Nuclear Energy

The landlocked African country's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has marked the launch of an initiative to achieve sustainable development by harnessing the power of nuclear technology in areas such as agriculture, health and energy planning.

The Country Programme Framework (CPF), developed with the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is a strategic document that outlines Eswatini's priorities for 2024-2029, with a particular focus on the application of nuclear technology for social and economic development through the effective integration of nuclear technology into the country’s existing development plans and initiatives.

Launching the CPF earlier this month, Eswatini Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Prince Lonkhokhela Dlamini said it aligns closely with the country’s National Development Plan and the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, focusing on five key areas where nuclear technology can be leveraged to support national priorities. These are: nuclear and radiation safety; enhancing food security; improving healthcare services; optimising water resources; and energy planning, to support the development of an integrated energy strategy that utilises nuclear energy as a viable and sustainable energy source.

"The CPF provides a roadmap for the application of nuclear technology in a way that supports our national priorities and contributes to the social and economic development of our country. We are excited to work with the IAEA to bring these priorities to fruition," the minister said.

"These priority areas represent the key sectors where we believe nuclear technology can contribute to our development goals and build a stronger, more resilient Eswatini."

According to the IAEA, a CPF is the frame of reference for the medium-term planning of technical cooperation between a Member State and the IAEA, and identifies priority areas where the transfer of nuclear technology and technical cooperation resources will be directed to support national development goals. The CPF was signed earlier this year.

The Kingdom of Eswatini - formerly known as Swaziland - has been an IAEA Member State since 2016. According to data from the International Energy Agency, the country's largest source of domestic electricity generation is hydro, which accounted for just over half of the country's total generation in 2021. Eswatini relies heavily on imports of electricity from its neighbour, South Africa.

The adulterating of food products for financial gain, either through dilution, substitution, mislabeling, or other action, has become a lucrative industry. And because food fraud is designed to avoid detection, gauging its financial impacts can be difficult to determine. Experts estimate that food fraud affects 1 percent of the global food industry at a cost of about $10 billion to $15 billion a year, with some estimates putting the cost as high as $40 billion a year, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

One common form of food fraud is the mixing of inferior, lower-cost ingredients to a high-value product to reduce the concentration and lower the cost of production. For example, high-quality extra-virgin olive oil can be diluted with low-cost vegetable oil, or honey and maple syrup can be mixed with cheaper sweeteners such as corn syrup, rice syrup, or sugar beet syrup. The diluted products are then sold as pure at a higher cost.

While food fraud can lead to consumers paying a premium for substandard products, in some cases it can cause health issues, as toxic additives may be added or essential nutrients may be removed as part of the fraud process. This can lead to foodborne illnesses, allergic reactions, or even death.

In 2008, the FDA noted that manufacturers in China added synthetic melamine to infant formula to make it seem like their products had enough protein. Often used in plastics, melamine has a high nitrogen content, and nitrogen is used as an indicator of protein in formula. This fraud led to kidney failure in babies, and news reports indicated that it caused over 300,000 illnesses, 50,000 hospitalizations, and at least 6 deaths.

Isotopic signatures: According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, mitigating the risk of food fraud can be difficult, as it may happen at any stage of the supply chain, and in some cases it cannot be detected without special equipment. In developing countries, the problem is aggravated by the lack of technical capacity to detect food fraud.

While industry can use certification and labeling techniques to combat food fraud and improve food safety, vulnerabilities remain where there are no reliable methods of verification. Working with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the IAEA is seeking to provide that verification by developing analytical methods to measure the ratios of stable isotopes found in food samples. Those isotopic ratios will vary due to different factors, such as when, where, and under what environmental conditions the food was produced. Isotope ratio mass spectrometry is commonly used for high-precision measurements of isotopes.

According to the IAEA, “Stable isotope ratios are like nature’s ‘fingerprints’ or signatures on food. This hidden evidence can provide information on whether the foods we are buying consist of the authentic ingredients described on the label or have been falsified. By tracing these isotopic fingerprints, scientists can also track the geographical or botanical provenance of food.”

These methods can also be used to detect the adulteration—or complete substitution—of food with cheap ingredients that have identical chemical structures but different isotopic signatures.

Watch an IAEA YouTube video on using nuclear science to combat food fraud here.

IAEA’s role: To help improve food fraud detection techniques, the IAEA is involved in the following efforts:

• With the FAO, the IAEA supports its member states in the use of nuclear and complementary techniques for science-based solutions to improve food safety, authenticity, and security, as well as sustainable agricultural practices.
• The Joint FAO/IAEA Center of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture is working on nuclear technologies to improve the safety and quality of food products, tracking the origin of food products and checking their authenticity.
• The FAO/IAEA center supports its member states in improving their laboratory and regulatory capacity to trade safe and high-quality food products and verify their authenticity using stable isotope measurements.
• The FAO/IAEA center gathers best practices and provides guidance on the use of nuclear techniques for the verification of origin of food products, for example, dairy products.
• The FAO/IAEA center conducts various coordinated research projects focusing on the use of nuclear and complementary techniques, for instance, the identification of food fraud or products with high-value labeling claims.

The California legislature has signaled its intent to cancel a $400 million loan payment intended to help finance a longer lifespan for the state’s last nuclear power plant, Diablo Canyon.

During state budget debates, the votes in the state senate and assembly last week on funding for the two-unit plant exposed a disagreement between lawmakers on one side and Gov. Gavin Newsom on the other. Newsom has said that the power generated by Diablo Canyon is critical to safeguarding energy supplies amid a warming climate, according to the Associated Press. The disagreement also set up a public friction point involving one of the governor’s signature proposals—Diablo Canyon—which he has championed alongside the state’s rapid push toward solar, wind, and other renewable sources.

A closer look: The dispute unfolded in Sacramento as environmentalists and antinuclear activists warned that the estimated price tag for keeping the seaside reactors running beyond a planned closing by 2025 had ballooned to nearly $12 billion, roughly doubling earlier projections. That also raised the prospect of higher fees for ratepayers.

Pacific Gas & Electric, operator of Diablo Canyon, called those figures inaccurate and inflated by billions of dollars.

Another view: In an opinion piece in the Sacramento Bee, Maureen Zawalick, vice president of business and technical services at Diablo Canyon, argues that the plant has been the backbone of California’s clean-energy ambitions for decades. And it remains a provider of 9 percent of the state’s electricity, all delivered clean and emissions free.

“I believe Californians deserve a full accounting of both the costs and financial benefits of operating California’s largest source of clean energy,” Zawalick wrote. “The math is clear that keeping Diablo Canyon open through 2030 will not only ensure that California can keep the lights on without backsliding on its climate goals, it will also save customers $200 million per year on average—or more than $1 billion—over the duration of the extended operations period.”

