SONE Newsletter 302 – November 2024

Posted by Wade Allison on 25 November 2024 in Newsletters

Tagged with: AGM, Capenhurst, Trudy Harrison, Urenco, Virginia Crosbie, YouTube.

This month

SONE AGM, new Patrons and panel discussion

The SONE 2024 AGM was held online on 21st October, via ZOOM. The proceedings were recorded and are available on a YouTube video that all can watch.

The formal Minutes will record that the Chairman, Officers and Committee members were all re-elected for another year.

Neville Chamberlain welcomed and congratulated SONE’s two new Patrons, Virginia Crosbie and Trudy Harrison, who gave distinguished service in support of nuclear energy when serving as MPs in the last Parliament.

Following the formal business there was a panel discussion chaired by Neville Chamberlain.

Virginia Crosbie who led the revival initiative for a new power station on the Wylfa site.

Diana Gamazova is a student at Plymouth University, a poet, and a nuclear energy advocate intent on bridging nations for environmental harmony.

Wade Allison, Hon. Sec., who spoke on nuclear energy, productivity and population decline.

SONE members then engaged in a general wide-ranging discussion.

Capenhurst Visit

The SONE Committee organised a visit to the Urenco Capenhurst facility near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire on 24th October. The party of sixteen had a fascinating experience. This facility is a key element in the nuclear fuel cycle. The company also has other smaller installations in the Netherlands, Germany and the USA and provides fuel for about 138 reactors around world.

The visit began with a presentation by Neil Fagan, relating the history of Capenhurst and future plans. This was followed by a tour of the main operations areas in the company of John Goodall and Mike Dutton.

Capenhurst takes in natural Uranium, in the form of solid UF6, with a 235U concentration of about 0.7%, and increases it to provide the feed for the nuclear fuel fabrication plants such as Springfields. The plant began operations about 70 years ago, employing the now obsolete diffusion process. All the old equipment that was shut down in 1982 has been decommissioned and progressively replaced with the much less energy intensive ‘centrifuge’ process. Typically, the uranium 235U concentration is increased to about 4%, utilising thousands of high speed centrifuges.

The original diffusion plant had an output of about 300 t/annum. The first gas centrifuge plant (E21) opened in 1976, operating until 1991. and was subsequently decommissioned. This increased capacity to about 500t/yr. The next one (E22) opened in 1982 and then E23 opened in 1997. and production has been steadily increased to 3900t with E23 and will be increased to 4500t/y in the near future. The largest of the three plants, E23, produces more than 80% of the facility’s enrichment capacity.

In 1984 A3 was opened for military purposes, but since 1993 the plant has been operated under an international treaty to enrich uranium only for civil purposes.

The facility operates continuously 24 hrs/365 days per year with staff working on a shift system. The core operations are managed from the main control room, with minimal human intervention. There is very large investment staff training and new facilities amounting to hundreds of millions per annum, mainly in the new cascade system to produce HALEU for the Small Modular Reactors that are being planned where enrichment levels of 19% will be required. Urenco engineers and technicians design and construct their own centrifuges – mainly of the 4 metre type as they have optimum efficiency. It may be necessary to increase the area of the licensed site to accommodate future expansion.

The visit group was allowed to observe some of the high-speed centrifuges all operating in hospital-like cleanliness in the cascade hall. There was also the opportunity to inspect the receipt system and the hot boxes where the solid UF6 is converted from a solid into a gas and the cool boxes where it is condensed back to a solid. We were also shown the sampling equipment where the enriched UF6 in liquid form is checked [assayed] to a very high degree of accuracy to confirm it meets the specification and provide data for IAEA records and other regulators.

All the members who participated were delighted to have the opportunity to visit and learn about a part of the nuclear industry that is often overlooked but is so fundamental to the continuous reliable operation of commercial nuclear reactors all around the world.

Paul Spare, 7 November 2024
The photograph was kindly sent by Neil Fagan.

Other methods of enrichment, a note

As well as the diffusion method originally used at Capenhurst and the centrifuge method used today, two other methods either have been or are currently under development.

First there is the original mass spectrometer method developed in WWII by Lawrence. By coincidence I spotted the following news item this week:

Virl Hobson, 98, of Norris passed away peacefully on October 24, 2024. Following her high school graduation, with World War II raging, Virl was hired by Tennessee Eastman as a calutron operator supporting the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge. She is pictured in the iconic photograph taken by Ed Westcott, seated lower left at a cubicle with other “Calutron Girls”. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-calutron-girls.htm

Calutron – Wikipedia by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

The speed with which such apparatus was designed, built and used in WWII testifies to what can be done by clever people when not constrained by regulations and procedures. I understand that all the fuel for the Hiroshima bomb was enriched in this way. We should remind people of what can be done and how fast when considering some of the challenges we face today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQycN7pGQlY
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-calutron-girls.htm

The other method is Laser Enrichment which Urenco is not developing in the UK, Neil Fagan said in an email. Nevertheless, the following posting on LinkedIn looks interesting.

