In pictures: Rooppur 2 passive heat removal system installed

26 January 2024

The installation of the inner and outer parts of the steel structures of the 215-tonne passive heat removal system was completed in two days on Rooppur 2 in Bangladesh, Rosatom says. 

The structure sits on top of the reactor building (Image: Rosatom)

The process involves the installation - with a maximum allowable deviation of 1 centimetre - of the two parts 64.5 metres high, bringing the reactor building's height to a total of 74.85 metres.


(Image: Rosatom)

The passive heat removal system (PHRS) is a safety feature which, in the event of a loss of on-site power supply, provides long-term heat removal from the reactor core to the atmosphere using natural circulation - outside air comes into heat exchangers, is heated up, then rises through air ducts to the outlet header located on top of the dome, and returns to the atmosphere, thus cooling down the reactor compartment. 


A PHRS can be seen in place on the first unit (Image: Rosatom)

The Rooppur plant, 160 kilometres from the capital Dhaka, will feature two Russian VVER-1200 reactors. Construction of the first unit began in November 2017 and it is scheduled to be commissioned in 2024. Construction of the second unit began in July 2018. They have an initial life-cycle of 60 years, with a further 20-year extension possible.

Workers on the top of the reactor dome helped with the precision task (Image: Rosatom)

Bangladesh officially became a member of the international 'club' of nuclear countries in October when the first fuel for the plant was delivered to the Rooppur site. The project follows a February 2011 agreement with Rosatom for two reactors to be built at Rooppur for the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission. The initial contract for the project, worth USD12.65 billion, was signed in December 2015.


A bird's eye view (Image: Rosatom)

Alexey Deriy, ASE JSC vice president and director of the Rooppur NPP construction project, said: "Installing two parts of the PHRS deflector in the design position in two days is a record." He said the next stage was to install the service platforms and air ducts.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Tender launched for UAE nuclear fuel plant

24 January 2024

The UAE's Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) announced it has launched a tender for a domestic nuclear fuel assembly fabrication facility. The facility will produce fuel assemblies for the Barakah nuclear power plant.

The Barakah plant (Image: ENEC)

"Over the past 18 months, we have been conducting an extensive review into the needs of the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Programme going forwards and specifically the strategic supply of the fuel assemblies needed to power the UAE's Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant over the next 60 years ahead," ENEC said. "As part of examining a range of options, we have entered into the tendering for a domestic fuel assembly fabrication facility."

It said the facility would be dedicated to the industrial fabrication of fuel assemblies from their various components.

"Although the fuel assembly facility will neither involve enrichment or reprocessing, the fabrication of fuel assemblies remains a regulated nuclear activity, given the need for stringent nuclear quality standards," ENEC noted.

The UAE embarked on its plan to implement a nuclear energy programme in 2008 when its government made the decision to build and operate a nuclear power plant to provide 25% of the country's electricity needs, diversifying its energy sources and supporting its long-term energy vision and net zero goals. Construction of the first unit began in 2012, and Barakah 1 was connected to the grid in 2020. The fourth and final unit at the plant is currently preparing to start up.

As part of its nuclear energy policy, the UAE made the decision to forgo domestic uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel reprocessing, two key elements of the country's commitment to non-proliferation.

To obtain nuclear fuel for the Barakah plant, ENEC conducted an extensive procurement competition with international nuclear fuel suppliers. Once the procurement process was complete, the company entered into contracts with six suppliers to provide materials and services, including: the purchase of natural uranium concentrate; the purchase of enriched uranium product and related products and services; and conversion and enrichment services.

Fuel assemblies are currently manufactured in South Korea by Kepco Nuclear Fuel - part of the prime contractor consortium led by Korea Electric Power Company - and then shipped to the UAE.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

First new panel in a decade at US waste facility

26 January 2024

Work has started on mining a new panel at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Panel 11 is the first of two waste emplacement panels approved last year by the New Mexico Environment Department as part of a 10-year extension of WIPP's operating permit.