A UK site that was formerly one of the first civil nuclear power stations in the world has been sold for £6.5m (€7.6m, $8.4m) with the new owners planning to redevelop it as a “super cluster” for nuclear energy research, training and AI.

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) first agreed to sell its 40-acre (16-hectare) science park in Berkeley, southwest England, to Chiltern Vital Berkeley in January.

The park was set up in 2016 when SGS bought the redundant Berkeley nuclear power station site for £3m from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a public body responsible for cleaning up the UK’s legacy nuclear sites.

The college put the site up for sale in 2023, reportedly soon after a site visit from Great British Nuclear (GBN), the government body formed to oversee the deployment of new nuclear capacity in the UK.

Berkeley was previously home to two Magnox plants that began operation in 1962 and were shut down in 1988 and 1989. The site was saved from demolition in 2016, with its laboratory turned into a science and technology park by SGS.

The buyer, Chiltern Vital Berkeley, a wholly owned subsidiary of project development company Chiltern Vital Group, said it would seek to transform the site into the UK’s R&D centre of excellence for the next generation of small modular and micro reactor technology.

An onsite university technical college for around 400 students is not being sold as part of the agreement and will continue to operate, according to BBC News.

Today’s announcement follows the acquisition of a nearby site at Oldbury earlier this year by GBN which Chiltern Vital Group said would made its new Berkeley site well positioned to support the UK’s nuclear energy training needs.

Oldbury has two gas-cooled Magnox plants that were permanently shut down in 2011 and 2012.

Chris Turner, chief executive of Chiltern Vital Group, said: “I look forward to being involved in turning Berkeley/Oldbury into a low carbon supercluster over the next decade and supporting the positive impact that this project will have on the local, regional and national economy.”

SGS said the government would soon announce a technology provider to develop SMRs at the site.

New Nuclear ‘A Step Closer’

Chiltern Vital Group has already said it is supporting Rolls-Royce SMR in the selection of UK sites for the rollout of its SMRs and in the creation of long-term offtake agreements to support the financial viability of their deployment.

Chris Cholerton, Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce SMR, said: “Today’s announcement that CVG has completed the purchase of Berkeley Science and Technology Park brings the possibility of new nuclear at Berkeley a step closer.

“We continue to urge Great British Nuclear to complete their SMR selection process this year, which will unlock the immediate deployment of SMR units and the long-term opportunity at sites like Berkeley.”

The previous Conservative government announced in October 2023 that six companies’ designs for SMRs had been selected to progress in a government competition supporting the development of SMRs for greater energy security.

The government said at the time it hoped to announce in spring 2024 which of the six companies it will support, with contracts awarded by summer 2024.

That was before a July general election which saw a new Labour government take power.

The new UK Labour minister in charge of energy recently underlined his “absolute support” for the SMR programme.

Germany's Krümmel nuclear power plant has been given the regulatory go-ahead to move from post-operation to decommissioning, with dismantling work scheduled to take about 15 years.

The permit to begin the decommissioning and dismantling was issued by the head of the nuclear supervisory authority in Kiel, Andreas Wasielewski, to Ingo Neuhaus, managing director of Vattenfall's nuclear energy division in Germany, and Torsten Fricke, the head of the nuclear power plant.

Neuhaus said: "This is an important milestone on the way to the 'greenfield' site of the power plant. During the dismantling work, we can draw on the experience we gained at the Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant. We started dismantling there in 2019."

The Krümmel plant - comprising a single 1260 MWe boiling water reactor - is jointly owned by Vattenfall and EOn. The plant, operated by Vattenfall, was connected to the grid in 1983, but was out of service for several years. It suffered a transformer fire in 2007 and, following repairs, was restarted in June 2009 but taken offline again the following month due to a transformer fault.

Krümmel was one of eight older power reactors that had their operating licences withdrawn by the federal government shortly after the Fukushima accident in Japan in March 2011 as part of the political decision to phase out nuclear power in the country. Vattenfall submitted an application to decommission and dismantle the plant, in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, in 2015.

The total weight of the power plant to be dismantled is estimated at 540,000 tonnes and will cost around EUR1 billion (USD1.1 billion). The last fuel element was removed in 2017 and the last individual fuel rods in 2019. Around 99% of the radioactive inventory has already left the power plant.

The next phase of work will start with the reactor pressure vessel internals, which make up the vast majority of the remaining 1% of radioactive inventory. A consortium of specialist companies has put together a team to work on the reactor pressure vessel internals, starting towards the end of this year, with completion for that part of the work scheduled for 2027. Each part of the dismantling operation must be applied for individually.

Decommissioning and dismantling work is taking place at a number of Germany's nuclear power plants. Earlier this week the two cooling towers at the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant were demolished in a controlled explosion.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has awarded GBP30 million (USD39.1 million) to four-year projects to drive "new techniques to deliver safe, sustainable and cost-effective decommissioning".

Seven consortiums involving 60 organisations were involved in the successful bids for contracts covering three areas: supporting academic research to grow skills within the nuclear decommissioning sector; research into radioactive waste management and decommissioning techniques; and research relating to used fuel storage and disposal and plutonium and uranics strategy development.

The NDA Research Portfolio (NRP) competition is part of the UK government agency's annual GBP100 million investment in research and development.

Head of Research and Development at the NDA, Kate Canning, said: "It’s an exciting time for the nuclear industry and we believe the range of organisations involved in the frameworks will provide a diverse range of experience and knowledge to deliver innovative research supporting the delivery of the NDA mission."

Previous NRP research has included the development of a non-contact asbestos detection system utilising hyperspectral techniques.

A new heat exchanger set designed to meet projected increases in the temperature of Lake Michigan will be installed within the next 12 months to support the repowering of the Michigan plant.

Palisades draws its cooling water from the lake, but global warming means that the lake's bulk temperature - like the rest of the world's water reservoirs - has been increasing, and is expected to continue rising in the coming decades during its projected service life, Holtec said.

To meet the projected water temperature increase, the new unit needed to be more than twice as large in heat transfer surface area as the existing unit, but had to fit in the same space, which presented challenges for the system's developers.

"It was like asking to put two gallons of milk in a one-gallon carton," said Edward Bell, Director of Holtec's Heat Transfer Division.

The innovative design means the cooling system upgrade will require very little civil/structural work, which may reduce the project cost by more than 50% compared with the initial projection, the company said. The heat exchanger system is being manufactured at Holtec's fabrication plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Palisades was shut down in 2022, and was to be decommissioned. Holtec is now working to bring the 800 MWe pressurised water reactor back into service, aiming to repower it by the end of 2025. It would be the first nuclear power plant in the USA to return to commercial operations after being closed down, and current plans would see it provide baseload clean power until at least 2051.

