Berkeley decommissioning work brought forward 50 years

Five decades earlier than planned, Magnox is embarking on the decommissioning project to clean-up and demolish the four 'blower house' structures which surround the two reactor buildings at the Berkeley nuclear power plant in the UK.

The Berkeley plant, on the banks of the River Severn in Gloucestershire in southwest England, came into service in 1962 (Image: Office for Nuclear Regulation)

A GBP30.8 million (USD38.8 million) contract has been awarded to Altrad for the design, asbestos removal, deplant, demolition and construction works. Altrad will be supported by other Celadon Alliance companies including Veolia KDC Decommissioning Services, NSG Environmental, OBR Construction, Mammoet and Cavendish Nuclear.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority operating company Nuclear Waste Services was also awarded a GBP13.7 million contract to manage 2400 tonnes of metallic waste.

Magnox Programme Delivery Director Ross McAllister explained that "the blower houses circulated gas through the reactors to transfer heat into 310-tonne boilers to create steam to turn the turbines and generate electricity. The last of the 15 gigantic metal boilers was transported to Sweden for cleaning, smelting and recycling in 2013. The buildings will be emptied of the residual metallic low-level waste and undergo a full asbestos clean before being demolished. The work is expected to take eight years to complete and will be another major step forwards in sustainably decommissioning Berkeley site with our supply chain partners".

He added: "This is one of the largest decommissioning projects that the Berkeley site has seen for several years. It was originally planned for the 2070’s so it is fantastic to bring that forward by five decades in our aim to deliver our mission better, faster and even safer."

Carly Sutton, WMS Consultant and Magnox Relationship Manager, for Nuclear Waste Services said: "Removal of legacy metals from the Berkeley blower houses is significant not only in terms of achieving hazard reduction, but also good for environmental performance - as the high-quality steel removed will be treated, recycled and returned to the metal market for reuse." Supply chain parter Augean says that following treatment at its sites more than 95% of the metal will be decontaminated enough to allow recycling.

Kevin Williamson, Altrad’s General Manager for Magnox, said: "We are delighted to have secured this major decommissioning contract at Berkeley which encompasses the retrieval and cleaning of the primary circuit ductwork and miscellaneous steelwork from the blower houses, prior to their demolition - including the processing of the spring hangers from the lubrication pits, which need to be de-energised and made safe before they can be cleaned.”

Berkeley's two Magnox units were shut down in the late 1980s after more than a quarter of a century of electricity generation. In 1992, Berkeley was the first Magnox site to complete defueling and later became the first to decommission its fuel storage ponds.

In 2010, after 21 years of decommissioning work, the units became the first to be sealed up and placed in 'safestor', a passive state in which the defuelled and extensively decommissioned units will be monitored and maintained until the site is completely cleared in about 65 years' time.

The Berkeley site housed some 620 tonnes of metallic fuel element debris and 6665 containers - some of which are sludge cans - in three underground vaults. A single silo houses charge rods and the chutes used to discharge fuel from the site's two Magnox reactors.

Earlier this year the first concrete box containing radioactive waste from underground vaults at the Berkeley plant was transferred to an interim on-site storage facility.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Novel solution developed for removal of Unterweser reactor vessel

The reactor pressure vessel has been removed from the reactor pit of the shut down Unterweser nuclear power plant in Germany using a solution developed by Dutch heavy lifting and transport specialist Mammoet. PreussenElektra will use the technique to remove the vessels at four other pressurised water reactor (PWR) plants it owns in Germany.

The Mammoet team with Unterweser's reactor vessel (Image: Mammoet)

Mammoet was tasked by contractor Höfer & Bechtel to hoist the reactor pressure vessel, with a weight of about 400 tonnes out of the reactor pool as a whole component.

Mammoet proposed a customised special solution using the SBL 1100 - a moveable four-point hydraulic lifting gantry with a capacity of 1100 tonnes. The company said this technical solution could be well adapted to the confined space conditions and would therefore also be suitable for use in PreussenElektra's reactor fleet.

Since the tracks of the lifting gantry rested upon the operating floor, and partly also spanned the reactor pool itself via a cantilever, there were strict limits on the load bearing capacity of the building structure. Mammoet's engineering team carried out calculations and successfully proved that load distribution ramps could be used to ensure safe execution.

