Germany proposes accelerating search for repository site
The Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal and the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management have both submitted proposals to the government for speeding up the process of selecting a site to host Germany's planned high-level radioactive waste repository.
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Last year, the Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management (BASE) published a study which determined timescales up to 2074 to find the site with the best possible safety for a million years.
The Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE) - which is responsible for proposing a suitable site - notes that, in addition to permits, the exploration work requires a variety of rights of use and access to the land on which the exploration is to be carried out. This represents a bottleneck, and this entails considerable time-related risks, BGE said. In order to be able to carry out the exploration work in the designated siting regions promptly, specific legal adjustments are necessary to accelerate the process. BGE proposes applying regulations that have already proven successful in the expansion of renewable energies to the search for a final repository. It proposes structuring the exploration phase in a similar way to that used in the search for raw materials.
BGE proposes merging Phases II and III of the site selection process into a single phase with a phased exploration to gradually identify a maximum of three optimal sites, which will then be compared with each other. BGE intends to propose a small number of sites (between five and ten) for surface exploration to BASE by the end of 2027. The site-specific exploration programmes must also be submitted to BASE for review along with the site region proposal.
The Law on the Search and Selection of a Site for a Repository for High-Level Waste (the Site Selection Act - StandAG) stipulates a multi-phase search for a site with the best possible safety precautions and the full participation of the public, especially in the regions where the sites will be located.
BGE said if the potential for combining Phases II and III is to be utilised, the groundwork for amending the StandAG must be laid within the next two years to ensure that the exploration programmes are adapted to the new strategy in a timely manner.
"From a project perspective, BGE's proposals are essential for ultimately successfully and timely proposing the site with the best possible safety for the final repository for high-level radioactive waste," said BGE CEO Iris Graffunder. "If the current rules regarding rights of use and access remain in place, even the denial of access rights for a single piece of land where exploration measures are required could delay the site selection process by years.
"If the current regulations remain in place, BGE would have to submit identical applications in several federal states without knowing when the respective responsible states would grant their permits, or not. This also has a high potential for delays."
She added: "Site selection for the repository for high-level radioactive waste is a highly complex process. But it is still possible to have a site determined by the middle of this century."
BASE recommendations
BASE - which is responsible for ensuring people and the environment are protected from ionising radiation from radioactive waste - says that accelerating the search for a repository for high-level waste is necessary "in view of the aspects of intergenerational justice, the ultimate safety of people from high-level radioactive waste, and the trust of citizens in the process and the state institutions involved in the process".
It says its proposals include changes in the implementation of the site selection procedure as well as the StandAG itself, "but are compatible with its principles".
According to BASE, the aim of the acceleration proposals should be to develop a binding timetable, including milestones, for all parties involved in the search process, with which a safe site can be identified by around 2050.
BASE's recommendations include: limiting the number of location regions at the end of Phase I to a maximum of six; more closely linking preparatory work for mining approval procedures to the submission of the site region proposal; enabling exploration work all year round through legal adjustments; and using modern exploration methods and drilling techniques for underground exploration instead of digging entire exploratory mines as required by law.
"From BASE's perspective, these measures promise the greatest acceleration potential, ranging from several years to decades. At the same time, they are generally the most complex and, due to their long-term impact, should be implemented early in the process to ensure their full impact," it said.
The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) has announced that, after examining the proposals submitted, it will hold discussions with BASE and BGE to identify and implement ways to accelerate the process.
In September 2020, BGE published a list of potential storage sites in Germany for radioactive waste. It identified 90 areas covering 54% of the country's surface area as potentially geologically suitable. The report excluded a site at a former salt mine in Gorleben that was previously thought suitable. The selected site would store about 1900 containers of waste, which account for 5% of Germany's total nuclear waste but 99% of its radioactivity.
Reactor vessel assembled for El Dabaa's first unit
The 10-day process has been completed of welding the closing seam of the reactor vessel being manufactured for the first unit at Egypt's first nuclear power plant.
According to Rosatom, there was continuous heating of the weld and workers used about two tonnes of flux and more than 1.5 tonnes of special wire during the work at the Izhora production site in St Petersburg.
"After welding, the reactor vessel will undergo a heat treatment process, and then a full range of control measures will be carried out in the weld seam areas: X-ray flaw detection, ultrasonic and capillary testing," Rosatom said. "This is necessary to ensure safe operation of the NPP for at least 60 years."
The completed reactor pressure vessel, measuring 11.45 metres in length and 5.7 metres in width, is expected to be delivered to the El Dabaa nuclear power plant site this year.