The continuous mining machine excavating Panel 11 at WIPP (Image: DOE Office of Environmental Management)

Mined out of an ancient salt formation more than 2000 feet (610 metres) below ground, WIPP is the USA's only repository for the disposal of transuranic, or TRU, waste. Clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris, soil and other items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other man-made radioactive elements from the US military programme in sealed drums are placed in "rooms" within each panel.

A panel consists of seven rooms, each measuring 300 feet long by 33 feet wide by 14 feet high. It takes about two years to cut and outfit a panel, requiring the mining of around 120,000 tons of salt rock. A continuous miner cuts into the salt rock with a rotating drum, and can generate 10 tonnes of salt per minute which is either trucked for use elsewhere in the underground facility or hoisted to a salt tailings pile on the surface.

The natural movement of the salt rock that will eventually permanently encapsulate the waste also causes mined openings to close, so mining at WIPP is timed so that a panel is only ready when it is needed for waste emplacement. Waste is currently being emplaced in Panel 8, where the first room - Room 7 - has already been filled.

The creation of new panels allows safe and compliant emplacement of waste to continue, supporting environmental cleanup and national security missions, the DOE said.

Panel 11 is connected to WIPP's new air intake shaft, constructed as part of a major investment project to increase airflow, and to the rest of the underground facility by around half a mile (just under a kilometre) of new pathways.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Advanced nuclear fuel arrives at INL for testing

26 January 2024

Westinghouse Electric Company has shipped 25 irradiated experimental nuclear fuel rods, including accident-tolerant fuel, to Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for testing and examination. The tests are part of the process to qualify the fuel for use in commercial reactors.

The irradiated fuel's arrival at INL in December (Image: Businesswire)

The shipment contains both accident tolerant fuel - also known as ATF - and high burnup fuel, which has been irradiated in the core of a commercial nuclear power plant. It is the first such shipment to arrive at INL for testing in two decades, the lab said.

Developed and manufactured by Westinghouse with technical assistance from several national laboratories, including INL, and supported by funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE), the new fuel technology is designed for extended use, enabling nuclear power plants to extend their operating cycle from the current 18 months to 24 months, reducing refuelling outages while delivering significant cost savings for customers and generating less spent nuclear fuel. The fuel will also increase a nuclear power plant's resilience under potential accident conditions.

These properties could be a "huge" economic benefit, said Daniel Wachs, national technical director of DOE's Advanced Fuels Campaign. The increased cycle length would eliminate one refuelling outage every 6 years and significantly increase electrical output. "The increased electrical output in the US could be the equivalent of adding new reactors to the fleet," he said.

Before it can be deployed for use in commercial reactors, researchers must examine and analyse how the technology performs under normal usage conditions, as well as carrying out additional experiments to understand how it performs under postulated accident conditions and to demonstrate behaviour during storage and recycling. This data will then be used to establish the safety bases required by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to qualify the fuel for use at US nuclear power plants.

"Continuous innovation is key to improving the nuclear sector's reliability, especially at a time when energy demand is increasing and nuclear is more vital than ever," said Tarik Choho, Westinghouse President of Nuclear Fuel. "Westinghouse is proud to join efforts with INL and other partners in the production and testing of these advanced nuclear fuels."

The fuel will be analysed and tested at INL's Materials and Fuels Complex, and will also be subjected to safety tests with simulations of power excursions or loss-of-cooling events in a controlled environment. These are designed to push the fuel to its breaking points and beyond, according to INL. The lab's Advanced Test Reactor is also being readied to accommodate fuels for endurance tests mimicking the wear and tear incurred over a decade of service in a commercial reactor in a fraction of the time.

"Receiving these fuel rods is a significant milestone for INL and the nuclear energy industry," INL Director John Wagner said. "As the nation's nuclear energy research and development centre, we possess the unique facilities, capabilities and expertise to perform this vital research.

"Completion of this shipment, along with the state of Idaho's reinstatement of the Department of Energy's ability to receive up to 400 kilograms of commercial spent nuclear fuel per year at INL for research and development purposes, send a strong message that we are once again open for business."

