.”

Kate Hudson, CND General Secretary

Labour Outlook’s Sam Browse reports from this weekend’s demonstration against US nuclear weapons at Lakenheath.

On Saturday, to music and song, demonstrators gathered outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms, London, to send a clear message that new US nuclear weapons are not welcome in the UK.

The protest follows the announcement that US nuclear weapons would be returning to the UK after campaigners had successfully pushed for their removal in 2008.

Kate Hudson, General Secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the organisers of the demonstration, told Labour Outlook, “we’re here today, outside the US embassy, to say that we don’t want US nukes to come back to Britain. We know that later in the year, most likely, they’re going to be bringing nuclear weapons to Lakenheath airbase in East Anglia. That’s a disaster for the local community, but it’s not just a local or regional issue; this is something that affects the whole of Britain because those nuclear weapons put us on the US nuclear frontline in any war that they are conducting and it makes not only Lakenheath but the whole of Britain a target.”

“At a time when we have two conflicts in the world, in Ukraine and Gaza, where nuclear weapons are a factor – where nuclear weapons could be used – it’s absolutely essential that we are not participating in a further nuclear escalation.”

“Our view is no nuclear weapons, no more U.S. nuclear weapons, no thanks.”

Lindsey German, the convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, told the gathered audience “we need to get across how severe this threat is and how much our government and the United States are escalating the threat of nuclear war”.

“When you think what they’re trying to do at Lakenheath, they’re trying to bring back nuclear weapons that we got rid of in 2008 – and that was a great victory for the movement. We need to remember these victories, but we shouldn’t let them bring back nuclear weapons by stealth”.

Jess Barnard, a peace activist and member of Labour’s NEC, told the crowd, “I can’t think of a more urgent time for us to be resisting allowing the UK to be a pawn for the US war machine. As bombs continue to rain down on Gaza and we are witnessing the crime of genocide being committed against Palestinians, the UK and the US who have continued to arm Israel will forever be remembered for their complicity.”

Jess Barnard, Labour NEC members’ representative addresses the CND demonstration outside the US embassy on May 11th, 2024. Photo credit: Labour Outlook

“Just yesterday the US conceded its weapons may have been used to commit war crimes against the Palestinian people. We have to say ‘enough is enough’. What more evidence do we need that the UK should not allow the US to put us on the nuclear frontline?”

However, she also had strong words for the leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer: “the words of the Labour leader and his appalling record on defending the rights of Palestinians do not represent Labour members or the kind of government a Labour government should strive to be. They do not represent the world we should aspire to be a part of.”

Campaigners also made connections between nuclear weapons and the dash for nuclear power, with Sam Mason, coordinator of the Climate Justice Coalition trade union caucus, pointing to how both domestic and military nuclear programmes were interlinked. Shigeo Kobayashi of Japanese Against a Nuclear UK, similarly argued “we cannot assume that there will be no more nuclear accidents. Nuclear power is currently neither green nor cheap”. The campaign organise regular vigils outside the Japanese Embassy in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster.

As today’s speakers reminded us, we must continue to demand a nuclear-free world, and say loudly and clearly: no to new nukes in the UK!

---

• Sam Browse is a regular columnist for Labour Outlook and an organiser of Arise Festival. You can follow Sam on Twitter/X here.

Germany’s CDU, scenting power, tacks Right with new party programme

8 May 2024

Paddy Belton

Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU) has adopted a party programme that positions it distinctly more to the Right from its centrist orientation under former chancellor Angela Merkel.

Among the new manifesto proposals revealed on May 7 are requiring immigrants to sign up for Germany’s Leitkultur, or dominant culture, with a body of beliefs that include recognising Israel’s right to exist.

Other proposals in the programme included sending refugees to “safe third countries” (a nod to the UK’s Rwanda policy), bringing back nuclear power and introducing an obligatory “year of service” to benefit society for school leavers. Regarding “green” policy, the party adopted a line of “leaving it to inventors” to develop technological solutions to climate change.

The new programme reflected an attempt to distinguish the CDU’s party leader Friedrich Merz, leading in polls with around 30 per cent, from a Chancellor Olaf Scholz whose coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals is performing poorly.

Scholz’s Social Democrats currently ranks at around 15.5 per cent, the Greens 12 per cent and Liberals 5 per cent.

The rise of the AfD, coming in at 18 per cent in a May 6 poll, suggests more swing votes may lie to the Right.

On Europe, the programme is “pro EU but with some EU-sceptic language”, said German broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s Michaele Kuefner.

Brexit “wouldn’t have happened if Europe had made more concessions to the UK”, Merz said during the conference, adding that Merkel’s Germany was partly to blame.

Merz was a former rival to Merkel, shunted aside in a power struggle in the 2000s, and many aspects of the programme – the party’s first since 2007 – are pointed reversals of Merkel’s policies.

Merkel had abolished the draft, allowed more than 1 million refugees to settle in Germany in 2015-6, and phased out nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan.

Merz “is trying to overcome his trauma, the trauma of being pushed out by Merkel”, said Berlin-based columnist Maurice Höfgen.

For a Merz who appears to be keen on abolishing Merkel’s legacy, there could also be one more trophy to be claimed: European Commission President and European People’s Party (EPP) member Ursula von der Leyen, now seen as close to Scholz’s Government.

In France, French President Emmanuel Macron currently is looking to “form an EPP alliance with Merz”, to displace von der Leyen with an alternative candidate as EC chief, said Mujtaba Rahman of the Eurasia Group.