China's State Council has approved five nuclear power projects - Xuwei Phase I, Lufeng Phase I, Zhaoyuan Phase I, San'ao Phase II and Bailong Phase I - with a total of 11 reactors.

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said Phase I of its Xuwei plant in Jiangsu project will be "the world's first to couple a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with a pressurised water reactor". The plant will mainly supply industrial heating in addition to electricity. The project plans to build two Hualong One pressurised water reactors and one high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. The project will be equipped with a steam heat exchange station, which will adopt the heat-to-electricity operation mode for the first time.

The desalinated water will be heated by the primary steam of the Hualong One units to prepare saturated steam, and the primary steam of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor will be used to heat the saturated steam for the second time.

"After completion, it will have both high-quality steam supply and power generation capabilities under the designed operating conditions," CNNC said. "After the project is completed and put into operation, it will supply 32.5 million tonnes of industrial steam annually, with a maximum power generation of more than 11.5 billion kilowatt-hours, which can reduce the use of standard coal by 7.26 million tonnes and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 19.6 million tonnes each year.

China General Nuclear (CGN) controlled companies have received approval to construct two Hualong One reactors as units 1 and 2 of the Zhaoyuan plant in Shandong province; two CAP1000 reactors as units 1 and 2 of the Lufeng plant in Guangdong province; and two Hualong Ones as units 3 and 4 of the San'ao plant in Zhejiang province. The company noted that Zhaoyuan Phase I "is the group's first nuclear power project in Shandong and its tenth nuclear power base".

"Currently, the company is carrying out various preparatory work for the construction of the above-mentioned units in an orderly manner, the full construction of which will begin when the Permit for Nuclear Power Station Construction has been obtained from the National Nuclear Safety Administration," CGN said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In addition, State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) has been given approval for the construction of two CAP1000 pressurised water reactors as the first phase of the Bailong nuclear power plant. An investment of about CNY40 billion (USD5.6 billion) is planned for the two units, which are expected to take 56 months to construct. The company noted it is the first nuclear power plant developed by SPIC in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Four CAP1400 reactors are also planned to be built at the site in later phases.

From 2019 to 2023, the number of new reactors approved in China was six, four, five, 10 and 10 respectively, "showing an overall positive, safe and orderly development momentum", state-run China Energy News reported.

At its 19 August meeting, the State Council said that safety is the "lifeline" of nuclear power development. "We must continuously improve the level of nuclear power safety technology and risk prevention capabilities, strengthen safety supervision throughout the entire chain and in all areas, ensure that nuclear power is absolutely safe, and promote the long-term and healthy development of the industry," it said.

According to World Nuclear Association figures, China currently has 56 operable reactors with a total capacity of 54.3 GW. A further 30 reactors, with a total capacity of 32.5 GW, are under construction.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted two low-level regulatory violations during a recent inspection of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, which is currently undergoing decommissioning in Southern California. The violations involved the shipment of two reactor pressurizers from San Onfre to EnergySolutions’s disposal facility in Clive, Utah.

The NRC assigned the violations as Severity Level IV, the lowest severity level for violations of minor significance. Because of the nature of the violations, plant owner Southern California Edison (SCE) was not cited for the incident.

According to the NRC’s August 9 inspection report, other than the two violations, SCE and its decommissioning contractor, SONGS Decommissioning Solutions (SDS), were “found to be conducting activities in accordance with site procedures, license requirements, and applicable NRC regulations.” The NRC’s routine on-site inspection was conducted June 24–27, and the inspection report was made public on August 16.

What happened: According to the NRC inspection report, the rail transport carrying the pressurizers, which were being shipped to Clive as Class A waste, made a temporary stop at a rail yard in San Bernadino, Calif. On July 1, SCE was notified that the Unit 2 pressurizer was observed to be leaking liquid while at the rail yard. The leak was later determined to be reactor coolant system liquid containing low levels of radioactive cobalt-60 and cesium-137.

The Orange County Register reported on August 15 that radiological surveys found no detectable radioactivity above background levels on or around the transport package. The package was reported to have leaked about one drop every two minutes. After being detected, the leak was stopped and sealed, and the deck of the railcar was cleaned.

The pressurizers were returned to San Onofre, where it was discovered that the Unit 2 pressurizer contained about 190 gallons of reactor coolant system liquid.

The violations: According to the NRC, San Onofre failed to meet Department of Transportation requirements by shipping a package that was not properly closed and sealed to prevent the release of radioactive content.

In addition, the pressurizers were mistakenly shipped as “surface contaminated object” packages. Because the Unit 2 pressurizer contained internal liquid, it did not meet the definition of “surface contaminated object.” SCE and SDS also failed to properly drain the pressurizer to ensure no liquid remained in the component.

“Since the licensee placed the deficiency into its corrective action program and the safety significance of the issue was determined to be low, and because the violation was not willful or repetitive; these violations were treated as non-cited violations,” the NRC report states.

Newly released nuclear power data for 2023 collected by the IAEA, paint a picture of a clean energy technology at a crossroads amid the emergence of a new global consensus to accelerate its deployment.

Electricity production from nuclear power rose by 2.6 per cent last year compared to 2022, according to the operating data provided by IAEA Member States to the Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) — the IAEA’s comprehensive and publicly available database on nuclear power. Nuclear power continued to generate almost 10 percent of the world’s electricity and a quarter of all low carbon electricity last year, according to the data, which are featured in two newly released annual IAEA publications: Nuclear Power Reactors in the World (RDS-2) and Operating Experience with Nuclear Power Stations in Member States (OPEX).

The USA remained the world’s top producer of nuclear electricity, followed by China and France. China continued to lead in newbuilds, beginning construction on five reactors. Newcomer Egypt started building its second reactor, according to the data, which showed the global fleet operating at nearly full strength with a median capacity factor of 88 per cent. While new grid connections were made at nuclear power plants in Belarus, China, Republic of Korea, Slovakia and the United States of America, reactors were shut down in Belgium, China and Germany.

The 2023 data come against the backdrop of growing global ambitions for nuclear technology amid an aging reactor fleet. More than two-thirds of reactors are at least 30 years old. In December 2023, in the historic first Global Stocktake at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, the 198 signatory countries to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change called for accelerating the deployment of low-emission energy technologies including nuclear power for deep and rapid decarbonization, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors such as industry. In addition, more than 20 countries at COP28 pledged to work towards tripling global nuclear power capacity to reach net zero by 2050.

“IAEA data shows the global fleet of nuclear reactors continues to be a large and indispensable source of low-carbon electricity,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. “But it’s also clear that we will need to extend the lives of existing reactors, replace retiring facilities with new ones, and add a lot of new capacity so that global climate change and energy security goals can be reached.”

