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Three low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel test assemblies have successfully been tested in Belgium's BR2 research reactor. The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK-CEN) plans to fully convert the reactor from using highly-enriched uranium (HEU) in 2026.

Date: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Belgian-research-reactor-tests-high-performance-LE

Kazakhstan’s National Atomic Company Kazatomprom has delivered the first batch of AFA 3G TM fuel assemblies to China by rail from the Ulba-TVS LLP plant. Trains comprising 34 shipping containers with the fuel assemblies, accompanied by a special security service, were delivered to NPPs in China. The deliver was equivalent to one reactor reload (slightly more than 30 tonnes of low-enriched uranium). It was formally accepted by China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC).

Date: Saturday, 25 March 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newskazatomprom-delivers-first-batch-of-fuel-assemblies-to-china-10701431

Two nations working together on a number of nuclear projects The Russia’s MBIR multipurpose fast neutron research reactor is under construction in western Russia. Couurtesy Rosatom. China and Russia have announced a long-term deal to continue developing fast-neutron nuclear power reactors and closing the nuclear fuel cycle.

Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom said the agreement was signed on 21 March on the sidelines of the state visit to Russia of China’s president Xi Jinping.

The document was signed by Rosatom director-general Alexey Likhachev and Zhang Kejian, chairman of the China Atomic Energy Authority.

Fast neutron reactors are said to offer more efficient use of uranium resources and the ability to burn actinides – chemical elements which are otherwise the long-lived component of high-level nuclear waste.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, global interest in fast reactors has been growing since their inception in 1960 because they can provide “efficient, safe and sustainable energy”. Their closed fuel cycle – a fuel cycle that reuses spent fuel – can support long-term nuclear power development as part of the world’s future energy mix and decrease the burden of nuclear waste.

Date: Friday, 24 March 2023
Original article: nucnet.org/news/china-and-russia-sign-agreement-to-continue-cooperation-3-4-2023

The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) has recently published a 73-page study, which tracks the progress of selected small modular reactor (SMR) designs towards deployment. NEA says the SMR designs are at various stages of development, from fundamental research on new concepts to commercial deployment and operation of mature designs.

Date: Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newssmr-development-tracked-by-nea-and-iaea-studies-10691068

US-based X-Energy Reactor Company subsidiary TRISO-X has completed testing of its coated particle fuel for nuclear thermal propulsion applications. The work was undertaken as part of a team led by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems for the first phase of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA’s) Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) programme. The first phase included a baseline design of a nuclear thermal rocket, which was awarded to General Atomics.

Date: Saturday, 18 March 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newstriso-x-tests-fuel-for-nuclear-thermal-space-applications-10682655

US-based Westinghouse Electric Company has received approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to use its Advanced Doped Pellet Technology (ADOPT) fuel pellets in US pressurised water reactors (PWRs). The approval came after both NRC and the Advanced Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) verified that ADOPT fuel significantly enhances the safety and reliability of PWRs.

Date: Friday, 17 March 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsnrc-approval-for-westinghouse-adopt-accident-tolerant-fuel-10679689

Ruling party wants ‘nuclear-free homeland’ by 2025 The two-unit Kuosheng nuclear power station in Taiwan. Courtesy Taipower. Unit 2 of Taiwan’s Kuosheng nuclear power station has been taken offline, leaving only two reactors in commercial operation and potentially making the island state’s energy situation more precarious in the near term.

The closure of Kuosheng-2 on 15 March leaves two units in operation at the Maanshan nuclear power station, but both are scheduled to be shut down in the next two years, fulfilling the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s promise of a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025.

The four reactors that have been shut down had a total net capacity of 3,178 MW, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. The two remaining reactors have a total net capacity of 1,874 MW.

Chinshan-1 was shut down in 2018, Chinshan-2 in 2019 and Kuosheng-1 in 2021.

Date: Friday, 17 March 2023
Original article: nucnet.org/news/latest-reactor-shutdown-leaves-island-in-precarious-position-3-4-2023

Swedish company LeadCold has launched a feasibility study to investigate the conditions for building and operating a nuclear research reactor at Studsvik with associated fuel fabrication infrastructure. The project would be based on LeadCold’s SEALER (Swedish Advanced Lead Reactor) – a small modular lead cooled fast breeder reactor originally intended for deployment in remote arctic regions in Northern Canada.

Date: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsleadcold-investigates-construction-of-research-reactor-in-sweden-10677153

A coated particle fuel for nuclear thermal propulsion applications, fabricated by TRISO-X LLC, has undergone testing in extreme conditions representing those experienced in space.

Date: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Space-propulsion-fuel-particle-in-TRISO-testing-fi

France’s Alternative Energies & Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) has launched two start-ups - Hexana and Stellaria. They will rely on CEA’s technologies and patents to develop fourth generation advanced modular reactors (AMRs).

Date: Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newscea-launches-two-nuclear-start-ups-10673324