His climate policy line also appeared pitched to a moment of growing scepticism with von der Leyen’s Green Deal, even if it caused German science writer Christian Scharun to retort: “we have already invented the necessary technologies and are just not using them sufficiently.”

Merz has been the CDU’s leader since 2022 and is still attempting to put his stamp on a party he has only led in opposition.

At the party conference, he faced the danger of being eclipsed by Bavarian chief minister Markus Söder.

This was the problem of “when your guest act becomes the top act at the party conference that just re-elected you as leader”, quipped Kuefner.

Other ambitious challengers also beckon in the CDU’s wings, including North Rhine-Westphalia’s chief minister.

“The media are betting on Hendrik Wüst,” said German journalist Roland Tichy.

Japan-Russia tensions flare over Ukraine war amid decades-long land disputes

May 08, 2024 
By Chermaine Lee

In this undated photo, a turret from an old tank set in the ground as a part of war fortifications in front of a lighthouse near Yuzhno-Kurilsk on Kunashiri Island, one of the Kuril Chain, known as the Northern Territories in Japan.

SAPPORO, JAPAN —

Friction between Japan and Russia will likely escalate amidst the burgeoning Ukraine war, with the decades-long land conflicts showing no sign of thawing.

The Kremlin recently banned non-Russian vessels from waters near the Kuril Islands – known in Japan as the Northern Territories – currently occupied by Russia but claimed by Japan.

Tokyo saw the move as part of a series of Moscow threats after the recent security alliance between the United States and Japan.

There will be further retaliation from Moscow against Japan, according to James DJ Brown, professor of political science at Japan’s Temple University.

“The Putin regime feels an obligation to retaliate against what it regards as unfriendly actions by Japan,” Brown told VOA News. “Every time Tokyo does something more to assist Ukraine or to strengthen military ties with the United States, Moscow takes some measures to punish Japan.”

He said that as Japan is likely to introduce further sanctions to support Kyiv, Moscow’s retaliation is “all but guaranteed.”

The retaliatory measures aren’t just targeting Tokyo. A Russian man residing in the Kuril Islands was warned in March by a Russian court over his remarks to Japanese media that the territory had belonged to Japan in the past.

Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would visit the Kuril Islands, putting a damper on hopes for negotiations over sovereignty that both countries have attempted for decades.

Kuril Islands

Land disputes run deep

Russia and Japan’s competing claims over the four islands off the northeast coast of Hokkaido – Japan's second-largest island – date back to at least the 19th century. Near the end of WWII, the then Soviet Union started fully occupying the Kuril Islands.

Japan claimed that the Soviet Union incorporated them “without any legal grounds” and refused to sign a peace treaty. Tokyo said about 17,000 Japanese residents were deported from the islands. The Russian public, Brown said, view the Kuril Islands as reward for the sacrifices of the Soviet people during the war.

The two countries have held talks off and on for decades to reach an agreement but to no avail.

The conflict eased in 2016, when the two countries agreed on joint economic activities including tourism projects on the islands, as well as visa-free visits for Japanese citizens.

Two years later, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposed a split of the four islands, returning two islands to Japan, but Putin rejected it. Akihiro Iwashita, professor of the Slavic-Eurasian Research Center at Japan’s Hokkaido University, called this Putin’s “failed diplomacy” toward Japan that eventually led to Tokyo taking a more hardline approach against Moscow.

“If Putin had shown goodwill to Japan, negotiating with Shinzo Abe for the peace treaty, Japan would not have taken a critical position over the Ukraine war,” Iwashita told VOA News. “Remember Japan’s hesitation to sanction Russia after its 2014 aggression against Ukraine? Japan now does not need to restrain its policy towards Russia.”

Tensions over the Ukraine war

Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow put all peace treaty talks with Japan on hold and suspended the previously agreed economic activities and visa-free visits to the islands for Japanese citizens. This followed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s siding with Ukraine in the war, with Kishida calling the suspension “extremely unjust.”

Japan has been providing assistance to Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, including supplying Patriot air defense systems last year. Kishida was the first Japanese leader to visit an active war zone, to show solidarity with Ukraine and the U.S.

Moscow warned of “grave consequences” for its ties with Tokyo. That did not stop Japan from pledging $4.5 billion in aid to war-torn Ukraine last December, including $1 billion for humanitarian purposes.

Japan’s aid to Ukraine has affected residents of Hokkaido. A survey conducted by Hokkaido authorities and the Hokkaido Shimbun last year showed that over half of the respondents near the Russia-Japan border in the north felt a negative effect of the Ukraine war on local life, including reduction in fishing activities and trade, and human contacts.

In October last year, Russia banned all seafood imports from Japan, citing Tokyo’s release of wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“Moscow used the pretense of the threat of radiation from treatment water from the Fukushima plant. In reality, it was an attempt by Moscow to punish Japan for its support for Ukraine,” Brown said.

In the survey, many also said they cannot foresee a solution for the northern territories, but a majority said they support Tokyo’s policy against Russia.

Both experts said Russia does not currently pose a military threat to Japan. Brown said, “the Russian military is present on the disputed islands, but their role is to defend the Sea of Okhotsk, which is important as a bastion for Russian nuclear submarines. It does not have the capabilities on the islands to launch an amphibious assault on Hokkaido.”

Peace treaty negotiations are expected to continue to be frozen for the foreseeable future, despite Kishida’s calls for their resumption in February this year.

“Kishida is displaying diplomatic goodwill towards Russia, but with no expectations of it being reciprocated…There is little room to fill the interest gap between the two,” said Iwashita.

He added that Russia’s pressure on Japan “will not lead to any results.”