The medium skidding track with strand jacks installed on the beams of the lifting system (Image: Mammoet)

Mammoet said another challenge was posed by the strict verification and documentation requirements for the material used in the control area. It noted the preparation of documentation for existing equipment required considerable expertise. Once the documentation was completed, all equipment could be brought into the control area, piece by piece.

Before the lifting system was installed on the operating floor, steel load distributors had to be installed first. These were followed by tracks, four hydraulic lifting stamps and two strand jacks to increase the lifting height of the system. The strand jacks were installed on a hydraulic skidding track on the beams of the lifting system. This allowed the reactor pressure vessel to be lifted and lowered vertically and also moved laterally.

With the successful load test for all components, Mammoet received the final approval for the hoisting of the vessel.

The operation first involved lifting the reactor pressure vessel from its installation position in the reactor pool and moving it horizontally to a parking position. Meanwhile, the contractor placed a dismantling rack with the reactor building crane at the original installation position. The vessel was then moved back to its installation position and lowered onto the dismantling rack so that the contractor could safely cut off the bottom of the vessel. The vessel was finally moved to the final dismantling position and lowered. In the process, it had to be lifted over a wall.

The reactor pressure vessel is lifted vertically from its installation position (Image: Mammoet)

"The removal of the reactor pressure vessel was a very demanding project," said Philipp Boettcher, Manager Engineering at Mammoet in Germany. "Through the intensive cooperation, all parties involved have grown together and become a team. We are delighted that we were able to contribute to a safe project with our custom lifting solution and pave the way for another decommissioning project within the power plant fleet."

Unterweser - a PWR with a gross installed capacity of 1410 MWe - operated between 1978 and 2011. It was one of seven nuclear power plants shut down in Germany in March 2011 when it lost its commercial operating licence under the 13th Amendment to the Atomic Energy Act.

PreussenElektra is also decommissioning the Brokdorf, Grafenrheinfeld, Grohnde, Isar 2 and Stade PWR nuclear power plants.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

SMR shows promise for campus use, study finds

An ongoing study of the feasibility of using advanced nuclear reactors to power Purdue University's West Lafayette campus in Indiana has found small modular reactors (SMRs) to be one of the most promising emerging technologies and a potential carbon-free option that should be further explored to help meet the university's future, long-term power needs.

(Image: Purdue University)

The interim report is published a year after Purdue University and Duke Energy began the study. Amongst other things, the study has confirmed that SMRs are a "potential option to zero carbon emissions" with "significant safety and other advantages". Building SMRs would offer economic benefits both to Purdue and to Indiana, creating "thousands of temporary construction jobs and hundreds of high-wage permanent jobs" and generating millions of dollars in local taxes.

Advocating for state and federal policy and funding needs is one of the key recommendations of the report. These include regulatory outcomes and economic incentives, nuclear engineering and science workforce development programmes, launching a public-private advanced reactor development programme, and creating a fuel availability programme. Efforts to engage stakeholders should continue, building from a six-part lecture series which reached an audience of 4,900 people between August 2022 and February 2023 and helped build awareness of the benefits and opportunities of new nuclear development.

The interim report also recommends that cost and economic studies, site evaluations and additional
technology assessments should be carried out. No technology has yet been selected, and no decision made, to
build a new nuclear plant at Purdue, but the report recommends SMR and advanced reactor projects should be monitored to enable a more detailed technology evaluation as first-of-a-kind projects advance. It also recommends a siting study and timeline to identify the best locations for advanced nuclear to support both the university and the Indiana grid, and "potentially develop an early site permit application for the selected site." Excess power beyond the campus's needs would be provided to the state's grid.

"Our early findings show that advanced nuclear technology presents a potential path to zero emissions for our university, and we intend to continue our teamwork with Duke Energy in the next phase of the study," said Purdue University President Mung Chiang, adding that the collaboration between Duke Energy, the university and energy and policy experts "demonstrates the critical importance of this exploration into advanced nuclear energy and what it could mean not only for our campus, but also the community, state and nation".

"To reach a clean, carbon-free future, we need to explore a broad range of technologies, including advanced nuclear," said Duke Energy Indiana President Stan Pinegar said. "We need to study this and other options further, and this report starts a conversation about how we might transition to carbon-free power that can operate on demand in concert with renewable energy, such as solar and wind."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Faulty seals replaced in Olkiluoto EPR

16 May 2023

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) said it had detected and subsequently repaired defects and deficiencies in the seals of the connectors of unit 3 at the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. The EPR entered commercial operation on 1 May.