As of the end of December 2023, global operational nuclear power capacity was 371.5 GW(e), provided by 413 reactors in 31 countries. However, only 403 reactors, with a combined capacity of 364.5 GW(e), reported their electricity production to the IAEA. Twenty-five reactors remained in suspended operations throughout the year, despite being licenced for operation. This includes four reactors in India with a combined net capacity of 639 MW(e) and 21 reactors in Japan with a combined net capacity of around 21 000 MW(e). Japan restarted two reactors in 2023, Takahama-1 and Takahama-2, which had been in suspended operation since 2011.

Nuclear power capacity has remained at a consistent level over the past decade, with an additional 69.8 GW(e) nuclear capacity connected to the grid since the beginning of 2013. Over 79 per cent of this capacity growth occurred in Asia. China is still the fastest expanding nuclear power producer of the world, the reports on nuclear power reactors and operating experience show.

China currently has 56 nuclear power reactors in operation and a further 27 reactors currently under construction.

Background

The annual OPEX report underscores the IAEA's long-standing commitment as the custodian of the only officially collected and maintained data relating to nuclear power operating experience. As in previous years, the 55th edition of the report includes annual performance data, outage information, and statistical information on electricity production and the overall performance of individual nuclear power plants that were operational in 2023.

Nuclear Power Reactors in the World (RDS-2) is one of the IAEA’s most popular annual publications. It contains a summary of recent specification and performance data on nuclear reactors in IAEA Member States and technical data on reactors that are either planned, under construction, operational or that were shut down or decommissioned.

Both publications are entirely based on data submitted to IAEA by officially nominated national data providers and maintained in the Power Reactor Information System (PRIS), the world’s only authoritative and most comprehensive database on nuclear power.

Information and data received by the IAEA through 21 June 2024 are included in the 2023 highlights and in the OPEX and RDS-2 publications. Any modifications received at a later date, although not included in these publications, are available in the PRIS Statistics (PRISTA) online application.

With the groundbreaking for its first nuclear joint venture project expected within the next two months, India’s largest power company has confirmed it intends to set up a nuclear power subsidiary and is actively looking for locations for plants.

NTPC Chairman and Managing Director, Gurdeep Singh told a meeting for analysts and investors at the end of July that India's largest power utility sees nuclear capacity - including small modular reactors (SMRs) - as central to its plans. He said nuclear energy developments were the "most important" of two major developments announced in the budget presented to the Indian Parliament by Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman earlier in July (the other being advanced ultra-supercritical thermal power generation, in which state-owned NTPC is also involved as a joint venture partner).

"We had been working on the nuclear," Singh said. "Our first nuclear power project in Mahi Banswara in Rajasthan is likely to take the activities of groundbreaking in next two months. That is, as you know, that is joint venture with NPCIL. NPCIL is the lead partner; 51(%), we are 49(%).

"But I'm happy to share with all of you that we have already decided to make NTPC Nuclear Power Company, which will be a 100% subsidiary of NTPC. And we are looking forward for different sites in different states."

That search includes Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Karnataka, Singh said in answer to questions. Any site would need Atomic Energy Regulatory Board approval.

NTPC already has a team in place and "would like to repeat the same kind of success story" it had experienced with coal or thermal power stations, he said, adding that the capacity involved will be in the "tens of" gigawatts.

Referring to the plans outlined in the Indian budget to partner with the private sector to set up a company called Bharat Small Reactors, Singh said SMRs provide a "bigger and wider scope" in which NTPC plans to be involved.

"But at this stage you can just take it for granted that already things have started happening. It has taken some time. But now, the things are in place," he said.

Under Indian legislation, only two companies - Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI, set up to build and operate fast reactors) - are legally allowed to own and operate nuclear power plants in India, but a 2016 amendment to the 1962 Atomic Energy Act allows public sector joint ventures.

State-owned NTPC - short for National Thermal Power Corporation - agreed with NPCIL to form a joint venture for nuclear power plant construction as long ago as 2011, and last year signed a supplementary joint venture agreement for the development of six 700 MWe Indian-designed pressurised heavy water (PHWR) reactors including the four earmarked for construction at Mahi Banswara. These units are amongst a list of ten PHWRs already accorded administrative approval and financial sanction to be built in "fleet mode".

TerraPower has announced its selection of industry experts Sargent & Lundy to design the Kemmerer Training Center for its Natrium reactor demonstration project in Wyoming.

Sargent & Lundy will begin design work immediately, with the hope of completing construction on the training center in the fall of 2025. The 30,000-square-foot training center in Kemmerer, Wyo., will host all Natrium operation training activities for both the demonstration project and future plants.

The center will also house the Natrium training simulator, training classrooms, an auditorium, laboratories for electrical and instrumentation & control, mechanical and scientific laboratories, and more. It will also support all operator-accredited programs.

Quotable: “When we announced Kemmerer as the location for the first Natrium plant, we promised long-term, high-paying jobs to the community. I am excited that not only will the Natrium project bring permanent positions to operate Kemmerer Unit 1 but that TerraPower will continue to bring future Natrium operators from around the country to this cutting-edge training facility,” said TerraPower president and chief executive Chris Levesque in an August 15 press release. “Sargent & Lundy has over 100 years of expertise in creating high-tech facilities, and I know they’ll design a world-class training center at our site in Wyoming.”

A closer look: Sargent & Lundy is a global leader in full-service architect engineering design for the power industry, with nuclear power leadership dating as far back as the 1950s, when the company designed the world’s first boiling water reactor installation at Argonne National Laboratory.

The firm has designed more than 30 nuclear units and continues to engage heavily in the nuclear power industry by supporting the operating fleet as well as advanced reactor projects. It aims to build cutting-edge facilities to support the training and development of Kemmerer Power Station control room operators and staff.

About TerraPower: The company broke ground in June at the site of its planned Natrium reactor demonstration project in Wyoming, though license approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still being reviewed.

Natrium is a first-of-its-kind commercial advanced reactor that will use liquid sodium instead of water as a coolant. According to TerraPower, the reactor features improved fuel utilization, enhanced safety features, and a streamlined plant layout that will require fewer overall materials to construct.

Kemmerer Unit 1 would operate as a 345-MW sodium-cooled reactor in conjunction with molten salt–based energy storage. The plant’s storage technology would enable boosting of the system’s output to 500 MWe—enough energy to power 400,000 homes—for more than five-and-a-half hours when needed to meet additional demand.

TerraPower plans to expand rapidly across the country, installing several more Natrium facilities to meet growing energy demand with clean, reliable nuclear power and energy storage.

Global nuclear electricity generation increased in 2023, despite a 1 GWe drop in overall capacity, to 392 GWe, of operable nuclear power plants, according to a new report from World Nuclear Association. Average capacity factors also rose during the year.

