South Korea Unveils Roadmap for Offshore Wind Tenders

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Published Aug 11, 2024 10:43 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

South Korea has launched its master plan for offshore wind leasing, and is preparing for its first series of large-scale offshore wind tenders. The new roadmap was unveiled by the Trade, Industry and Energy Vice Minister Namho Choe, during a conference last week with offshore wind companies in Seoul. As part of the government strategy to expand renewable energy distribution, the roadmap also seeks to strengthen the domestic offshore wind supply chain.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) said the plans are to start the wind power tenders this October, followed with at least two more rounds until the first half of 2026. During the two-year period, the government will auction at least 7-8 GW of offshore wind capacity. South Korea expects to reach a wind power capacity of 18.3 GW by 2030. 

The timing for competitive bidding has been moved up from its initial window in the fourth quarter to the second quarter of each year. This will allow notice of an additional tender to be released in Q4 if needed.

In terms of bid evaluation, the government will adopt a two-stage process. The first round will assess the non-price attributes while the second one includes price competition based on an evaluation of price attributes. When the first and second round scores are added up, the bidder with the highest total score will be selected as the winner.

In addition, the government intends to increase the score allotted to non-price criteria from the current 40 to 50 percent, as well as incorporating aspects such as maintenance, economic security and use of public works. This move has been interpreted as a measure to curb Chinese imports of key offshore wind parts, including wind turbine blades. Instead, the government will be favoring bids utilizing the domestic supply chain.

“Our offshore wind power projects are large in scale, but domestic technological prowess in key equipment has not reached that of leading countries,” said a MOTIE official.

For the first time beginning this year, a bid market for floating wind turbine projects will run concurrently with the existing one of fixed wind turbine tenders. MOTIE is targeting public-sector participation, as the government gears up for the launch of a public-led bid market in H1 2025.

 

After Fatal Accident, NZ Port Requires Physical Fitness Test for Dockers

Port of Lyttelton (Mick Stephenson / CC BY SA 3.0)

Published Aug 12, 2024 2:11 AM by The Maritime Executive

 

 

The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) has expressed concerns about the approach of the recent mandatory fitness tests launched by the Lyttelton Port Company (LPC). The tests are part of the safety review measures initiated by LPC after the company was sentenced last month in the Christchurch District Court. In November, LPC pleaded guilty to a charge of violating health and safety regulations following a fatal accident at one of its terminals in April 2022.

The charge was filed by Maritime New Zealand after a stevedore, Don Grant, was struck and killed by coal on the deck of the bulk carrier ETG Aquarius. Investigations by Maritime NZ revealed several safety gaps at the terminal.

In the case of Mr. Grant, who was serving as a “hatchman”, LPC’s procedures for loading coal were found to be faulty, especially with regards to managing risks for stevedores.

“[One] of the issues identified by the investigation was ‘hatchmen’ being located within the potential firing line of the jet-slinger. This meant if it was re-positioned, or moved without their knowledge, they would be at risk of being struck by the coal. Loading of coal is a known high-risk activity for LPC, and there were a lack of controls and policies in place around this activity,” said the regulator.

Based on these circumstances, the Judge found LPC culpable of violating the national health and safety regulations. For the offense, the judge fined LPC $288,000, with $21,000 paid to Maritime NZ.

LPC has made an extensive review of its safety procedures since the incident. Some include new rules around when the coal can be poured to keep workers safe. In addition, LPC is now mandating fitness tests for workers, which MUNZ has singled out as discriminatory.

“MUNZ is very concerned how the death of a worker has been used to implement new policies without bringing along workers and listening to their voices. The new mandatory fitness for all employees is being pushed through without regard to workers concerns over their financial protection and wellbeing,” said Carl Findlay, National Secretary of MUNZ.

MUNZ added that it views the new policy as a breach of good faith and LPC not honoring the workers’ collective employment agreement. Any employee who fails the fitness assessment will lose employment. But MUNZ said that while health monitoring is agreeable, LPC ought to negotiate with workers in good faith, especially due to the perceived implications to job security.

Mediation between MUNZ and LPC on the issue of workers’ health monitoring is slated for August 16.