Olkiluoto 3 (Image: TVO)

The company said: "During the years 2022-2023, several cases of signal failures in safety-classified temperature measurements have been detected. In February, it was found that some connectors of temperature measurements were missing either one or both of the required seals".

A total of 108 connectors were inspected, with 29 of them found to be missing seals, TVO said. "All the inspected connectors have now been provided with new seals".

TVO noted the connectors with missing seals will work under normal operating conditions, but do not necessarily fulfil the requirements specified for accident conditions. "Their operability cannot be guaranteed in loss of coolant accidents," it added. 

As the incident was accompanied by inadequate guidance and the defect was detected in several locations, TVO concluded that the incident falls under category one on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). According to the INES, the incident was classified as "an anomaly".

On 17 April, TVO submitted a special report of the event to Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) for approval. STUK approved the special report and TVO's assessment of the INES rating on 10 May.

"The absence of a single seal as such is not a safety issue, but the recurrence of the error increased the significance of the incident on the assessment scale," STUK noted.

OL3 attained first criticality on 21 December 2021 and was connected to the grid on 12 March 2022. The EPR, a 1600 MWe pressurised water reactor, then entered a phase of test production during which some 3300 tests were conducted and more than 9000 test reports collated.

On 20 April, TVO submitted the Provisional Takeover Certificate to the Areva-Siemens consortium, the OL3 plant supplier. The final acceptance of the plant unit will take place upon termination of the two-year warranty period.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Successful demonstration of new sludge removal technique

A new technique for removing sludge from nuclear fuel ponds has been successfully trialled at one of the UK's largest wet test facilities prior to being used at a nuclear site.

TDA testing at Forth's Deep Recovery Facility (Image: Forth)

The Decommissioning Alliance (TDA) - a partnership comprised of Jacobs, Atkins and Westinghouse - is tasked with installing equipment to allow operators to safely retrieve debris from the bottom of fuel ponds at a site operated by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in order to safely remove and transport the recovered material for safe, long-term storage.

TDA representatives will complete the task by attaching a Bulk Sludge Retrieval Tool (BSRT), which ultimately acts like an industrial hoover, to a 40-metre cable. The tool will retrieve the sludge and then store it in a safe manner.

To test the new way of working, which includes the use of remotely operated vehicles to lock a hinged double boom arm in position, the team trialled the methods at engineering specialists Forth's Deep Recovery Facility (DRF) at the company's headquarters in Flimby, Cumbria.

Measuring 22.5 metres long, 10 metres wide and six metres deep, the DRF at Forth is able to hold 1.2 million litres of water, making it the largest facility of its kind in the north of England.

To facilitate the tests, engineers at Forth designed and manufactured a frame to attach the equipment, and they provided access scaffolding and operators to deploy the equipment.

"The work we are carrying out at the site has been ongoing since 2010 and has been instrumental in reducing the inventory in the pond, which in turn reduces the overall risk," said TDA Project Manager Scott Bond. "We are always looking for ways to ensure our work is safer, more efficient and more cost effective for the client, and the new methodology of installing the BSRT and the umbilical has the potential to be a game changer.

"Before implementing the practices live on-site, we need to be 100% certain that they are safe and effective, so the trials we carry out are absolutely essential. Being able to successfully test the equipment at Forth's DRF, particularly when it's on our doorstep, was a Godsend for the project because we couldn't find a facility big enough to host the trials; other than the open sea or a dock, but that brings with it more hindrances as the water is very corrosive."

Bond added that using the indoor DRF meant TDA was able to successfully trial the methods and replicate site conditions on more than one occasion, ensuring the installation team are familiar with the equipment, tooling and installation sequence, when the time comes to actually using the technique at the NDA site.

"It's been great to be able to play a part in what is such a major development for the nuclear industry," said Graham Cartwright, the projects director at Forth. "Our DRF has time and again proved vital in providing wet testing for key projects and being in a position to facilitate these trials has been something we are really pleased with."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

EPRI and NEI release Advanced Reactor Roadmap

16 May 2023

The document outlines the critical strategies and support actions necessary for the successful large-scale deployment of advanced reactors. Its initial focus is on the USA and Canada, but the roadmap is designed to be a "living document" that evolves and refocuses strategies and actions as the future unfolds.

