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Global optimism ‘rising’ about potential of reactors to help achieve net zero emissions Fatih Birol (left) and Rafael Grossi at the International Atomic Energy Agency discussion on nuclear power at Cop27 in Egypt. Courtesy IAEA. Nuclear power is making “a strong comeback”, but the international financial community has so far “failed” to provide the level playing field needed for nuclear to help the world tackle its most pressing challenges, from climate change to sustainable development, International Energy Agency (IEA) executive director Fatih Birol told the Cop27 United Nations climate conference in in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Birol told an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discussion on nuclear power: “I don’t give them a passing grade.”

“Countries that were saying goodbye to nuclear power, they are rethinking their plans,” Birol said, adding that the IEA had been engaged in talks with both Belgium and Germany.

“We are very happy that both governments are now in the process of postponing their nuclear phaseout plans, understanding the role that nuclear plays in addressing this energy security challenge,” he said.

In addition, another group of countries is now considering extending the lifetime of their existing nuclear power reactors to respond to this challenge, which is one of the cheapest forms of low carbon power, Birol said. Still another group of countries are rolling out plans to build new reactors, including seemingly “surprising” ones such as the Netherlands and Poland as well as Japan and South Korea.

Date: Friday, 11 November 2022
Original article: nucnet.org/news/nuclear-making-strong-comeback-but-financial-community-has-failed-to-provide-level-playing-field-11-4-2022

First Xe-100 plant could be operational by 2028 Proponents say nuclear plants like the Xe-100 could be built quicker and less expensively than traditional models. Courtesy X-energy. Work has begun on the construction of a $300m nuclear fuel fabrication plant for next-generation nuclear reactors in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

X-energy’s Triso-X facility is being funded initially as part of a $3.2bn federal programme to develop, build and demonstrate advanced reactors. The goal is for the plant to be commissioned and operational by 2025.

The fuel produced at the facility will be used in X-energy’s Xe-100 high-temperature gas reactors, expected to be operational by 2028. The first project would be a 320 MW four-unit Xe-100 power plant in Washington state.

The US Department of Energy said the fuel fabrication facility has the capacity to produce eight metric tonnes per year of Triso pebble fuel, enough to power 12 of X-energy’s proposed Xe-100 SMRs. The facility would also be capable of manufacturing TRISO fuel for other advanced reactor designs. X-energy said it plans to double its fuel production by the 2030s.

Date: Wednesday, 19 October 2022
Original article: nucnet.org/news/work-begins-on-triso-fabrication-plant-for-x-energy-s-htgr-10-2-2022

Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) told the US-sponsored Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation’s (P-TECC’s) third ministerial conference in Warsaw, that nuclear power is important to support an emerging new global clean energy economy. However, global reactor capacity would need to increase threefold by 2050 to meet global net-zero emission targets.

Date: Tuesday, 05 October 2021
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsiea-head-tells-us-sponsored-conference-that-nuclear-is-important-for-climate-mitigation-9128635

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has informed the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that it intends to construct an Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) Micro Modular Reactor on its campus. The university said the submission of the Letter of Intent is the first step in the NRC's two-step process to license the new research and test reactor facility.

Date: Wednesday, 30 June 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/US-university-announces-plans-to-build-microreacto

The US-led Leaders’ Summit on Climate, held on 22 and 23 April as a video conference, attracted 40 world leaders (presidents and prime ministers) including Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Also taking part were some 24 other speakers at ministerial level (environment, defence, economy) in addition to Pope Francis and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, as well as almost 40 heads of environmental organisations, indigenous communities and leading businessmen, including Bill Gates. The event coincided with Earth Day, an annual event first held in 1970.

Date: Tuesday, 27 April 2021
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsleaders-summit-on-climate-attracts-world-leaders-businessmen-and-environmentalists-8699323

Scientists at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in the USA have released a new design for a compact fusion reactor that can generate electricity and help define the technology necessary for commercial fusion power, General Atomics (GA) said on 29 March. The approach is based on the “Advanced Tokamak” concept pioneered by the DIII-D program, which enables a higher-performance, self-sustaining configuration that holds energy more efficiently than in typical pulsed configurations, allowing it to be built at a reduced scale and cost.

Date: Friday, 02 April 2021
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsgeneral-atomics-develops-compact-tokamak-concept-for-fusion-8644655

The US Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will load four new 3D-printed fuel assembly brackets at its Browns Ferry NPP in spring 2021, the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy (ONE) announced.

Date: Tuesday, 08 December 2020
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newstva-and-framatome-to-load-3d-printed-fuel-assembly-bracket-at-browns-ferry-8396074

Terrestrial Energy and Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) have started a graphite irradiation testing programme at the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in the Netherlands. This work is part of broader programme underway for confirmatory testing of components and systems in the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR).

Date: Saturday, 14 November 2020
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Irradiation-testing-of-IMSR-moderator-graphite-beg