A shipment of irradiated nuclear fuel rods with this new technology has previously been delivered for testing to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Research on the fuel will provide valuable data not only for US regulators and agencies but also for international partners and regulatory bodies. "The advanced testing and the post-irradiation examinations at both laboratories are key milestones to receive final approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deploy this innovative fuel to commercial reactors around the globe," Westinghouse said.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Grossi to visit Zaporizhzhia, warns against complacency

26 January 2024

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi says he will visit Ukraine, Russia and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the next two weeks, with one aim being to ascertain long-term plans for the plant, such as restarting units.

The IAEA director general at the UN (Image: UN Photo/Manuel Elías)

Grossi, briefing the United Nations Security Council for the sixth time on the situation in Ukraine, said he planned to visit the occupied plant and Kiev and Moscow within the next two weeks. It will enable him to assess the situation at the plant first-hand, eight months after his last visit.

He said: "Although the plant has not been shelled for a considerable time, significant military activities continue in the region and sometimes in the vicinity of the facility, with our staff reporting rockets flying overhead close to the plant, thereby putting at risk the physical integrity of the plant."

There were also continuing concerns about off-site power supplies. "There have now been eight occasions when the site lost all off-site power and had to rely on emergency diesel generators, the last line of defence against a nuclear accident, to provide essential cooling of the reactor and spent fuel," he said.

In a media briefing later he said the power supply loss might be the result of deliberate action, but it was often not possible to find the exact reason for the loss of power supply as it could be the result of something happening hundreds of kilometres away.

He said that during his visit he would be meeting the Russian operators to discuss more about the cooling water situation at the plant - wells have been dug since the destruction of the Kakhovka dam last year led to the decline of the previous water supply system. The IAEA also says that with the units not working, the cooling water temperature has dropped and ice has been seen in parts of the ponds.

Grossi added that during his talks there he would try to "ascertain their longer term plans for the plant - are they going to attempt to restart one or more reactors, and why and how - these are issues which have profound nuclear safety implications".

He warned against complacency, telling the UN: "A nuclear accident has not yet happened. This is true. But complacency could still lead us to tragedy. That should not happen. We must do everything in our power to minimise the risk that it does."  Grossi added that the unpredictable nature of war meant you could not talk in terms of "a trend of things stabilising ... you can have a good week and then you have a blackout, you can have a good week and then a drone aims at the plant".

There had been times when the IAEA experts, a team of which has been at the plant since September 2022, "have not had timely access to some areas of the plant - sometimes for many months" and although no indications have been seen that the five core safety principles have been breached, "nevertheless, in line with the evolving situation, the agency needs to have timely access to all areas of the ZNPP of significance for nuclear safety and security" to monitor observance. The principles include the core ones that the facility should not be fired at, or from, or be used as a base for heavy military equipment.

There was continuing concern for the staffing levels at the plant, which has been under Russian military control since March 2022. More broadly, he said "we have put together a programme of health care assistance including through equipment and psychological support for all Ukrainian nuclear workers".

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

CANADA

Westinghouse and Prodigy collaborate on floating nuclear plant

24 January 2024

The aim is for a first project in Canada by 2030 for a Prodigy marine-based transportable nuclear power plant (TNPP) featuring Westinghouse eVinci microreactors.

How a Prodigy Microreactor Power Station might look (Image: Westinghouse)

In a blog post, Westinghouse said the two companies had been collaborating since 2019 to evaluate deployment models for the eVinci microreactor. It said a "multinational corporation operating strategic critical minerals assets in Canada" had funded a study in 2019-2020 to identify reliable clean energy sources which led Prodigy to "pioneer the development of TNPP civil structures standardised for deployment at a wide range of sites".

The eVinci microreactor is described as a "small battery" for decentralised generation markets and for microgrids, such as remote communities, remote industrial mines and critical infrastructure. The nominal 5 MWe heat pipe reactor, which has a heat capability of 14 MWt, features a design that Westinghouse says provides competitive and resilient power as well as superior reliability with minimal maintenance. The Prodigy Microreactor Power Station can integrate a single or multiple eVinci microreactors, would be prefabricated and transported to a site for installation at the shoreline or on land.