The El Dabaa nuclear power plant project - about 320 kilometres north-west of Cairo - is based on contracts that entered into force on 11 December 2017. The plant will comprise four VVER-1200 units, like those already in operation at the Leningrad and Novovoronezh nuclear power plants in Russia, and the Ostrovets plant in Belarus.
The contracts stipulate that Rosatom will not only build the plant, but will also supply Russian nuclear fuel for its entire life cycle. They will also assist Egyptian partners in training personnel and plant maintenance for the first 10 years of its operation. Rosatom is also contracted to build a special storage facility and supply containers for storing used nuclear fuel.
First concrete poured for Leningrad's eighth unit
A ceremony has been held to mark first concrete being poured on Thursday for the foundation of the reactor building for unit 4 at the Leningrad II nuclear power plant in 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.
Fiirst concrete was poured for unit 7 in March 2024 and 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.
Unit 8 has now reached the same step a year later. Representatives from Rosatom's VVER-1200-powered plants in Belarus, Egypt and Bangladesh took part in the ceremony via videolink.
The completed foundation slab will consist of about 5500 cubic metres of concrete (Image: Rosatom)
Andrey Petrov, Rosatom's First Deputy Director General for Nuclear Energy and president of its ASE JSC engineering division, said "this is another step towards the major national goal of increasing the share of peaceful nuclear energy in the national energy mix". He said that it was among a challenging number of projects for Rosatom, saying that "as early as this year we will start constructing replacement power generation facilities at the Smolensk and Kola NPPs and complete engineering surveys for a fourth-generation unit at Beloyarsk NPP in the Sverdlovsk region. Over the next two decades, Rosatom will work at new sites in Siberia, the Ural region, and the Far East. These new nuclear projects will provide more Russian citizens with access to clean energy".
Alexander Shutikov, director general of Rosenergoatom, said: "I would like to acknowledge the team working on the new Leningrad power units. Their expertise, teamwork, and commitment enabled us to begin laying the foundation for unit 4 ahead of schedule - a task of national importance. A similar milestone was also achieved ahead of schedule for unit 3 in 2024."
Leningrad units 7 and 8 (or Leningrad II-3 and Leningrad II-4) are planned to be commissioned in 2030 and 2032, respectively.
Finnish university to test safety of SMR designs
Finland's Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology is to build two new test facilities at its nuclear engineering laboratory on its Lappeenranta campus for research into the safety of small modular reactors.
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One of the facilities - to be built over the next two years - will model passive decay heat removal of the LDR-50 district heating reactor developed by the Finnish company Steady Energy. The other facility will test the functionality of the emergency core cooling tank of an undisclosed small modular reactor (SMR) based on French technology.
The tests will take place from 2026-2027 and the results will be reported in 2027–2028, Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT) said.
The test facilities are to be built at the university under the EASI-SMR work programme, which is largely inspired by the European SMR pre-Partnership R&D roadmap, with a particular focus on passive systems. The EUR24 million (USD26 million) four-year project - co-funded by the European Union - involves 38 partners in 16 countries. It will address the safety issues associated with major light-water SMR innovations. An experimental programme using nine test facilities in Europe will be performed to investigate key physical phenomena in passive safety systems under both design basis and beyond design basis conditions.
"The research project advances Finnish technology and shows that our European partners value our expertise. The project is significant for LUT because it represents the largest EU funding ever awarded to a single project at the university," said Joonas Telkkä, project researcher at LUT. "Experimental research plays an important role whenever the functionality of a new type of nuclear power plant safety system is verified. Our partners develop and validate their calculation models based on test results. There are hardly any other similar testing capabilities in Europe."
"The research kicking off at LUT University will significantly advance the development of nuclear technology and our ongoing district heating projects," said Lauri Muranen, head of public affairs at Steady Energy. "The commercial breakthrough of small modular reactors is closer in heating than in electricity production, because small nuclear power plants producing district heating do not need public financing."
Steady Energy was spun out of VTT in 2023 and is developing the LDR-50 SMR with a thermal output of 50 MW, designed to operate at around 150°C. Unlike most SMRs being developed around the world, it is not designed to generate electricity - or electricity and heat. Instead, it is designed to only produce heat and is focused on district heating, as well as industrial steam production and desalination projects.
The company has already signed agreements for 15 reactors in Finland, with its reactor design currently being assessed by the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority. The aim is for construction of the first plant - to be the clean energy source for a district heating scheme - to begin in 2029. Steady Energy is also marketing its solution to other European countries, such as Poland.
