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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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The 4th regional workshop series on Harmonization to support the operation and new build of NPPs including SMRs will take place on 31 March to 2 April 2020 in Lyon, France.
World Nuclear Association staff participate in a number of external conferences.
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World Nuclear Association
Published: Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:17:38 GMT
EDF has disconnected France's longest serving nuclear power unit - Fessenheim 1 - from the electricity grid, thus ending the reactor's 42 years of low-carbon electricity production. The unit was removed from the network at 2am on 22 February, as scheduled. The utility said the primary circuit cooling operations had been initiated to open the reactor vessel and unload its fuel. Unit 2 is scheduled for closure on 30 June.
Published: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 16:07:46 GMT
Southern Company remains confident of meeting the regulatory-approved in-service date of November 2021 for unit 3 of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia, CEO Tom Fanning said during a presentation of its 2019 results. He noted the AP1000 unit could even be brought online as early as May next year, with unit 4 following a year later.
Published: Fri, 21 Feb 2020 12:59:22 GMT
Framatome and General Atomics are to collaborate on the development of accident-tolerant fuel channels fabricated from a silicon carbide composite rather than the current zirconium alloys. Advanced nuclear fuel designs using silicon carbide in the fuel channel, the say, will enhance safety and fuel performance.
Published: Thu, 20 Feb 2020 15:04:15 GMT
The International Atomic Energy Agency has completed a review of long-term operational safety at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania. The Pre-SALTO (Safety Aspects of Long Term Operation) review mission was requested by the plant’s operator, Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica SA.
Published: Thu, 20 Feb 2020 14:50:36 GMT
The Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry (Gosatomnadzor) has begun a 30-day inspection of the nuclear power plant under construction in Belarus to assess its readiness to take delivery of fuel. The regulator will also check operator BelNPP's managerial and technical alignment with legislative standards, including those concerning nuclear and radiation safety.
Published: Thu, 20 Feb 2020 12:21:33 GMT
Idaho National Laboratory is to provide Oklo Inc with access to recovered material from used nuclear fuel to develop and demonstrate the Oklo Aurora - a micro-reactor that can be used in remote or off-grid locations to generate power. Jacob DeWitte, Oklo co-founder and CEO, said the award paves the way for an important demonstration of the first Aurora plant, as well as the "ability of advanced reactors to convert used nuclear fuel, that would otherwise be treated for disposal, into clean energy".
Published: Thu, 20 Feb 2020 11:21:57 GMT
Framatome has signed service contracts with Teollisuuden Voima Oyj to support the long-term operation of unit 3 of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant on Finland's west coast. Grid connection of the European pressurised reactor is scheduled for November, with the start of regular electricity production expected in March 2021.
Published: Thu, 20 Feb 2020 11:16:23 GMT
The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority are to collaborate on the economic feasibility of potentially licensing, building, operating and maintaining one or more advanced nuclear reactors - such as a small modular reactor - at TVA's Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Published: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 14:48:28 GMT
Nawah Energy Company has started loading fuel assemblies into unit 1 of the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi. Once all four units at the plant begin operating, the plant will meet up to 25% of the country’s electricity needs and help to avoid around 20 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.
Published: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 15:58:27 GMT
Radioactive Waste Management Limited, the company tasked with developing a Geological Disposal Facility in the UK, has set out its approach to GDF site evaluation in England and Wales, following a consultation process. It says that safety, opportunities for communities, and protection of the environment are key considerations as part of its evaluation.
Published: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 13:11:13 GMT
Fortum, the operator of the Loviisa nuclear power plant in Finland, has strengthened operational safety in many areas, an expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded. The team evaluated the plant's progress in addressing the findings of an IAEA review in 2018.
Published: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 15:01:28 GMT
Workers yesterday completed hot tests at the EPR under construction as unit 3 of the Flamanville nuclear power plant in France. The tests - which began on 21 September last year - aim to simulate the temperatures and pressures which the reactor's systems will be subjected to during normal operation.
Published: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 14:43:48 GMT
Ontario Power Generation and Hydro One have launched a new company, Ivy Charging Network, which plans to install a new network of fast-chargers for electric vehicles in Ontario by the end of 2021. The Canadian government is investing CAD8 million (USD6 million) in the project which it says will help the transition to a clean energy future.
Published: Tue, 18 Feb 2020 13:04:55 GMT
French nuclear fuel cycle company Orano has been authorised to begin dismantling the Georges Besse diffusion enrichment plant at the Tricastin complex in southeastern France. The plant was shut down in June 2012 following 33 years of service and was replaced by the centrifuge-based Georges Besse II plant.
