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Feb job openings slip to 9.9M; a win in inflation fight?

“The strongest labor market since the 1960s is starting to show a few cracks,’’

The Canadian Press
Tue, April 4, 2023 



WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. job openings slipped to 9.9 million in February, fewest since May 2021 and a sign that the job market may be starting to cool, which would be welcome news for the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve.

Vacancies fell from 10.6 million in January, the Labor Department said Tuesday, notably in healthcare and in professional services, which includes managerial and technical jobs. Openings rose for construction workers.

Despite the drop, the number of layoffs ticked lower in February, and more Americans quit their jobs — a sign of confidence they can find better pay or working conditions elsewhere.

The American job market has proven resilient in the face of sharply higher interest rates. Over the past year, the Fed has raised its benchmark rate nine times in a drive to corral inflation that last year hit a four-decade high. The surge in consumer prices has eased since mid-2022 but remains well over the central bank's 2% year-over-year target.

Hiring was expected to slow this year after 2021 and 2022 — the two best years for job creation on record. Instead, employers added an astonishing 504,000 jobs in January and a healthy 311,000 in February. Economists believe they added another 240,000 last month, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet. The February numbers come out Friday.

Until 2021, monthly job openings never surpassed 10 million in the Labor Department's Job monthly Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). But they had broken that threshold for 20 straight months — until February.

“The strongest labor market since the 1960s is starting to show a few cracks,’’ Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at the research firm FWDBONDS LLC, wrote in a research note. The drop in openings might signal that “payroll employment is set to slow in the months ahead, which should help keep inflation pressures in check.’’

A strong labor market can put upward pressure on wages — and overall prices.

The Fed policymakers are hoping to achieve a so-called soft landing — slowing the economy just enough to tame inflation without tipping the world's biggest economy into recession. They hope that employers will reduce job openings without necessarily cutting many jobs.

Many economists are ske ptical and expect a U.S. recession later this year.

Paul Wiseman, The Associated Press

The C-word: firefighters push for better cancer protection

CBC
Wed, April 5, 2023 

Last summer, the International Agency of Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization, declared firefighting as a Group 1 carcinogen. (Submitted by Ames Leslie - image credit)

Ames Leslie and his wife were grocery shopping in December when he felt a sharp pain on the left side of his torso. Concerned he was suffering from appendicitis, Leslie rushed to the emergency room.

Doctors and nurses tested him for hours, ruling out diagnoses one by one. Finally, an oncologist walked into the room: they believed he had testicular cancer.

"They say your mind goes blank and you kind of go to a different place — and it's 100 per cent true," Leslie said. "As soon as you hear that C-word, your mind just goes and you don't hear anything after that."

A urologist confirmed the diagnosis the following week. Four days later, he was in surgery getting tumours removed.

At 44, Leslie had been in good health otherwise. Two weeks before his diagnosis, he had passed a physical exam.

But as a firefighter in Battleford, Sask., Leslie had exposed himself to carcinogens almost every day for half of his life.

Submitted by Ames Leslie

Last summer, the International Agency of Research on Cancer (IARC), the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization, declared firefighting as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning it found sufficient evidence to link the job to the risk of certain cancers. It's one of only five occupations to receive this designation.

The announcement was validating for firefighters, who were aware they were at higher risk of cancer but have had to lobby for decades to get presumptive workers' compensation coverage. For some, it still doesn't go far enough.

Firefighters told CBC News they have seen a change in how seriously their peers consider this risk. But as departments implement prevention measures and try to hammer messaging home, finite budgets and resources impede them from taking all of the necessary precautionary steps.

'Cancer on your gear'

Firefighters with ashen gear were once idolized.

"It was a badge of honour to have dirty, burnt, melted gear. It showed you've been to war and you survived — and you're ready to go again," said Tyler Packham, a veteran firefighter and president of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 181, the Regina firefighters' union.

Kirk Fraser/CBC

"Now, we call it cancer on your gear."

The firefighters who spoke with CBC News described the job as a calling. Most chose the vocation as a way to give back to their community, regardless of the risks that come with jumping into a fire.

But the IARC designation and other emerging research on cancer risk have forced firefighters to reconcile that flames aren't the thing they need to be most concerned about.

Last year, 95 per cent of on-duty deaths among Canadian firefighters were linked to cancer. A 2018 study found cancer killed Canadian firefighters about three times more often than the general population.

Ringing the alarm

Saskatchewan hasn't been immune to this trend.

One in five workers who died from an occupational disease from 2011 to 2020 were firefighters diagnosed with cancer, according to the provincial Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) annual report. From 2010 to 2021, that amounted to 37 firefighters.