KHNP pulls out of Dutch reactor project
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power is withdrawing from the technology selection process for two new reactors at the Borssele nuclear power plant site in the Netherlands. It follows the company's recent withdrawal from similar reactor selection processes in Sweden and Slovenia.
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In December 2021, the Netherlands' new coalition government placed nuclear power at the heart of its climate and energy policy. Based on preliminary plans, two new reactors will be completed around 2035 and each will have a capacity of 1000-1650 MWe. The two reactors would provide 9-13% of the Netherlands' electricity production in 2035. The cabinet announced in December 2022 that it currently sees Borssele as the most suitable location for the construction of the new reactors.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) was contracted in December 2023 to conduct a feasibility study into the construction of two Korean-supplied reactors at Borssele. The contract came as the South Korean and Dutch governments signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on nuclear energy.
Similar contracts for feasibility studies were also signed with EDF of France and Westinghouse of the USA.
The studies were to consider whether their respective reactor designs comply with Dutch legislation and regulations, whether it can be fitted into the preferred location at Borssele, and to develop a more detailed estimate of the costs and time required to build the two new units. The possible impact on the environment was also highlighted in the studies. In November, Amentum of the USA was selected to review and advise on the studies submitted by the three potential reactor vendors.
"The studies have now been completed, final discussions have been held and the contracts have been concluded," Sophie Hermans, Minister of Climate and Green Growth told the Dutch House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, in a 17 March letter.
"During this discussion, KHNP unfortunately indicated that it had to take the decision not to be able to take on the role of technology supplier for the construction of new power stations in the Netherlands," Hermans said. "KHNP indicates that this is based on its own strategic considerations that fall outside the conditions and character of the Dutch project. This decision follows recent similar decisions by KHNP in other European countries, such as Sweden and Slovenia."
The ministers noted that KHNP's decision "has no consequences for the preparation of the competitive tender ... the preparations for the construction of the nuclear power plants will therefore continue expeditiously". She added that Westinghouse and EDF "have indicated that they would like to continue active and intensive discussions about the way in which their technology can be integrated in the Netherlands, both technically and economically".
Hermans said the government will inform the House of Representatives about the results of the technical feasibility studies and their third party reviews in a letter at the beginning of May. "In this letter, the government will also discuss the other work tracks of the new construction process, including financing, the project procedure and governance," she said. "In this letter, the government will finally provide an explanation of the design of the process to arrive at technology selection."
Last year Westinghouse, EDF and KHNP were the three bidders for new nuclear in the Czech Republic. KHNP was the winning bidder and an EPC contract is expected to be signed by the end of this month, despite EDF and Westinghouse appealing against the decision. Since then it has been announced that Westinghouse and KHNP and Korea Electric Power Cooperation have reached agreement on intellectual property issues - the subject of court cases in the USA - and while details regarding the terms of the settlement remain confidential the companies said "the agreement also sets the stage for future cooperation between the parties to advance new nuclear projects globally".
EDF may get state loan for six new reactors
France's Nuclear Policy Council - headed by President Emmanuel Macron - has agreed that a subsidised government loan should be issued to state-owned power utility EDF to cover at least half the construction costs of six EPR2 reactors.
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In February 2022, Macron announced that the time was right for a nuclear renaissance in France, saying the operation of all existing reactors should be extended without compromising safety and unveiling a proposed programme for six new EPR2 reactors, with an option for a further eight EPR2 reactors to follow. The first three pairs of EPR2 reactors are proposed to be built, in order, at the Penly, Gravelines and Bugey sites. Construction is expected to start in 2027. The cost was originally estimated at EUR51.7 billion (USD56.4 billion), but this was revised to EUR67.4 billion in 2023.
The EPR2 reactor is a pressurised water reactor project developed by EDF and Framatome. It meets the general safety objectives of the third generation of reactors. Its aim is to incorporate design, construction and commissioning experience feedback from the EPR reactor, as well as operating experience from the nuclear reactors currently in service.
At a 17 March meeting, the Nuclear Policy Council (CPN) "examined the main principles of the financing and regulatory framework" for the construction of the six EPR2s, the Elysee Palace (the official residence of the French president) said in a statement. "This framework is based on a subsidised government loan covering at least half of the construction costs and a Contract for Difference on nuclear production at a maximum price of EUR100 (USD109) per MWh in 2024 value."
A Contract for Difference is essentially where there is a future fixed price guaranteed for electricity generated, with the government either paying the difference between the market price and the agreed sale price, or receiving payment if the market price is higher.
Elysee said: "This important milestone will allow discussions between the government and EDF to be finalised in the coming weeks and allow for rapid initiation of discussions with the European Commission, with a view to EDF making a final investment decision in 2026."
