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SELLAFIELD DELAYS AND COSTS RAISE CONCERNS
The UK National Audit Office (NAO), which scrutinises public spending for Parliament and is independent of government, has urged improvements at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA’s) Sellafield site. The 51-page report, Decommissioning Sellafield: managing risks from the nuclear legacy, is an update to its previous report published in 2018.
Sellafield is the UK’s most complex and challenging nuclear site with highly hazardous materials stored there from across the UK’s nuclear industry. It also holds a legacy of contaminated buildings, untreated waste and ageing facilities. The government considers that some of these buildings and their contents pose an “intolerable” risk, reduction of which must be the overriding factor in the decision-making of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority . While workers at Sellafield have started retrieving and safely storing waste, the NDA expects full site remediation will take until 2125.
FRAMATOME’S E-ATF FUEL COMPLETES LIFECYCLE
Framatome 's GAIA fuel assemblies with PROtect Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel (E-ATF) technology recently completed their third 18-month fuel cycle at unit 2 of Georgia Power’s Vogtle NPP. This marks a lifecycle of operation of the first full-length PROtect E-ATF fuel rods with both pellets and cladding in an operating pressurised water reactor.
Framatome said that, after operating for more than four and a half years, this concludes the assessment of the four E-ATF GAIA lead fuel assemblies (LFAs) concept and supports licensing activities to achieve market readiness.
ROOPPUR 1 REACTOR ASSEMBLY COMPLETE
Reactor assembly has been completed for unit 1 of the Rooppur NPP under construction in Bangladesh. The assembly process included installation of reactor internals, such as a shaft and a baffle, loading of fuel assembly simulators, installing of a protective pipes unit and an upper unit, SAMS sensors. Hydraulic testing is to be conducted at the next stage, to check operability of the reactor plant equipment.
“Completion of the reactor assembly and preparing for key tests is an important stage to ensure the efficient operation of the future power unit, said Alexey Deriy, Atomstroyexport JSC Vice President for Projects in Bangladesh. “We are responsible for the safe, uninterrupted and reliable operation of the nuclear power plant being constructed, that is why we monitor carefully each stage of the work, build up our competencies permanently and use advanced methods and technologies that have been tested many times at our construction sites. And finally, this will contribute to sustainable and prosperous energy future for Bangladesh.”
PPPL SUPPORTS SMART FUSION
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is collaborating on the design and development of a new fusion device at the University of Seville in Spain. The SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak (SMART) makes use of PPPL computer codes as well as its expertise in magnetics and sensor systems.
“The SMART project is a great example of us all working together to solve the challenges presented by fusion and teaching the next generation what we have already learned,” said Jack Berkery, PPPL’s Deputy Director of Research for the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U) and the principal investigator for the PPPL collaboration with SMART. “We have to all do this together or it’s not going to happen.”
JAMAICA STEPS CLOSER TO NUCLEAR
Jamaica’s Government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with AECL (Atomic Energy of Canada Limited) and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories to advance the adoption of nuclear technologies in Jamaica. Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness said the partnership reflects the Government’s unwavering commitment to diversify the country’s energy portfolio with new, clean and sustainable alternatives.
“[It] marks a pivotal moment in Jamaica’s energy transformation as we take a bold and forward-thinking step by signing this Memorandum of Understanding. This move is about reducing your cost of living, a major part of it being the cost of energy,” he stated.
NEW ZEALAND’S FIRST FUSION REACTOR TAKES SHAPE
Wellington-based OpenStar Technologies has taken a step towards completing New Zealand’s first fusion energy device prototype. The company, established in 2021, has powered its core component – a half-tonne doughnut-shaped magnet named Junior – using a patented key-enabling technology called the flux pump.
Junior houses a unique, complex arrangement of superconducting systems. When operational, it floats suspended inside a vacuum chamber – a “levitated dipole”. This method enabled by the flux pump addresses the core challenge of fusion – heating plasma to well over 100 million degrees Celsius. Since no physical material can withstand contact with such temperatures, the plasma is suspended in a vacuum, confined by a magnetic field, while fusion occurs. In current fusion machines, plasma is contained inside the superconducting magnets by the magnetic field they produce.
SLOVENIA CALLS OFF NUCLEAR REFERENDUM
Slovenian parliamentary parties have cancelled plans for a consultative referendum on a second unit at the Kr?ko NPP scheduled for 24 November. This came after a leaked wiretap showed the largest two parties were colluding to circumvent legal concerns over the referendum question.
The 696 MWe Kr?ko pressurised water reactor, Slovenia’s only NPP, generates about one-third of its electricity. The plant, which began commercial operation in 1981, is co-owned by neighbouring Croatia. In 2015, a 20-year extension to its initial 40-year operational lifetime was approved. Kr?ko is owned and operated by Nuklearna elektrarna Kr?ko, Slovenija , which is jointly owned by Croatia’s Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group) and Slovenia’s GEN energija, d.o.o. GEN Energija. GEN group says a second unit, JEK 2, could provide 8 TWh electricity a year, reducing the need to import electricity, cutting CO2 emissions, providing district heating and creating jobs.
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