Published: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 15:05:45 GMT
Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation subsidiary Nawah Energy Company is preparing to load fuel into Barakah unit 1 following an announcement by the United Arab Emirates Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation that it has today issued an operating licence which authorises Nawah to commission and operate the unit.
Published: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 12:26:35 GMT
Industrial engineering firm Bilfinger has been awarded a balance of plant contract - worth about GBP58 million (USD76 million) - by EDF Energy. The contract involves the design, pre-fabrication and supply of around 56km of specialised piping systems that support the operation of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, under construction in Somerset, UK.
Published: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 16:59:28 GMT
NuScale Power and Ukraine's State Scientific and Technical Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety have announced the signature of an agreement to start work on the evaluation of national regulatory and design processes related to the implementation of NuScale small modular reactor technology in Ukraine.
Published: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 12:18:53 GMT
The agreement between the Czech government and utility ČEZ on the construction of a new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant will be published within a few weeks, Minister of Industry Karel Havlíček said on 11 February. Havlíček was speaking to journalists during his visit to the plant, and his comments were reported by ČTK news agency the same day.
Published: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 12:50:17 GMT
Pakistan has described the support it has received from the International Atomic Energy Agency in strengthening its nuclear power programme through a project launched in 2018. The country aims for a significant expansion of its use of nuclear power over the coming decades in order to meet growing energy demand. Regulators, operators and representatives of organisations involved in Pakistan's nuclear power programme attended a four-day meeting at the IAEA's headquarters last month to discuss the Agency's streamlined support for the country.
Published: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 16:03:28 GMT
US uranium companies have responded favourably to the Administration's 2021 budget request of USD150 million in funding to set up a uranium reserve. Energy Fuels CEO and President Mark Chalmers said the development was "an important step toward addressing the devastating impact of our nation's overdependence on uranium imports from Russia and its allies, which is displacing free market uranium and forcing US mines out of business".
Published: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 15:14:22 GMT
A "grand coalition" of all stakeholders is needed to address the challenge of climate change, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said yesterday during the latest in the Paris-based organisation's Big Ideas speaker series. This must involve the energy sector, he said, as it accounts for most of the world's carbon dioxide emissions.
Published: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 13:40:06 GMT
Installation of the first tier of the outer protective shell around the first reactor of the Kursk II nuclear power plant under construction in western Russia has been completed ahead of schedule. The unit will be the first to use the VVER-TOI (typical optimised, with enhanced information) design.
Published: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 13:30:53 GMT
A campaign to move used highly enriched uranium fuel from Canada to the USA, which began in 2015, has been completed a year ahead of schedule, the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited have announced.
Published: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 12:37:51 GMT
The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency have completed Step 3 - "overall design, safety case and security arguments review" - in their scrutiny of the UK HPR1000 reactor design. They will now start the fourth and final stage in the Generic Design Assessment process - "detailed design, safety case, and security evidence assessment".
Published: Wed, 12 Feb 2020 15:01:12 GMT
AEM Technology, part of Russia's Atomenergomash, has completed the welding together of the two halves of the reactor vessel for the first unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant which is under construction in Mersin province, in southern Turkey.
Published: Wed, 12 Feb 2020 12:53:03 GMT
Workers have completed the final concrete placement inside the containment vessel of unit 3 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. Georgia Power said this allows for the installation of machinery that will be used to load fuel into the AP1000 reactor, which is scheduled to enter service in November 2021.
Published: Tue, 11 Feb 2020 17:22:41 GMT
The US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded an initial USD3.6 million contract to BWXT Nuclear Operations Group as the manufacturer of a uranium-molybdenum alloy high assay low-enriched uranium fuel to facilitate the conversion of US research reactors that currently use high-enriched uranium.
Published: Tue, 11 Feb 2020 15:22:04 GMT
The US Administration's 2021 budget request unveiled yesterday by President Donald Trump includes USD150 million to set up a uranium reserve to address challenges to the production of domestic uranium. This would ensure a backup supply of uranium in the event of a significant market disruption and support the operation of at least two US uranium mines, according to the Department of Energy.
Published: Tue, 11 Feb 2020 10:03:32 GMT
Despite widespread expectations of another increase, global energy-related CO2 emissions stopped growing in 2019, according to International Energy Agency data released today. After two years of growth, global emissions were unchanged at 33 gigatonnes in 2019 even as the world economy expanded by 2.9%.
Published: Mon, 10 Feb 2020 14:41:53 GMT
Cameco is optimistic about the long-term fundamentals of the uranium market and expects to buy 20-22 million pounds U3O8 (7693-8462 tU) this year - mostly from the spot market - to meet its committed deliveries. That's 1-3 million pounds more than in 2019, CEO Tim Gitzel said during his presentation of the Canadian uranium producer's financial and operating results on 7 February. The spot market however is underperforming on weak demand, he said.
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