The latest annual World Nuclear Performance Report - the ninth in the series - says nuclear generation supplied more than 2600 TWh last year, up 58 TWh from 2022, and accounted for 9% of the world's electricity production. This increase was partly due to the return to service of French reactors after extended outages, contributing an additional 42 TWh.

The average capacity factor of nuclear reactors increased by 1%, reaching 81.5% in 2023, "highlighting the reliability delivered by nuclear energy to the grid", the report notes. Nuclear reactors have consistently achieved more than 80% capacity factors for the past 20 years. Reactor performance remains high regardless of age.

"The increase in generation, despite a drop in capacity, highlights the excellent performance and value delivered by nuclear energy to the grid," World Nuclear Association said.

Nuclear reactors helped avoid 2.1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2023 from equivalent coal generation - "that's more than the annual emissions of almost every individual country, with only China, India, and the USA having higher national CO2 emissions", the report notes.

There were 437 reactors in operation at the end of 2023 - the same as at the end of 2022 - with five reactors shutting down (Belgium's Tihange 2, Taiwan's Kuosheng 2 and Germany's Emsland, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2) and five being connected to the grid (China's Fangchenggang 3, Slovakia's Mochovce 3, USA's Vogtle 3, Belarus's Ostrovets 2 and South Korea's Shin-Hanul 2) during the year.

Six new construction projects started in 2023, five of which were in China (Sanmen 4, Haiyang 4, Lufeng 6, Lianjiang 1 and Xudabao 1) and the other in Egypt (El Dabaa 3). Of the total 64 reactors currently under construction, more than two-thirds are in Asia, with 30 reactors under construction in China alone. Eastern Europe and Russia are second to Asia in terms of the number of units under construction.

At the COP28 climate change conference in Dubai in December 2023, nuclear energy received high-level recognition for the first time. Leaders from 25 governments signed a ministerial declaration committing to the tripling of global nuclear energy capacity to achieve net-zero by 2050.

"The World Nuclear Performance Report 2023 data and case studies illustrate the work being done to improve operational performance and make the most of the current nuclear fleet," said World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León.

"At the same time, a significant increase in new nuclear construction is necessary if the tripling goal is to be achieved. This level of construction depends on the nuclear industry rising above the financing, supply chain and regulatory challenges faced by new projects, particularly in the Western world."

She added: "The global nuclear reactor fleet has a proven track record of excellent performance. It is now time to build on that track record and significantly accelerate the pace of new nuclear construction.

"The industry is set for a major expansion, and we can expect more governments and companies to sign the declaration to triple global nuclear energy capacity. Additionally, we anticipate increased collaboration with other industries. Now is the time for the nuclear industry to capitalise on this momentum and deliver the full potential of nuclear energy for people and planet."

Mohamed Al Hammadi, Managing Director of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation and Chair of World Nuclear Association, said: "The Performance Report is the authoritative stock-take for the performance of over 439 reactors that form the global fleet. With both nuclear energy generation and capacity factor rising in 2023, it is clear that nuclear energy is a proven, reliable and substantial generator of clean electricity for 36 countries today. With many more reactors under development and a further 64 under construction, we look forward to this growth to continue as part of the momentum to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050 to not only meet net-zero targets and boost national energy security, but to satisfy the huge wave of demand coming from energy intensive industries such as AI, data centers and electric vehicles.

"Now, further optimising the performance of reactors, extending the safe, reliable, and long-term operation of all units, as well as deploying new units are crucial steps in the re-emergence of civil nuclear energy in the race to net-zero power."

The report features three case studies including: the planned restart of the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan, which was shut down in May 2022 after more than 50 years of operation; the planned long-term operation of South Korean reactors; and a power uprate at unit 3 of the Czech Republic's Dukovany plant.

Federal regulators began an investigation this week at the Donald C. Cook nuclear plant around the circumstances of multiple diesel generator failures. The facility continues to operate safely.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission determined that a special inspection is necessary to evaluate the reliability of diesel generators after they failed four times in two years. The Cook plant is located on the shores of Lake Michigan in Bridgman, Mich., and is operated by Indiana Michigan Power.

Emergency diesel generators are critical for plant safety, as the units are designed to provide backup power to safety equipment when power from the electrical grid is not available. Following each emergency diesel generator failure, NRC inspectors verified that the plant performed prompt repairs.

What’s next: A three-person special inspection team with expertise in electrical and mechanical engineering and plant systems will identify the failure timelines, review the plant’s troubleshooting and corrective actions, assess maintenance practices, and evaluate the plant’s ability to effectively identify and resolve issues of concern.

The inspection will “take as long as necessary,” NRC spokesperson Prema Chandrathil told Moody on the Market on Monday.

Once complete, results of the special inspection will be made public.

Rosatom, has shipped the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) and one of the four steam generators for Xudabu-4 nuclear power plant being built in Liaoning province in northeast China.

Construction of Xudabu-4 (also written in English as Xudabao and Xudapu) started in May 2022.

The plant will be a conventional pressurised water reactor unit using the Russian VVER-1200 technology.

The RPV is one of the largest reactor components at a nuclear plant. It is a vessel containing the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core and fuel.

The steam generators act as heat exchangers where water carrying heat generated from the nuclear reaction is used to turn demineralised water into steam for the plant turbines.

The Xudabu project was originally expected to comprise of six CAP1000 plants, with Units 1 and 2 in the first phase.

Site preparation began in November 2010, but plans changed with the construction of two VVER-1200 reactors for Units 3 and 4.

International Atomic Energy Agency data shows four units are currently under construction at Xudabu – Units 1 and 2 are CAP1000s, and Units 3 and 4 are VVER-1200s.

Global Atomic has received a letter from the government of Niger in which president Tiani and the Council of ministers confirm support for the company and development of its Dasa uranium project.

The Canada-based company said it continues to develop the Dasa Project and expects to be bringing the mine and the processing plant into production at the end of 2025 for delivery of yellowcake to utilities in the US and other countries in early 2026.

Global Atomic president and chief executive officer Stephen Roman said the letter confirms strong support from the government of Niger for the Dasa project and the company’s progress in its development to date.

Roman said the letter confirms Dasa is considered a strategic investment for Niger.

“The letter highlights that we have always complied with Niger’s regulations,” Roman said.

“The mines minister, during his site visit in May 2024, witnessed our commitment to predominately populate our local management and operating staff from Niger’s workforce and prioritise Niger companies for the supply of goods and services, where practical.

“We are pleased to see that the government recognises not only the socio-economic benefits that accrue to Niger from Dasa, but also the excellent ESG work we have been doing since 2008.”