Top-5 causes of workplace fatalities in Sask., 2010-2021

In response, WorkSafe Saskatchewan, an organization forged by the WCB and Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety, brought in Jim Burneka.

Burneka, a firefighter in Dayton, Ohio, founded Firefighter Cancer Consultants in 2014. The organization tours fire departments and develops individualized plans to help with cancer prevention.

In 2019, he visited eight fire departments in Saskatchewan, from city stations to volunteer ones in small, rural communities.

"A lot of the firefighters weren't aware of truly how dangerous occupational firefighter cancer was to them," Burneka said.

Firefighters responding to a scene, particularly structural fires, can be exposed to various chemical and hazardous substances. They're also exposed to things like diesel exhaust from their own trucks.

CBC News Graphics

"A big problem with structural firefighters is we don't know what they've been exposed to," said Nicola Cherry, an occupational epidemiologist and professor at the University of Alberta's medicine department.

Exposure, initially, was believed to occur from breathing in toxins, but further research has shown they can be absorbed through a person's skin, and ingested.

Cherry researched levels of carcinogens in the urine and blood of firefighters who responded to the Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016. She found higher levels in those who didn't have the opportunity to shower and change their clothes during the initial response.

Meanwhile, the gear designed to protect firefighters contains materials that are carcinogenic. Last August, the IAFF alerted its members about manufactured chemicals used in firefighter gear and, according to the United States' Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, some extinguisher foams.

As a result, firefighters wear their protective gear as little as possible. In Regina, they won't even let children pose for photos while donning it anymore, Packham said.

"It's a never-ending battle, and we're never going to get away from all the exposures," he said.

Reducing risk

As a result of the tour around Saskatchewan, Burneka teamed up with WorkSafe to create an educational and awareness campaign that outlines cancer prevention practices. Burneka also drafted an action plan, which lists more than 30 recommendations for fire services.

Most of the departments Burneka visited in 2019 had already started implementing such measures, but fell short in about 10 areas, including annual medical physicals and washing personal protective equipment (PPE) and soiled uniforms.

CBC News Graphics

A follow-up report by WorkSafe Saskatchewan in 2021 "indicated great improvement," but longer-term prevention measures, including backup sets of gear, "remain outstanding."

WorkSafe has highlighted the Weyburn Fire Department, in southern Saskatchewan, as a provincial leader in this area.

Once a fire is extinguished, firefighters will wash down their gear on scene.

When they return to the station, they are to go through a back bay, which acts as a decontamination area and follow a thorough step-by-step process.

WATCH | Weyburn Fire Chief Trent Lee gives tour of the station's cancer prevention measures:

Yet, Chief Trent Lee said the station has yet to implement crucial steps.

"Shower in an hour" is a mantra used across borders to remind firefighters to wash the soot that seeped under their gear off their bodies as soon as possible. But the Weyburn station doesn't have showers. Firefighters have to go home — possibly contaminating their family vehicles — to shower, Lee said.

He's advocating to build an addition to the station to house showers.

The station acquired a washer and dryer, but the latter currently isn't working, so firefighters are bringing their contaminated undergarments home, and mixing them with their family members' laundry.

Firefighters' gear should also be tailored to an individual's size, so soot doesn't sneak onto their bodies in the first place, Lee said. But most fire departments cannot afford that.

Nicholas Frew/CBC

Money constraints

The 2019 tour, Burneka said, highlighted the disparity between the resources available to Regina Fire and Protective Services, for example, and volunteer departments in rural areas.

"Budgets are very tight in the volunteer world," said Ken McMullen, president of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and chief of Red Deer Emergency Services in Alberta.

About seven in 10 firefighters across Canada are volunteers, according to the association's latest firefighter census. Yet, volunteer departments often have to make tough decisions about how they spend money, McMullen said.

They may, for example, have to choose between purchasing a piece of equipment essential to firefighting, or an industrial washing machine that could better clean firefighter gear, or provide firefighters with a backup set of PPE, he said.

Lee, who once led a volunteer department, told CBC News that volunteer departments often accept hand-me-downs from larger departments. Sometimes, firefighters show up to a scene in street clothes, or without a proper respirator.

Nicholas Frew/CBC

"It's just so expensive," Lee said.

"We do all of these things on pennies, and it's tremendous what these smaller volunteer departments can do with little-to-no budget."

Saskatchewan Government Insurance spent $5.6 million on training and equipment for volunteer firefighter departments last year, according to a provincial government spokesperson.

Even if they were to receive more money or grants, firefighters recognize their risk of cancer can never be eliminated from the line of duty, which is why they're calling for more help for if — and when — they get sick.