The two companies signed an agreement in 2022, and with conceptual engineering and regulatory studies completed the next steps include "completing the TNPP design for the eVinci microreactor, completing development of a nuclear oversight model for TNPP manufacturing, outfitting and transport, and progressing licensing and site assessments to support a first project in Canada by 2030".

Jon Ball, eVinci Technologies President for Westinghouse, said: "From the start, our eVinci technology was designed to be transportable, that was a key design principle. So, we designed it to be small, we made it plug-and-play, and we made it deliverable to anywhere. The TNPP from Prodigy brings an additional value to the inherent transportability of the technology."

Mathias Trojer, president and CEO of Prodigy Clean Energy, said: "The eVinci microreactor’s compact design and simplified operating requirements make it optimal for integration into a Prodigy TNPP. Our technology will enable fleet deployment of the eVinci, accelerating the timeline to deliver clean, reliable and affordable power at commercial scale to remote regions."

As well as a microreactor power station, Prodigy is also developing a larger version, a small modular reactor (SMR) power plant, deployable at the shoreline "ideal for coal replacement and grid-scale power generation". In October 2022, it unveiled a conceptual design for an SMR Marine Power Station, developed with NuScale, which could house between one and twelve NuScale Power Modules.

Prodigy says that with both TNPPs it packages the microreactors or SMR into the prefabricated and relocatable power plant structures and transports them to their site, and removes them at the end of life after 60 years, so "simplify the full facility lifecycle, dramatically reducing new build costs and complexity".

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Nuclear output to reach new record by 2025, says IEA

24 January 2024

Global nuclear power generation is forecast to grow by almost 3% annually on average through to 2026, reaching a new record high by 2025, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). More than half of new reactors expected to become operational during the outlook period are in China and India.

Unit 1 of Turkey's Akkuyuy plant is due to start up later this year (Image: Akkuyu NPP)

According to the IEA's Electricity 2024, which provides forecasts for electricity demand, supply and CO2 emissions up to 2026, global electricity demand is expected to grow at a faster rate over the next three years as the clean energy transition gathers speed, with all the additional demand forecast to be covered by technologies that produce low-emissions electricity.

While global growth in electricity demand eased slightly to 2.2% in 2023 due to falling electricity consumption in advanced economies, it is projected to accelerate to an average of 3.4% from 2024 through to 2026. About 85% of the increase in the world's electricity demand through to 2026 is expected to come from outside advanced economies - most notably China, India and countries in Southeast Asia.

However, record-setting electricity generation from low-emission sources - including nuclear power - should reduce the role of fossil fuels in providing power for homes and businesses. Low-emission sources are expected to account for almost half of the world's electricity generation by 2026, up from a share of 39% in 2023.

By 2025, nuclear power generation is forecast to reach an all-time high globally - exceeding the previous record set in 2021 - as output from France climbs, several plants in Japan are restarted, and new reactors begin commercial operations in many markets, including in China, India, South Korea and Europe. The IEA expects global nuclear generation to be almost 10% higher in 2026 compared with 2023.

Between 2024 and 2026, an additional 29 GW of new nuclear capacity is expected to come online globally. Asia remains the main driver of growth in nuclear power, with the region's share of global nuclear generation forecast to reach 30% in 2026.

The IEA says the increase in electricity generation from renewables and nuclear "appears to be pushing the power sector's emissions into structural decline". Over the next three years, low-emissions generation is set to rise at twice the annual growth rate between 2018 and 2023. Global emissions from electricity generation are expected to decrease by 2.4% in 2024, followed by smaller declines in 2025 and 2026.

"The power sector currently produces more CO2 emissions than any other in the world economy, so it's encouraging that the rapid growth of renewables and a steady expansion of nuclear power are together on course to match all the increase in global electricity demand over the next three years," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. "This is largely thanks to the huge momentum behind renewables, with ever cheaper solar leading the way, and support from the important comeback of nuclear power, whose generation is set to reach a historic high by 2025. While more progress is needed, and fast, these are very promising trends."

