NEI Weekly Newsletter
Nuclear Engineering International
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Welcome to the latest edition of Nuclear Engineering International's newsletter on LinkedIn.
Another busy week for the sector and lots of news items shared.
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See this week's highlights below:
FUKUSHIMA TRITIUM LEVELS REMAIN BELOW LIMITS
The tritium concentration in the eighth batch of treated water, which the Tokyo Electric Power Company has begun discharging from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP site is far below Japan’s operational limit, according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts.
Contaminated water, used to cool the melted reactor cores in the aftermath of the 2011 nuclear disaster at Fukushima, is stored in around 1,000 huge tanks at the plant containing more than 1.3m tonnes and total storage capacity has been reached.
ORNL CREATES MOLTEN SALT REACTOR TEST
US Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed its first-ever custom glass test cell to observe how gases behave inside a molten salt reactor. The test cell will be used to better understand the complex chemistry that can occur in molten salt fuelled reactors. The data will be used to help verify existing computer codes and modelling software to better predict their overall performance.
Molten salt reactors are among several new systems under development that could be commercialised early next decade. Some designs will operate on liquid fuel, where the fissile materials are directly dissolved into a molten salt solution that is also used to cool the reactor.
LITHUANIA BEGINS DEEP REPOSITORY SITE SELECTION
Lithuania has identified 77 potential sites in 29 municipalities for further investigation for its planned deep geological disposal facility, according to the Ignalina NPP. Investigations and public consultations will continue until 2047 before a final selection is made. Some 110 sites were considered in the initial assessment, but 31 were rejected because of the presence of methane. One failed to meet planning and environmental criteria and one was rejected because the rock formation did not meet the geological or safety requirements.
In March, a public consultation was held in Vilnius, during which the project, the potential locations of the deep landfill and the installation stages were presented to the representatives of the municipalities, and the questions raised by the participants were answered.
KEY COMPONENT FOR ITER COMPLETED
Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 日本国立量子科学与技术研究院（QST） , have completed a key component for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor under construction in France. Manufacture of a prototype outer vertical target (OVT), which began in June 2020, has been completed and is now ready for series production.
The OVT is one of the key components of the divertor one of the most crucial components in magnetic field confined fusion reactors such as tokamaks. It plays an important role in the removal or exhaust of unburned fuel in the core plasma and impurities such as helium ash generated by the fusion reaction, which are necessary for stable confinement of the plasma.
BRUCE 3 REACTOR REMOVAL COMPLETE
Canada’s Bruce Power has achieved a milestone in its Major Component Replacement (MCR) project by completing the unit 3 reactor removal series safely and ahead of schedule. The removal series was completed faster than in the unit 6 MCR by leveraging the experience and innovation through lessons learned and technological advancement. The calandria tube removal set a Candu refurbishment record, finishing 11 days ahead of schedule.
The MCR project began in January 2020. The eight pressurised heavy-water Candu reactor units at the Bruce site in Ontario (Bruce A – units 1-4, and Bruce B – units 4-8) began commercial operation between 1977 and 1987.
US AND GHANA LAUNCH NUCLEAR TRAINING HUB
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Ghana Atomic Energy Commission ’s (GAEC’s) Nuclear Power Institute (NPI) have launched Africa’s first regional Clean Energy Training Centre. DOE said the centre will serve as a regional training hub for Ghana and other like-minded African countries considering nuclear energy as part of their economic development, energy security, and decarbonisation goals.
The training centre builds upon previous US activities in Ghana, which included a virtual training programme hosted by the US that covered the fundamentals of civilian nuclear power programmes ranging from project development and financing to nuclear security and national nuclear laws.
FRAMATOME TO REPLACE ANO-2 VESSEL HEAD
Framatome has signed a contract with US-based Entergy Nuclear, Inc. to provide engineering and installation services for the reactor vessel closure head replacement project at unit 2 of Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO) in Russellville, Arkansas. The site comprises two pressurised water reactors that began commercial operation in 1974 and 1980.
Engineering analysis and installation planning is underway with the replacement and project completion planned for the Spring 2026 regularly scheduled maintenance and refuelling outage.
FIRST LIGHT ADVANCES TOKAMAK DUST RESEARCH
UK-based First Light Fusion , which focuses on inertial fusion, has partnered with two European institutions to research the damage caused by supersonic dust-impacts in tokamak fusion devices mainly used in magnetic confinement fusion. The collaboration includes Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Italy’s National Research Council (CNR), Research Institute for Plasma Physics & Technology (CNR-ISTP) and Research Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry & Energy Technologies (CNR-ICMATE).
First Light, founded in 2011 as a spin-out from the 英国牛津大学 , together with its partners, is leveraging its world-class two-stage light-gas gun drivers to advance research into magnetic fusion.
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