Top image: Port of Lyttelton (Mick Stephenson / CC BY SA 3.0)

 SCI-FI-TEK  FOR 70 YEARS

North American investments in fusion energy

09 August 2024

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and Business Development Bank of Canada have announced a lead investment of CAD10 million (USD7.3 million) each in Canadian private fusion developer General Fusion. Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy has awarded USD4.6 million in 17 awards to fund public-private partnerships for fusion research.

Representatives from CNL, AECL, General Fusion and the Business Development Bank of Canada gathered for the signing of the agreements enabling CAD20 million of investment into General Fusion's LM26 demonstration programme (Image: CNL)

The financing provided by CNL - Canada's premier nuclear science and technology organisation - and the Business Development Bank of Canada's investment arm, BDC Capital - Canada's bank for entrepreneurs - will enable General Fusion to continue advancing its innovative Magnetised Target Fusion (MTF) technology to provide clean fusion energy to the grid by the early to mid-2030s.

In addition to the lead investments, the first closing of this financing also includes investment from Hatch, a Canadian headquartered consultancy firm specialising in the mining, energy and infrastructure sectors, and other company shareholders. This financing brings the total public and private investment into General Fusion's LM26 programme to over CAD71 million since its launch in 2023.

To fast track its progress towards commercialisation, General Fusion is advancing its Lawson Machine 26 (LM26) demonstration programme in Richmond, British Columbia. This machine is designed to achieve two transformational milestones for fusion energy, temperatures of over 100 million degrees Celsius (10 keV) and scientific breakeven equivalent, using the company's MTF technology.

General Fusion's MTF approach involves injecting hydrogen plasma into a liquid metal sphere, where it is compressed and heated so that fusion occurs. The heat from the fusion of the hydrogen atoms is transferred into the liquid metal. This enables fusion conditions to be created in short pulses rather than creating a sustained reaction, which "avoids the pitfalls of other approaches that require expensive superconducting magnets or high-powered lasers," according to the company.

General Fusion plans to construct its Fusion Demonstration Plant (FDP) at the UKAEA's Culham Campus near Oxford, England. The plant will be used to prove the viability of the MTF technology and is a 70%-scaled version of the commercial pilot plant. However, the plant will not be used to produce power. The FDP will cycle one plasma pulse per day, and will use deuterium fuel, whereas the commercial pilot plant will use deuterium-tritium fuel and will cycle up to one plasma pulse per second. The FDP is expected to be commissioned in 2026 and fully operational by early 2027.

CNL and General Fusion have already been working together to advance the design of General Fusion's power plant. That work has included analysis by CNL of tritium breeding technologies and tritium management facilities. Tritium is a primary component of fusion fuel. More recently, the teams collaborated on research related to the fusion machine, balance of plant, and power conversion system for General Fusion's MTF machine design.

CNL President and CEO Jack Craig said: "CNL and General Fusion share the same vision - to unlock fusion's tremendous potential as a transformative, clean energy future in Canada in order to fight climate change and maintain our energy security. We are proud to invest in such an innovative Canadian company, applying our unique capabilities and expertise within Canada's national nuclear laboratory to help bring their technology to life, and secure these environmental and economic benefits to Canada."

US funding awards

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced it has awarded USD4.6 million in 17 awards to US businesses via the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) programme.

The aim of INFUSE is to accelerate fusion energy development in the private sector by reducing impediments to collaboration between business and national laboratories or universities. DOE said the "overarching objective is to ensure the nation's energy, environmental, and security needs by accelerating foundational research to advance economical, innovative fusion technologies".

Projects for this round of funding include research in materials science, modelling and simulation, as well as enabling technologies to help move toward the ultimate goal of economical fusion energy.

The 17 projects were selected via a competitive peer review process managed by the INFUSE leadership team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. The programme solicited proposals from the fusion industry and selected projects for one or two-year awards, all with budgets ranging between USD100,000 and USD500,000 each.

"The selections today showcase our continuing commitment to the fusion industry in the US and our goal to share widely unique capabilities at national laboratories and US universities," said DOE Associate Director of Science for Fusion Energy Sciences Jean Paul Allain. "Partnering with businesses and working together is a win-win for our fusion industry, the DOE, and the nation."

