The fur trade shows us that Canada has a long history of unethical business practices

‘Winter fishing on the ice of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers,’ by Peter Rindisbacher, 1821. 

(National Archives of Canada)

Published: December 7, 2022 
THE CONVERSATION

With rising prices caused by inflation, Canadians are struggling to afford the basic costs of living. According to a recent Angus Reid Institute study, nearly 60 per cent of Canadians are struggling to provide food for their families. Meanwhile, profits are surging for grocery retailers, raising concerns about monopolies.

In today’s market economy, competition means standing out by offering customers more while working faster for less cost. Among top grocery retailers in Canada like Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro, it also means protecting and growing their dominant market position. The pandemic and other global crises has been especially profitable for the food business sector.

There is nothing new or surprising about the lengths corporations will go to maintain market dominance. Canada has a long history of big business antics, stretching as far back as pre-Confederation fur trade.

Building customer loyalty

In 1670, Charles II granted one company exclusive privileges to exploit the area around Hudson Bay. For a century, bayside factories bustled with trade activity, where Hudson’s Bay Company men operated as a type of trader know as factors.

The fur trade was about more than exchanging goods — it was about building loyalty. Speeches and gift exchanges stretched over multiple days, practices that reflected the customs of the Indigenous societies participating in the commercial trade. These were required if HBC factors wanted access to the goods and for Indigenous traders to return the next season.

Such practices created shared obligations between the parties, although this did not stop factors from shorting Indigenous traders. By applying the “factor’s standard,” company traders could demand more from Indigenous traders for less than was customary, or offer worse quality items in exchange for the usual quantity of furs.

It was risky — accusations of cheating left the company with more than dissatisfied consumers, it could cause productivity problems if the Indigenous party refused to return in the future. After all, in addition to gifts and consumer goods, the items Indigenous traders received were a type of compensation for their labours and fostered social relations.

Collusion and control

When trade shifted inland in the 1770s, the factor’s standard shifted too. The HBC was in direct competition with the Montreal-based North West Company, and each side tempted Indigenous traders away from their rival by offering more in quantity or quality.

By the early 1800s, this became an expensive rivalry. Company men acted in ways that appeared contrary to their bottom lines, driven by the desire to deny the other company profit.

Yet amid what seemed like mutually assured destruction, the rivals conspired to blacklist workers who deserted them, floated the idea of an informal collusion, and secured legal protections and advantages from government officials in Canada and Britain (including the military). Short term losses were nothing compared to long term gains in control.

Eventually, in an ultimate attempt to exercise control, the HBC established the Red River Colony (present-day Winnipeg) in 1812. Still dependent on Indigenous Peoples’ labour and allyship, this attempt to control Indigenous Peoples’ lands shows us how far the HBC would go to flex and protect their privileges.

Big Canadian businesses, like Loblaws, take dramatic steps to maintain customer loyalty and maintain market dominance the same way pre-Confederation traders did. (Shutterstock)

Still building loyalty

Even though today’s market economy has changed a lot since the heyday of chartered monopolies, there are some similarities when it comes to company tricks and concerns about loyalty.

Faced with shrinking portion sizes and frozen or increased prices, consumers today are frustrated by “shrinkflation.” Some retail experts label shrinkflation a “consumer perception” problem, which becomes a loyalty problem when consumers feel cheated. Described by economics journalist Abha Bhattarai as “retail camouflage,” tricks like this are not necessarily illegal, but they can destroy consumer trust.

Galen G. Weston speaking to shareholders at Loblaw’s annual general meeting in Toronto, in May 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Thornhill

In October, Loblaw Companies president Galen G. Weston responded to customer outcry against grocery prices. This involved circulating a personalized note announcing a three-month price freeze on one of the company’s own brands.

With this note, Weston tried to appear as a compassionate voice for corporate decision-making. He volunteered to share the burdens by sacrificing profits, and seemed to recognize some sense of duty while still managing to stop short of a mea culpa.
More collusion and control

Instead of increasing customer loyalty, Weston’s public relations move backfired — much like the short-lived “hero pay” for employees (now recognized as a collusive wage-fixing practice). While these PR moves might have been well intentioned, they demonstrate a clear disconnect between grocery store chains and the needs of their customers.