 

Nuclear site licence issued for UK's Sizewell C site

07 May 2024

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has granted a nuclear site licence for the Sizewell C site in eastern England, where the plan is to replicate the Hinkley Point C model of a nuclear power plant featuring two EPRs.

(Image: Sizewell C Ltd)

The licence application was initially submitted in 2020, and despite it having met "almost all" regulatory requirements, two issues prevented the granting of a licence in 2022 - relating to the shareholders' agreement and the ownership of the land at the site. The ONR said at that time it would carry out a "proportionate reassessment" once those two issues had been "resolved to its satisfaction". It has now done so and recommended the granting of the nuclear site licence.

The issuing of the licence is a significant step in the long-running Sizewell C process, but it does not permit the start of nuclear-related construction at the site - instead it formalises ONR's regulatory responsibility and allows it to require project company Sizewell C Ltd to request permission for the start of nuclear-related construction.

It is the first site licence issued by the ONR since the one issued for Hinkley Point C in 2012 and it means that Sizewell C has a legal responsibility to comply with health and safety and nuclear security regulations and needs the project to meet 36 conditions attached to the licence covering the design, construction, operation and decommissioning of the plant.

ONR CEO Mark Foy said: "I am pleased to confirm that following extensive engagement and review by the ONR team, our assessment of the Sizewell C application is complete and a nuclear site licence has been granted. The licensing process is fundamental in confirming that operators of a nuclear site are ready and able to meet their obligations under the nuclear site licence, to protect their workforce and the public.

"The granting of this licence is one step in ONR's process, allowing us to provide greater regulatory oversight, advice and challenge to the licensee as they progress their plans. We will continue working with Sizewell C to ensure that the highest levels of safety and security are met."

Sizewell C director of safety, security and assurance, Mina Golshan, said: "Securing a nuclear site licence is a show of confidence from our nuclear regulator that we have a suitable site, that we can achieve a safe design replicated from Hinkley Point C, and that we have a capable organisation ready to begin major construction work. It’s a huge milestone and demonstrates that this project is firmly on track."

The EDF-led plan is for Sizewell C to feature two EPRs producing 3.2 GW of electricity, enough to power the equivalent of around six million homes for at least 60 years. It would be a similar design to the two-unit plant being built at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, with the aim of building it more quickly and at lower cost as a result of the experience gained from what is the first new nuclear construction project in the UK for about three decades.

EDF agreed in October 2016 with China General Nuclear (CGN) to develop the Sizewell C project to the point where a final investment decision could be made. EDF had an 80% stake and CGN a 20% stake. However, the so-called "golden era" of UK-China relations has ended in recent years with the UK government citing security concerns as it reviewed and blocked Chinese investments in UK infrastructure. In November 2022, the UK said it would invest GBP679 million (USD845 million) and become a 50% partner with EDF in the Sizewell C project. A further GBP511 million of funding was made available to the project in summer 2023, with the government funding designed to get the project to the final investment decision. EDF said in November 2022 that it planned to "retain only a minority stake in the final investment decision - a maximum of 20%".

The UK government has been seeking investment in the Sizewell C project, launching a pre-qualification for potential investors as the first stage of an equity raise process last September. It has also taken legislation through Parliament allowing a new way of funding new large infrastructure projects - a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model, which can see consumers contributing towards the cost of new nuclear power plants during the construction phase. Under the previous Contracts for Difference system developers finance the construction of a nuclear project and only begin receiving revenue when the station starts generating electricity.

In January, a further GBP1.3 billion of government funding was approved allowing for necessary infrastructure work such as roads and rail lines to continue pending a final investment decision being taken. In March Sizewell C Ltd, a standalone company majority-owned by the UK government, signed a deal with EDF Energy to purchase the freehold of the land which will be used for the new power plant.

Minister for Nuclear and Renewables Andrew Bowie said: "Sizewell C will be the cornerstone of the UK's clean energy transition, supplying six million homes with green energy for decades. Obtaining a nuclear site licence is a significant achievement and should instil further confidence from investors - bringing us another step closer towards reaching a final investment decision this year."

Sizewell C Ltd said that earthworks are under way at the site, that the process of raising private equity from investors "continues to make good progress" and "the project is anticipating taking a Final Investment Decision in the coming months".

WEC panelists welcome growth in support for nuclear power

07 May 2024

The public and political perception of nuclear energy has significantly improved over the past few years, speakers agreed in a panel session during the recent World Energy Congress 2024.

The panel session (Image: WNN)

"The fact that we're having this panel here at WEC is really a testament to the growing interest in nuclear," session moderator John Gorman, president and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association, noted in his introduction. The session - titled Leap of scale or faith: Realising the full potential of nuclear - was held on 24 April during the congress in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that although some people refer to a nuclear 'renaissance', he prefers to think of it as "a return to realism".

"We are seeing this realisation that ... ensuring the means to grow and to power our economies ... it would be very difficult, if not simply impossible, to get to that place without nuclear," he said. Grossi said there was a "common understanding" when it comes to energy and the transition to cleaner energy systems - "nuclear has a place. It always had it. We always knew it, but for quite a long time it was challenged, it was contested". He continued: "We have a global consensus that [nuclear] should be accelerated side-by-side with renewables, side-by-side with fossils."

People are now realising that nuclear energy does not emit greenhouse gases and is necessary, along with renewable energies, to reach the target of reaching net-zero by 2050, Laurence Piketty, deputy general administrator of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) said. She said France's fleet of 56 power reactors - which provide about 70% of the country's electricity - had helped France maintain electricity prices at a "fair level compared with other European countries" during the energy crisis that began in 2022.