The USA has set a goal of enabling a fusion pilot plant, led by the private sector, on a decadal timescale as the country moves toward a net-zero economy by 2050.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Energy Fuels suspends uranium transports in response to Navajo challenge

07 August 2024

US uranium producer Energy Fuels Inc has voluntarily suspended transportation of uranium across Navajo lands after the Navajo Nation challenged the legality of the transport. The company said it is working with the Navajo Nation to find a resolution.

Buu Nygren issues the executive order prohibiting uranium transport (Image: Navajo Nation Office of the President)

Late last year, Energy Fuels announced that it had started production at the Pinyon Plain mine in Arizona, as well as at the La Sal project in Eastern Utah, with ore from those mines to be stockpiled at its White Mesa mill in Utah for processing. For Pinyon Plain, this involves trucking material over Navajo Nation lands.

On 31 July, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren issued an executive order banning the transport of radioactive material through the Navajo Nation without a prior agreement, citing Navajo laws regarding the transport of radioactive materials in the Navajo Nation Natural Resources Protection Act of 2005 and the Navajo Nation’s 2012 Radioactive and Related Substances, Equipment, Vehicles, Persons and Materials Transportation Act. The order will last for six months. Nygren said the order had been signed after Energy Fuels the previous day transported an estimated 50 tonnes of uranium ore through tribal lands without providing the notice required under the 2012 law.

Energy Fuels had informed federal, state, county, and tribal officials more than 10 days earlier about the legal requirements, safety, emergency response, and the imminent shipping of uranium ore, though without giving a specific date.

In the company's second quarter earnings call on 5 August, CEO Mark Chalmers said the company believes it has the necessary licences and rights for the shipments but respects the Navajo Nation's concerns and has voluntarily suspended shipments. Both sides are "looking for a resolution" on moving forward, he said.

Energy Fuels and its predecessor companies had completed uranium shipments across the reservation lands for many decades up to the last shipment, which took place in 2022, without a single incident, Chalmers said, and had worked with members of the Navajo nation, including arranging visits to the mines and mill to witness loading and unloading "so that they were comfortable with those shipments." According to the company's presentation, around half of the employees at the White Mesa mill are Navajo and Native American.

President Nygren wants the legacy of Cold War era uranium mining operations on Navajo land to be addressed (Image: Navajo Nation Office of the President)

Legacy issues

One of the reasons for the Navajo Nation's concerns is a "long legacy of uranium issues that have nothing to do with Energy Fuels - most were created by legacy arrangements with the US Government during the Cold War," he said, but the company was working with the Navajo Nation to address these concerns. "The biggest issue … is they want safe transport of materials across the Navajo nation, and we absolutely respect that. We absolutely respect that it has to be done safely - we have done it over time, and we plan to sit down with them to make sure that it is safely transported," he said.

Nygren's office also highlighted the legacy of Cold War uranium mining activities in a 2 August blog post, which said the President's deployment of tribal police to intercept Energy Fuels' uranium transport trucks had been "because of his priority to clean up abandoned uranium mines and mills."

Between 1944 and 1986, more than 30 million tonnes of uranium ore was extracted from the Navajo Nation for the US nuclear weapons programme, but the legacy of those operations - including radioactive contamination impacts on Navajo miners and their families - has not been adressed.

"Cleanup of these 500 abandoned uranium mine and mill sites is a major priority of my administration," President Nygren said. "It is why I deployed the Navajo Nation police to block what I think is the illegal transport of uranium ore across the Navajo Nation. Cleanup must happen first, and the trauma associated with premature sickness and death from the legacies of it."

Ramp up continues

Energy Fuels plans to ramp up ore production from Pinyon Plain, La Sal and Pandora to a production run-rate of around 1.1 to 1.4 million pounds of U3O8 per year by late-2024. The transport moratorium is not expected to hold back development work at Pinyon Plain, Chalmers said.

Alternative transport routes exist and "will all be part of the discussions", he said. "But the route that we have across the reservation is a route that has been studied extensively and it is really the best route, and we intend to continue down that path, but let us continue our discussions with the Navajo nation because, again, we are respectful of their concerns… let's figure out how to alleviate those concerns."

The company expects to produce a total of 150,000-500,000 pounds U3O8 (57.7- 192.3 tU) during 2024 from stockpiled alternate feed materials and newly mined ore.

IsoEnergy reopens US underground uranium mine

08 August 2024

The main decline at the Tony M mine in Utah was successfully reopened on 26 July, and work has begun to rehabilitate the underground workings.