Weston’s note suggested that companies like Loblaws can decide food costs at will, which undercuts claims that prices rose for reasons beyond their control, like rising supplier costs. It also turns out that price freezes are not that special, although Loblaws framed it that way. In the industry, it is routine for prices to remain relatively stable through the winter.

These antics are the latest in Canada’s long history of monopolies using questionable practices to protect their dominant position in the market. When considered alongside pre-Confederation fur trade, we see that market dominance is about control, which is the cornerstone of settler colonialism itself.

Author

Susan Dianne Brophy
Associate Professor in Legal Studies, St. Jerome's University, University of Waterloo
Disclosure statement
Susan Dianne Brophy received funding for her book from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Awards to Scholarly Publications Program.

SEE 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: A History of Canadian Wealth, 1914. 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FUR TRADE 

Climate crisis in Africa exposes real cause of hunger – colonial food systems that leave people more vulnerable

Published: December 10, 2022 
THE CONVERSATION

Zawadi Msafiri is seen in a withered maize crop field in Kilifi County, Kenya. The drought situation started in 2021. Photo by Dong Jianghui/Xinhua via Getty Images

In the waning hours of the year’s biggest climate change conference – COP27 – we learned of a deal to create a loss and damage fund. This is essentially a source of finance to compensate poor countries for the pain they are incurring because of climate change. An often-cited example of such suffering is the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa region, which has put some 22 million people at risk of severe hunger.

While some have heralded this agreement as long overdue climate reparations, others point out that the loss and damage fund does nothing to address the root causes of climate change - fossil fuel emissions.

Here I seek to raise a different concern: this approach glosses over the fact that the types of food production systems that the global community has fostered in Africa leave the poorest more exposed and vulnerable to climatic variability and economic shocks. These food production systems refer to the ways people produce, store, process and distribute food, as well as the inputs into the system along the way.

Historically smallholder and women farmers have produced the lion’s share of food crops on the African continent. Over the past 60 years, global decision makers, big philanthropy, business interests and large swaths of the scientific community have focused on increased food production, trade, and energy intensive farming methods as the best way to address global and African hunger.


This approach to addressing hunger has failed to address food insecurity on the continent. Moderate to severe food insecurity affects nearly 60% of Africans today. It’s also resulted in food systems that are now more vulnerable to climate change.

The idea that the solution is to produce more dates back to the colonial period. It’s bad for the global environment, highly vulnerable to climate and energy shocks, and does not feed the poorest of the poor.

I approach this topic as a nature-society geographer who has spent his career studying agricultural development approaches and food systems in west and southern Africa. Through this work, I have come to see agroecology as more accessible to the poorest.
Vulnerable food systems

Each time there has been a global food crisis, variations on the formula of increased agricultural production, trade and energy intensive farming methods have been the favoured solution. These include the first Green Revolution of the 1960s-1970s, commodity production and trade in the 1980s-1990s, the New Green Revolution for Africa and public-private partnerships in the 2000s-2010s.

Many scholars now understand that food security has six dimensions, of which only one is addressed by food production.

Looking at all six dimensions reveals the complex drivers of hunger. These include:

food availability - local production and net imports


access - the ability of households to acquire food that is available


utilisation - the cooking, water and sanitation facilities needed to prepare healthy food


stability of food prices and supplies over time


sustainability - the ability to produce food without undermining the resource base


agency – people’s ability to control their food systems, from production to consumption.
Decolonising African agriculture

So, how did we get here?

Certain countries and businesses profit from productionist approaches to addressing hunger. These include, for example, Monsanto, which developed the herbicide Round-Up. Or the four companies (Archer-Daniels-Midland, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus) that control 70%-90% of the global grain trade.

The productionist focus is also engrained in the agricultural sciences. Tropical agronomy, now known as “development agronomy”, was central to the colonial enterprise in Africa. The main objective for colonial powers was to transform local food systems. This pushed many African households away from subsistence farming and the production of food for local markets. Instead, they moved towards the cultivation of commodity crops needed to fuel European economic expansion, such as cotton in Mali, coffee in Kenya, and cacao in Côte d'Ivoire.

