SONE Newsletter 310 – August 2025

Posted by Wade Allison on 14 August 2025 in Newsletters

Tagged with: Assystem, Core Power, EDF, Ed Miliband, Enrichment, Germany, Regulation, Renewables, Sizewell, Westinghouse, Wind, Windscale, World Nuclear Association.

This month

With the growth of the Nuclear Renaissance there is far more news than can be summarised in the SONE Newsletter. This concentrates on issues directly affecting UK and others of worldwide significance. Wider coverage can be found on the daily postings of the World Nuclear Association: https://world-nuclear-news.org/

Interim Report from UK Gov Taskforce to Tackle Regulatory Barriers

At last a sign the Government understands www.gov.uk/government/news/taskforce-to-tackle-regulatory-barriers-holding-back-nuclear

The 2025 SONE AGM

This will be online at 2pm October 24th. Please put it in your diary! In the new nuclear political environment this occasion will be important. We need to ask ourselves what SONE and its members might actively contribute. We need to engage more young members.

Here is a new public message on thoughts about SONE that was posted by Virginia Crosbie since the news about the above Taskforce came out www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7361103529408622593/ supported by a reply from me www.linkedin.com/in/wade-allison-08929816/recent-activity/all/.

Sizewell C gets final go-ahead decision

UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has signed the Final Investment Decision for the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, England. The government will be the largest shareholder in the GBP38 billion (USD51 billion) project alongside EDF, Centrica, La Caisse and Amber Infrastructure.
https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/sizewell-c-gets-final-go-ahead-decision. Other reports say that Canadian Brookfield is set to take a 20% stake as EDF reduces its share to 12.5%.

Nuclear energy for the Midlands

A siting study has identified 21 sites in the Midlands region of central England that could potentially support 20 GWe of new nuclear generating capacity in the nearer term. Two sites were selected as the region’s most strategic nuclear deployment opportunities. No indication is given of the location. Equilibrion carried out the study for Midlands Nuclear.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/uk-study-says-midlands-sites-suitable-for-nuclear-new-build-projects

Assystem plans to double UK workforce

French engineering group Assystem has announced plans to double its nuclear workforce in the UK, creating 1,000 new engineering, digital and project management jobs by 2030. The announcement followed EDF’s decision to take a 12.5% stake in Sizewell C nuclear power project in the UK. “By investing in new jobs across its regional hubs, Assystem plans to escalate the delivery of Sizewell C and other new nuclear projects and kickstart a new era of clean electricity in the UK within five years,” the company said.

US Regulators in disarray

https://www.healthphysics.blog/p/the-rubber-stamp-rebellion-and-a
This Health Physics report posts as follows:

The Rebellion at the NRC: A Rubber Stamp or a Reckoning? On July 14, 2025, Politico dropped a bombshell: a DOGE official reportedly instructed NRC staff to “rubber stamp” DOE and DOD-reviewed reactor designs as part of a Trump executive order signed in late May 2025 that shook the foundations of U.S. nuclear regulation by shifting safety oversight from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) for certain reactor designs.

The order mandates that the NRC defer to DOE & DOD certifications unless new safety issues arise. This comes amid NRC leadership chaos. Former NRC Chair Christopher Hanson (removed mid‑June 2025) and Executive Director for Operations, Mirela Gavrilas (departure effective June 28, 2025), were fired, and DOGE staff have been inserted into the agency’s ranks. The goal? Slash licensing timelines to 18 months to meet soaring energy demands, particularly from AI data centres, while catching up to China’s 27 reactors under construction.

Can DOE Labs Step Up? The executive order leans heavily on DOE labs like Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to handle reactor design reviews. But are they equipped to fill the NRC’s shoes? Let’s scrutinize their capabilities, because the Nuclear Family deserves to know if these labs can deliver without compromising safety.

Read the Report for more discussion.

Further, the membership of the US NRC is depleted, down from five to three, even with the appointment of David Wright, who now replaces Annie Caputo (recently resigned).

Meanwhile some of the retired chairs of the Commission fight back (without addressing the questions):
https://thebulletin.org/2025/07/why-the-us-must-protect-the-independence-of-its-nuclear-regulator/

New Nuclear for Maritime – European Summit

On 10 July, CORE POWER hosted this event at the Institution for Engineering & Technology in London, attended by SONE Members Virginia Crosbie, Trudy Harrison, Robin Smith and Wade Allison. The emphasis was on the technologies being developed for nuclear-powered shipping and the regulatory framework required for the necessary insurance, risk management and financing for maritime nuclear power to be a success, whether as ships, floating offshore power stations or in-port electric supply to shipping.

It was encouraging to hear the progress being made towards achieving an international framework that will enable at least some nations to progress commercial nuclear-powered shipping. At the Forum Tim Shipman touched on the dire state of infrastructure across the developed world: for the UK with currently only 18% electricity generation (most of which requiring medium term replacement) and 82% reliance on fossil fuels, there is huge investment required over the next few years. The largest meeting ever held on the topic of new nuclear for maritime, it was attended by over 300 leaders from government, shipping, energy, banking, and insurance. Highlights:

  • Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan, former UK Trade Secretary and Foreign Office Minister, said developing new nuclear for maritime in the OECD is not a technological frontier, but a geopolitical imperative.