The IsoEnergy team and Garfield County representatives in front of the main portal at Tony M (Image: CNW Group/IsoEnergy Ltd)

Initial observations of underground conditions indicate that the main decline and underground equipment shops are in good condition, IsoEnergy Ltd said. Rehabilitation of the underground, including scaling, installation of ground support and ventilation systems, is expected to take 8 to 10 weeks depending on the ground conditions encountered.

The underground rehabilitation work is being carried out by Tomcat Mining. IsoEnergy is also working with international mining consulting firms SRK Consulting Ltd, on the design and implementation of the ventilation plans, and Call & Nicholas Inc, on the design and implementation of the ground control plans.

As sections of the underground are made safe for entry, it is expected that exploration and geological work will begin to map out the orebody from underground. IsoEnergy is also in the process of contracting a surveying company to complete a LiDAR survey of the complete underground at Tony M. This will be the first time any such survey has been completed at the mine and will be an important tool in future mine planning.

The Saskatoon-based company has been working towards reopening the Tony M underground for access over the course of the last year. Site communications have been re-established, and electrical systems have been upgraded and refurbished where necessary, including the installation of "at least" one new generator meeting the US Environmental Protection Agency's Tier 4 emission standards, it said. Several new fans have been installed and will continue to be installed as part of the rehabilitation, and several existing fans are to be refurbished.

The company announced last February its strategic decision to reopen the past-producing mine during the first half of this year, with the aim of restarting uranium production operations in 2025, depending on market conditions. Energy Fuels Inc's White Mesa - the only currently operational conventional uranium mill in the USA - is within trucking distance to Tony M, and IsoEnergy has a toll-milling agreement which guarantees it access to the mill's capacity.

Garfield County Commissioner Jerry Taylor and IsoEnergy COO Marty Tunney underground at Tony M (Image: CNW Group/IsoEnergy Ltd)

IsoEnergy CEO and Director Philip Williams said: "The reopening of underground at Tony M is an important step in restarting production and establishing IsoEnergy as a near-term uranium producer. Long-term uranium prices have nearly doubled, from USD41/lb U3O8 to USD79/lb U3O8, since we acquired the Tony M, Daneros and Rim Mines in Utah, and with the exceedingly positive global outlook for nuclear power we expect that trend to continue. We believe that proven producing assets in tier one jurisdictions, like Tony M, will be highly coveted by end users making this an ideal time to pursue a restart."

The fully-permitted mine is in Garfield County and is about 66 miles (107 km) from the town of Blanding. It produced nearly one million pounds of U3O8 during two different periods of operation from 1979-1984 and from 2007-2008. It was acquired by IsoEnergy on the company's share-for-share merger with Consolidated Uranium Inc, completed last December. Tony M's current NI 43-101 estimated resources stand at 6.606 million pounds U3O8 (2541 tU) of indicated resources and 2.218 million pounds U3O8 in the inferred resources category.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Westinghouse starts production of ADOPT fuel pellets

09 August 2024

Westinghouse has produced the first of its nuclear fuel pellets that contain higher enrichment levels than what is currently used in commercial reactors. The Low Enriched Uranium Plus (LEU+) Advanced Doped Pellet Technology (ADOPT) fuel pellets are aimed at boosting both the performance and safety of nuclear power plants.

LEU+ ADOPT fuel pellets (Image: Westinghouse)

LEU+ ADOPT fuel contains up to 8% by weight uranium-235 (U-235) and additives that improve the safety performance of the fuel compared with standard uranium dioxide. Compared with the standard 3-5% U-235 enrichment used in low-enriched uranium, LEU+ ADOPT allows the generation of more power with fewer replacement bundles within the reactor core, offering improved nuclear fuel cycle economics for operating reactors.

The first LEU+ ADOPT fuel pellets have now been pressed at Westinghouse's Springfields fuel manufacturing facility in Lancashire in northwest England, UK.

The company said the milestone was achieved in partnership with US utility Southern Nuclear and the support of the US Department of Energy (DOE).

The pellets were made from a higher enriched uranium oxide powder that was prepared by DOE's Idaho National Laboratory and marks the first time DOE material has been used to support the increased enrichment of a commercial uranium oxide fuel above 5%.