Even coverage

Sherry Romanado was a firefighter kid. Her father was a volunteer firefighter in Greenfield Park, now a borough of Longueuil, Que. From a young age, she was playing in the station, learning to roll hose and occasionally sporting her father's gear.

Romanado eventually became the Liberal MP for the Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne constituency. In 2018, a firefighter told her his cancer diagnosis wasn't covered through workers' compensation. Lobbyists brought up the issue again a couple of years later on Parliament Hill.

Simon Martel/CBC

"There was an inequity and it really bothered me," said Romanado, whose husband is a volunteer firefighter. "How could someone who's doing the same job in one province be covered, but not in another province?"

Workers' compensation legislation across Canada has adapted over the years to provide presumptive coverage fir certain types of cancer for full-time and volunteer firefighters. But which cancers are covered and what conditions must be met to be eligible for benefits — such as how long you had to have worked in the job — vary by province.

Quebec, for example, is the only province where firefighters can receive compensation for mesothelioma, an aggressive and deadly cancer the IARC has linked to the profession. But overall, Quebec covers the fewest cancers in Canada.

The Saskatchewan Workers' Compensation Board covers 16 cancers — but not the one that has Packham concerned.

Presumptive firefighter cancer coverage by province, territory

Last summer he attended a conference, where a company was offering free cancer scans. His found an abnormality.

A biopsy later found a mass on his thyroid. He is currently waiting for another biopsy to see if the mass has grown.

"If it actually is thyroid cancer, I'm currently not covered. But if I lived three hours down the road in Brandon, Man., I would be covered," Packham said.

The Saskatchewan government continues to work with the Saskatchewan Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association and "others," regarding further presumptive cancer coverage, a provincial government spokesperson said.

Discrepancies in coverage for firefighters on First Nations is an ongoing issue, too.

Shane Bair's father died three months after he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He was 62. Randy Bair had served about 35 years as a volunteer firefighter, most of which was spent working in Muskoday First Nation, about 130 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.

Submitted by Shane Bair

Soon after his father's death in 2021, Shane learned Randy wasn't covered under provincial workers' compensation benefits.

"We're actively trying to change that," said Shane, the fire Chief of Beaver Lake Cree Nation in Alberta. "WCB is working with us to draft a policy to make sure that doesn't happen again."

The legislation in Saskatchewan covers volunteer firefighters, but Shane said it does not recognize First Nations as a municipality, excluding their employees from workers compensation coverage.

The Saskatchewan WCB is in chats with Saskatchewan First Nations Emergency Management, an organization that works to provide all First Nations in the province with emergency services, about presumptive cancer coverage, a provincial government spokesperson said.

Uniformity, in part, is why Romanado introduced Bill C-224, the National Framework on Cancers Linked to Firefighting Act. The bill recently passed the House of Commons unanimously and is awaiting its second reading in the Senate.

The bill aims to raise awareness of cancers linked to firefighting and improve access to prevention and treatment for firefighters. If it receives royal assent, it would promote sharing information across jurisdictions and improve data collection about prevention and treatment, among other things.

"This is about saving lives," Romanado said.

Gaps in the system

Firefighters told CBC News there's a need for health care to catch up. Some have experienced long wait times for tests and appointments, and have had to travel to see specialists. Some have had doctors who did not recognize, or dismissed, the increased risk of cancer among firefighters.

"The process here in Saskatchewan is depressing," Lee said. "It causes a lot of anxiety and mental turmoil."

Many firefighters want CT scans to be included as part of their annual physical exams.

Travis Reddaway/CBC

Leslie is among those calling for early screening, because he's convinced early detection saved his life.

Having recently completed his third round of chemotherapy, he has gone through the stages of grief. When he spoke with CBC News in mid-March, he hadn't suffered from any major physical side effects, such as nausea, but he was still adjusting to being bald and clean-shaven.

He has not started the process to confirm whether his job contributed to his diagnosis but, unable to work, he has spent his days researching cancer and its risk to firefighters.

He has also looked for government grants to protect the trees along nearby walking trails, tackled many crosswords, read books, napped and listened to music. He's now particularly fond of orchestral music — a new bond shared with his son, a music performance student at Western University in Ontario.

Leslie has nine more rounds of chemotherapy to go. His doctors hope to conduct more scans in mid-May, which, he hopes, will give him a clean bill of health.

Alberta’s minimum wage report leaves out labour perspectives in favour of corporate interests

Junaid B. Jahangir, Associate Professor, MacEwan University
Tue, April 4, 2023 

The Alberta government recently released a report on the effect of the previous NDP government's minimum wage increase. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Alberta’s minimum wage expert panel report was recently released three years after it was submitted to the provincial government.

This panel was formed by the United Conservative Party of Alberta to study the impact of the gradual minimum wage increase that was instituted by the previous NDP government — from $10.20 per hour in 2015 to $15 in 2018.