While forced labour was employed in some instances, head taxes became the preferred strategy in many cases for facilitating commodity crop production. Forced to pay such taxes in cash or face jail time, African farmers begrudgingly started to produce cash crops, or went to work on nearby plantations.
Loss of risk management practices

Accompanying the transition to commodity crop production was a gradual loss of risk management practices like storage of surplus grain. Many farmers and herders in Africa have had to deal with highly variable rainfall patterns for centuries. This makes them some of the foremost experts on climate change adaptation. Farmers would also plant a diverse range of crops with different rainfall requirements. Herders moved across large areas in search of the best pastures.

In the name of progress, colonial regimes often encouraged herders to be less mobile throughout East Africa. They also pushed farmers via taxation policies to store less grain in order to maximise commodity crop production. This opened up farmers to the full, deadly force of extended droughts, a situation that is well documented in northern Nigeria.

Many problematic approaches have continued in the post-colonial period.

Various international and national policies and programmes have encouraged African farmers to produce more crops, using imported seeds, pesticides and fertilisers in the name of development or hunger alleviation.

Even though African farmers may be producing more, they are left exposed to the ravages of variable climatic conditions.
Agroecology and the way forward

Agroecologists can offer a different way forward. They seek to understand the ecological interactions between different crops, crops and the soil and atmosphere, and crops and insect communities. They seek to maintain soil fertility, minimise predation from pests and grow more crops without using chemical inputs.

Agroecologists often collaborate with and learn from farmers who have developed such practices over time and are in tune with local ecologies. This combination of experiential knowledge and formal science training makes agroecology a more decolonial science. It is also more accessible to the poor because there’s no need to buy expensive inputs or risk becoming indebted when crops fail.

The fact that agroecological farming is less expensive has not been lost on the business community. They would lose out substantially if conventional farming approaches were no longer associated with hunger alleviation.

Furthermore, those in the agricultural sciences who have supported productionist approaches to hunger alleviation also see agroecology as a threat as it could lead to a decline of prestige and research funding.

There are signs that the global community may be on the cusp of a major shift in thinking with regard to food systems, climate change and hunger.

A global food crisis has led some to question why previous solutions have not worked. We also now have an emerging, more decolonial science of agroecology that is increasingly accepted within the United Nations system. It’s backed by a powerful social movement that refused to back down when corporate agricultural interests tried to hijack the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit.

In some cases, there are also large institutional donors experimenting with agroecological approaches, something almost unheard of a decade ago.

Lastly, there is a new set of leaders within some African governments who understand what agroecology offers.

The ravages of climate change and hunger do not occur in isolation, but are part of the system we have built. That means we can build something different. The current crisis lays bare this problem and the right combination of new ideas, resources and political will can solve it.

Author 

William G. Moseley
DeWitt Wallace Professor of Geography, Director of Food, Agriculture & Society Program, Macalester College
Disclosure statement
William G. Moseley receives funding from the US National Science Foundation.
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Cold hydro testing for Vogtle 4 completed

08 December 2022

Georgia Power has announced the successful completion of cold hydro testing for Vogtle unit 4, which it describes as "another critical milestone along the path" to bringing online the first new nuclear units in the USA for more than 30 years. 

Vogtle 4, left, and Vogtle 3, pictured in October (Image: Georgia Power)During the testing the reactor coolant system was filled with water and pressurised above normal operating conditions, then lowered to normal design pressure while inspections took place to verify systems met design standards, including checking that welds, joint pipes and other components do not leak under pressure.

Chris Womack, CEO and chairman of Georgia Power, said: "These units are a long-term investment for our state and essential to building the future of energy for Georgia. For the next 60 to 80 years, they will help us continue to provide clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy for our customers, serving generations of Georgians as clean, emission-free sources of energy."

Closed vessel testing was completed in November and unit 4's turbine was rotated on its turning gear for the first time "demonstrating the turbine was assembled with quality and that integrated oil systems function as designed". Once operational the turbine will rotate at 1800 revolutions per minute.