(Image: EPRI)

There is a growing consensus that both existing and advanced nuclear could play important roles in the decarbonisation of the electricity grid and other parts of the US and Canadian economies, with nuclear technology providing large amounts of firm, carbon-free energy for the decarbonisation of the electricity, transportation, and industrial heating sectors, according to independent, non-profit energy research and development organisation EPRI and US nuclear industry association the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI).

"Advanced nuclear technology represents an option for helping achieve carbon reduction goals while producing the energy so vital to society," said Neil Wilmshurst, EPRI senior vice president of Energy System Resources and chief nuclear officer. The plan "outlines actions that could facilitate an increasing role for nuclear energy as a zero-emissions energy source in global decarbonisation efforts", he said.

The Advanced Reactor Roadmap sets out a recommended approach to help the nuclear industry fully realise the potential value of advanced reactors, with the focus on commercialising advanced reactor technologies that deliver the desired value, establishing a portfolio of advanced reactor technologies to meet a diverse set of market and customer needs, and ensuring that the commercialisation of these technologies is both cost-effective and on track to meet decarbonisation milestones. It then discusses seven "enablers" for large-scale deployment of advanced reactor technologies, including conditions related to policy, regulatory, and public acceptance, before outlining 46 industry actions to enable the timely delivery of a portfolio of products grouped under three "action pillars" of regulatory efficiency, technology readiness and project execution.

These actions address strategic priorities in areas such as licensing, fuel cycle, supply chain, construction, operation, and workforce development. They include: engaging with governments to ensure a stable supply of enriched fuel; providing recommendations to enable more timely and efficient regulatory reviews and approvals of advanced reactors; developing a skilled workforce for both existing and new reactors; and ensuring the industry is prepared to execute the first deployment projects.

Doug True, NEI senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, said there was "growing consensus" that the US and Canadian energy system must include large amounts of nuclear. "This roadmap outlines the key strategies and actions needed to enable advanced reactors to meet the market demand that is forming," he said. "There are roles, not just for industry, but also other stakeholders, like the federal government to contribute to this success," he added.

The roadmap was developed with input from multiple stakeholders, including advanced reactor developers, suppliers, utilities, the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, NGOs and national laboratories. A steering group of industry leaders will be formed to assess the status of action items from the roadmap and ensure their completion, the organisations said.

Additional phases of the roadmap will be focused on global regions beyond North America.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Steel maker considers use of NuScale SMRs at its mills

16 May 2023

NuScale Power has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with North American steel manufacturer Nucor Corporation to explore the deployment of NuScale's VOYGR small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) power plants at Nucor's scrap-based Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel mills.

An Electric Arc Furnace (Image: Nucor)

As part of the MoU, the companies will evaluate site suitability, transmission interconnection capabilities and capital costs for potential NuScale plants to be sited near and provide carbon free electricity to Nucor EAF steel mills.

In addition, NuScale will study the feasibility of siting a manufacturing facility for NuScale Power Modules near a Nucor facility.

The companies will also explore an expanded manufacturing partnership through which Nucor - the largest steel producer and recycler of any type of material in North America - would supply Econiq, its net-zero steel products, for NuScale projects.

Nucor describes Econiq as "the world's first net-zero steel at scale". It adds: "Econiq is not a single product; it is a net-zero certification, which can be applied to any product from Nucor's steel mills." The company said it achieves net-zero on Econiq products by using electricity from 100% renewable sources and by purchasing carbon offsets.

In April 2022 Nucor - which manufactures steel and steel products, with operating facilities in the USA, Canada and Mexico - committed to a USD15 million private investment in public equity in NuScale Power.

"NuScale is thrilled to take this step forward with Nucor, a company that shares our commitment to sustainability and deeply understands the role of NuScale's technology in delivering clean, reliable baseload power to support the global energy transition," said NuScale President and CEO John Hopkins. "We look forward to determining how our SMR technology can best serve Nucor's sophisticated steelmaking operations and how our companies can work together to drive a more sustainable future."