The report arrives just months before Alberta’s provincial election on May 29. While it could be used by politicians to further their election strategy, it’s important to understand the context of the report.

No matter how airtight the report appears, it has been shaped by standard economics. In other words, it has been shaped by absolute faith in free markets, privatization, liberalization, deregulation, austerity measures and the removal of price controls like the minimum wage.

This single panel report on the supposed ills of the minimum wage should be viewed within the vast, diverse spectrum of economic literature, not just standard economics.

Key findings

The report shows a loss of about 25,000 jobs for 15- to 24-year-olds due to the shift to $15-an-hour minimum wage. Among older workers, the effects were found to be statistically insignificant.

Brian Jean, Alberta’s minister of jobs, economy and northern development, said the main lesson from the report is to avoid “large, unexpected changes to minimum wages.”

The report recommends having a lower minimum wage for less experienced workers and those in rural areas, but there’s no sign of this happening anytime soon. Jean said there are no current plans to change Alberta’s existing minimum wage structure.

According to Brian Jean, Alberta’s minister of jobs, economy and northern development, the main takeaway from the minimum wage report is to avoid ‘large, unexpected changes to minimum wages.’ THE CANADIAN PRESS/Codie McLachlan

SUPPORTS IMPORTING TEMPORARY WORKERS

The panel included at least three business interest representatives but no representation from labour unions. This absence does not reflect neutrality or a level playing field where different interests are balanced.

The report is based on sophisticated statistical methods led by economics academics. Standard economics gives precedence to efficiency and provides a centre stage to utility and profit maximization. Any concerns about equity and sustainability are secondary.

Standard economics ignores dissident and diverse voices that offer a more nuanced view about minimum wage. It’s unsurprising that, when I looked into the economics literature to develop a renewed perspective on teaching minimum wage, I found so much conflict on the impact of minimum wage on employment.

What the literature says

One 2006 working paper that examined literature about the employment effects of global minimum wages supports the argument that minimum wage has a negative impact on employment. It found that a 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage reduces teenage employment between one and three per cent.

On the other hand, another paper that looked at 64 studies in the United States between 1972 and 2007 found there were zero employment effects of minimum wage.

In Canada, a more recent study by economists at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives also found no connection between minimum wage and employment levels, based on minimum wage increases in 10 provinces from 1983 to 2012.

Such conflicting evidence cautions us to view studies based on statistical analysis very carefully. American economist and professor Lawrence Summers once wrote that “formal econometric work has had little impact on the growth of economic knowledge.” He said it “creates an art form for others to admire and emulate but provides us with little new knowledge.”

Support for minimum wage

Conflicting evidence about the effects of minimum wage should not prevent us from taking a stand in support of the working poor. It should be noted that about 53 economists endorsed a $15 minimum wage for Ontario in 2017.

Similarly, more than 600 economics professors in the U.S. signed a letter in 2014 concluding that increases in minimum wage have little to no negative effect on employment even during a weak labour market. This includes seven Nobel Prize winning economists who endorsed raising minimum wages by 40 per cent.

TWO TIERED MINIMUM WAGE -

The Alberta report recommends having a lower minimum wage for less experienced workers and those in rural areas, but there is no sign of this happening anytime soon. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

Economists David Lee and Emmanuel Saez argue that minimum wage is “desirable if the government values redistribution toward low-wage workers” and that “the unemployment induced by the minimum wage is efficient.”

This means that unemployment hits workers who are marginally attached to their jobs, not older essential workers. This is what the Alberta report found as well — there was no significant impact on the jobs of older workers who were not using minimum wage jobs as temporary stepping stones.

Centring different perspectives

Given standard economics and business interests, it was to be expected that a whole panel would be created to find faults with the gradual increase to the minimum wage, which rose by $4.80 per hour from 2015 to 2018.

In contrast, the UCP government drastically dropped corporate taxes to eight per cent from 12 per cent from 2019 to 2020. But there has been no panel questioning the efficacy of corporate tax cuts.

Overall, the report is shaped by standard economics and gives precedence to business interests. It ignores labour interests and perspectives that centre equity over efficiency and contest the standard opinion about the minimum wage.

Instead of viewing the minimum wage as detrimental, dissident perspectives view the minimum wage as a tool to alleviate the plight of the working poor.

In the upcoming Alberta election, the public has a choice: go with the standard opinion that supports corporations or side with dissident voices that give voice to the working poor in a world marred by increasing inequality and shaped by free markets run amok.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

It was written by: Junaid B. Jahangir, MacEwan University.