Piketty highlighted the 12-member Nuclear Alliance that is calling on the European Commission to recognise nuclear energy in the EU's energy strategy and relevant policies. "I see the excitement around this European alliance as a clear change in the public perception and European perception of nuclear and an increasing acceptance of it, even in countries where nuclear energy was banned for many years," she said.

Referring to the first Nuclear Energy Summit, held in Brussels in March this year, Grossi said some leaders "very candidly said, 'We have changed. Things have changed. And the reality has changed'. And the people out there are saying it even in countries phasing out nuclear - when you go and ask people on the street they would like to have nuclear."

Grossi said there was a generational change in public opinion about nuclear energy. "Young people are very favourable in general to nuclear," he said. "And what we see is that those having expressed more doubts perhaps belong more to my generation than the new generations that are not carrying this package of doubts and sometimes ideological issues." He added: "We have to address problems squarely, including those having to do with opposition, societal doubt. And in this I think there has been a real change."

Naomi Hirose, vice chair of the World Energy Council and chairman of the Japan Energy Association, said that public opinion about nuclear energy in Japan had been "very, very negative" in the years following the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. "But I was very much surprised to see [the results of] a public opinion poll which took place a year and a half ago, the end of 2022," the former CEO of Tokyo Electric Power Company said.

"The question was whether nuclear power plants that have passed safety review from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority should be restarted, 58% of the respondents said they should be restarted. I was honestly very surprised because this same question had been asked many times over the years after the accident and the average positive answer is something like 20-25%. But it suddenly changed up to 58%. This is the public reacting to energy security. It was brought about by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and people are very much scared about the safe, stable supply of electricity in Japan. And the price of electric power jumped up. That's why the people changed [their opinion] dramatically."

"The young generation is so important and in much of the world we see that the young generation is actually pushing for the adoption of nuclear," Gorman said.

Piketty said that nuclear energy was now widely recognised as a valuable source of low-carbon, stable, long-lasting, predictable energy that will enable countries to decarbonise in the long-term. "But, with the electrification of many sectors in the world, starting with mobility, nuclear energy needs to show its potential and its capacity to match this ... we have to take up several challenges. We must develop and deploy a new generation of reactors (including SMRs) in a timely manner."

"We are at the moment, unfortunately, in the international scene seeing conflict, we see tension," said Grossi. "And we see problems. It's not the first time - history is not linear. But when it comes to nuclear, there is a lot of convergence. There is a perception and a conviction that there are many things in which we can cooperate and we see that this pattern is a reflection of that.

"There are still challenges ahead of us and nothing is guaranteed, because if we fail to address and to give the right answers to some of the issues perhaps preventing nuclear to flourish in the way we want, we will still have nuclear, but we will not have the nuclear we need. And this is the gap. We know that nuclear is going to continue, but we also know that we need more nuclear. Are we going to get it, yes or no? This is the question."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Italy sees role for nuclear in hitting climate goals, says minister

29 April 2024

Italian Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said he hopes there can be a discussion based on science about the renewed role of nuclear, specifically small modular reactors, in the country's future.

(Image: Screengrab from Atlantic Council TV/Youtube)

Pichetto was speaking at an Atlantic Council event on The role of nuclear in the energy transition, on Sunday, ahead of the G7 ministerial meeting taking place in Italy at which he is heading the energy ministers' talks.

He said that Italy currently gets one-third of its energy from renewables and two-thirds from fossil fuels, and it had the aim of reversing those proportions by 2030. But he also said that "we must consider the use of nuclear in the short and medium term" because its contribution would help meet the 2050 net-zero target.

The minister said he was specifically talking about small modular reactors (SMRs) and referenced the research and development funding the government had put into both their development and into nuclear fusion. He also noted the countries which, at COP28, had backed the goal of tripling nuclear energy capacity.

Pichetto, who spoke in Italian with a translator summarising his words in English, said that as well as the environmental benefits of new nuclear power, it would also help "to shield" Italy from the impact of geopolitical events. It was also confirmed that Italy is taking part in the European industrial alliance to develop SMRs. The minister added that he hoped Italy could have a "constructive and scientific discussion and not an ideological one" on the nuclear energy subject.

Italy operated a total of four nuclear power plants starting in the early 1960s but decided to phase out nuclear power in a referendum that followed the 1986 Chernobyl accident. It closed its last two operating plants, Caorso and Trino Vercellese, in 1990.

In late March 2011, following the Fukushima Daiichi accident, the Italian government approved a moratorium of at least one year on construction of nuclear power plants in the country, which had been looking to restart its long-abandoned nuclear programme.

The public mood has changed since then, and in May 2023, the Italian Parliament approved a motion to urge the government to consider incorporating nuclear power into the country's energy mix. In September, the first meeting was held of the National Platform for a Sustainable Nuclear, set up by the government to define a time frame for the possible resumption of nuclear energy in Italy and identify opportunities for the country's industrial chain already operating in the sector.

There are a variety of emerging plans for nuclear energy in Italy, including Edison last October announcing its ambition to construct two nuclear power plants based on EDF's SMR technology between 2030 and 2040 "if the conditions are created for its return to Italy".

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Commercial operation marks completion of Vogtle expansion

29 April 2024

Georgia Power has announced the start of commercial operations at the second of the two AP1000 units built as an expansion of the existing two-unit Vogtle plant. The plant is now the largest generator of clean energy in the USA.

With all four units now in commercial operation, Vogtle is expected to produce xpected to produce more than 30 million MWh each year (Image: Georgia Power)

Vogtle 4 reached first criticality in February and was connected to the grid in March, following Vogtle 3 which entered commercial operation in July 2023. They are the first new nuclear units to be constructed in the USA in more than 30 years.