"Nucor is committed to supporting the development of transformative technologies that will deploy safe, reliable, affordable, 24/7, base-load carbon free power, like NuScale's VOYGR SMR plants," said Nucor President and CEO Leon Topalian. "Not only will Nucor's partnership with NuScale help pave the way for a zero-carbon energy future for our nation, but we will be building this new generation with the cleanest steel products made anywhere in the world."

The NuScale Power Module on which the VOYGR nuclear power plants are based is a pressurised water reactor with all the components for steam generation and heat exchange incorporated into a single 77 MWe unit. It is the first SMR design to receive approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The company offers a 12-module VOYGR-12 power plant is capable of generating 924 MWe as well as the four-module VOYGR-4 (308 MWe) and six-module VOYGR-6 (462 MWe) plants and other configurations based on customer needs.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Major contract awarded for remaining Bruce refurbishment

15 May 2023

Bruce Power has awarded a CAD1.3 billion (USD1 billion) contract for fuel channel and feeder replacement (FCFR) for its remaining four Major Component Replacement (MCR) projects to Shoreline Power Group. The announcement comes as fuel loading begins at Bruce unit 6 ahead of that unit's planned return to service on completion of its MCR.

The contract means Shoreline will have done all the FCFR work for the six Bruce MCRs (Image: United Engineers & Constructors)

The new 10-year contract means Shoreline Power - a joint venture of Aecon, SNC-Lavalin and United Engineers and Constructors - is now contracted to carry out FCFR work for all six Bruce units undergoing MCR.

"We're pleased to be able to partner with Shoreline Power Group for the entirety of our Major Component Replacement project over the next decade to perform the major component replacement portion of our Life Extension Program," Bruce Power President and CEO said Mike Rencheck said. "Part of Shoreline's commitment is to deliver the next two MCRs more efficiently and cost-effectively than the previous one leveraging our lessons learned and best practices," he added.

The new contract, which covers Bruce units 4, 5, 7 and 8, comes as the first Bruce unit to undergo MCR - unit 6 - prepares to return to service, and as work continues to progress on Bruce 3, the second Candu unit at the site to undergo MCR. The MCR programme will extend the operating life of the site, near Tiverton in Ontario, to 2064.

The scope of FCFR work for all units includes internal reactor inspections, the removal and replacement of fuel channels and feeder tubes, as well as project management, construction management and field execution. Planning work for FCFR at the last four units is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2023, with construction expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025 and completion anticipated in 2032.

Aecon said its share of the contract is worth CAD1 billion. SNC-Lavalin's portion of the contract is worth some CAD173 million, and covers project management services associated with the reactor refurbishment. United Engineers & Constructors, with Aecon and Framatome, is also the Steam Generator Replacement Team (SGRT) joint venture which is contracted to replace steam generators at Bruce Units 3, 4 and 6.

Staff car park unveiled as Canadian MMR's planned location

15 May 2023

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and Global First Power (GFP) have announced a repurposed parking lot at the Chalk River campus as the location where they plan to build and operate a demonstration Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR).

Senior leaders from AECL, CNL and GFP were joined by local elected officials, industry partners and other distinguished guests to unveil the site of the proposed reactor on 11 May (Image: AECL)

The 15 MWt (5 MWe) demonstration plant will deploy Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation's (USNC) MMR technology at the Ontario site, which is owned by AECL and managed by CNL. It will be the first commercial deployment of private sector funded small modular reactor (SMR) technology in Canada, and is intended as a model for future SMR deployments to support remote and industrial applications.

GFP President & CEO Jos Diening said the site demonstrates the "unique suitability" of the technology to become fully integrated into remote and industrial facilities and their operations. "These are precisely the qualities that make advanced nuclear microreactors essential in decarbonising beyond the electric grid," he said.

CNL President and CEO Joe McBrearty said the announcement of the site was "incredibly exciting" for AECL, CNL and GFP and Canadians. "Once constructed, this proposed reactor can demonstrate the economics, safety and performance of a new and exciting SMR technology, giving the public confidence in this next-generation nuclear solution. Overall, I believe that this location could go down in history as one of many at the Chalk River Laboratories where first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies were brought to life," he said.

The announcement reflects a shared commitment to advancing the clean energy technologies which are critical in the fight against climate change, AECL Vice-President of Science, Technology and Commercial Oversight Amy Gottschling said. "The Chalk River Laboratories have been at the forefront of nuclear innovation for more than 70 years, and we continue to push the envelope, leveraging science to solve problems and benefit Canada and the world."