Read more:

Nobel winner David Card shows immigrants don’t reduce the wages of native-born workers


Does raising the minimum wage kill jobs? Economists have been trying to answer this question for a century – and finally starting to gather data

Junaid B. Jahangir is not affiliated with any organization. I have in the past done research assistance work for the Parkland Institute.

NORTHERN ONTARIO
International experts share experience with nuclear waste burial projects


Local Journalism Initiative
Tue, April 4, 2023

Three international speakers from Finland, Sweden and the United States were part of an information tour in the Northwest last week to share their experiences with deep geological repositories.

Joanne Jacyk, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s site director for Ignace, said the speakers came to share their personal perspectives about projects at different stages to add to the broader conversation to what it might look like to be a host community for a deep geological repository.

The information tour had multiple sessions in Ignace, as well as Wabigoon Lake First Nation and Dryden. It will continue in southwestern Ontario in the South Bruce area, which is the other candidate site for the deep geological repository.

“If there's a different way we can help support or put information out there and make sure that everybody in the community is accessing information they want and removing any barriers that we can to accessing that information. And removing one of those barriers is bringing in people with international experience that can talk about their experience going through a very similar process,” Jacyk said.

“Our guest from Finland is coming from a more technical perspective. We have a former mayor from Sweden that can really talk about what it's like to be a community member and a community leader going through this decision-making process,” she said. “And then our guest from the U.S. has broad international technical experience and really be able to just bring information and perspective to that conversation so that hopefully people can approach it with curiosity and, and learn something new.”

Tiina Jalonen is a senior vice president and development director of Posiva Oy, a company that is building what will be the world’s first deep geological repository in Finland.

“We in Finland decided in 2000 that deep geological repository is our solution for final disposal of used nuclear fuel,” she said. “We decided and selected the site also in 2000 and, and that was the community supported the decision and the Finnish Parliament made the decision, ratified it in 2001.”

Jalonen said the project broke ground seven years ago with construction of the encapsulation plant, where the used nuclear fuel will be put into the disposal canisters, started in 2019.

“So now the repository is ready to start the operations and we have also constructed the first five deposition tunnels,” she said.

Jacob Spangenberg, the former mayor of Östhammar Municipality in Sweden, shared how his community decided to host its own deep geological repository, which is a few years behind the one in Finland.

“We understood that it was a project that could benefit the municipality and our region and the safety case was always in focus for us,” he said. “So there is no way that we have compromised on the long term safety. And we have realized that it is possible to build a repository within our municipality and still keep the long-term safety.”

He said the process took a long time because building trust takes time.

“We have been working with the process and the project for more than 25 years,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we took our vote in the council with a very strong majority to say yes to the project.”

His advice to other communities regarding the process, is to have a time limit for a decision, but to allow for a lot of time because it’s needed to build understanding and competence with the decision making.

“There is no one else but yourselves that are able to take the decision and understand what is best for you in your local municipality or your local area,” he said.

Spangenberg said the project in his community is about five to six years away from the start of construction.

One common factor between the two locations in Scandinavia, was that both have nuclear reactors in their area.

“Probably in areas that the people are used to having nuclear power from my experience are more familiar with it,” said Jalonen. “Something you don't know, you are some sometimes afraid of, but once you learn more, I don't think that would be an issue.”

Grace Bjorklund, one of the attendees of the luncheon session in Ignace, said she thought it was very informative.

“I've been trying to go to a lot of these meetings as many as I can so I can learn as much as I can about nuclear waste,” she said. “I made up my mind 20 years ago. You can bury the waste in my backyard if you want. I'm very confident that it’s safe and it's done safely and it's beneficial to not just us here in Canada, but the whole world.”

Diana Schmidt is one resident who wants to see information coming from sources other than the Nuclear Waste Management Organization.

“There are so many unanswered questions. So many studies that I feel haven't been done properly,” she said.

"I'm finding that [NWMO] tends to put on their side of the story with everything that they want us to believe. At the same time, here's another side of the story. I think it's all one sided. I've tried to post scientific studies and stuff on Facebook to make people aware. And I feel like I'm being bullied sometimes because of that.”

Eric Shih, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source

UK assessment of Rolls-Royce SMR design progresses

03 April 2023

Rolls-Royce SMR Limited's 470 MWe small modular reactor (SMR) design has successfully completed Step 1 of the UK's Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process and progressed to the next phase.

A cutaway of the Rolls-Royce SMR design (Image: ONR)

GDA is a three-step process carried out by the ONR, the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to assess the safety, security, and environmental protection aspects of a nuclear power plant design that is intended to be deployed in Great Britain. Successful completion of the GDA culminates in the issue of a Design Acceptance Confirmation from the ONR and a Statement of Design Acceptability from the EA.