The first LEU+ ADOPT fuel pellets will now be fabricated into pins and included in four lead test assemblies in the UK before being shipped to the USA for irradiation testing at unit 2 of Southern Nuclear's Vogtle plant in Georgia next year.

In March 2023, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave approval for the use of Westinghouse's ADOPT fuel pellets in pressurised water reactors in the USA. In October, Southern Nuclear announced it had received authorisation from the NRC to use advanced nuclear fuel enriched up to 6% U-235 at Vogtle unit 2. This is the first time a US commercial reactor has been authorised to use fuel with over 5% enrichment.

According to Westinghouse, "demand for LEU+ ADOPT fuel in the range of 5-10%, enrichment which reduces the number of outages needed in nuclear plants, is expected to grow significantly in the coming years due to the increased demand for carbon-free electricity".

"The first production of LEU+ ADOPT fuel is a key step for achieving longer fuel cycles and reducing operational costs in the nuclear fuel industry," said Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel President Tarik Choho. "This significant milestone, which is part of our EnCore Accident Tolerant Fuel programme, will help us provide safer, more economical, reliable, clean energy to our customers across the world."

ADOPT fuel is one of several accident tolerant fuel concepts being supported through DOE's Accident Tolerant Fuel programme to deliver new fuel pellet and cladding designs that could be commercialised before the end of the decade.

Third nuclear power plant proposal lodged in Norway

08 August 2024

Norsk Kjernekraft has submitted a proposal to Norway's Ministry of Energy for an assessment of the construction of a power plant based on multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) in the municipality of Øygarden, west of Bergen.

A concept of two SMR power units (Image: Norsk Kjernekraft)

"With this, the first step in the formal process to establish a nuclear power plant in Øygarden has been initiated," the company said.

The proposed location is an area of up to 250 acres (101 hectares) at Buneset, 600 metres south of the transformer and the gas processing plant at Kollsnes. The location is said to be well suited for utilising existing and planned network infrastructure in the Bergen area. The power plant will enable the electrification of oil and gas installations, the establishment of new industry and safeguarding security of supply.

The site is owned by landowner and former mayor of Øygarden, Rolv Svein Rougnø. Rougnø earlier entered into a letter of intent with Norsk Kjernekraft and the agreement outlines that the site can be acquired for use in the construction of SMR power plants.

Norsk Kjernekraft said the site has space for five SMRs, each with a generating capacity of 300 MWe. This means that the site has the potential for generating 12.5 TWh per year, corresponding to almost 10% of Norway's current total electricity consumption.

The scope of the proposed study programme submitted to the Ministry of Energy is limited to assessing what effects construction, operation and decommissioning of the power plant can have for society and the environment.

The report describes the location in question and explains how the nuclear power plant will contribute to fulfilling local, regional and national ambitions and obligations in the field of energy and climate. In addition, local conditions for the construction and operation of a nuclear power plant at Buneset in Øygarden are described, and which topics will be described in a future impact assessment.

The ministry will send the report out for consultation, and then the municipality, residents and industry will be able to make their comments. If approved by the ministry, the report and input will form the basis for an impact assessment.

Norsk Kjernekraft noted that Vestland county, in which Øygarden is located, is the region in Norway with the highest greenhouse gas emissions. Large projects are planned for new power consumption in the county, among other things to electrify oil and gas installations. Øygarden municipality already has a large power deficit, and this will increase as a result of planned electrification projects and the establishment of new industry.

"This marks yet another important milestone for Norsk Kjernekraft, and it is the third notification sent to the Ministry of Energy," said the company's CEO Jonny Hesthammer. "Previous notifications have included Aure and Heim municipalities, as well as Vardø municipality. A nuclear power plant in Øygarden will make it possible to electrify oil and gas installations on land and offshore. In addition, it will enable new power-intensive industry, and improve the utilisation of the power grid in Western Norway.

"The power plant will produce electricity regardless of the weather, thereby improving security of supply throughout the country. This report will also be an important part of the knowledge base for the government's announced investigation into nuclear power in Norway."

In June, the Norwegian government announced the appointment of a committee to conduct a broad review and assessment of various aspects of a possible future establishment of nuclear power in the country. It must deliver its report by 1 April 2026

Newcleo expands cooperation with Slovakia

08 August 2024

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UK-headquartered innovative reactor developer Newcleo and Slovak nuclear engineering and services firm VUJE have signed a cooperation agreement to establish closer collaboration on developing advanced modular reactor technologies and advanced fuel cycle solutions in the Slovak Republic.