Loading of nuclear fuel for Vogtle 3 took place in October and Georgia Power said "teams at the site have continued to advance through various phases of start-up testing. Vogtle unit 3 is projected to enter service in the first quarter of 2023".

Construction of Vogtle 3 began in March 2013 and Vogtle 4 in November that year. They are both AP1000s.  Southern Nuclear and Georgia Power, both subsidiaries of Southern Company, took over management of the project to build the units in 2017 following Westinghouse's Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Once operating, the two new units will be able to power more than 500,000 homes and businesses. Southern Nuclear will operate the new unit on behalf of the co-owners: Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Kairos Power, Los Alamos collaborate to make TRISO fuel

09 December 2022

TRISO fuel pebbles for the Hermes demonstration reactor will be produced at the New Mexico lab's Low Enriched Fuel Fabrication Facility (LEFFF) under a newly announced agreement. This is the first nuclear iteration in Kairos Power's "rapid iterative approach" to nuclear fuel development as well as the first nuclear fuel development campaign for LEFFF.

(Image: Kairos)

California-based Kairos Power is working to commercialise its fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (KP-FHR) technology using a rapid iterative development approach. An application for a construction permit for the Hermes demonstration reactor - to be built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee - is currently undergoing formal review by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Kairos said the "synergistic partnership" combines its fuel manufacturing expertise with Los Alamos National Laboratory's (LANL) facilities and capabilities. It is facilitated by the lab's proximity to Kairos's testing and manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, where the company is working to develop manufacturing processes that will be implemented in the LEFFF.

Ed Blandford, Kairos Power's chief technology officer, said Kairos and LANL employees will work side-by-side at LEFFF to produce fuel pebbles for the reactor. "The partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory will be the catalyst for Kairos Power to build a credible path to manufacture fuel at industrial scale for KP-FHR technology starting with our Hermes demonstration reactor," he said.

Iterative prototyping and innovation from the company's Pebble Development Lab and its soon-to-be-commissioned TRISO Development Lab will be integral to the collaborative work, the company's senior director of fuels and materials, Micah Hackett, said. "With these early iterations, we are optimising our processes and learning valuable lessons that will carry forward into our nuclear fuel programme," he added.

Manufacturing fuel for Hermes in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory will allow Kairos Power to better control product quality, schedule, and cost, and yield experience that will inform future iterations in its nuclear fuel development programme, the company said, and investing in LEFFF aligns its vertical integration strategy to build a robust and reliable supply chain.

LEFFF is a multi-disciplinary customer user facility designed to support multiple nuclear fuel development campaigns, and Kairos is its first partner. "The facility is a critical tool for the nation to mature fuel technology for the advancement of clean energy," LEFFF Team Leader Timothy Coons said. "LEFFF's mission is to provide the necessary utilities and authorisation basis for a multi-disciplinary set of customers to mature and accelerate their fuel needs. This first partnership between LEFFF and Kairos Power demonstrates the commitment of both organisations to accelerate advanced clean energy solutions."
 
TRISO - standing for TRIstructural-ISOtropic - fuel comprises spherical kernels of enriched uranium oxycarbide (or uranium dioxide) surrounded by layers of carbon and silicon carbide, giving a containment for fission products which is stable up to very high temperatures. Hermes will use "pebbles" of fuel made from TRISO particles.

BWXT starts fuel production for microreactor

08 December 2022

TRISO fuel produced at BWX Technologies Inc's Lynchburg facility in Virginia will power the Project Pele microreactor - the first microreactor to be built and operated in the USA.

A vial of the finished TRISO fuel particles (Image: BWXT)

The company is manufacturing a core for Project Pele, TRISO fuel for additional reactors and coated particle fuel for NASA under a USD37 million award from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), with the lab managing the contract and providing technical support and oversight.

The US Department of Defense (DOD) Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) has partnered with the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop, prototype and demonstrate a transportable reactor in what has been described as a whole-of-government effort in Project Pele to develop a transportable microreactor. Such plants can deliver clean, zero-carbon energy where and when it is needed and a resilient power source for DOD operational needs, but can also potentially be used in the civilian and commercial sectors for disaster response and recovery, power generation at remote locations, and deep decarbonisation initiatives.