In May 2021, the UK's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) opened the GDA process to advanced nuclear technologies, including SMRs.

In November 2021, Rolls-Royce SMR Limited submitted a Notice of Intention to apply for GDA Entry to BEIS for its 470 MWe SMR design, which is based on a small pressurised water reactor. The design was accepted for review in March 2022.

Step 1 of the GDA began in April 2022 and involved agreeing the scope of the GDA based on information supplied by Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd to the ONR, the Environment Agency and NRW.

"During Step 1 we have undertaken more than 200 engagements and assessed more than 40 submissions," the regulators said. "The information submitted met all the requirements from our guidance and demonstrated a good understanding of UK practice and regulatory expectations. We take confidence from these submissions that [Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd] has a clear view of what is needed to progress through the GDA and how it will justify its design".

The SMR design has now entered Step 2 of the GDA process, which is where the detailed technical assessment by the regulators is carried out. Step 2 is expected to last for 16 months.

"We have agreed a submission schedule with [Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd], which includes the submission of more than 500 documents during Step 2," the regulators said.

The overall duration for GDA is expected to be 53 months, completing in August 2026. Progression from Step 2 to 3 is subject to Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd securing additional funding during Step 2.

"A Design Acceptance Confirmation or Statement of Design Acceptability, from ONR and the environmental regulators respectively, will only be issued at the end of Step 3 of the GDA if the design meets the high safety, security, safeguards, environmental protection and waste management standards expected by our regulatory frameworks," ONR noted.

"This is a huge stride forward for our project and, through the independent scrutiny of our regulators, further increases confidence in the viability of the Rolls-Royce SMR design," said Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd's Safety and Regulatory Affairs Director, Helena Perry. "Rolls-Royce SMR has unmatched experience in GDA, international licensing and permitting. We are using all the knowledge and learning from our uniquely skilled team to move at pace through the GDA process - bringing us closer to our vision of providing clean, affordable energy for all and providing a British solution to a global energy crisis."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

UK

Dive team enters Sellafield pond

04 April 2023

For the first time in over 60 years divers have entered Sellafield's Pile Fuel Storage Pond. As they clear some of the most challenging spots to clean up, drones and robots are taking on an increasing share of hazardous work elsewhere at the site.

A diver is lowered into the pond (Image: Sellafield Ltd)

Lowered on a shielded platform, divers work in shifts for up to 3.5 hours to clear sludge and debris from parts of the pond that other techniques could not reach. Built in the 1940s as part of the UK nuclear weapons programme, the open-air pond suffered build-ups of algae as well as the decay of nuclear fuel elements and other debris, making it one of the most complex clean-up challenges in the world. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said that its records indicate the last time divers entered the pond was in 1958.

The current sequence of dives began in December 2022 when Josh Everett, a diver from specialist US nuclear diving team Underwater Construction Corporation Ltd, entered the pond. While robots have been extensively used in the pond, human divers remain more dexterous and are still the only option to deal with small features within the pond, said Sellafield Ltd. The pond water itself provides the divers with significant shielding from radiation.

A diver uses a vacuum to remove sludge and debris from areas that are too hard for robots to access (Image: Sellafield Ltd)

Carl Carruthers, Sellafield Ltd head of programme delivery for legacy ponds, said the work of Everett and his colleagues "has helped us make real progress in cleaning up the pond and our site mission to deal with the nuclear legacy and create a clean and safe environment for future generations."

Once all radioactive material has been removed, the pond structure will be demolished. This is currently scheduled for 2039.

Rise of the robots

Elsewhere at Sellafield an increasing amount of hazardous work is being taken on by drones and robots, which the NDA said will contribute to its aim of halving the number of high hazard decommissioning activities directly carried out by people by 2030.

Robots have facilitated cleanup (Image: Sellafield Ltd)

Peter Allport, head of remote technologies within engineering and maintenance at Sellafield, said that robots have been able to enter areas that were previously inaccessible and move material so that it can be accessed and processed through existing waste routes.

But the hazards in question are not all radiation related. For example, one of the main benefits of drones - unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs - is avoiding the need for people to work at height. Allport said, "UAVs have become an essential tool in supporting routine operations on the Sellafield site for both internal and external inspections."

NDA, Sellafield Ltd and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) engaged in dialogue to bring these innovations into routine operation. Paolo Picca, ONR's lead on robotics and autonomous systems within the Sellafield decommissioning, fuel and waste division, said: “By engaging in an open and transparent manner, ONR and Sellafield Ltd managed to overcome a number of perceived blockers and clarify the regulatory position to enable the effective and safe deployment of these technologies”. NDA said it worked to create a "positive environment that enables open discussions" so that innovation could accelerate and reduce the cost of decommissioning.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Application submitted to extend Swedish repository

03 April 2023

Sweden's radioactive waste management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB) has submitted an application to the Radiation Safety Authority, SSM, to extend the existing SFR final repository for low and intermediate-level waste at Forsmark. The company plans to expand the repository to almost three times its current size in order to receive demolition waste from decommissioned Swedish nuclear power plants.

