Latest News

Filters

Filter by tags: Spent nuclear fuel Europe Clear all tag filters

32 news articles found


The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has received a shipment of used next-generation light water reactor LWR) fuel from a commercial NPP to support research and testing for the first time in two decades. INL said it had received 25 experimental fuel rods irradiated in the reactor core of a commercial reactor. The fuel rods were developed and manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Company with technical assistance from several US national laboratories, including INL.

Date: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsinl-receives-irradiated-next-generation-fuel-for-testing-11473480

In a new report, “What a waste: How fast-fission power can provide clean energy from nuclear waste”, environmental group RePlanet advocates recycling used nuclear fuel as fuel for advanced fast reactors. While Europe's nuclear power reactors "have a long history of safe use, and have provided prodigious quantities of clean electricity for decades", they use less than 1% of the energy potential in the natural uranium used to make their fuel, the report notes. Moreover, irradiated fuel assemblies removed from reactors are considered “nuclear waste”.

Date: Friday, 07 April 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsenvironmental-group-urges-use-of-fast-reactors-10738853

If existing inventories of used nuclear fuel were recycled and repurposed as fuel for advanced fast reactors, it could generate zero-carbon electricity for Europe for up to 1000 years, according to international environmental campaign group RePlanet.

Date: Wednesday, 05 April 2023
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Extract-energy-from-used-nuclear-fuel,-says-enviro

‘New sense of urgency’ on spent fuel and high-level waste Spent nuclear fuel in an interim pool at the Pickering nuclear power station in Canada. Courtesy OPG. Deep Isolation and Amentum have signed a memorandum of agreement to work together to further the commercialisation of Deep Isolation’s nuclear waste disposal technology in what could be a multi-billion-dollar market around the world.

Initial targets for joint work include countries in Europe and the Pacific that represent a combined addressable market for geologic disposal of spent fuel and high-level waste worth more than $30bn (€29bn), California, US-based Deep Isolation said.

The company said “there is a new sense of urgency” to dispose of nuclear waste. Low-carbon nuclear energy is a powerful alternative to fossil fuels in the fight against climate change, but much of the world is requiring a waste solution to be in place before investments are made in new nuclear power installations.

Deep Isolation’s deep borehole technology uses directional drilling practices to isolate waste deep underground in borehole repositories, providing many countries with an alternative to a traditional mined repository.

Date: Friday, 12 August 2022
Original article: nucnet.org/news/deep-isolation-aims-for-multi-billion-dollar-market-with-deep-borehole-disposal-technology-8-4-2022

Russia has asked for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to brief an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Meanwhile G7 foreign ministers have demanded Russia "hand back full control" of the plant "to its rightful sovereign owner, Ukraine".

Date: Thursday, 11 August 2022
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/G7-demands-Russia-hand-over-Zaporizhzhia,-Russia-c

Energy commissioner calls for Russia to withdraw from site ‘without delay’ Russian forces captured the Zaporizhzhia facility in early March but it is still run by Ukrainian technicians. Image courtesy Energoatom. Europe’s energy commissioner Kadri Simson has joined condemnation of shelling at and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europe’s largest commercial nuclear power facility, which she said has “caused significant damage to infrastructure, including near the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel within the nuclear power plant perimeter”.

“This reckless behaviour by the Russian military forces poses a great danger to the plant’s safe operation increasing significantly the risk of a nuclear accident and must not happen again,” Simson said in a statement.

While information obtained from the EU’s radioactivity monitoring systems and international sources does not indicate any increase of radioactivity in Ukraine or the EU nor any immediate radiation threat, military activities around nuclear power plants are “unacceptably dangerous”, Simson said. “The EU calls on Russia to ensure that repair works can be rapidly implemented and that the safety of the workers involved in them and in the operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is guaranteed.”

Date: Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Original article: nucnet.org/news/eu-joins-condemnation-of-shelling-at-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-power-station-8-2-2022

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi attended the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos on 24 and 25 May. Nuclear provides the opportunity for a faster transition to a low-carbon energy future and supports the shift to a hydrogen economy, he told participants. In an opinion piece on the WEF website, Grossi said that nuclear is gaining increasing support in the battle against climate change, that reaching net-zero carbon emissions will require a doubling of nuclear capacity, and that technology such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and used fuel repositories are increasing nuclear accessibility and safety.

Date: Friday, 27 May 2022
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsiaeas-grossi-at-davos-discusses-nuclear-power-iran-and-ukraine-9729661

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, held talks in Turkey with Ukraine's foreign minister and Russia's foreign minister and said "we are making progress on the safety and security of nuclear facilities in Ukraine". 

Date: Friday, 11 March 2022
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/IAEA-chief-in-Turkey-for-talks-on-Ukraine-nuclear

Finnish power utility Fortum said it had decided to apply for new operating licence for both units at the Loviisa nuclear power plant until the end of 2050.

Date: Tuesday, 08 March 2022
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsfortum-to-apply-for-licence-to-extend-operation-of-loviisa-9531631