BWXT was selected earlier this year by the SCO to build the prototype which is to be completed and delivered in 2024 for testing at INL. The fuel will be delivered separately.

TRISO - standing for TRIstructural-ISOtropic - particles contain a spherical kernel of enriched uranium oxycarbide surrounded by layers of carbon and silicon carbide, which contains fission products - it has been described by DOE as "the most robust nuclear fuel on Earth". The high-assay low-enrichment (HALEU) fuel is downblended from US government stockpiles of high-enriched uranium (HEU). BWXT's are the only private US facilities licensed to possess and process HEU.

US Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Kathryn Huff said it was "extremely exciting to see decades of DOE's investments in TRISO fuel … paying off to power many of the most innovative advanced reactor designs to be deployed within this decade".

"This commercial TRISO fuel production line is the culmination of more than 15 years of work at INL and other DOE national laboratories, in partnership with BWXT, to develop and qualify this fuel with immense potential for use in microreactors, space reactors and other advanced reactor concepts," INL Laboratory Director John Wagner said. "As the United States moves steadily toward a carbon-free energy future, nuclear power is an essential part of the journey. Project Pele will demonstrate the viability of this fuel type, opening the door for other advanced reactors."

BWXT said it has expanded its speciality coated fuels production manufacturing capacity through previously announced awards funded by the DoD Operational Energy Capabilities Improvement Fund Office and NASA and programme management provided by SCO. In addition to TRISO, the company also produces speciality coated fuels for NASA for the space nuclear propulsion project within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

NNL to develop americium-powered space batteries

12 December 2022

The UK Space Agency and the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) are to collaborate on the world's first space battery powered by americium-241. The isotope will be extracted from used nuclear fuel stored at the Sellafield site in Cumbria.

Illustration of a lunar base with a dome structure, research modules, observation pods and communication satellite dishes (Image: NNL)

Radioisotope power systems - sometimes referred to as nuclear batteries - fuelled with plutonium-238 have generally been used in space missions since the early 1960s. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators and radioisotope heater units can provide power and heat continuously over long, deep space missions. Pu-238 is made by irradiating neptunium-237, recovered from research reactor fuel or special targets, in research reactors. Pu-238 is produced only in the USA - where supply is limited - and Russia, so an alternative is urgently needed.

This NNL work - commissioned and funded by the UK Space Agency - will be delivered in a new GBP19 million (USD23 million) laboratory at NNL's flagship Central Laboratory on the Sellafield site in Cumbria, equipped with next-generation equipment and technology.

They said it will deliver a sovereign supply of fuel for space batteries in the context of a global shortage, enabling the UK and its partners to pursue new space science and exploration missions.

The support from the UK Space Agency follows the UK's record investment to the European Space Agency for a range of new programmes, including GBP22 million for European Devices Using Radioisotope Energy (ENDURE), which will use radioisotopes to develop systems for warming and powering spacecraft.

NNL said it has been working on this endeavor since 2009, when its researchers first discovered that americium-241, an alternative to Pu-238, is produced during the radioactive decay of used fuel from nuclear reactors and that it emits power for more than 400 years. In 2019, NNL and University of Leicester announced they had generated usable electricity from americium. The achievement was seen as a step towards potential use of americium in space batteries.

With the plentiful supply of Am-241 at Sellafield, the new collaboration "will turn a proven scientific concept into a fully-realised technology", the partners said.

The Am-241-powered space battery is expected to be operational within the next four years and is likely to be first used on the European Space Agency's Argonaut mission to the Moon and for future missions into deep space.

"Being able to offer a globally unique supply of americium-241 will encourage investment and unlock growth opportunities for all sorts of UK industries looking to explore nuclear energy," said UK Science Minister George Freeman.

"For the past 50 years, space missions have used plutonium-238 to stop spacecrafts from freezing but it is in very limited supply," noted Tim Tinsley, account director for this work at NNL. "At NNL we have identified significant reserves of americium-241, a radioisotope with similar properties to plutonium-238 but game-changing potential for the UK's space ambitions.