The construction of Vogtle units 3 and 4 was originally approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) as part of Georgia Power's Integrated Resource Plan process in which regulators analyse and discuss the company's plans on how it will continue delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy for millions of customers over a 20-year planning horizon. Construction of the two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors began in 2013.

"It's an exciting time to be a Georgian as our state continues to grow and thrive, with new demand for more clean energy each year," said Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power. "The new Vogtle units are a key piece of our strategy to meet the energy needs of our customers not only tomorrow, but 20 years from now."

The plant is operated by Southern Nuclear on behalf of co-owners Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities. Georgia Power is a subsidiary of Southern Company.

Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, described the completion of the expansion of the Vogtle nuclear plant is a "hallmark achievement" for Southern Company, the state of Georgia and the entire USA. "Working with our partners across government, industry, labour and beyond, we have added new nuclear generation to the diverse energy resources that enhance the reliability, resiliency and affordability of our system as we work to achieve our goal to be net zero by 2050. These new Vogtle units not only will support the economy within our communities now and in the future, they demonstrate our global nuclear leadership," he said.

Plant Vogtle has provided billions of dollars of positive economic impact for Georgia and local communities, Georgia Power said. The new units have created 800 permanent jobs, in addition to over 9000 on-site jobs at the peak of construction.

Vogtle 1 and 2 have been in commercial operation since 1987 and 1989 respectively, and are currently licensed for a 60-year operating life.

Construction starts of second Lianjiang unit

29 April 2024

The first safety-related concrete has been poured for the nuclear island of unit 2 at the Lianjiang nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province. It is the second of two CAP1000 units planned as the initial phase of the plant, which will eventually house six such reactors.

Concrete is poured for the foundations of the nuclear island of Lianjiang 2 (Image: SPIC)

State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) said the first concrete was poured at 11.56am on 26 April. It expected to pour a total of about 6615 cubic metres of concrete over a 57-hour period.

The construction of the first two 1250 MWe CAP1000 reactors at the Lianjiang site was approved by China's State Council in September 2022. Excavation works for the units began in the same month, with the pouring of first concrete for the foundation of unit 1 completed at the end of September last year. Lianjiang unit 1 is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2028.

The CAP1000 reactor design - the Chinese version of the AP1000 - uses modular construction techniques, enabling large structural modules to be built at factories and then installed at the site.

Concrete pouring for Lianjiang 2 (Image: SPIC)

Once all six CAP1000 units at the site are completed, the annual power generation will be about 70.2 TWh, which will reduce standard coal consumption by more than 20 million tonnes, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 52 million tonnes, sulphur dioxide by about 171,000 tonnes and nitrogen oxides by about 149,000 tonnes.

SPIC noted the Lianjiang project is the first nuclear power project it has developed and constructed in Guangdong province. It will also be the first nuclear power project in China to adopt seawater secondary circulation cooling technology, as well as the first to use a super-large cooling tower.

With a total installed nuclear power capacity of 8.09 GWe, SPIC is one of the three largest nuclear power investment, construction and operators in China. It has reactors in operation, four units under construction and a number of preliminary nuclear power project sites.

Grid challenges add to need for more nuclear, WEC side-event told

26 April 2024

Massive growth is expected in the global demand for electricity, which will require an expansion of both generation and the transmission system, speakers at a side event at the World Energy Congress 2024 agreed. Nuclear power will play an important role, they said, in ensuring the resilience of the future electricity system.

The panel (Image: WNN)

The session - Building low-carbon resilient electricity system - was co-organised by World Nuclear Association, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress, held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on 22-25 April.

Asked about the biggest challenges to the global electricity system, World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León said that many developed countries have "very robust and reliable energy systems" that have been built over the years but when adding new generation - particularly intermittent renewable generation - "we have forgotten to ensure the resiliency of the system". "We are finding ourselves close to breaking point where any most-needed capacity ... is really going to require major investment into the grid itself," she said.

Neil Wilmshurst, Senior Vice President, Energy System Resilience and Chief Nuclear Operator at EPRI, said that in the developed world the challenge is integrating renewables, reliability, and resilience in the context of increasing demand. He noted that conservative estimates put future electricity demand at twice or three times the current demand. "If you look at the amount of hydrogen people say could be in demand in the US, it would take the entire current generation capacity of the US to produce it. That is the kind of magnitude of generation we're talking about. Then you throw on top of that the coming load from data centres." Meanwhile, electricity demand in developing countries is also rapidly expanding. A major challenge, he said, will be simultaneously increasing electricity supply in the developed world whilst electrifying the developing world.

Iva Brkic, Secretary of UNECE's Sustainable Energy Division, noted a recent International Energy Agency report which estimated that there was a need to add or refurbish a total of more than 80 million kilometres of grids by 2040, the equivalent of the existing global grid. "We need to double it in the next 14 years to meet our targets," she said. "So where are those resources going to come from? Where are the critical raw materials that we need to identify, to secure the supply chains, to really build that infrastructure? Now we add another layer to this - keeping the resiliency but also the reliability of that grid."

Brkic said the effects of climate change are already being experienced around the world. "How can we ensure that the system that we are now redesigning and building and modernising can withstand those impacts of climate change - the heatwaves, the droughts. This is something that we need to pay attention to.

"At the UNECE, we like to think also about the aspects of balancing between delivering on energy security, affordability and environmental sustainability. And when we think now about modernising the electricity system, it's also about balancing those aspects and creating the resiliency while actually cleaning the energy system."