The Dasa project lies within the Adrar Emoles III licence area, 105 km south of the established uranium mining town of Arlit. Bank Postpones Dasa Presentation

It emerged recently that a US development bank postponed a scheduled July presentation about the Dasa project to its credit committee, with the company saying it will move to “finalise other financing discussions” if there are further delays.

Global Atomic said the unnamed development bank was moving a planned debt financing facility, previously reported to ben CAD295m ($215m, €195m), through its approval process.

The bank postponed its scheduled July presentation of the project to its credit committee, but Roman said the company remains confident that the bank will eventually approve the project.

In June, Niger’s ruling military junta, which came to power following a coup in July 2023, revoked the operating licence of French company Orano at the Imouraren mine, which sits on one of the biggest uranium deposits in the world.

Last month Canada-based GoviEx Uranium said the junta had withdrawn its licence for the Madaouela uranium mine, dealing a major blow to the development of one of the world’s largest uranium projects.

The reactor pressure vessel for unit 2 of the San'ao nuclear power plant in China's Zhejiang province has been installed within the reactor building, CGN Cangnan Nuclear Power announced.

The vessel - manufactured by Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Equipment Company Limited - departed from Shanghai on 30 July and arrived at the San'ao site on 2 August after four days of sea transportation. Following two days of channel clearing and other preparatory work, unloading and hoisting work was carried out at the quay on 4 August.

"On 17 August, after unpacking inspection, on-site transportation, hoisting to the 17.5-metre platform, internal inspection of the container, flipping and translation, the reactor pressure vessel of unit 2 of the San'ao Nuclear Power Project was successfully put in place," CGN said. "The whole process took 14 days, marking that the installation of the main equipment of unit 2 has entered a new stage and laid a solid foundation for subsequent main pipeline welding, main pump installation and other work."

CGN describes the reactor pressure vessel - weighing about 300 tonnes - as the "heart" of a nuclear power plant. The pressure vessel is mainly responsible for fixing and supporting the internal components of the reactor, ensuring that the fuel assemblies are supported and positioned in the core at a certain distance, and limiting the nuclear reaction inside it.

San'ao 2 is the second of six Chinese-designed HPR1000 (Hualong One) pressurised water reactors planned at the site.

In May 2015, the National Energy Administration approved the project to carry out site protection and related demonstration work at San'ao. On 2 September 2020, the executive meeting of the State Council approved the construction of units 1 and 2 as the first phase of the plant. China's National Nuclear Safety Administration issued a construction permit for the two units on 30 December that year and first concrete for unit 1 was poured the following day. The first concrete for San'ao 2 was poured on 30 December 2021.

San'ao 1 and 2 are scheduled to begin supplying electricity in 2026 and 2027, respectively.

The San'ao plant is the first nuclear power project in China's Yangtze River Delta region to adopt the Hualong One reactor design.

The San'ao project marks the first Chinese nuclear power project involving private capital, with Geely Technology Group taking a 2% stake in the plant. China General Nuclear (CGN) holds 46% of the shares of the project company Cangnan Nuclear Power, with other state-owned enterprises holding the remainder.

Deliveries of natural uranium and other nuclear services to the EU, including imports from Russia, increased in 2023 as utilities continued to diversify their sources of nuclear fuel. But there are still supply chain challenges to face, according to the latest annual report from the Euratom Supply Agency (ESA).

The 2023 report shows significant progress in the security of supply for VVER reactors for most countries, ESA Director-General Michael Hübel said in his foreword. It also shows important challenges ahead, notably in relation to diversification in conversion and enrichment services. Inventory levels of nuclear materials have risen, but the supply of medical radioisotopes remains a concern mainly due to reliance on foreign supplies of their source materials, particularly from Russia.

Nuclear power accounted for around 23% of the EU’s total electricity generation in 2023, and the bloc's demand for natural uranium accounts for about 22% of global needs.

Deliveries of natural uranium and other nuclear services increased in 2023, with the majority of natural uranium delivered to EU utilities coming from Canada, Russia, Kazakhstan and Niger. Canada was the leading supplier at 4801 tU, accounting for nearly 33% of 2023 deliveries, up over 86% on 2022.

Russia was the second largest supplier to EU utilities, supplying 3419 tU - just over 23% of total deliveries and nearly 73% higher year-on-year. But this increase should not be read as an indication of a trend or heightened EU dependency on Russian supplies, the Agency said. Since 2022 "almost all" EU operators of Russian-designed VVER nuclear reactors have been working to diversify their fuel supply, it said, and some utilities operating VVERs have been building stockpiles of fresh fuel to cover the period until alternative fuels - including related plant adaptations - are completed and licensed.

Securing supplies

The ESA said it has "long recommended" that EU utilities maintain sufficient strategic inventories and use market opportunities to increase their stocks, and it noted that the overall EU inventory level increased by 5.45% in 2023. "All utilities have nuclear material in their inventory to cover between one to more than three reloads each, with the vast majority covered for more than two reloads. More than 60% of the inventory is kept in the form of enriched uranium or fresh fuel … The ESA considers that most utilities’ inventories remain at a healthy level," the report notes.

But further efforts are needed by "interested Member States" to develop reliable supply chains to meet the growing demand for nuclear and new nuclear technologies to achieve climate goals while maintaining energy sovereignty, it says. The Euratom community "would benefit from a coordinated approach to strategic stockpiling for emergency situations", to ensure a coordinated response to supply chain disruptions and minimise the impact on EU utilities and users.

It also calls for "clear political and policy decisions" at both EU and Member State level both to support industry investment in vulnerable areas of the supply chain, particularly for conversion and enrichment capacities, and to tackle future HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) supply vulnerabilities, as well as a coordinated approach to streamline the licensing process for innovative reactor fuels designs.

Hübel said: "For the second year, ESA had to mobilise and concentrate our resources on crisis management. The arrival of new market actors and the emergence of new technologies means that new supply chains will be developed. In the coming years, ESA will have to be prepared to support a range of new partners, handle an increasing number of transactions and be able to analyse and report on market developments in a more dynamic way."

The ESA's mission is to maintain regular and equitable supply of nuclear materials for all users in the European Atomic Energy Community, with the security of supply of nuclear materials, particularly nuclear fuel, for power and non-power uses, by means of a common supply policy, as its strategic objective.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi warns that the nuclear safety situation is deteriorating after a drone strike on a road near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's perimeter.

The IAEA team stationed at the Zaporizhzhia plant (ZNPP) was informed on Saturday that an explosive carried by a drone detonated just outside the plant's protected area, close to the cooling water sprinkler ponds and about 100 metres from the Dniprovska power line, which is the only remaining 750 kilovolt line providing external power supply to ZNPP.