"This work, which is being made possible through the support of UK Space Agency, will see us applying decades of experience in separating and purifying used nuclear material in order to unlock great public benefits, and it goes to the heart of our purpose of nuclear science to benefit society."

UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate added: "This innovative method to create americium to power space missions will allow us not only to sustain exploration of the Moon and Mars for longer periods of time, but to venture further into space than ever before. Supporting the National Nuclear Laboratory's expansion will make the UK the only country in the world capable of producing this viable alternative to plutonium, reducing the global space community's reliance on limited supplies, which are increasingly difficult and costly to obtain.

"The UK Space Agency is committed to keeping space activities sustainable, and this resourceful technology exploits otherwise unused waste plutonium biproducts without generating additional waste."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

UK NUKES

In Pictures: 

Giant crane lifts final steel liner ring at Hinkley Point C unit 1

12 December 2022

The world’s largest crane, called 'Big Carl', lifted the 304-tonne steel liner ring on to the first reactor building at Hinkley Point in the early hours of Monday.

The crane is called 'Big Carl' (Image: EDF)

The liner ring is the third and last one to be installed on the building which will be home to one of Hinkley Point C’s two reactors. It increased the height by 11.6-metres, and now stands at 44-metres.

There was no wind, but very cold weather for the overnight lift (Image: EDF)

The ring was prefabricated in a factory on the site in south west England. It includes supporting brackets for the Polar Crane Beam, an internal crane which will be able to rotate above the reactor and used for refuelling in the years to come.

The dome is expected to be placed on the reactor building during 2023.

The liner ring was prefabricated on-site (Image: EDF)

Construction of Hinkley Point C - composed of two EPR reactors of 1630 MWe each - began in December 2018. Unit 1 of the plant was originally scheduled to start up by the end of 2025.

In January 2021, EDF said the start of electricity generation from unit 1 had been rescheduled to June 2026. Delays arising from the COVID-19 pandemic would also increase the cost of the project by GBP500 million to between GBP22 and 23 billion.

In May this year, following a review, EDF announced the start of electricity generation for HPC unit 1 is now expected in June 2027 and the project completion costs were now estimated in the range of GBP25 to 26 billion.

The 'Big Carl' crane, pictured in 2019 (Image: EDF)

The crane used can reach higher than the tallest tower at London’s Canary Wharf and can carry 5000 tonnes in a single lift, the company said when it arrived in 2019.

The Sarens SGC-250 crane was delivered to Hinkley Point in 280 loads from its base in Antwerp via Bristol Port’s Avonmouth Docks.

There are six kilometres of rail track for 'Big Carl' to run along, and it was estimated that during the construction process it would lift 700 pieces, with a maximum weight of 1600 tonnes. At 50m radius, the crane can lift the equivalent of 32 single-storey houses or 1600 cars.

Framatome signs preliminary contract for Sizewell C construction


09 December 2022

The early framework agreement Framatome has signed with Nuclear New Build Generation (SZC) Ltd (NNB SZC) - which is owned by EDF and the UK government - covers early engineering and procurement activities, among other things.

A representation of the Sizewell C plant, which will be adjacent to the operating Sizewell B plant (Image: EDF)

The agreement follows the UK government's recently announced investment in the project to build the PWR plant. Framatome CEO Bernard Fontana described the signature of the agreement as "a significant milestone for Framatome as we reaffirm our engagement to deliver low-carbon, new nuclear generation plants in the UK."

The UK government announced in November that it is to invest GBP679 million (USD815 million) and become a 50% partner with EDF in the project to build two EPR reactors at the coastal site in Suffolk, leading to the departure of Chinese company China General Nuclear as a minority shareholder in the project. EDF (owned by the French state) is to provide additional investment to match the UK government's stake. The UK government has said it will seek to attract new third-party investment to help finance the project's construction and operation. NNB SZC is currently owned by EDF and the UK government.

Framatome said the preliminary contract is the outcome of its work for Sizewell C since 2021 and builds on services it continues to deliver for the construction of the Hinkley Point C plant, which Sizewell C will replicate. The company plans to sign main contracts for Sizewell C when the final investment decision is taken. EDF Energy has previously said a final investment decision is expected later this year or in 2023.