The blue area shows where SKB plans to extend the existing SFR repository (Image: SKB)

The application includes, among other things, the preliminary safety analysis report (PSAR), a report on safety during the construction phase, system descriptions and a decommissioning plan. Only after SSM's approval can SKB start the work to excavate rock for the extension of the SFR.

Work on the PSAR has been ongoing since 2016, SKB noted, although in recent years it has been more intensive. It is significant work that has been carried out partly with updated analyses and partly with internal security reviews.

"The analyses are now updated with refined methods, data and calculations, while the conclusion from previous analyses remains firm: the plant is safe both during operation and after closure," said project leader Jenny Brandefelt. "It certainly feels satisfying that the updated analyses continue to show a safe facility in both the short and long-term".

The SFR repository is situated 60 metres below the bottom of the Baltic Sea and began operations in 1988. The facility comprises four 160-metre long rock vaults and a chamber in the bedrock with a 50-metre high concrete silo for the most radioactive waste. Two parallel kilometre-long access tunnels link the facility to the surface. The facility currently has a total final disposal capacity of about 63,000 cubic metres of waste.

Most of the short-lived waste deposited in the SFR comes from Swedish nuclear power plants, but radioactive waste from hospitals, veterinary medicine, research and industry is also deposited within it.

SKB applied in December 2014 to triple the size of the repository, to about 180,000 cubic metres. The application was submitted to the government by the Land and Environment Court and SSM in November 2019. In April 2021, the municipality of Östhammar, where the SFR is located, also approved the extension. Following a government decision in December 2021 to approve the application, the matter was referred back to SSM and the Court.

SKB received an environmental permit from the Land and Environment Court for the expansion in December 2022. That permit regulates, for example, noise and transport.

The plan is that the repository, when extended, will have six new rock vaults, 240-275 metres long. The intention is to construct the extension at a depth of 120-140 metres, level with the lowest part of the current SFR repository.

The expansion is expected to take six years to complete. In the initial stage, earthworks, water treatment plant and other infrastructure will be put in place. In the second stage, tunnelling work in the rock underground will be carried out.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Excavation of Chinese underground lab reaches milestone

04 April 2023

Tunnelling at the Beishan Underground Research Laboratory near Jiuquan City in China's Gansu province has reached a depth of 280 metres, the depth of the first of two planned technology test platforms, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced.

Workers mark reaching the depth of 280 metres (Image: CNNC)

The laboratory - in the Gobi Desert - will be used to test the suitability of the area for the long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste. It will eventually comprise a spiral ramp, three vertical shafts and horizontal disposal galleries. Two nuclear technology test platforms are to be built at a depth of 280 metres and 560 metres, respectively.

A ground-breaking ceremony was held at the Beishan site in June 2021. The world's first "large-slope spiral tunnel hard rock tunnel boring machine" - known as Beishan No.1 - began drilling the laboratory's underground ramp on 18 November last year.

"As one of the two access passages of the Beishan underground laboratory, the excavation depth of the personnel shaft reached -280 metres, marking the project reached the first test level depth," CNNC said.

The Beishan laboratory will comprise a spiral ramp, three vertical shafts and horizontal disposal galleries (Image: CAEA)

The laboratory was one of 100 major scientific construction projects listed in China's 13th Five-Year Plan, covering 2016-2020. In 2019, the project was approved by the China Atomic Energy Authority, with CNNC's Beijing Institute of Geology of the Nuclear Industry designated as the leader of the project.

The laboratory's surface facilities will cover 247 hectares, with 2.39 hectares of gross floor space. The underground complex will have a total structural volume of 514,200 square cubic metres, along with 13.4 kilometres of tunnels.

"This will be the world's largest underground laboratory with the most complete functions and the widest participation scope," CNNC said. "It will provide an important scientific research platform for the construction of a deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste, to speed up the process of safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste, and to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of the nuclear industry".

The laboratory is estimated to cost over CNY2.72 billion (USD395 million) and take seven years to build. It is designed to operate for 50 years, and if its research proves successful and the site is suitable, an underground repository for high-level waste will be built near the laboratory by 2050.