"The team immediately visited the area (see picture above) and reported that the damage seemed to have been caused by a drone equipped with an explosive payload. There were no casualties and no impact on any NPP equipment. However, there was impact to the road between the two main gates of ZNPP," the IAEA update said.

There has also been "intense" military activity close to the plant over the past week, the IAEA team reports. Recent days have seen a fire in one of the cooling towers and damage to a power and water substation in nearby Energodar, where many of the nuclear power plant workers and their families live.

Grossi said: "Yet again we see an escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers ... I remain extremely concerned and reiterate my call for maximum restraint from all sides and for strict observance of the five concrete principles established for the protection of the plant."

He added: "Nuclear power plants are designed to be resilient against technical or human failures and external events including extreme ones, but they are not built to withstand a direct military attack, and neither are they supposed to, just as with any other energy facility in the world. This latest attack highlights the vulnerability of such facilities in conflict zones and the need to continue monitoring the fragile situation."

The six-unit ZNPP, Europe's largest, has been under Russian military control since early March 2022. It is close to the frontline between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Kursk nuclear power plant

Grossi reported that he had held talks at the weekend about the safety and security situation at Zaporizhzhia and also "recent events in the territory of the Russian Federation, including the proximity of military action to an important and operating nuclear power plant".

The Director General of Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, said that during talks with Grossi he had invited the IAEA's head to visit the Kursk nuclear power plant. The IAEA statement said "Director General Grossi has expressed his readiness to assess the situation, including by making a visit to the plant".

Ukraine and Russia each accuse the other side of putting nuclear safety at risk and breaching the IAEA's central safety principles for nuclear facilities. Grossi explained at the United Nations in April that the IAEA would not attribute blame without "indisputable proof" and said the agency aims to "keep the information as accurate as we can and we do not trade into speculating".

In a first for the USA, the country's nuclear regulator has approved an increase in the burnup limit for Westinghouse's Encore accident tolerant fuel design, paving the way for longer and more economic fuel cycles.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval means that for the first time, nuclear fuel batch reloads in the USA will be able to exceed a burnup limit of 62 gigawatt days per metric tonne of uranium.

Burnup is a measure of the thermal energy released by nuclear fuel relative to its mass - how much uranium is "burned" - or consumed - before the fuel is removed from a reactor when it can no longer economically keep a chain reaction going. Pressurised water reactors in the USA currently operate on 18-month fuel cycles. Higher burnups mean that fuel can stay inside the reactor for longer, which can lead to more economic operation.

"We are very pleased to receive approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for incremental burnup in our nuclear fuel," Westinghouse President of Nuclear Fuel Tarik Choho said. "This milestone marks the start of production of nuclear fuel with increased capacity for pressurised water reactors, vastly improving fuel costs for US utility customers."

Westinghouse is one of three US nuclear fuel suppliers working with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop new accident tolerant fuels - or ATFs - for US reactors. ATFs use new fuel and cladding mixtures that could help improve the overall economics and performance of today’s reactors as well as allowing for longer response times at high temperatures in severe, beyond design basis, accident situations.

The initial phase of Westinghouse's EnCore programme focuses on chromium coated cladding (fuel rods) loaded with ADOPT (Advanced Doped Pellet Technology) fuel pellets coupled with higher enrichment and higher burnup.

Earlier this month, the company announced the production of its first fuel pellets containing higher enrichment levels than the 3-5% enrichment currently used in fuel for commercial reactors. LEU+ ADOPT pellets containing up to 8% by weight uranium-235 were pressed at the company's Springfields fuel manufacturing facility in the UK using a higher enriched uranium oxide powder prepared by DOE's Idaho National Laboratory, and will be fabricated into lead test assemblies to be shipped back to the USA for irradiation testing at unit 2 of Southern Nuclear's Vogtle plant in Georgia next year.

The two 143-metre-tall cooling towers of the shut down single-unit Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power plant in Germany have been demolished in a controlled explosion.

PreussenElektra - which is responsible for the decommissioning of eight nuclear power plants in Germany - announced that the cooling towers were "successfully and safely demolished" at 7.55pm on 16 August.

The blasting had been planned for 5.30pm but was delayed after a 36-year-old pro-nuclear protester scaled an electricity pylon near the towers in protest at their demolition.

A total of 1340 electronic detonators and 260 kilograms of explosives were used to bring down the two towers, PreussenElektra said.

The blasting resulted in around 55,000 tonnes of rubble, mainly concrete. The concrete rubble will first be processed and a large part of it - about two-thirds - will be used to fill one of the two cooling tower bases. This area will later be used as a storage area for materials from the dismantling of the Grafenrheinfeld plant. The remainder of the concrete rubble as well as plastics and metals will be recycled.

In order to ensure safe demolition, the Grafenrheinfeld plant (KKG) project team began the complex planning and preparation work almost two years ago.

Grafenrheinfeld plant manager Bernd Kaiser said: "My thanks today go especially to the demolition expert Ulrike Matthes and her team from the Thuringian Explosives Company, as well as to everyone involved in the KKG, especially the project manager Matthias Aron. A big thank you also goes to all the emergency services, the police, the Schweinfurt district office, the surrounding communities and all the other authorities involved, with whom we have worked very constructively in recent weeks and months."

"With today's demolition, we have changed the well-known silhouette of Grafenrheinfeld forever and created space for something new," said PreussenElektra CEO Guido Knott. "In parallel with the well-progressing dismantling of the plant, we are already working on a sensible and value-adding development of the site. Together with our partners and local stakeholders, we want to promote ideas primarily in the field of energy generation and storage that will benefit our employees and the region."

The 1275 MWe (net) pressurised water reactor achieved first criticality in December 1981 and was connected to the grid in the same month. It entered commercial operation in June 1982.

In August 2011, the 13th amendment of the Nuclear Power Act came into effect, which underlined the political will to phase out nuclear power in Germany. As a result, eight units were closed down immediately: EnBW’s Phillipsburg 1 and Neckarwestheim 1; EOn's Isar 1 and Unterweser; RWE's Biblis A and B and Vattenfall's Brunsbüttel and Krümmel. As part of the 13th amendment to Germany's Nuclear Power Act, Grafenrheinfeld lost its authorisation for power operation and was finally shut down on 27 June 2015.

PreussenElektra applied for the decommissioning and first dismantling permit in 2014 and received it in 2018. In this first approval procedure, the company described in detail the concept for the entire dismantling of the system and the measures planned for this. PreussenElektra split the application for the individual dismantling scopes into two steps. The dismantling of the plant began in April 2018 with the granting of the decommissioning and dismantling permit. The second dismantling permit, which was granted in December 2022, for which the application was submitted in December 2019, includes the dismantling of the reactor pressure vessel and the biological shield surrounding it.