Specific activities covered by the early framework agreement include manufacturing of the nuclear steam supply systems, managing obsolescence of instrumentation and control systems, and early engineering and procurement activities. The agreement also covers work completed since 2021 to prepare long-lead forging components and engineering.Framatome is owned by the EDF Group (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%) and Assystem (5%).

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Defects found in two key components of ITER's tokamak

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project has announced defects have been discovered in the thermal shields and vacuum vessel sectors and warned that the consequences on schedule and cost "will not be insignificant".

The decision was taken to lift the module already installed in the machine pit and disassemble it in order to proceed with the repairs (Image: ITER)

The director general of ITER, Pietro Barabaschi, said: "If there is one good thing about this situation, it is that it is happening at a moment we can fix it. The know-how we are acquiring in dealing with ITER's first-of-a-kind components will serve others when they launch their own fusion ventures. It is in ITER's nature and mission, as a unique and ambitious research infrastructure, to go through a whole range of challenges and setbacks during construction. And it is therefore our task and duty to promptly inform the engaged scientific community so that they will take precautions when dealing with the same type of assemblies."

ITER is a major international project to build a tokamak fusion device in Cadarache, France, designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy. The goal of ITER is to operate at 500 MW (for at least 400 seconds continuously) with 50 MW of plasma heating power input. It appears that an additional 300 MWe of electricity input may be required in operation. No electricity will be generated at ITER.

Thirty-five nations are collaborating to build ITER - the European Union is contributing almost half of the cost of its construction, while the other six members (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA) are contributing equally to the rest. Construction began in 2010 and the original 2018 first plasma target date was put back to 2025 by the ITER council in 2016.

The vacuum vessel thermal shields are about 20 mm thick and contribute to insulating the superconducting magnet system operating at 4K, or minus 269°C. ITER said that in November 2021 helium tests detected a leak on an element of the vacuum vessel thermal shield that had been delivered in 2020. The cause was found to be stress caused by the bending and welding of the cooling fluid pipes to the thermal shield panels "compounded by a slow chemical reaction due to the presence of chlorine residues in some small areas near the pipe welds".

This had caused "stress corrosion cracking", ITER said, "and over time, cracks up to 2.2 mm deep had developed in the pipes".

A total of approximately 23 kilometres of piping are welded to the surface of the thermal shield panels. An example of the piping on a vacuum vessel thermal shield panel is clearly visible in this photo, which shows a vacuum vessel module in pre-assembly tooling (Image: ITER)

Investigative techniques (high-resolution CT scanning, scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer, and metallographic observation) revealed cracks in thermal shield cooling pipes such as the ones pictured here, 2.2 mm deep and crossing the full width of the pipe (Image: ITER)

Although this might have been a one-off problem, it could also have affected all thermal shield components, with Barabaschi saying they had to assume it was a wider problem, explaining: "The risk is too high and the consequences of a leaking thermal shield panel during operation are too dire."

He said that it would be too difficult to fix the issue on the assembled module in the pit so "we have to lift out the installed module and disassemble it in order to proceed with the repairs. We are exploring different possibilities, from on-site repair to re-manufacturing in an outside facility, possibly with different pipe attachment options."

The issue discovered with the vacuum vessel sector was that when the component's four individual segments were welded together the "deviations from nominal dimensions were more substantial than the specified limit in different locations on the component’s outer shell", explained ITER. "These dimensional non-conformities modified the geometry of the field joints where the sectors are to be welded together, thus compromising the access and operation of the bespoke automated welding tools."

There had been plans to fix the issue in the assembly pit, but Barabaschi said that "the thermal shield issue has now changed the perspective … as we need to disassemble the module to fix the thermal shield piping, the question of whether or not to repair the vacuum vessel sector in the pit becomes irrelevant. We have no other solution but to remove it".

Repair strategies are being refined at the moment with assessments of the impacts on timings and costs being drawn up and vacuum vessel assembly put on hold. ITER told World Nuclear News in July that it was already planning to revise its schedule, which most recently had been for first plasma in 2025 and the start of deuterium-tritium operation in 2035. That revision to timings was partly blamed on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Longtime director general of the project, Bernard Bigot, died in May and the revision was said not likely to be agreed until April 2023 - to allow time for the new director general to be appointed and decide on the timetable revision. 



