Posted by World Nuclear News on 31 March 2015 in WNN
CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this story implied Urenco USA would expand the LES facility to its new licenced capacity of 10 million SWU. This company’s plans are clarified below. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved a licence amendment allowing Urenco to expand its Eunice enrichment plant.
NuScale Power has completed fabrication and assembly of a full-scale upper module mock-up of its NuScale small modular reactor (SMR). The major components of the mock-up are: the upper portion of the containment vessel; the reactor vessel head; major piping (including steam and feedwater); the control rod drive ...
Posted by SONE on 31 March 2015 in Newsletters
YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE (POSSIBLY) Del Boy Trotter, in the television comedy series Only Fools and Horses, regularly insists that “you know it makes sense” when trying to press home the case for something he’s not too sure about.
French nuclear regulators have found no generic elements that would compromise the safety of the country’s 1300 MWe nuclear reactors over a 40-year operating life. Pierre-Franck Chevet, president of the Autorité De Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), has notified nuclear operator EDF that to date, no generic issues have been ...
Argentina and Bolivia have signed a cooperation agreement to promote and develop infrastructure and institutions for the peaceful use of nuclear energy, the Bolivian ministry of hydrocarbons and energy said on 28 March. The agreement was signed by the head of the ministry, Luis Alberto Sanchez, and Argentina’s ...
At the heart of the modern energy debate is a struggle between the need for more energy globally, while simultaneously achieving lower emissions. Nuclear energy is uniquely positioned to help respond to these duelling necessities, but innovative advancements must overcome considerable barriers, writes Todd Allen. The topic of ...
Posted by NucNet on 31 March 2015 in Issues
The elephant in the room To mark his retirement from the paper the editor of the Guardian has commissioned a series of articles on threat of climate change as a consequence of the ever-increasing discharge of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels. His ...
Posted by NucNet on 30 March 2015 in NucNet
Comment & People More than 60 percent of Belgians support nuclear as part of the country’s energy mlix, with 75 percent saying they favour a combination of nuclear and renewable sources, a poll shows. The poll, published today by the Brussels-based Belgian Nuclear Forum (BNF), says 63 percent ...
Posted by SONE on 28 February 2015 in Newsletters
A CLIMATE CHANGE COMPROMISE This month has seen several important political initiatives – and one which seemed important on a first reading but amounted to very little. This was the joint pledge to tackle climate change signed by David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg in what one newspaper called “a rare show of unity”.
Posted by NucNet on 28 February 2015 in Issues
Energy and Economic growth In explaining how the economy is tied to energy, with the leveraging impact of cheap energy creating growth, the American commentator on energy Gail Tverberg states that “In order for economic growth to occur, the wages of workers need to go farther and farther ...
Posted by NucNet on 20 February 2015 in NucNet
Policies & Politics Ministers responsible for energy in eight EU member states have written to the European Commission asking for a forthcoming action plan on EU energy policy to include nuclear power alongside other low-carbon technologies. The ministers of Romania, France, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia ...
Posted by NucNet on 19 February 2015 in NucNet
Plans & Construction NuGen, the UK nuclear developer, will next week move its main office from London to Manchester. The company, developing Europe’s largest new nuclear project in West Cumbria, said Manchester was chosen for its proximity to key stakeholders such as regulators and supply chain companies. NuGen ...
Decommissioning UK regulators have confirmed that Sizewell A is completely fuel-free with 99 percent of the radioactive hazard now removed from the former nuclear station in Suffolk, eastern England. Sizewell A’s two Magnox gas-cooled reactors operated from 1966 until 2006. Defuelling began in 2009, with fuel removed from ...
Posted by World Nuclear News on 18 February 2015 in WNN
UK regulators have confirmed that Sizewell A is completely fuel free. The decommissioning milestone marks the removal of 99% of the radioactive hazard from the former Magnox nuclear power station. Sizewell A’s two 210 MWe Magnox gas-cooled reactors operated from 1966 until 2006. Defuelling began in 2009, with ...
Posted by NucNet on 18 February 2015 in NucNet
Decommissioning The situation at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear station in Japan remains “very complex”, with the increasing amount of contaminated water posing a short-term challenge and the need to remove highly radioactive spent fuel from the reactors that suffered meltdowns “a huge long-term challenge”, the International Atomic Energy Agency ...
