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Working Groups are forums through which the enterprises of the global nuclear industry share best practice, conduct analysis, and develop consolidated positions on economic, safety and environmental issues.
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A career development programme preparing nuclear professionals for future challenges. Japan, June-July 2021
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World Nuclear Association
Published: Fri, 03 Jul 2020 15:04:14 GMT
Building new nuclear capacity does not need to be risky or expensive, a new report from the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency has found. The organisation has called for government action to support a rapid reduction in the costs of new nuclear capacity by creating policy frameworks that capture and apply the lessons learned and capabilities developed over recent years.
Published: Fri, 03 Jul 2020 13:27:27 GMT
EDF is revising upwards its nuclear output estimate in France for 2020, to around 315-325 terawatt-hours. In April, the French state-owned utility said it expected generation this year to be about 300 TWh, down from an initial expectation of 375-390 TWh before the coronavirus outbreak.
Published: Fri, 03 Jul 2020 11:35:44 GMT
Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj expects to receive a revised schedule in August from the Areva-Siemens consortium for the commissioning of the Olkiluoto 3 EPR. Fuel loading, which had been planned for last month, has been delayed by among other things the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published: Fri, 03 Jul 2020 13:58:59 GMT
The recent detection of slightly elevated levels of radioisotopes in northern Europe is likely related to a nuclear reactor that is either operating or undergoing maintenance, when very low radioactive releases can occur, the International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. The geographical origin of the release has not yet been determined.
Published: Thu, 02 Jul 2020 14:11:10 GMT
The US House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis has released a report establishing a goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide in the USA by no later than 2050. The Climate Crisis Action Plan includes support to keep existing nuclear plants operating and calls for Congressional support for the development of advanced nuclear technologies.
Published: Thu, 02 Jul 2020 15:46:27 GMT
Idaho National Laboratory has awarded BWX Technologies Inc a USD26 million, 20-month contract to expand and upgrade its manufacturing line for TRISO nuclear fuel. The award, to BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Inc, will expand its capacity for the manufacture of TRISO fuel compacts and also upgrade existing systems for delivering production-scale quantities of the fuel, BWXT said.
Published: Thu, 02 Jul 2020 15:15:01 GMT
The installation of the second tier of the reactor building's internal containment has been completed at unit 1 of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant under construction in Mersin province, southern Turkey. The inner containment is one of the critical components of unit's safety systems, which prevent the release of radioactive materials to the environment, said JSC Akkuyu Nuklear.
Published: Wed, 01 Jul 2020 14:54:48 GMT
More governments must introduce policies to support the long-term operation of nuclear power plants to maximise the environmental, employment and economic benefits they bring, the World Nuclear Association said yesterday on the publication of its new technical position paper The Enduring Value of Nuclear Energy Assets.
Published: Wed, 01 Jul 2020 11:47:07 GMT
The construction licence application for two VVER-1200 reactors at the existing Paks site was submitted to the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority yesterday by Paks II Limited. The regulator said it has 12 months in which to make a decision on the application, but this period can be extended by three months if required.
Published: Wed, 01 Jul 2020 15:14:32 GMT
A failure to renew France's fleet of nuclear power reactors will have consequences as soon as 2030 for not only the country's energy security but also its climate targets, according to the French nuclear energy society (SFEN). Nuclear power plants, with a combined capacity of 62 GWe, currently account for more than 70% of the country's electricity generation.
Published: Tue, 30 Jun 2020 15:16:23 GMT
A group of major companies, trade unions and individuals have launched an initiative to develop a Clean Energy Hub centred on a package of nuclear projects at Moorside in Cumbria, north-west England. The proposal is based on projects including a new 3.2 GW UK EPR plant, as well as small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors, with links to technologies including renewables and hydrogen production.
Published: Tue, 30 Jun 2020 14:24:06 GMT
French utility EDF yesterday permanently shut down unit 2 of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant in eastern France as scheduled. Its closure, together with that of unit 1 in February, was necessary under the country's energy transition law before EDF can bring new nuclear capacity online.
Published: Tue, 30 Jun 2020 13:43:37 GMT
US company X-energy has announced it is to be the exclusive counterparty to supply fuel to Japan's high-temperature gas-cooled reactor under a teaming arrangement with Nuclear Fuel Industries of Japan.
Published: Mon, 29 Jun 2020 14:34:22 GMT
Ontario Power Generation has formally withdrawn its site preparation and construction licence application for a deep geologic repository for low and intermediate-level waste at the Bruce nuclear site. It has also terminated the federal environmental assessment process for the repository.
Published: Mon, 29 Jun 2020 13:54:13 GMT
Ringhals AB - operator of Sweden's Ringhals nuclear power plant - has entered into an agreement with national electricity transmission system operator Svenska Kraftnät regarding the availability of unit 1 at the plant. The agreement aims to secure the voltage stability and short-circuit power in the transmission network to handle the operating situation in southern Sweden during the summer.