The ITER council, which features respresentatives from the countries involved in the ITER project, met in a hybrid format on 16 and 17 November (picture, above, supplied by ITER) and urged for the necessary repair work to start as soon as possible. The council also urged "the ITER Organisation and Domestic Agencies to work together to ensure an appropriate project-wide quality culture to prevent any recurrence of such issues". ITER said that the council members also reaffirmed their strong belief in the value of the ITER mission, and resolved to work together to find timely solutions to facilitate ITER's success.

22 November 2022

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Borssele earmarked for two new reactors

12 December 2022

The Dutch Council of Ministers has designated the existing Borssele nuclear power plant site as the preferred location for two new reactors. It has also called for a feasibility study into extending the operation of the existing Borssele plant beyond 2033.

The existing Borssele nuclear power plant (Image: EPZ)

In December 2021, the Netherlands' new coalition government placed nuclear power at the heart of its climate and energy policy. Some EUR500 million (USD529 million) was earmarked to support new nuclear build in the period to 2025. It anticipated that cumulative support for new nuclear would reach EUR5 billion by 2030, while not assuming any new power plants would be online by that time.

The cabinet announced on 9 December that it currently sees Borssele as the most suitable location for the construction of two new reactors.

"There is sufficient space here for the construction of new reactors and a great deal of relevant knowledge and (nuclear) infrastructure, such as the storage of nuclear waste," it noted. "Building two reactors at one location is also more cost efficient. The government sees local support as an important condition in the choice of location and is therefore developing a participation plan to involve residents, organisations and businesses."

The government said preparations are aimed at the construction of two Generation III+ reactors. "This is the most modern type of reactor with improvements in safety, operating time, fuel technology and efficiency," it said. "The first Generation III+ reactors have now been commissioned in other countries. As a result, there is extensive international practical experience with the planning and financing of this technology. This makes the use of Generation III+ reactors the fastest route to a contribution from nuclear energy to a stable, CO2-neutral and diverse energy system."

Based on preliminary plans, these will be completed around 2035 and each will have a capacity of 1000-1650 MWe. The two reactors would provide 9-13% of the Netherlands' electricity production in 2035.

"The construction of new nuclear power plants requires comprehensive decision-making and careful consideration," the cabinet said. "During this term of office, the government aims to take a final decision on the location, technology, financing, the role of the government and the tender process. Various studies will be carried out for this, including into environmental effects for specific locations and possible financing models. Rotterdam is included as an alternative location in these procedures."

The government said it does not expect to be able to make a final choice of location until the end of 2024 at the earliest.

Extended operation of Borssele

The cabinet has also instructed the Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ANVS) to examine whether the operation of the existing 482 MWe (net) pressurised water reactor at Borssele beyond 2033 "is technically feasible and safe".

In order to enable such an extension, the country's Nuclear Energy Act and the existing agreements with the shareholders of the Borssele plant must be amended. The government noted that technical studies are being carried out "that will show how long and under what conditions the plant can remain open longer in a safe and responsible manner".

"Nuclear energy can make an important contribution to a reliable and CO2-free energy supply. Local support and preconditions for the arrival of new nuclear power plants are crucial in the choices we make," said Energy Minister Rob Jetten. "I therefore think it is important to continue to involve the environment of the possible locations in all future steps."

EPZ - operator of the Borssele plant - said it is "pleased with the energetic steps the cabinet is taking to enable the construction of two new nuclear power stations in Borssele".

The company added: "EPZ is confident about the conversation that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate wants to start with the shareholders to make agreements about extending the operating life of the existing nuclear power plant. EPZ also endorses the government's vision that the extended operational management with the current nuclear power plant is a bridge to the commissioning of two new nuclear power plants in Borssele."

In 2020, EPZ called for an extension to its operation beyond 2033 and/or the construction of two new large reactors at the site in order to help the Netherlands meet its energy and climate goals.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News