The signing of the MoU by (from left to right) Andrew Murdoch, Newcleo's managing director of UK and Slovakia operations; Matej Korec, CEO of VUJE; and Andrej Žiarovský, director for development and international operations at VUJE (Image: VUJE)

The agreement aims to foster closer cooperation between nuclear experts from both companies, focusing on Newcleo's lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) technology and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel.

Specific areas of cooperation may include the assessment of deploying Newcleo's LFR technology in Slovakia, exploring fuel cycle solutions to potentially re-use Slovakia's used nuclear fuel inventory, collaborating on research and development activities and developing skills and capabilities in advanced nuclear technologies.

"Slovakia has more than 50 years of nuclear tradition, know-how, and human capital in highly-skilled experts, and VUJE has been the cornerstone of nuclear in this field," said Newcleo CEO Stefano Buono. "We aim to partner with VUJE on further technical development of advanced nuclear reactors which can make use of spent nuclear fuel. This cooperation agreement could further accelerate our R&D and engineering activities in Europe.

"I am convinced that this cooperation can bring us closer to a role model solution for many European countries to decarbonise their electricity production effectively and provide a sustainable solution to their stocks of spent nuclear fuel."

VUJE CEO Matej Korec added: "VUJE, as the Slovak market leader in nuclear energy and services, is keen to cooperate on further development of state-of-the-art nuclear technologies. We believe advanced modular reactor technologies and closing the fuel cycle have great potential for the future of nuclear energy in Slovakia and Europe. By participating in Newcleo's plans, we hope to help the technology become available sooner."

This agreement is the first entered into by Newcleo's recently established Slovak subsidiary, Newcleo sro.

In December last year, Newcleo signed a memorandum of understanding with Slovakia's Ministry of Economy and state-owned radioactive waste management company JAVYS to explore collaboration opportunities and further develop advanced modular reactor technologies.

Newcleo said its LFR AS-30 reactor design has been optimised over the last 20 years leading to the concept of an ultra-compact and transportable 200 MWe module with improvements in energy density compared with other technologies. Costs are kept low by means of simplicity, compactness, modularity, atmospheric pressure operation and elevated output temperature.

The first step of Newcleo's delivery roadmap will be the design and construction of the first-of-a-kind 30 MWe LFR to be deployed in France by 2030, followed by a 200 MWe commercial unit in the UK by 2033.

At the same time, the company will directly invest in a MOX plant to fuel its reactors. In June 2022, Newcleo announced it had contracted France's Orano for feasibility studies on the establishment of a MOX production plant.

Final tier of containment installed for Russian fast reactor

08 August 2024

The third and final tier of the reactor containment structure has been installed at the construction site of the BREST-OD-300 lead-cooled fast neutron reactor at the Siberian Chemical Combine site in Seversk, in the Tomsk Region of Russia.

The third tier of the containment structure, with a hoisting weight of 164 tonnes, is moved into place (Image: Rosatom)

The containment structure of the reactor consists of three assembly blocks installed in the design position in the reactor shaft. The steel reactor base plate and lower tier of the containment were installed at the turn of the year, while the second tier was hoisted into place in April.

With the installation of the third tier, the total mass of the structure is 429 tonnes, and its height is 17 metres.

Workers will now assemble the cooling system pipelines, drying system and intermediate shell. The cavity of the enclosing structure will then be filled with heat-resistant concrete.

According to Rosatom: "The containment structure is the outer part of the reactor vessel. It provides retention of heat-insulating concrete, forming an additional localising barrier of protection, which surrounds the boundary of the coolant circuit. On its surface, the temperature should not exceed 60°C, and the radiation background is actually equal to the natural background."

The BREST-OD-300 fast reactor is part of Rosatom's Proryv, or Breakthrough, project to enable a closed nuclear fuel cycle. The 300 MWe unit will be the main facility of the Pilot Demonstration Energy Complex at the Siberian Chemical Combine site. The complex will demonstrate an on-site closed nuclear fuel cycle with a facility for the fabrication/re-fabrication of mixed uranium-plutonium nitride nuclear fuel, as well as a used fuel reprocessing facility.