  • It was made clear that acceleration is achieved by combining marine-ready nuclear technologies with mass assembly in shipyards of fully modular, nuclear energy products.

  • Dr Tim Stone of Great British Nuclear, defined the catalogue of nuclear energy products now being formed as ‘floating clean energy centres’.

  • To meet the COP28 pledge to triple the use of nuclear energy, Sama Bilbao y León, Director General of the World Nuclear Association (WNA), declared that Floating Nuclear Power Plants are a great opportunity

  • Supporting aggressive timescales and forming a vital support function to the international community is the Nuclear Energy Maritime Organization (NEMO) now recognised by IAEA and IMO
    https://splash247.com/nuclear-energy-maritime-organization-gains-official-status-at-imo-and-iaea/

Floating nuclear plant study for the Mediterranean

The American Bureau of Shipping, Core Power and Athlos Energy are to collaborate on the evaluation of the potential of deploying floating nuclear power plants to meet the energy demands of islands, ports and coastal communities in the Mediterranean Sea.
https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/fnpps-to-be-evaluated-for-use-in-the-mediterranean

GLE submits full application for laser enrichment facility licence

Global Laser Enrichment has submitted its Safety Analysis Report for the planned Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This follows its submission in December 2024 of the Environmental Report, now completing GLE’s full licence application for NRC review.

The project is underpinned by a long-term agreement signed in 2016 for the sale to GLE of some 200,000 tonnes from the US Department of Energy’s inventory depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) for re-enrichment to equivalent natural grade uranium hexafluoride.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/gle-submits-full-application-for-laser-enrichment-facility-licence

Westinghouse, Radiant to perform first US microreactor tests

The US Department of Energy has made conditional selections for Westinghouse and Radiant Nuclear to perform the first tests in the National Reactor Innovation Center’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments test bed at the Idaho National Laboratory.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/westinghouse-radiant-to-perform-first-us-microreactor-tests

The operating licence for VC Summer unit 1 extended to 80 years

Dominion Energy South Carolina Inc submitted its application requesting authorisation to operate the plant from 60 to 80 years to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in August 2023. A safety evaluation report was issued in February 2025, and a final supplemental environmental impact statement was issued in May this year. Both of those reports - as well as the application itself - are available on the NRC’s website.

US reactors are initially licensed by the NRC to operate for up to 40 years - a period originally based on economic, rather than technology, limitations. An initial renewal extends those operating lives to 60 years. Subsequent licence renewal extends the period of operation from 60 to 80 years.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/nrc-issues-subsequent-licence-renewal-for-vc-summer

Preparation stage for Russian fast neutron reactor, BN-1200m

Plans include a refreshing emphasis on the local social structure https://world-nuclear-news.org/articles/preparation-stage-begins-for-bn-1200m-construction and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sverdlovsk_Oblast.

German wind auction failure and French renewable halt

Unsurprisingly after the collapse of the Iberian grid in April, investment in renewables without inertia have been cut back. The latest German auction for offshore wind attracted no bids. Germany’s no-subsidy offshore wind round attracts zero bids
In France the Parliament has voted to freeze all solar and wind projects https://www.linkedin.com/posts/liz-penfold-57299b28_is-france-quietly-rewriting-europes-energy-activity-7343982033225818112-ssks

History Corner - A recent posting by Philip Greatorex

In his memoirs, Reminiscences of an Atom Pioneer, Henry Gethin Davey, the first General Manager of the Windscale Works, recalls the following scenes.

In the Autumn of 1950, a meeting was organised by the local section of the National Farmers Union. It was held in a village pub, in a long narrow room with a window at one end and a door at the other. The speaker stood with his back to the window and, through a haze of blue smoke, looked at faces which from time to time were partially obscured by pint mugs. After a brief introductory talk, in which atomic energy was referred to in very general terms and no detail was given of the Windscale plants, the meeting was thrown open for discussion.

The first subject mentioned was the weather and it became evident that most people present assumed, quite wrongly, that the Windscale Piles were working and several questioners asked if the recent wet weather was due to the mysterious gases coming out of the chimneys. With a little encouragement the audience was invited to reminisce. They took their minds back through the 1940’s, the 1930’s and the 1920’s and remembered a surprising number of bad summers and abnormal winters. A man in his fifties said, “You youngsters won’t remember 1917. It was a shocker and, at the time, many people said it was due to the big guns which were being fired by the Germans.” This delightful statement was capped by an octogenarian who remembered an appalling summer in the 1890’s and, at this stage, everyone laughed heartily. There was agreement that there had been many wet summers long before atomic energy was dreamt of, there could be no simple explanation for the vagaries of British weather and it would be most unfair to blame the recent summer on Windscale.

[Editorial interjection:
I wonder how many today recognise the sheaves and stooks in the picture?
Most will recognise the Cockcroft’s Follies and know what they did in 1957?
My father spent some time at Sellafield as a Naval Officer during the war. My mother and I enjoyed the farm hospitality there, she used to tell me. But, as I was born in 1941, I do not recall the details!]

Wade Allison
August 2025