Industrial-scale disposal of low and intermediate-level waste is carried out at three sites in China: near Yumen, northwest Gansu province; at the Beilong repository in Guangdong province near the Daya Bay nuclear plant; and at Feifengshan, Sichuan province.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Red Book provides 'snapshot' of uranium situation

04 April 2023

The 29th edition of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and International Atomic Energy Agency's jointly produced reference work on uranium provides analyses and information from 54 uranium producing and consuming countries and provides a 'snapshot' of the situation from data available in early 2021.

Uranium 2022: Resources, Production and Demand - known as the Red Book - presents data on global uranium exploration, resources, production and reactor-related requirements, as well as projections of nuclear generating capacity and reactor-related requirements up to 2040.

The report covers a data reporting period from 1 January 2019 to 1 January 2021, although some relevant information for 2021 and 2022 is also included in the discussions, the NEA noted. It is usually published every two years: the 28th edition appeared in December 2020.

Overall, global uranium resources decreased "modestly" in the reporting period, the report found, in contrast to slight increases seen in previous recent editions of the Red Book, primarily due to mining depletion and cost category re-assignments of resources in Kazakhstan and Canada. Changes in cut-off grades, updated recoverability information, currency inflation effects and re-evaluations of previously identified uranium resources - in these and other countries - also contributed. Worldwide expenditures on domestic exploration and mine development decreased to approximately USD250 million in 2020, continuing a downwards trend that has been seen for several years.

The report cautions that the uranium resource figures presented are a "snapshot" of the situation as of 1 January 2021, reported mainly from official government sources, and that readers "should keep in mind that resource figures are dynamic and related to commodity prices."

World nuclear capacity expected to rise "for the foreseeable future" and sufficient uranium resources exist to support continued use of nuclear power and significant growth in nuclear capacity for electricity generation and other uses in the near to long term.

"In 2021 and 2022, the perception of nuclear energy as a strategic resource for energy independence has started to change in many countries, as reflected by recent government nuclear energy policy changes," the report concludes. "Noting that this was also due to the dramatic European energy crisis of 2022 brought by the shifting geopolitical situation, the 2024 edition of the Red Book will aim to provide a fuller picture of the implications of these developments on uranium demand and supply.

"After a period of reductions in uranium production, slowed investment and comparatively low prices, it remains to be seen whether the quickly evolving market and policy environment will provide incentives for the uranium market to expand substantially in the coming decades."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 CANADA

Bruce and Cameco partner for long-term nuclear fuel supply

04 April 2023

The extension of the long-term exclusive nuclear fuel supply arrangements between Bruce Power and Cameco for an additional 10 years through to 2040 secures decades of nuclear energy supply. The announcement comes as refurbishment work to ensure the long-term operation of the Bruce plant reached a milestone ahead of schedule.

Bruce Power has marked the defuelling milestone in the refurbishment of Bruce unit 3. The supply of Canadian-sourced fuel for Bruce's plants is now secured until 2040 (Image: Bruce Power)

The new deal extends exclusive fuel supply arrangements announced in 2017 and includes provisions for Cameco to supply 100% of Bruce Power’s uranium, conversion services and fuel fabrication requirements. The extension represents an estimated CAD2.8 billion (USD2.1 billion) in additional business between the companies from 2031 to 2040, Cameco said. The volumes covered by the new arrangements were included in the long-term contracting volumes disclosed by the company in February.

"These arrangements signify a long-term commitment to fuelling a clean-air Ontario along with the stability of hundreds of high-value jobs in Saskatchewan and Ontario," Cameco President and CEO Tim Gitzel said. The extension "shows the importance of securing Canada's energy needs through Canadian partnerships" against a background increasing global geopolitical uncertainty and the subsequent instability in the global energy market, he added.

Bruce Power President and CEO Mike Rencheck described Cameco as an "important" partner. The new arrangements "signal long-term stability from Canadian-made energy, enabling us to continue to supply carbon-free electricity to one in three homes, businesses and hospitals in Ontario and medical isotopes used in cancer treatments around the world," he said.

Defuelling complete at Bruce 3

The announcement of the fuel agreement between Bruce Power and Cameco was made the day after defuelling was completed at the second unit to undergo refurbishment at the Bruce nuclear power plant.

Removal of the 5748 fuel bundles from the core of Bruce 3 was completed 31 days quicker than at Bruce 6 - the first of the units at the Ontario site to undergo the Major Component Replacement (MCR) process as part of a programme to extend the operational lives of Bruce units 3-8 to 2064. Process improvements and lessons learned from similar work at Bruce 6 enabled innovations that enhanced performance efficiencies, the company said.

Preparations are now under way for bulkhead installation and the primary heat transport system 'drain and dry', before major component disassembly begins at unit 3. Meanwhile, Bruce 6 - which began its MCR in January 2020 - is expected to return to service later this year.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News