The electricity sector is still one of the highest emitters of CO2, with many countries relying heavily on fossil fuels for electricity production, said Wassim Ballout, and energy analyst at EDF's Corporate Strategy Division. "One of the biggest challenges will be to satisfy this significant demand growth with decarbonised production. Not only decarbonising the existing production but also to cope with the significant increase ... the challenge would be to invest in all low-cost, low-emission technologies and to have a technological neutral approach and have good incentives to do that."

Bilbao y León said people tend to think of the energy systems of the future as being a version of what currently exists. However, she said the technology is going to be very different. "Very importantly I think that we are going to see a lot of coupling of systems … electricity is obviously going to be very important as we try to electrify a lot of energy, but clearly there are going to be additional energy vectors … all these technologies are going to make this system more complex … we can have different energy products depending on what is needed at different times to ensure the reliability and the resiliency and the flexibility of the system."

Ballout spoke about scenarios that EDF have been developing for more than 15 years, mainly for internal use. This year the company has made its scenario for net-zero publicly available. "It's fundamentally different from the other scenarios we're developing because we start with the constraints and the end. We start with net neutrality in 2050 and we go backwards. So we try to find the most economically efficient pathway to achieve this neutrality. And when I say economically efficient, I think of welfare maximisation, the minimisation of the cost and the optimisation of the resilience of the system.

"And that's how we come to a mix that shows we have to multiply by six our renewable capacity in Europe [by 2050] - we've been talking about 15 Western European countries. We will have between 120 and 150 gigawatts of nuclear capacity. We will enhance significantly the production of biofuels and CCS. We see this path will take us to a significant increase of flexibility needs … it's a very important part of the resilience of the system."

Wilmshurst said it was clear that nuclear and renewables will have a role together in the future electricity system. "If we have an idealistic view that renewables can expand and expand and expand, the transmission grid needs to expand and expand, get more complicated, and when it gets more complicated the potential for it be less reliable increases."

However, he noted that financing is a hurdle for nuclear deployment in most countries. "A great part of nuclear being perceived as expensive is the financing cost. So why is the financing cost so high? Because you have to build the nuclear plant - it takes a long time, it's complicated - but that huge capital investment upfront alone then gives you the facility that runs for many decades to recoup the investment."

"If we get deployment plans together with a clear picture ... all of a sudden, the deployment experience increases, deployment risk goes down, the confidence in the financial markets that the projects can be delivered on time increases. Finance starts flowing. If we don't make a decision to move, we don't start doing things, we don't learn as well. There's hesitancy in the markets to invest."

Ballout said nuclear and hydro play a very important role because outages of plants can be scheduled during periods where the demand is lower. "But that's why we say we have to continue financing and investing in hydro and nuclear. The nuclear fleet is capable of ramping up when suddenly you don't have sun or wind. It's possible technologically and technically speaking and at the same time it is possible to ramp down in order to leave room for renewables to produce and that's really the very important message for us."

Poland's nuclear programme making good progress, says IAEA

26 April 2024

An International Atomic Energy Agency review mission has praised steps taken to develop the necessary infrastructure for a safe and sustainable nuclear power programme in Poland. Meanwhile, Bechtel marks the start of site field work for the country's first nuclear power plant.

Ceyhan, right, presents the draft report to Motyka (Image: Polish Climate Ministry)

The 11-day IAEA mission to Poland - a Phase 2 Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review - took place from 15 to 25 April at the invitation of the Polish government and used the IAEA's Milestones Approach to review the status of 19 nuclear infrastructure issues. The aim is the check the readiness of a country to invite bids or negotiate a contract for their first nuclear power plant.

The 10-person team "identified good practices that would benefit other countries developing nuclear power in the areas of contracting approach, strategic approach to funding, early authorisation of technical support organisations to support the nuclear regulator, engagement with the electrical grid operator, stakeholder involvement and industrial involvement".

Mission team leader Mehmet Ceyhan, Technical Lead of the IAEA Nuclear Infrastructure Development Section, said: "The Polish Nuclear Power Programme (PNPP) was initiated with clear objectives and is progressing towards the construction stage in a structured way. We observed strong and dedicated teams in each of the key organisations that will help to achieve the government’s objectives for the PNPP."

Among the areas highlighted for further action was "the need to further review its legal and regulatory framework, and finalise the preparatory work required for the contracting and construction stages".

Miłosz Motyka, Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of Climate and Environment of Poland, said: "Poland's cooperation with the IAEA is a long-term collaboration, and the review mission is extremely valuable and beneficial for the implementation and execution of the Polish nuclear power programme."

The collaboration with the IAEA also involved a September 2023 Integrated Regulatory Review Service mission to the country which found Poland's nuclear regulatory framework met IAEA safety standards.

Field work getting under way

Meanwhile, a symbolic kick-off ceremony was held by US-firm Bechtel at its Warsaw office to mark the start of geological surveys for Poland's first nuclear power plant at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Pomeranian municipality of Choczewo.

Bechtel is a member of the US consortium responsible for the implementation of the nuclear power plant project which is set to feature three Westinghouse AP1000 units. The field work is due to start in May on an area covering about 30 hectares with approximately 220 research points being constructed with depths of 20 to 210 metres. Bechtel has awarded the contract for the geological work to PSD Poland, with the work expected to be completed in November.

The findings will be crucial for the earthworks design for the plant and will also inform the Location Report which Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) will need to submit to obtain a construction permit from Poland's National Atomic Energy Agency, the PPA.

The event was attended by the US Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski, who called it "another important step forward as Poland and the United States work together to create a civil nuclear industry in Poland, and it shows that the United States is delivering on our shared commitment to Poland’s energy security and supporting Poland’s energy transition".