Nano Nuclear Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: NNE) bets on photonic enrichment technology to generate the fuel for its microreactors. The advanced nuclear clean energy company, has announced a strategic collaboration with Laser Isotope Separation Technologies (LIS Technologies Inc.) (LIST), a developer of a laser uranium enrichment technology. The partnership, which includes an investment from NANO Nuclear into LIST’s seed financing round, aims to enhance domestic uranium enrichment and fuel fabrication capabilities in the United States. https://lnkd.in/d5eqTVuv.

LIST’s technology, based on a process invented by Dr. Jeff Eerkens and historically supported by Cameco Corporation, utilizes infrared lasers to selectively excite and separate desired isotope molecules. This method is considered energy-efficient and cost-effective, with potential applications beyond nuclear fuel production, including medical research and quantum computing.

The agreement outlines a plan for the companies to advance LIST’s laser enrichment technology, which is currently in development and approaching the regulatory licensing phase. LIST will supply NANO Nuclear with uranium hexafluoride (UF6) fuel for its portable microreactors ZEUS and ODIN under development, as well as for future sales to third parties.

This agreement follows the recent announcement by TerraPower pursuing the same kind of partnership with ASP Isotopes to construct a high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) laser enrichment facility in South Africa using a similar photoionization technology. TerraPower plans to purchase HALEU produced at the facility to fuel its Natrium fast reactors. https://lnkd.in/dvhDVC6J.

The road to net zero: renewables and nuclear working together

A paper by Juan Matthews, William Bodel, Gregg Butler, Dalton Inst., Manchester, U.

Nuclear deployment has always been hampered by the fact it’s not been seen as a flexible technology. It operates at its best when run flat out, 24/7. This makes it unsuitable for balancing the grid, alongside variable renewable technologies. But as we move towards a Net Zero future in 2050, we’re increasingly looking at uses for energy which are not just electricity. In particular, generation of hydrogen – which is seen as a vital energy vector for replacing natural gas in many applications.

This paper looks at a more integrated approach to our energy future – where nuclear, renewables, energy storage and hydrogen production work together as a team. Nuclear plants of the future can still run flat out – but their energy can be switched between making power for the grid (when renewable output is low) and making hydrogen for industrial applications or going into storage (when renewables are producing at a high level, or when overall demand is low). This essentially makes nuclear a flexible technology for use with a modern grid, and allows both nuclear and renewables can operate to their full potential – all with the added benefit that we can avoid the need to build gas-fired plants which would only be needed at “peak” times, and so which would then be producing electricity at very high unit cost.

The paper will be published soon and will be available on our Dalton Nuclear Policy Group website page here, where you will also find a short policy blog summarising its findings (the blog will be out shortly after the paper). https://www.manchester.ac.uk/dalton-policy

A recent posting on LinkedIn by Wade Allison

Many may still remember when telephone communication came at a significant cost. Now, it is “too cheap to meter”. The benefits are universal. In 1931 Winston Churchill wrote how nuclear energy would be a million times more powerful than coal. And so it is, and safer too. Nuclear energy should become plentiful. Its cost should become “a boring subject”, as one young enthusiast put it recently. Quite so. Only unjustified regulations and self-serving bureaucracy stand in the way.

A Webinar to discuss nuclear powered cruise ships organised by DNV, the Norwegian risk management company
https://www.dnv.us/events/Cruise-ships_Is-the-next-generation-nuclear/#

New study considers nuclear-powered bulk carriers. A Dutch study sees nuclear as being the best option. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/new-study-considers-nuclear-powered-bulk-carriers

Tom Greatrix posts for the NIA in support of UK nuclear energy needs
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nuclear-industry-association_nuclear-energysecurity-netzero-activity-7259547242087297024-o52L

UK and Finland MOU posted 24/11:
Big news for nuclear energy. Finland and the UK have signed a historic agreement to work together on nuclear projects. This pact aims to boost energy security and help both countries meet their climate goals. What’s in the Agreement? The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Finland’s Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen and UK Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero Lord Hunt of Kings Heath. It sets up a framework for collaboration on nuclear energy projects, research, and policies.

An article by Wade Allison making the case for nuclear energy as the driver of economic growth
https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/protecting-economic-growth-building-trust-and-confidence-in-nuclear-energy/184802/

A thoughtful article about the waste at Hanford.
https://madihilly.substack.com/p/hanford-what-a-waste Might similar conclusions be drawn if such questions were asked about the legacy waste at Sellafield?

Wade Allison
Hon. Sec.
24 November 2024