PreussenElektra has posted a video of the demolition on its YouTube channel.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Centre of Excellence for Safeguards and Non-Proliferation has been launched at uranium enrichment services provider Urenco's Capenhurst site in the UK. The centre will be fully operational in 2025.

The centre, which is a Urenco facility, will establish a nuclear non-proliferation testing and training base for the benefit of IAEA safeguards and the international non-proliferation system. This will enable the development and testing of nuclear verification technologies, as well as the training of practitioners.

The project, which is the only facility of its kind globally, is a collaboration between the IAEA and Urenco's owners - the governments of the UK, the Netherlands and Germany - and the US government. It sees the repurposing of a decommissioned gas centrifuge enrichment plant brought back into active service for this unique safeguarding purpose.

The centre will help the IAEA enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of safeguards implementation at gas centrifuge enrichment facilities. IAEA safeguards are an essential component of the international nuclear non-proliferation system, and the centre will support the IAEA in its efforts to independently verify the peaceful use of such facilities.

An event was held at the Capenhurst site to mark the launch of the centre attended by representatives from the IAEA and the UK, Dutch, German and US governments.

"We are very proud to be able to contribute and collaborate with this international community to help grow expertise in nuclear safeguards by building a dedicated facility at our UK site," said Urenco CEO Boris Schucht. "We will continue to use our expertise and technologies to support non-proliferation and the safeguarding of civil nuclear operations."

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi added: "Staying ahead of technology advances is a crucial part of the IAEA's work as the world's nuclear watchdog. The Centre of Excellence for Safeguards and Non-Proliferation at Capenhurst will strengthen IAEA safeguards inspectors' training and enhance the research and development of safeguards equipment and techniques.

"I would like to commend the governments of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the executive team at Urenco for their understanding of the always-evolving demands of safeguards and nuclear non-proliferation, and their leadership in turning this facility from an idea into a valuable hands-on tool in the pursuit of international peace and security."

Urenco operates plants in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA using its own centrifuge technology to enrich uranium for the use as a nuclear fuel for civil power generation.

The lower section of the reactor vessel of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor has been removed and transferred to a cask for eventual shipment and disposal. The reactor was an isotope production and irradiation facility from 1958 and was permanently shut down in July 1987.

UCOR - a partnership of Amentum, Jacobs, and Honeywell, working under contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management - removed the top portion of the 32-foot (9.8-metre) tall reactor vessel in November last year.

Since then, workers have focused on filtering and draining the reactor pool water to reach irradiated materials and prepare for the lower reactor vessel removal. Rigorous safety measures were in place due to high radiation dose rates, and those rates increased as thousands of gallons of pool water were pumped into tanks outside the facility, lowering the buffer between the radioactive materials and workers.

Workers removed 127,000 gallons (480 cubic metres) of water and sediment to reach the lower portion of the reactor vessel, which sat on the pool floor. They also took out the lead brick shielding in the basement that surrounded the pool. Twenty crew members loaded 157,000 contaminated bricks into containers.

Workers have now used a 72-inch (1.8-metre) diamond wire saw to cut the final pieces that held the lower reactor vessel in place at the bottom of the reactor pool. They used a 20-tonne overhead crane to lift that equipment and load it into a 32,000-pound (14.5-tonne) protective cask to ship it for disposal offsite.

DOE noted that removing the vessel was the first step before preparing the remainder of the facility, also known as Building 3042, for its upcoming demolition.

"Removing the reactor vessel from the Oak Ridge Research Reactor facility has been an incredibly complex task," said Jim Daffron, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) portfolio project director. "Through an immense amount of planning and careful execution, workers were successful and completed the work safely."

Steven Reed, UCOR Oak Ridge Research Reactor project manager, added: "We faced various challenges throughout the pool reactor remediation and cleanup process with our key partner, Energy Solutions, who provided their knowledge and expertise in collaboration, helping us resolve critical issues quickly and safely."

The next steps involved in preparing the reactor for demolition consist of isolating and deactivating 6000 feet (1830 metres) of piping. Workers will also finish draining the pool water and encapsulating the 25-foot (7.6-metre) deep pool with a fixative to reduce contamination migration during demolition.

ORNL was established in 1943 - when it was known as Clinton Laboratories - to conduct pilot-scale production and separation of plutonium for the World War II Manhattan Project. It was also highly involved in reactor design and isotope research and production. The DOE Office of Environmental Management is responsible for cleanup activities related to the historic operations at ORNL, including 16 inactive research reactors and isotope facilities.

A Ministerial Determination for the procurement of 2500 MWe of new nuclear capacity has been withdrawn to allow for further public consultation after legal challenges to the procedure for seeking public comments.

The determination was reached in 2020 but was formally gazetted in January this year, clearing the way for procurement activities to begin. But Minister of Energy and Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told a media briefing that the determination, and National Energy Regulator of South Africa's concurrence of the process, had come under legal pressure on the grounds that public comments had not been sought and the procedure had not been fair.

"I have taken the decision…to withdraw the gazette to allow for that public participation to happen," Ramokgopa said.

The minister emphasised that nuclear remains part of the government's plans for energy security, but added that it is "happy" to delay the process "to allow for each and every party in the country that wants to add a voice in how we are going to procure this process … to be given the opportunity to be able to make that submission".

"So it will add another three to six months in the process. We are happy to do that for as long as we protect the integrity of the process; for as long as we cement the transparency of the process so that there’s general public confidence in the work that we are doing," Ramokgopa said.

"Nuclear is part of the mix. Nuclear is part of the future but it’s important that as we go out…the procurement process must be able to stand the test of time. In this instance, it’s the ability to be able to subject itself to scrutiny," he added.

“Let’s go back to that process; accord the public an opportunity to scrutinise, respond and then on the basis of that [National Energy Regulator of South Africa] can make a determination on concurrence. Once we receive that, we’ll issue the gazette and ensure that we procure."

The Democratic Alliance political party was one of the groups that had begun legal action challenging the determination, with a court hearing scheduled for 15 October. "We view this withdrawal as a significant step in ensuring that public voices are considered in decisions of this magnitude. It represents an important win for the rule of law and the principles of transparency," it said today.

The South African government is in the process of updating its Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) setting out how it will seek to ensure security of electricity supply. The previous IRP, published in 2019, recognised the need to retain nuclear power in the country's energy mix and supported utility Eskom in pursuing a licence for the long-term operation of the Koeberg nuclear power plant: the two-unit plant at Koeberg is the only operating nuclear power plant on the African content and produces about 5% of South Africa's electricity.

In July, South Africa's National Nuclear Regulator granted Eskom a licence to continue operating Koeberg unit 1 for another 20 years until 21 July 2044. The regulator is expected to reach a decision on the long-term operation of unit 2 by early November 2025.