NEI Weekly Newsletter
Nuclear Engineering International
NEI has been providing technical insight behind the news headlines for the entire civil nuclear sector for over 60 years
Welcome to the latest edition of the Nuclear Engineering International's newsletter on LinkedIn.
Another busy week for the sector and lots of news items shared.
This week also saw the relaunch of our website so make sure you check it out: https://www.neimagazine.com/
See this week's highlights below:
UK GOVERNMENT SELECTS WYLFA AS PREFERRED SITE FOR NEW NPP
The UK government has selected Wylfa in Anglesey, North Wales, is its preferred site for a new NPP similar in scale to the one under construction at Hinkley Point C in Somerset. In March, Great British Nuclear (GBN) the arms-length body set up by the government to help deliver that extra capacity, acquired the Hitachi-owned sites for new nuclear at Wylfa and at Oldbury-on-Severn in southwest England for ￡160m ($203m). Both were considered as prospective sites for a new NPP but Wylfa has now been prioritised.
The government said it is exploring building a major nuclear power station, similar in scale to Hinkley in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk.
UPGRADED DIII-D FUSION FACILITY SET TO RESTART OPERATIONS
The DIII-D National Fusion Facility at General Atomics in San Diego is starting up after undergoing eight months of upgrades that included new and improved plasma control and diagnostic systems.
The DIII-D National Fusion Facility is an Office of Science scientific user facility, operated by General Atomics for the US Department of Energy.
The upgrades are expected to support experiments performed at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which is being built in France. They include a range of new diagnostic instruments as well as enhancements to the way that the plasma is heated.
CHINA FORMALLY HANDS OVER KARACHI 2 HUALONG ONE REACTOR TO PAKISTAN
Unit 2 of Pakistan’s Karachi NPP, a 1100 MWe Hualong One pressurised water reactor supplied by China National Nuclear corporation (CNNC), has been formally handed over to Pakistan some three years after it began operation in 2021.
Representatives from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Karachi K-2/K-3 Nuclear Power Plant and China Zhongyuan attended the ceremony. China Zhongyuan Engineering Corporation is CNNC’s general contractor for Karachi 2&3.
Karachi 2&3 are China’s first Hualong One exports. Construction of unit 2 began in 2015 and unit 3 in 2016. Both units were supplied and constructed by CNNC under a $9bn contract signed with PAEC in 2013.
NEW ROLLS-ROYCE FACILITY TO PRODUCE SMR PROTOTYPE MODULES
Rolls-Royce SMR is setting up a facility in Sheffield in the UK to both manufacture and test prototype modules for its small modular reactors (SMRs).
The Rolls-Royce SMR Module Development Facility located at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre’s (AMRC’s) existing Factory 2050 facilities – will produce working prototypes of the individual modules that will be assembled into Rolls-Royce SMR power plants.
The first phase valued at ￡2.7m ($3.4m) will be part of a ￡15m package of work.
领英推荐
WEST TOKAMAK SETS NEW PLASMA DURATION RECORD
France’s WEST tokamak at the Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (IRFM), part of the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA – Commissariat à l’énergie Atomique et aux énergies Alternatives), has achieved record results.
WEST’s latest campaign, which started in mid-January set a new plasma duration record of 6 minutes and 4 seconds, with an injected energy of 1.15 GJ, along with a steady-state central electron temperature of 4 keV (50m degrees Celsius), and an electron density twice that of discharges obtained in the tokamak’s previous configuration, Tore Supra.
The electron temperature was measured using a new method developed by collaborators from the US Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).
NORSK KJERNEKRAFT LOOKS TO OFF-GRID SMR PROJECTS
Under its latest business model, Norway’s Norsk Kjernekraft is looking to construct small modular reactors (SMRs) “off-grid” to support industry that needs reliable power, such as data centres, and access to heat, such as hydrogen production.
“In this way industry is ensured reliable electricity and Norsk Kjernekraft is ensured good project economics while renewable power can be freed up for other purposes. A win-win for all parties.”
BULGARIA AND US STRENGTHEN COOPERATION ON KOZLODUY EXPANSION
Bulgaria’s caretaker Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov is on a working visit to the US has attended the first meeting of the steering committee of the intergovernmental agreement between Bulgaria and the US for cooperation on the project for the construction of new nuclear power capacity at the Kozloduy NPP site and Bulgaria’s civil nuclear programme.
Executive director of Kozloduy NPP – New Builds Petyo Ivanov was also present at the meeting. On the US side, the meeting was attended by the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the US Department of Energy (DOE), Andrew Light.
Thanks for reading; we hope you enjoyed it.
Until next week.
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