The chosen location means good access to campus utilities and to CNL's technical and operational support services. Once the reactor is operational, CNL may also be able to use the energy produced both for campus operations and research activities, the companies said.

GFP submitted an application for a site preparation licence to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in 2021, and work on an environmental assessment for the project is under way. The company's project timeline currently envisages site preparation and construction beginning in 2025, subject to the necessary approvals, with operations beginning in 2027.

GFP is a joint venture launched in 2020 by USNC and Ontario Power Generation to build, own and operate an MMR at the Chalk River Laboratories site. In addition to the Chalk River project, the MMR is also under consideration for the Ontario campus of McMaster University.

USNC has also signed agreements to develop and deploy its high-temperature reactor technology in Poland, Korea, Finland and the USA.

Final licence release for reclaimed Cluff Lake mine

12 May 2023

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has revoked the uranium mine licence held by Orano Canada Inc for the fully decommissioned Cluff Lake Project in northwestern Saskatchewan, clearing the way for Orano to transfer the site to the Province of Saskatchewan - a first for any modern uranium mine in Canada.

Cluff Lake as it is today (Image: Orano)

The project, which is some 75 km south of Lake Athabasca and 15 km east of the border with the Province of Alberta, operated from 1979 to 2002, producing more than 62 million pounds U3O8 (23,848 tU) from two underground mines and four open pit mines. The operation also included a tailings management facility, a mill and other support facilities. The Cluff Lake Project is located on Treaty 8 territory, the Homeland of the Métis, and is within the traditional territories of the Dene, Cree, and Métis people.

Cluff Lake was fully decommissioned in 2013, and has already been made accessible to Indigenous Nations and communities and members of the public for hunting, fishing, camping and harvesting. Orano now intends to transfer the site to Saskatchewan's Institutional Control Program (ICP), which was set up by the province in 2007 as part of its institutional control framework for the long-term management of decommissioned and reclaimed mine and mill sites on provincial Crown lands.

The CNSC's decision to revoke the current operating licence, under which Orano is authorised to possess, manage and store nuclear substances that are associated with the historic uranium mine and mill operations at Cluff Lake, was made after a public hearing held on 1 March, and means that the transfer of the site to the ICP can now go ahead. The commission has also exempted the Province of Saskatchewan from licensing for the site - such an exemption is required before the site can be accepted into the ICP.

"After reviewing all submissions and interventions, the commission concluded that the decommissioning objectives and criteria established for the Cluff Lake Project have been met, that the site is passively safe, and that the site will remain passively safe for the long term … the commission also concluded that exempting the Province of Saskatchewan from licensing under the NSCA (the Nuclear Safety and Control Act) for the Cluff Lake Project site will not pose an unreasonable risk to the environment, to the health and safety of persons, or to national security, nor will it result in a failure to achieve conformity with measures of control and international obligations to which Canada has agreed," the CNSC said.

"The best demonstration of responsible mining is the remediation management," Orano Mining President Nicolas Maes said, adding that the CNSC decision "is the recognition of the Orano's expertise in sustainable mine closure which is part of our DNA".

Orano Canada President and CEO Jim Corman said he was grateful both to the company's staff for their commitment to the project and their work to ensure that the land is available for local traditional use, and to the the Indigenous, Métis and other community members who shared their knowledge of the lands. "We have many employees who remember the days of working at Cluff Lake and we celebrate the successful decommissioning of the project. Work will continue with the Province to transfer the property into the Institutional Control Program," he said.

The CNSC has previously released properties at legacy uranium mining sites to provincial control, but Cluff Lake is the first decommissioned "modern" uranium mine to reach this milestone.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

The Russian nuclear company the West can’t live without
Bloomberg News | May 13, 2023 | 

Nukem Technologies Engineering Services headquarters. (Image by Nukem, Flickr.)

Cutting the heart out of a nuclear power plant is a surgical procedure that only a few specialists are equipped to handle.


The process begins by launching plasma-torch-wielding robots into an empty pool surrounded by thick concrete walls. From there, the remote-controlled machines make circular cuts, as if slicing pineapple rings, through a 600-ton steel vessel that contains radiation generated over decades of splitting atoms. These rings are then diced into meter-long pieces and transported via secure convoy to radioactive waste repositories, where they are left to cool down — indefinitely.