In its updated Net Zero Roadmap, released in September last year, the IEA revised upwards the role of nuclear power. In the updated net-zero emissions (NZE) scenario, nuclear generating capacity more than doubles to reach 916 GWe in 2050.

At the COP28 climate change conference that concluded in December 2023, more than 20 countries signed a joint declaration to triple nuclear power capacity by 2050. Globally, that would mean an addition of 740 GW of nuclear capacity to the current stock of 370 GW.

According to the IEA, achieving this goal will require tackling the key challenge of reducing construction and financing risks in the nuclear sector. It also notes that momentum is also growing behind small modular reactor (SMR) technology. While technology's development and deployment "remains modest and is not without its difficulties", R&D is starting to pick up, it said.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

 

Slovenia's prime minister calls summit, seeks nuclear consensus

25 January 2024

Prime Minister Robert Golob says Slovenia's long-term use of nuclear energy "requires the broadest national and political consensus" as he announces a meeting with senior figures including opposition party leaders and members of parliament from Hungary and Italy.

How JEK2 could look, alongside the existing Krško plant (Image: GEN/JEK2)

Slovenia has plans to build a new nuclear power plant - the JEK2 project - with up to 2400 MW capacity next to its existing nuclear power plant, Krško, a 696 MWe pressurised water reactor which generates about one-third of the country's electricity and which is co-owned by neighbouring Croatia.

A working group of Slovenian government ministers and industry officials was established in September with the aim of speeding up the implementation of the project and preparing "all the necessary bases for citizens to make high-quality and informed decisions" about it in a referendum which the government says is needed for the project to happen. Last week the country's main opposition party proposed an early consultative referendum on the project and the prospect of small modular reactors elsewhere in the country.

The planned timeline is for a final investment decision on JEK2 by 2028, with the aim of new capacity coming online in the 2030s.

On Wednesday, the prime minister's office announced the prime minister has invited the country's President, Natašo Pirc Musar, the National Assembly's President, Urško Klakočar Zupančič, as well as the presidents of the parliamentary parties and MPs from Italy and Hungary to a meeting about JEK2 where those attending "will address the question of how to set up the decision-making process on the construction of the second block of the nuclear power plant". According to Slovenia's STA news agency, the meeting will take place next Tuesday.

In October, GEN Energy CEO Dejan Paravan said there were three technology providers being considered for the project - Westinghouse, EDF and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power - who all had strengths and "the decision will not be easy".

During a visit to the site by National Assembly members last week, Paravan said: "We are focused on accelerating the implementation of all preparations for the JEK2 project ... public support for the construction of the second unit of the nuclear power plant is growing. I see the reasons for this both in the energy crisis and the awareness of the need for self-sufficiency, as well as in discussions about decarbonisation and the green transition and the role of nuclear energy in this."

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

McClean Lake uranium mine in Canada to resume production

Cecilia Jamasmie | January 24, 2024 |

The McClean Lake operations are in the eastern part of the Athabasca Basin, in northern Saskatchewan. (Image courtesy of Denison Mines.)

Denison Mines (TSX: DML) (NYSE: DNN) and joint venture partner Orano Canada said on Wednesday they will restart the McClean Lake mine, located in the uranium-rich Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan, amid improving project and commodity economics.


Operations at McClean Lake, owned by the namesake JV (MLJV) in which Orano is the operator and has a 77.5% stake, were suspended in 2008 in response to weak uranium prices.

The partners continued to explore the licence and invested in proprietary mining method named SABRE, which is designed to selectively extract high-grade uranium ores from surface.

Mining is planned to restart at the McClean North deposit in 2025, with a target of about 800,000 pounds of uranium that year, the partners said. Activities this year focused on readying the site and equipment for continuous commercial operations, they noted.

MLJV will also install eight pilot holes for the first mining cavities planned for excavation.

