The United Nations' climate talks this year can be a moment where the world comes together to ramp up momentum towards a climate-resilient, zero-carbon economy, COP26 President Designate Alok Sharma told UN Member States at the organisation's headquarters in New York on 6 March. Sharma, who is also the UK secretary of state for business, said it was time to "send out a message of ambition and hope, that decarbonisation is the future, with huge opportunities for those who are willing to act now" and that the transition to a zero-carbon economy must be "fair and inclusive".
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Tuesday, 10 March 2020
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/COP26-president-presents-opportunities-from-low-ca
India should aim to at least double the present proportion of electricity generated by nuclear power plants by 2030, but should for the time being adopt "home-grown" 700 MWe heavy water reactors for its nuclear expansion programme, a parliamentary committee has recommended.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Tuesday, 10 March 2020
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Indian-parliamentary-committee-calls-for-focus-on
Fennovoima has appointed Joachim Specht as the company's new chief executive officer. The company, which is building the Russia-supplied Hanhikiv-1 nuclear unit in Finland said he will take up his post on 1 June.
Mr Specht comes from Fennovoima PreussenElektra, formerly E.ON Kernkraft, where he served as executive vice-president and head of nuclear engineering and consulting. He has also held positions at Areva, Framatome and Siemens/KWU.
Fennovoima announced in October that chief executive officer Toni Hemminki was leaving the company.
Mr Hemminki said earlier last year that the progress of Hanhikivi-1 was a disappointment in 2018 with a new estimated schedule postponing commercial operation by several years.
The new schedule was received from the plant supplier Raos Project, a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, at the end of 2018.
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Saturday, 07 March 2020
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/company-behind-hanhikivi-1-nuclear-project-appoints-new-ceo-3-5-2020
Utility Georgia Power has ordered the first nuclear fuel load for the Vogtle-4 nuclear power plant under construction in the US state of Georgia, completing the initial fuel order needed to operate the first newly designed reactors in the US in 30 years.
Fuel for Unit 3 was ordered last summer and completing the fuel order for Unit 4 marks another significant milestone at the Vogtle project, the company said.
The fuel, consisting of 157 fuel assemblies, will eventually be loaded into the reactor vessels to support startup once the reactors begin operating. After the initial fuelling, about one third of the total fuel assemblies will be replaced during each refuelling outage after the units begin operating, similar to the process used at existing Vogtle units 1 and 2.
Georgia Power also said workers have installed 10 of the 16 shield building courses of panels that surround the Unit 4 containment vessel. The shield building is a unique feature of the AP1000 reactor design for Vogtle-3 -4, providing an additional layer of safety around the containment vessel and nuclear reactor to protect the structure from any potential impacts.
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Saturday, 07 March 2020
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/georgia-power-orders-first-fuel-for-unit-4-3-5-2020
The UK’s Nuclear Industry Association has called on the government to produce a financing mechanism that supports investment in new build projects and warned that the country will miss its goal of net zero carbon by 2050 unless it finds a way to finance new reactors.
In a letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak the London-based association’s chairman Dr Tim Stone urged the government to respond to the RAB model consultation and work with the industry on developing a robust financing model that is put in place before the end of 2020.
The government announced in June 2018 that it would review the viability of the RAB, or regulated asset base model, but it has yet to respond to a public consultation on the Treasury’s proposal that took place last year.
The association adds that the UK cannot rely on “weather-dependent” renewable energy such as wind and solar power for all its future power needs. Nor could it wait for “breakthrough” technologies to emerge.
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Saturday, 07 March 2020
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/nia-urges-gov-t-to-produce-financing-mechanism-for-new-nuclear-3-5-2020
A US-based research organisation has unveiled the world’s first open-source blueprint for the design, construction and financing of a nuclear power plant.
The Energy Impact Centre (EIC), founded in 2017 by robotics expert Bret Kugelmass, said it had determined that the most viable option for tackling climate change was “an extraordinary expansion of nuclear energy”.
Its open source reactor design is based on a standard pressurised water reactor, the workhorse of the industry with about 300 units in commercial operation around the world.
The EIC said its 100-MW unit, which needs a site of about one hectare and could be built in urban areas, would have a construction time of 1.5 to 2 years and an overnight cost of $300m. Operation cost would be $10 per MWh.
- Source: Nucnet
- Date: Saturday, 07 March 2020
- Original article: nucnet.org/news/research-centre-launches-world-s-first-open-source-blueprint-for-nuclear-plant-design-3-5-2020
Work done during 2019 to further de-risk the use of in-situ leach (ISL) methods at the Phoenix uranium deposit at Wheeler River means the prospect of successfully bringing ISL uranium mining to Canada's Athabasca Basin is higher than it has ever been, Denison President and CEO David Cates said yesterday in the company's 2019 results.