Behind the scenes, scores of nuclear engineers, radiation safety experts and state regulators monitor this operation, which can cost upwards of a billion dollars and take years to plan and execute. The expertise needed to pull this off without error is why “there are only a handful of players” in the high-radiation decommissioning business, said Uniper SE’s Michael Baechler, who is supervising the dismantling of Sweden’s Barsebaeck Nuclear Power Plant.

Among the oldest and most experienced is Germany’s Nukem Technologies Engineering Services GmbH, which for decades has offered its unique services in Asia and Africa and across Europe. Nukem engineers helped contain radiation from the destroyed reactors in Chernobyl and Fukushima. They helped lead the clean-up of an atomic-fuel factory in Belgium. In France, the company devised ways to treat waste from the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

With researchers predicting that cleaning up after aging nuclear power plants will evolve into a $125 billion global business in the near future, Nukem should be ideally positioned to capitalize on the moment.

Except for one thing: the company is wholly owned by Rosatom Corp., the Kremlin-controlled nuclear giant, putting it in the center of an uncomfortable standoff.

While Germany has been vocal in urging EU countries to stop importing Rosatom’s nuclear fuel, a highly specialized commodity used for power plants, of which Rosatom is the world’s biggest exporter, authorities do not want to prevent Nukem from doing business in Germany, according to three government officials who asked not to be identified in return for discussing private deliberations. As sanctions have not been implemented, doing so would violate EU competition laws, they said.

Located in the rolling hills and orchards just east of Frankfurt, Nukem is a niche player in Rosatom’s global empire. At the same time, it exposes the fault line running through the EU’s approach to nuclear power.

Unlike Russia, which has cultivated expertise across all of the industrial processes needed to convert and enrich uranium atoms into forms usable for generating energy, Europe’s hodgepodge development of nuclear technologies has left states dependent on outside providers to fill gaps in production and services. Experts estimate it would take at least four or five years before the EU could match Rosatom’s fuel-manufacturing capacity, but even if that process were sped up, it would require more time still to replicate its global reach and array of services.

Pressure to cut Rosatom out of European supply chains has mounted since Russian forces seized Europe’s biggest nuclear power station outside the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia and sent in Rosatom engineers to run it. The fact that it or Nukem, a subsidiary, haven’t been sanctioned, “should raise some serious questions,” said Darya Dolzikova, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute.

But more than a year later, it’s still up to individual companies to decide whether to continue doing business with the energy giant. So far, many are proceeding as usual: Rosatom saw exports surge more than 20% in the year after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Unlike Germany’s seizure of Russian storage and refining assets after the war, Nukem doesn’t have as much fixed infrastructure to go after. If sanctions were to be imposed, Rosatom might simply close shop or move Nukem’s headquarters to a friendlier jurisdiction.

This has left Nukem stuck in a strange kind of limbo, as customers interested in tapping its expertise are now faced with the choice of whether to work with a Kremlin-controlled company. Its experience is particularly valuable as its 120 mostly German engineers can work across the nuclear supply chain, a huge advantage in light of the fact that more young nuclear engineers study to build new installations than tear down existing ones. The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna has warned of an acute shortage of decommissioning workers.

“In Europe,” said Mark Hibbs, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has been tracking the company for more than three decades, “Nukem presides over a large pool of know-how.”

But even without sanctions, traditional markets such as Lithuania and Finland have stopped working with Nukem and Rosatom, respectively. Others, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria are diversifying away from Russian suppliers. On a day-to-day level, it’s gotten trickier to do business since the Russian invasion, said Nukem chief executive officer Thomas Seipolt.

Money transfers take longer, as does securing the authorizations needed to ship technologies across borders, and some customers have been hesitant to sign contracts, he said. A consulting arrangement “was paused and then cancelled following the start of the Ukraine conflict,” said Boris Schucht, chief executive officer of the fuel consortium Urenco. Due to the political situation, Nukem’s Seipolt noted, “the further development of the company” has “become uncertain.”

To avoid continued decline, “the owner is trying to sell Nukem to a strategic investor by around the middle of the year,” Seipolt said. “We are already in talks with interested parties,” he added, without elaborating on how a buyer might skirt EU financial sanctions to take a stake in the company.