Leszek Hołda, Bechtel Poland Country Manager, said: "The commencement of the initial fieldwork for the construction of this plant is a significant moment for the Polish economy, the companies that will participate in the supply chain, and the local community."

Leszek Juchniewicz, a member of the board of directors and acting president of PEJ, said this was an important time for the enterprise and showed that "the project to build Poland's first nuclear power plant is gaining momentum".

Project background

PEJ - a special-purpose vehicle 100% owned by the State Treasury - is responsible for the construction project of the first nuclear power plant in Poland.

In November 2022, the then Polish government selected the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor technology. An agreement setting a plan for the delivery of the plant was signed in May last year by Westinghouse, Bechtel and PEJ. The Ministry of Climate and Environment in July issued a decision-in-principle for PEJ to construct the plant. The aim is for Poland's first AP1000 reactor to enter commercial operation in 2033.

Under an engineering services agreement signed in September last year, in cooperation with PEJ, Westinghouse and Bechtel will finalise a site-specific design for a plant featuring three AP1000 reactors. The design/engineering documentation includes the main components of the power plant: the nuclear island, the turbine island and the associated installations and auxiliary equipment, as well as administrative buildings and infrastructure related to the safety of the facility. The contract also involves supporting t

Industria and Rolls-Royce SMR plans take step forward

26 April 2024

Poland's Industria says that it now has all the necessary ministerial opinions required to move on to the next stage of its plans for the construction of small modular reactor plants using Rolls-Royce SMR's technology.

Rolls-Royce SMR’s Woods and Industria's Ruman, pictured last year (Image: Rolls-Royce SMR)

The Polish Minister of Climate and Environment needed to get opinions from a range of government departments - the Minister of State Assets, the Internal Security Agency and Poland's chief Geologist - that the investment would have a "positive impact".

Now it has received all the required opinions, the ministry is able to move ahead to the next step which would be to issue a Decision In Principle to deploy Rolls-Royce SMRs, a 470 MWe design based on a small pressurised water reactor.

Last year, state-owned Industria - part of Industrial Development Agency JSC (IDA) - selected Rolls-Royce SMR technology to fulfil the zero-emission energy goals of the Central Hydrogen Cluster in Poland and as part of their plans to produce 50,000 tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen every year.

Industria submitted its application for a Decision in Principle in December to Polish Climate and Environment Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska, and has now welcomed the receipt of the last required opinion, from Poland's Internal Security Agency.

Szczepan Ruman, President of the Management Board of Industria, said: "The positive opinion from the Internal Security Agency is a very important document for us, not only because it is the last opinion we have been waiting for and the Minister of Climate and Environment has complete documentation to decide on issuing the Decision in Principle. The positive opinion from the Internal Security Agency is important for us primarily because in this opinion, the agency - responsible for the internal security of the state, as well as for supervising the energy sector - confirms that our planned investment has a positive impact on the security of the Republic of Poland."

He added that with the Central Hydrogen Cluster he hoped "it will be possible to build a significant order portfolio from several entities for SMR units using Rolls-Royce technology, giving the Polish side a strong position in negotiations on the delivery terms of individual units, as well as, above all, in terms of the participation of the Polish industry in a supply chain for RR SMRs and thus the creation of attractive jobs in Poland."

Alan Woods, Rolls-Royce SMR’s Director of Strategy and Business Development, said: "We are delighted the Polish Government has concluded that the deployment of our unique 'factory-built' nuclear power plants would have a positive impact for the country, and we look forward to a Decision in Principle to deploy Rolls-Royce SMRs in Poland."

In July last year, Industria signed a letter of intent with the Kostrzyn-Słubicka Special Economic Zone SA (KSSSE) regarding cooperation on the location of a modular power plant based on Rolls-Royce SMR technology in the areas covered by the KSSSE.

Last month, Industria also signed a letter of intent with Chiltern Vital Group. With its partners - including Western Gateway, SGSC, University of Bristol, Vital Energi and Rolls-Royce SMR - Chiltern Vital Group intends to create a world-first net-zero and nuclear technologies campus at a site next to the former Berkeley Magnox nuclear power plant in Gloucestershire, southwest England. This will be the first step towards a 'net-zero super cluster' investment zone, encouraging the roll out of Rolls-Royce SMRs alongside an array of net-zero technologies.

The main provisions of the agreement include cooperation in: training and development of skills of Polish students and specialists; exchange of know-how to accelerate the licensing process of components dedicated to the nuclear industry; joint development of related technologies to create large low-carbon regional technology parks; and creating private financing models to ensure the viability of small modular reactor projects.he investment process and bringing it in line with current legal regulations in cooperation with the PAA and the Office of Technical Inspection.

Romanian President leads visit to Doosan SMR production facilities

25 April 2024

Romania plans a small modular reactor power plant, using NuScale technology, with South Korea's Doosan Enerbility set to manufacture and supply the core equipment, including the upper reactor module.

Geewon Park, centre, with President Iohannis, right, during the visit (Image: Doosan Enerbility)

Romania's SMR project is aiming for 462 MWe installed capacity, using six 77 MWe NuScale modules. The SMR project, at Doicesti where a thermal power plant will be replaced, is expected to create nearly 200 permanent jobs, 1500 construction jobs and 2300 manufacturing and component assembly jobs, as well as facility operation and maintenance jobs over the 60-year life of the facility.