Published: Mon, 29 Jun 2020 14:51:11 GMT
The International Atomic Energy Agency applied nuclear safeguards in 183 states worldwide last year, according to its Safeguards Statement for 2019. IAEA safeguards are a series of technical measures that provide the international community with confidence that nuclear material is used for peaceful purposes and not to produce nuclear weapons.
Published: Fri, 26 Jun 2020 14:56:11 GMT
The European Union cannot afford to reduce its energy diversity and will need stronger policies than those currently in place to help it meet its 2030 targets for greenhouse gas emissions, renewables and energy efficiency as well as its long-term climate goals, according to a new review of EU energy policy from the International Energy Agency.
Published: Fri, 26 Jun 2020 14:10:57 GMT
Rosenergoatom, the operator subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, announced today that preparatory work for the construction of four new reactors has commenced. Two VVER-TOI units are to be built at a new plant near the existing Smolensk site, while two VVER-1200 units will be built as units 3 and 4 of the Leningrad II plant.
Published: Thu, 25 Jun 2020 15:09:51 GMT
World Nuclear Association has published a first-of-a-kind Expanded Summary of the latest edition of its biennial nuclear fuel report. The Association is making the summary, which describes the major conclusions of the 2019 edition of the report, freely available.
Published: Thu, 25 Jun 2020 14:19:29 GMT
Plans submitted by EDF Energy for a Development Consent Order for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk have been accepted for examination by the UK's Planning Inspectorate.
Published: Wed, 01 Jul 2020 14:35:42 GMT
To coincide with the publication of the World Nuclear Association's technical position paper The Enduring Value of Nuclear Energy Assets, World Nuclear News interviewed the co-chairs of the Long-term Operation Task Force, Michael Baron and Abdou Al Mazouzi.
Published: Thu, 25 Jun 2020 13:23:46 GMT
The government of Saskatchewan has announced the establishment of an office to help in the planning and development of small modular reactors (SMR) in the Canadian province. It said the new office will "coordinate nuclear policy and programme work" within the Climate Change and Adaptation Division in the Ministry of Environment.
Published: Wed, 24 Jun 2020 15:33:02 GMT
Nuclear energy should be part of post COVID-19 recovery plans, participants agreed during a webinar held today by the OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency to launch a series of policy briefs. Nuclear energy can not only provide economic and employment benefits, but can also help the world attain a low-carbon energy system and increase energy resilience, they said.
Published: Wed, 24 Jun 2020 15:55:32 GMT
The OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency has today launched a series of policy briefs that examine nuclear energy's role in the post-COVID economic recovery. The policy briefs, to which World Nuclear Association contributed, have four themes: building resilience; job creation; cost-effective decarbonisation; and unlocking finance.
Published: Wed, 24 Jun 2020 13:17:38 GMT
Plans for a clean economic recovery and the goal of 'Net Zero by 2050' need commitment to new nuclear power plants, the UK’'s Nuclear Industry Association said today. Ahead of the Climate Change Committee's annual progress update due this week, the NIA has released Forty by ’50: A Nuclear Roadmap, an assessment produced for the government and industry body, the Nuclear Industry Council.
Published: Wed, 24 Jun 2020 12:01:06 GMT
If the European Commission is serious about its efforts to support the post-virus economic recovery and to achieving a clean energy transition, then it will correct the omission of nuclear energy in its Green Deal package and in the EU Taxonomy, Czech and Polish ministers have written in letters to Frans Timmermans and Kadri Simons, respectively the first vice president of the European Commission and the European commissioner for energy.
Published: Wed, 24 Jun 2020 10:08:37 GMT
Ukraine's electricity market discriminates against nuclear power and recent reforms do little to help Energoatom's mounting debts, Petro Kotin, acting president of the state-owned nuclear power plant operator has said. Recent amendments to electricity market regulations enable Energoatom to sell just 5% of its generation through bilateral contracts, but the company wants this to be increased to 50%.
Published: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 13:34:23 GMT
The dismantling of the Ulysse experimental reactor at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission's Saclay site near Paris has been completed. The low-power reactor, which was shut down in 2007, was mainly operated for teaching and continuing education purposes by the National Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology.
Published: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 14:18:42 GMT
Canada and the USA last week reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening supply chains for critical minerals including uranium in their first working group meetings since finalising a bilateral collaboration agreement earlier this year.
Published: Mon, 22 Jun 2020 12:06:07 GMT
SNC-Lavalin's Isotek Systems, LLC business and the US Department of Energy have signed a USD254 million contract modification to perform processing operations to dispose of uranium-233 material up until 2024 on the Uranium-233 Disposition Project at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. This contract modification, SNC-Lavalin said, is aligned with the company's new strategy to move towards engineering services and greater growth.
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