If that doesn’t happen, however, the company’s future may lie outside of Europe. While sanctions against Rosatom and Nukem could choke off the immediate supply of fuel and services within the EU bloc, they’d be harder to enforce in the company’s biggest growth markets. Rosatom is already building new nuclear plants in Bangladesh, China, Egypt in Turkey, with another dozen supply contracts under negotiation. Those deals potentially lock in cash flows and political clout for decades ahead.

For now at least, Nukem is finding some of its new projects further afield. At the Xudabao Nuclear Power Plant northeast of Beijing, Nukem specialists are currently designing a waste treatment center to accommodate the two new Rosatom reactors that will go online by 2028.

“We have already signed contracts,” Nukem announced last month. Next year, Rosatom’s German subsidiary will start shipping components to China.

(By Jonathan Tirone and Petra Sorge)

WORKERS CAPITAL

Glencore’s Teck bid spurs call for Canada pensions to up equity stake

Reuters | May 16, 2023 | 

Highland Valley Copper (HVC) Operations, southwest of Kamloops in British Columbia. (Image courtesy of Teck.)

Glencore’s hostile bid for Teck Resources has galvanized some Canadian institutional investors, who have lobbied the federal government to push the nation’s biggest pension funds to lift their exposure to domestic companies, according to a presentation seen by Reuters.


The previous unreported proposal is an unusual move, but mirrors the broader nationalistic sentiment at display in Canada since the Swiss miner’s unsolicited approach for one of the country’s top mining firms by market value.

Politicians and business lobby groups have asked the federal government to block the $22.5 billion bid and Ottawa has said Glencore would face rigorous scrutiny.

Canada’s large pension funds are globally known investors, managing more than $1 trillion of savings, but their exposure to domestic equities has steadily declined over the past decade since Canadian equity markets represent just 3% of the global equity market. The Canadian pension funds have benchmarked their investments to that level, according to the presentation.

Australian pension funds have invested about 50% of their total assets in domestic equities, according to the presentation.

Last month, Teck pulled its proposal to split the company into separate coal and copper businesses after failing to secure shareholders’ support.

China Investment Corp is Teck’s single-biggest institutional investor with a 10.3% stake, and Norway’s wealth fund, Norges Bank, owns 1.52%, while Canadian pensions together hold 0.78% stake, according to Refinitiv data.

Institutional investors argue, a more influential holding would have helped Teck to pull off its plan and ended Glencore’s pursuit.

Peter Letko, vice president of Letko Brosseau, a Teck investor which was in favor of the separation plan, said the absence of Canadian pensions funds’ from “critical public companies does not help the domestic economy.”

Montreal-based Lekto said he has recently written to the federal government’s finance ministry and provincial governments urging pension funds to increase their exposure in domestic market.

The finance ministry did not immediately respond to an email query.
Pensions and politics

Quebec pension fund CDPQ declined to comment on “political and legislation matters.” All other pension funds did not respond to Reuters request for comments.

Canadian pension funds represent 30% of the total financial savings of Canadians.

“Given that so much of this capital is directed towards international investment, it risks not contributing to Canada’s economic growth,” Letko added.

Not everyone, however, agrees with this approach.

Michael Osborne, a competition lawyer at law firm Cozen O’Connor, said the more you interfere with Canadian pensions’ operations, “the more you put pension returns at risk.”

“We all know from our own pension savings…putting all of your investments in one country – whether it’s Canada or any other country – is a poor investment strategy.”

Read More: Canadian Conservatives want Glencore takeover of Teck blocked

Still, Lekto has found some backers, including Kim Shannon, founder of Sionna Investments and former board member of Canadian Committee for Corporate Governance. Shannon added that Canadian equities have generated better returns with lower risks over the past three decades.

Letko has also found support from some business leaders.

“It is really shameful that two of the biggest pension funds invested in Teck are Chinese and Norwegian,” said Pierre Lassonde, a Canadian mining entrepreneur who offered to invest in Teck’s coal assets to thwart Glencore’s effort. Lassonde is also backing Letko’s proposal.

Clement Gignac, a Canadian senator and a veteran economist, said while it is not the “business of politicians to decide which countries do the pension funds invest in,” the industry as a whole should improve disclosures about where Canadians savings are invested.

(By Divya Rajagopal and Maiya Keidan; Editing by Denny Thomas and Marguerita Choy)