During the visit to the manufacturing facilities in Changwon, the delegation of senior Romanian politicians and industry figures toured the forging shop and reviewed specific facilities for SMR production and discussed the project schedule. Doosan signed a business collaboration agreement with NuScale for the supply of NuScale Power Modules and other equipment in 2019. Together with other Korean financial investors it has also made an equity investment of nearly USD104 million in NuScale Power.

President Klaus Iohannis said after the visit: "Romania wants to develop its supply chains in the clean energy industry and hence lead in supporting the regional decarbonisation efforts. International cooperation and partnering with well-established actors is key to achieving this objective and securing Romania’s energy and economic future".

Also on the visit was Cosmin Ghita, CEO of Romania's nuclear power company Nuclearelectrica, who said: "The Romanian SMR Project will benefit from the highest level of nuclear safety and technological robustness. Doosan Enerbility, with their internationally acknowledged experience in nuclear equipment manufacturing and advancements in SMR technologies, will significantly contribute to ensuring that, by the end of the 2030s, Romania will become a benchmark in advanced nuclear technology implementation and efficient long-term clean energy projects."

Melania Amuza, CEO of the SMR project company RoPower, a joint venture between Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power and Gas, said: "The sustainable development of the Doicesti SMR project includes strong supply chain links ... we look forward to building together a flagship SMR project for Romania."

Doosan Enerbility CEO and Chairman Geewon Park, said: "Leveraging a strong cooperative relationship with NuScale Power, Doosan Enerbility is consistently improving its production capabilities through innovation and technological advancements for SMRs. We are actively preparing for the deployment of Romania's first SMR project, with the goal of supporting the reliable provision of clean energy in Romania."

NuScale Power and RoPower have been conducting a Front End Engineering and Design Phase 1 study to analyse the preferred SMR site - which got International Atomic Energy Agency approval earlier this month - and received USD275 million funding last May from the USA and "multinational public-private partners" to support procurement of "long lead materials, Phase 2 Front End Engineering and Design work, provision of project management expertise, site characterisation and regulatory analyses, and the development of site-specific schedule and budget estimates for project execution".

IAEA assesses operation of Japanese reactor for 60 years

25 April 2024

Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Company is implementing timely measures for the safe long-term operation of unit 3 at its Mihama nuclear power plant, a team of International Atomic Energy Agency experts has concluded. The team also provided recommendations and suggestions to further improve the safe operation of the unit beyond 40 years.

The Mihama plant (Image: NRA)

Under revised regulations which came into force in July 2013, Japanese reactors have a nominal operating period of 40 years. Extensions can be granted once only and limited to a maximum of 20 years, contingent on exacting safety requirements.

In November 2016, Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) approved an extension to the operating period for Kansai's Mihama unit 3, a 780 MWe pressurised water reactor that entered commercial operation in 1976. The NRA's decision cleared the unit to operate until 2036. Mihama 3 was the third Japanese unit to be granted a licence extension enabling it to operate beyond 40 years under the revised regulations, following Kansai's Takahama 1 and 2 which received NRA approval in June 2016.

Mihama 3 was restarted in June 2021 after having been idle since May 2011 following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant two months earlier. It became the first Japanese power reactor to operate beyond 40 years.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has now completed a ten-day Safety Aspects of Long-Term Operation (SALTO) mission to Mihama 3, carried out at Kansai's request.

A SALTO peer review is a comprehensive safety review addressing strategy and key elements for the safe long-term operation of nuclear power plants. SALTO missions complement IAEA Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) missions which are designed as a review of programmes and activities essential to operational safety. SALTO peer reviews can be carried out at any time during the lifetime of a nuclear power plant, although according to the IAEA the most suitable time lies within the last ten years of the plant's originally foreseen operating period. SALTO and OSART reviews are carried out at the request of the IAEA member country in which the review is to take place.

The team reviewed Mahama 3's preparedness, organisation and programmes for safe LTO. The mission was conducted by an 11-person team comprising experts from the Czech Republic, France, Sweden, the UK and the USA, as well as three observers from Finland and South Korea, and two IAEA staff members.

The team identified good performances, including that the plant has developed and effectively implemented a comprehensive methodology for identification and management of design obsolescence. The plant has also participated in benchmarking efforts related to ageing management of the steel containment and containment pressure testing and uses these benchmarking efforts to enhance the ageing management activities of the civil structures. In addition, it has put in place an effective mentoring programme using retired staff as mentors for new and current staff to develop their competencies and skills.

The team also provided recommendations and suggestions, including that the plant should further develop and implement its LTO programme and should fully develop and complete the ageing management review process for mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation and control components and civil structures. It also said the plant should improve its so-called equipment qualification programme, designed to confirm the resistance of components to harsh conditions.

"The team observed that Kansai is implementing measures for safe LTO in a timely manner and the staff at the plant are professional, open and receptive to proposals for improvement," said team leader and IAEA Nuclear Safety Officer Martin Marchena. "Some ageing management and LTO activities already meet IAEA safety standards. We encourage the plant to address the review findings and implement all remaining activities for safe LTO as planned."

The team provided a draft report to the plant management and to the NRA at the end of the mission. The plant management and the NRA will have an opportunity to make factual comments on the draft. A final report will be submitted to the plant management, the NRA and the Japanese government after comments are addressed.

"Kansai is wholly committed to improving upon the topics recommended and suggested through the SALTO review," said Kazutaka Tsuru, the general manager of the Mihama plant. "As a pioneer in Japan's nuclear power generation sector, we also intend to roll out the improvements to domestic nuclear power stations and contribute to maintaining and developing the country's nuclear power generation. Harnessing the knowledge obtained from the review, we hope to make efforts to achieve higher standards with the support of IAEA members."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News