The Council requested EDF "step up its cost and schedule control efforts" and to present a binding cost and timeframe estimate by the end of the year.
The CPN also validated the action plan aimed at securing the upstream part of the nuclear fuel cycle and "in particular the support that the State will provide to Orano for France's uranium supply in the medium and long term".
Regarding used fuel processing, the Council confirmed continued investment in Orano's programme of upgrades in downstream activities at its La Hague site. This programme includes the storage of used fuel in a new pool installed at La Hague, which should be commissioned by 2040 to meet the needs of the existing nuclear fleet and then the EPR2 reactors.
"These facilities will ensure the proper operation of the fleet, as well as the continued reprocessing of fuel under the best economic and safety conditions, reinforcing France's leadership in controlling all industrial stages of the uranium cycle," Elysee said. "The Council also approved the principle of funding this programme primarily led by EDF, as a future customer of these facilities, and of governance led by Orano, involving EDF, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and government services."
The CPN requested that industry (EDF, Framatome, Orano), the CEA, and all stakeholders involved in fast neutrons submit to the government a work programme and a proposal for industrial organisation by the end of 2025.
In addition, the Council mandated the General Secretariat for Investment to continue supporting the development of small modular reactors by "prioritising the projects most likely to lead to the commissioning of a demonstrator at the beginning of the 2030s". The CPN also asked the CEA to make the relevant site data from Marcoule and Cadarache available to companies that request it and to initiate discussions with a view to establishing the most advanced projects on these sites.
Set up by former President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, the CPN is a top-level ministerial council on nuclear energy policy. The council sets main policy features as well as their implementation in terms of export, international cooperation, industrial policy, energy policy, research, safety, security and environmental protection.
NRG-Pallas to test fuel and materials for Kairos SMR
NRG-Pallas - operator of the High Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands - has been contracted by Kairos Power of the USA to perform irradiation demonstrations and qualifications of fuels and materials that will be used in its small modular reactor.
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Under the contract, NRG-Pallas will conduct fuel irradiation tests in the High Flux Reactor (HFR) to demonstrate the performance level required. Based on this, Kairos Power will be able to demonstrate to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) how the fuel meets the safety and performance requirements.
In addition, NRG-Pallas will perform irradiation tests that characterise the response of graphite to high levels of neutron exposure and demonstrate the safety limits of the graphite structures. The post-irradiation properties of the graphite are an important benchmark for NRC licensing and provide information on the safety of the reactor technology.
Irradiation tests will also be performed on the stainless-steel material used for the reactor vessel and structural components. The purpose of this testing is to demonstrate compliance with the safety and design requirements for licensing activities of the NRC.
NRG-Pallas said it has been conducting research into the use of graphite for Kairos Power for several years. "The new contracts are an important continuation of the long-term relationship with this innovative developer of advanced reactors," it said.
Kairos Power has adopted a rapid iterative development approach and vertical integration strategy to bring its Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (KP-FHR) technology to market. Site work and excavation for a low-power demonstration reactor version, Hermes, began at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, last year after the NRC issued a construction permit in 2023, targeted to be operational by 2027. The NRC has also completed the final environmental assessment for the construction of the next iteration - the two-unit power-producing Hermes 2 plant - which is also planned to be built at Oak Ridge.
The KP-FHR will use fully ceramic TRISO (tri-structural isotropic) pebble-type fuel. The Hermes and Hermes 2 demonstration plants will feature units with a thermal capacity of 35 MW each. The two 35 MWt units at Hermes 2 are intended to power a common turbine generator set to produce about 20 MW electric (MWe).
Kairos envisages its commercial KP-FHR offering as dual unit plants, with two 75 MWe units for a total of 150 MWe of power output.
A deal signed in October last year by Kairos and Google will support the first commercial deployment of Kairos Power's reactor by 2030, with multiple reactors supplying clean electricity to Google data centres through power purchase agreements.
"With the current digitalisation, the demand for electricity is increasing," said Arjan Vreeling, Manager R&D Nuclear Fuels and Materials at NRG-Pallas. "Companies like Google are looking ahead and are meeting their own future energy needs with SMRs. We are proud that Kairos Power, a leading company in the field of advanced reactors, has assigned this innovative research to us."
Micah Hackett, Vice President, Fuels and Materials at Kairos Power, added: "Kairos Power depends on accurate and reliable irradiation data to advance its reactor technology and support both design and permitting processes. With decades of expertise in generating high-quality irradiation data, NRG-Pallas is a trusted partner to help Kairos Power meet its cost and schedule obligations as it builds reactors for Google."
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