SONE Newsletter 307 – April 2025

Posted by Wade Allison on 21 April 2025 in Newsletters

Tagged with: Germany, IAEA, Moltex, Regulation, SMR, Springfields, Uranium, YouTube.

This month

SONE visit to Springfields, 23rd Sep 2025

A visit for SONE members to the Westinghouse nuclear fuel factory at Springfields, Preston has been arranged. Probable timing 11.00 to 15.30. Details and possible train connections from Euston will be confirmed later. Since numbers are limited to 20, SONE members are invited to make early application to John Assheton at communications@sone.org.uk. First come, first served!

A helpful guide to the nuclear fuel cycle has recently been published by the World Nuclear Association. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/the-nuclear-fuel-cycle-a-guide

Germany’s First Offshore Wind Farm, Alpha Ventus

“To Be Dismantled After Just 15 Years Of Operation”. It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies. According to Blackout News, a decisive factor for dismantling the pioneer project is the expiration of generous subsidies made possible through Germany’s EEG renewable energies feed-in act. The subsidy meant that the Alpha Ventus wind farm got 15.4 cents per kilowatt hour after being put in operation. Now that the subsidy has run out, the wind farm operators receive only the basic tariff of 3.9 cents per kilowatt hour, thus making the farm unprofitable.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/16/germanys-first-offshore-wind-farm-to-be-dismantled-after-just-15-years-of-operation/

GBN SMR news

Two of the four SMR bids, RR and GEH, have submitted their final tender responses. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/tenders-submitted-in-uk-smr-selection-process. That leaves Westinghouse and Holtec to go. [Postscript: Holtec just in: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/holtec-britain_holtec-britain-has-submitted-its-final-tender-activity-7318256754931191810-LFDB] The aim is for GBN to select up to three of the technologies, with the intention of supporting the deployment of multiple units of a company’s SMRs at a site. GBN currently owns land for potential new nuclear at Wylfa in Anglesey in North Wales, and at Oldbury in Gloucestershire in southwest England, but other sites could also be chosen. A final investment decision is expected to be taken in 2029.

This invites the obvious question WHY A FURTHER DELAY OF FOUR YEARS? Isn’t there an energy crisis? Given the very limited life extensions granted to most of the existing UK nuclear plants, we need SMRs as soon as possible. The large installations at HPC and SZC (?) are both insufficient and late. The speed and cost of reactor construction in the 1960s and 70s put the plans for SMRs to shame. The physics and justifiable standards have not changed, only the reluctance to make decisions. Churchill used to stamp decisions ACTION THIS DAY. An example to follow!

News from Kazakhstan and Plymouth

The largest source of Uranium ore in the world is Kazakhstan. At the last SONE AGM we had a presentation from Diana Gamazova who is just completing her 3rd year of study at Plymouth. She has recently also written an informative article about the plans for nuclear energy in her home country: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7315322606037995520/

In March I was invited to visit Plymouth University where I spoke on “Public Education and the Natural Science of the Energy Supply”. Diana reports that it was well received. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7308491180818784257/

Uranium ore availability and US tariffs

The availability of uranium worldwide and the need for investment are summarised in the latest IAEA/OECD report. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/invest-now-to-secure-long-term-uranium-future-red-book-says

As reported by WNN (7/4) under the terms of the Trump tariffs, “certain critical minerals, and energy and energy products” including uranium ores and concentrates are currently excluded from the US tariffs. But Trump can change his mercurial mind! Fortunately, most of the current sources of ore (Kazakhstan, Canada, Australia, Africa) are outside the US, Russia and China. And so are facilities to enrich and manufacture fuel. This should be a source of confidence.

Chris Wright, US Secretary for Energy, and US SMR funding

It seems to be accepted that the appointment of Chris Wright as US Secretary for Energy is a good one. The funding of nuclear energy has bipartisan support. In the current situation in the US both of these situations are exceptional. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/us-doe-re-issues-smr-funding-solicitation

International Regulation initiatives from UK on land and sea

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) in the UK is showing the way for international collaboration on SMRs: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/uk-regulator-highlights-international-collaboration-on-smrs

In the meantime Lloyds of London are looking with others at the regulation for nuclear powered shipping on both small and large scale: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/partnership-to-develop-nuclear-power-for-shipping. There is an upcoming New Nuclear European Summit in London on the 10th July 2025 that is free: https://hubs.ly/Q03hsgYp0. The LIBERTY Program will lay the foundation for the use of nuclear power in the civil maritime sector. It will encompass modular construction of advanced fission technology and create the regulatory and supply chain frameworks necessary to enable this technology to be rolled out worldwide.

Another technology that has ambitions in the maritime field is Newcleo. This lead-cooled reactor has not been mentioned previously in SONE notes and news, I believe. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/newcleo-teams-up-with-enec-for-international-projects. The team has promised an article for posting on our SONE website. We hope to post this next month.

An interview on Youtube

The Natural Science of Energy and Why Nuclear Energy is so Powerful and Safe - if only we had been taught that in school!

This hour-long interview in response to questions from Portugal explores the importance and availability of energy throughout history and before. It takes time to watch but has attracted some encouraging comments – but negative ones too, of course.

News from Moltex

In Canada Moltex are going for pre-licensing of their recycling of fuel. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/moltex-requests-pre-licensing-consultation-for-recycling-process

As reported in the last paragraph of the same posting the whole of Moltex Energy Limited is up for sale – both MoltexFlex Limited in the UK and Moltex Energy Canada Inc. Offers are currently being sought to acquire the business and assets of Moltex Energy Limited and/or shares in the company’s subsidiaries. The deadline for offers is 7 May, we are told.

IAEA promotes food irradiation to prolong shelf life

https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-is-food-irradiation-and-why-is-it-important
Of course. Consumers have never been sold its benefits and authorities have been too cautious to try. It would save huge quantities of food that now goes to waste, especially in the third world – as discussed in Radiation and Reason, Chap. 10 (pages 191-192, 2009 edn. and pages 193-194, 2011 online edn. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234037551_Radiation_and_Reason_The_Impact_of_Science_on_a_Culture_of_Fear).

Wade Allison, Hon. Sec.
Oxford, 18 April 2025