“The successful mining test of the SABRE method in 2021 provided the MLJV with important information about the productivity and cost of the operation,” Denison’s president and chief executive David Cates said.

“This information suggests an incentive price meaningfully lower than current uranium prices, which has provided the JV with a strong basis to make a restart decision for mining,” Cates added.

The companies noted they have identified the availability of around 3 million pounds of yellow cake for potential additional production from a combination of the McClean North and Caribou deposits during the 2026-2030 period.

BMO Capital Markets uranium analyst Alexander Pearce said in a note on Wednesday the decision to restart McClean Lake was positive for Denison as it could help with modest near-term cash flow as it develops Wheeler River.

“The announcement also demonstrates that current spot prices are supportive of brownfield restarts,” he said, adding that a sizable near-term supply deficit is still expected considering the time it takes to bring restarts on.

Orano Canada’s President and chief executive, Jim Corman, said the JV’s current ability to capitalize on the strengthening uranium and nuclear markets is the result of a long-term investment in research and development to secure continued activities at McClean Lake.

The property, about 750 km north of Saskatoon, consists of four mineral leases covering an area of 1,147 hectares and 13 mineral claims over an area of 3,111 hectares.

Uranium prices have hit their highest in more than 16 years in recent days after the world’s largest miner of the nuclear fuel, Kazakhstan’s Kazatomprom (LON: KAP), highlighted production risks. The commodity’s bonanza is likely to continue prompting the restart of mothballed capacity.

Sprott is bullish on uranium as governments shift to the energy source

Ben Cousins, BNN Bloomberg

Sprott Asset Management is increasingly bullish on uranium, as governments shift back to the metal as a clean energy source.

Sprott has two uranium trusts and a pair of uranium exchange-traded funds (ETFs) available for investors, as the commodity-focused investment firm works to convince investors there’s value in the once-ignored metal. 

“We’ve obviously been very active in terms of educating the market about this investment,” John Ciampaglia, chief executive officer at Sprott Asset Management, told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview on Tuesday.

Ciampaglia said his company has remained exposed to the metal as governments looked at other energy options, but now that the focus is back on uranium, there is growth potential.

“Utilities are reloading their inventories of uranium after essentially drawing them down for the greater part of 10 years,” he said.

“This is really in response to the world shifting back to nuclear energy after largely ignoring it for the last 10 years. You expect a supply response to come from the market when the commodity price goes up 80 or 90 per cent and we are starting to see one clearly.”

Canada is the second largest producer of uranium in the world behind Kazakhstan, according to Natural Resources Canada, and the metal has been a focus for governments and experts looking at ways to increase green energy reserves.

 

Uranium production process restarts at Langer Heinrich

25 January 2024

The first ore was fed to the Namibian mine's processing plant on 20 January, Paladin Energy has announced. The project to restart Langer Heinrich is now 93% complete, and commercial production is expected within the next few months.

Paladin shared video of the ore being fed to the processing plant (Image: X/@Paladin_Energy)

The Western Australia-based company announced in June that it had decided to return the Langer Heinrich mine to production in the first quarter of this year. The project to restart the mine is now more than 93% complete with final construction and ongoing commissioning activities continuing across the processing plant, the company said. Initial ore feed has been sourced from existing stockpiles.

The company said it was still targeting first commercial production by the end of the current quarter - but "lower contractor productivity over the Christmas/New Year period" may push that date into early in the second quarter of the year.

"After more than six years of care and maintenance it is exceptionally pleasing to see production activities recommence at the Langer Heinrich Mine, with first ore feed to the processing plant achieved in January," Paladin CEO Ian Purdy said.

Total project capital costs are now expected to be USD125 million, up from the previous estimate of USD118 million, "with all major construction costs committed and including additional contractor
resourcing forecast during the commissioning phase". The company executed a USD150 million syndicated debt facility on 24 January, and this will provide increased capital flexibility as production ramps up, Purdy said.

Operation of the mine had been suspended in 2018 due to low uranium prices.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News