The target for the BREST-OD-300 reactor is to start operation in 2026.

Initial operation of the demonstration unit will be focused on performance and after 10 years or so it will be commercially oriented. The plan has been that if it is successful as a 300 MWe (700 MWt) unit, a 1200 MWe (2800 MWt) version will follow - the BR-1200.

Foundation pit completed for Leningrad 8 reactor

07 August 2024

Workers have completed the construction of the concrete foundation pit for the reactor of unit 8 at Russia's Leningrad nuclear power plant. First nuclear safety-related concrete is scheduled to be poured for the VVER-1200 unit next year.

The foundation pit for the reactor of Leningrad 8 (Image: Rosenergoatom)

Rosenergoatom, the nuclear power plant operating division of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom - said that construction of the pit lasted for about two months and was completed two-and-a-half months ahead of schedule.

The work was carried out by workers from Titan-2, the general contractor for the construction of new power units of the Leningrad plant.

In June of this year, the construction of the foundation pit for the reactor building of unit 8 was completed. This work was completed two weeks ahead of schedule.

"The technology for constructing the concrete foundation pit included the implementation of a multi-layer drainage system - lean concrete, sand, porous concrete," said Konstantin Khudyakov, director of the Leningrad NPP Facilities Programme of JSC Concern Titan-2. "Then the drainage system was cut off with a special membrane before the concrete preparation itself."

The next stage is the start of lightning protection and waterproofing work, which will last until the end of August. Then the screed will be installed.

Evgeny Milushkin, deputy director for capital construction and head of the capital construction department of the Leningrad II plant, added: "The completed work will allow specialists to start reinforcing the foundation slab. Reinforcement with steel reinforcement creates a kind of framework and makes the foundation extremely strong. The reinforcement work is defined by an additional schedule and will begin in October of this year. Thus, we are preparing for the first key operation - concreting the foundation slab of the reactor building."

The Leningrad plant is one of the largest in Russia, with an installed capacity of 4400 MWe, and provides more than 55% of the electricity demand of St Petersburg and the Leningrad region, or 30% of all the electricity in northwest Russia.

Leningrad units 1 and 2 - both 1000 MWe RBMK units - shut down in 2018 and 2020, respectively. As the first two of the plant's four RBMK-1000 units shut down, new VVER-1200 units started at the neighbouring Leningrad II plant. The 60-year service life of these fifth and sixth units (also known as Leningrad II-1 and Leningrad II-2) secures power supply until the 2080s. Units 7 and 8 will replace units 3 and 4 as they are shut in the coming years.

The pouring of the first concrete for unit 7 in March this year marked the start of the main phase of construction of the new power unit, which is expected to generate power for 60 years, with the possibility of a 20-year extension. The foundation slab consists of about 5500 cubic metres of concrete. Last month, Rosatom said the work on the reactor building is currently running two-and-a-half months ahead of schedule, with concreting of the foundation completed.

Leningrad units 7 and 8 (or Leningrad II-3 and Leningrad II-4) are planned to be commissioned in 2030 and 2032, respectively.

Kaiga steam generator arrives on site

07 August 2024

The first steam generator for units 5 and 6 of the Kaiga nuclear power plant in India's Karnataka State has completed its journey from L&T's Hazira complex in Gujarat.

(Image: NPCIL)

Kaiga 5 and 6 will be the first of ten Indian-designed 700 MWe pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) to be built using a fleet mode of construction to bring economies of scale as well as maximising efficiency, which have been given administrative approval and financial sanction by the Indian government. Excavation works for the units began in May 2022. Two 700 MWe PHWR units have already been built at Kakrapar, in Gujurat, and are already in commercial operation, and fuel loading is under way in another, Rajasthan unit 7, which is expected to begin commercial operation before the end of the year.

Steam generators are heat exchangers used to convert water into steam from heat produced in a nuclear reactor core. In PHWRs, the coolant is pumped, at high pressure to prevent boiling, from the reactor coolant pump, through the nuclear reactor core, and through the tube side of the steam generators before returning to the pump.

The component weighs over 200 tonnes and is about 24 metres in length, with a diameter of about 4 metres.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd currently operates four 202 MWe PHWRs at Kaiga.

(Image: NPCIL)

Researched and written by World Nuclear News