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Saturday, 07 March 2020
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Denison-sees-increasing-prospects-for-Canadian-ISL
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and the UK's National Nuclear Laboratory have agreed an action plan to boost collaboration in energy, medical isotopes, waste management and decommissioning, while the Canadian Nuclear Association and the UK's Nuclear Industry Association have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate in promoting nuclear technologies. Canada's 19 nuclear power reactors produce 15% of the country's electricity. The UK's 15 nuclear power reactors, operating across eight sites, account for 21% of that country's generation.
CNL and NNL's action plan, announced on 4 March, includes exploring joint research projects and studies, information exchange workshops and other resource and knowledge-sharing opportunities. They have identified research related to advanced nuclear reactor fuel, targeted alpha therapy and medical isotope production and environmental remediation practices and technologies as key areas they intend to pursue in partnership.
This follows an MoU they signed in 2016 to collaborate on a variety of projects in reactor metallurgy, fuel development, waste management and medical radioisotopes.
CNL President and CEO Mark Lesinski said the new action plan will enable them to share expertise, facilities, equipment and other resources to achieve public policy goals in their respective countries. "Canada and the United Kingdom have a long history of working together to tackle some of the world's most pressing challenges through nuclear science and technology, but we still have a lot to learn from one another, and I am thrilled that this tradition of collaboration will continue through this agreement," he said.
NNL CEO Paul Howarth said the MoU had been an "excellent way" of opening links between the organisations. "However, this Action Plan takes us a big step further forward and means that we will now begin to see outputs from our collaboration which will benefit both the UK and Canada."
Association links
The new MoU signed on 3 March by the CNA and NIA at the UK Department for International Trade's Civil Nuclear Showcase 2020 addresses the need for greater dialogue and exploration of nuclear's role in effective environmental stewardship, the two organisations said. It includes demonstrating nuclear power as a clean energy technology; advocating for more explicit and prominent inclusion of nuclear in energy and environmental policies; promoting the inclusion of nuclear technologies in bilateral dialogues and forums; and supporting the countries' shared leadership in the Nuclear Innovation: Clean Energy (NICE) Future initiative.
CNA President and CEO John Gorman said the MoU will help accelerate the wave of innovation in nuclear energy among the two organisations' member companies. "Nuclear energy already makes important contributions to combating climate change. To reach net-zero emissions, global cooperation at the government and industry level will be essential. This agreement between two world-class industries is a key step in that direction," he said.
"International cooperation is critical to both the current success and the bright future of the nuclear industry," said NIA Chief Executive Tom Greatrex. "This MoU will further strengthen ties with our Canadian partners and assist in advancing nuclear power as an essential element of clean energy solutions to address climate issues globally."
SMR collaboration
The University of New Brunswick and Bangor University in Wales have signed a letter of intent to work together on the development of small modular reactors.
The letter of intent identifies possible areas of collaboration based upon similarities between the two institutions, the University of New Brunswick said, adding that noth universities have demonstrated leadership in nuclear research and development in their respective regions.
Civil society declaration
A group of nuclear power advocates yesterday presented the governments of Canada and the UK with a declaration calling for a high-profile nuclear presence at the UN's climate talks in November. The presentation took place at a civil society roundtable event at the High Commission of Canada in London, which concluded that, as the second largest source of clean energy, nuclear should be represented accordingly during the upcoming COP26 meeting in Glasgow.
"In this critical decade we must expand the suite of clean energy options to include nuclear products that are cost competitive, easier to buy, easier to deliver, present lower risk to investors and can meet a broad range of market applications," they wrote in their declaration.
Signatories included climate scientist James Hansen, President of African Women in Energy and Power Bertha Dlamini, National Secretary of Prospect Union Alan Leighton, former chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee Tim Yeo, and climate author Mark Lynas, among 31 civil society leaders from nine countries.
The declaration was presented to Shawn Tupper of Natural Resources Canada and Christopher Bowbrick of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.
Researched and written by World Nuclear News
- Source: World Nuclear News
- Date: Saturday, 07 March 2020
- Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Canada-UK-agreements-strengthen-collaborative-work
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) announced it has developed an Action Plan under its existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).
- Source: NEI Magazine
- Date: Friday, 06 March 2020
- Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newscanada-and-uk-labs-agree-action-plan-7808568
The BN-600 fast reactor at unit 3 of Russia’s Beloyarsk nuclear power plant was shut down on 2 March for scheduled maintenance and refuelling.
Deputy chief engineer at the Beloyarsk nuclear plant responsible for repair, Mikhail Roslyakov, explained that units with fast neutron reactors are shut down twice a year for routine maintenance and the replacement of 25% of the fuel.
Beloyarsk 3, which began operation in 1980, is also being prepared for further life extension to 2025, and in the long term to 2040.
In 2010 the BN-600 received a licence from Rostekhnadzor to operate for an additional 10 years beyond its 30-year design life.
This was done after upgrading work was carried out during which part of the equipment was replaced, individual systems were modernised, and new safety systems were introduced. The reactor core and turbine equipment also underwent modernisation.
Peter Govorov, deputy chief engineer for engineering support and modernisation at Beloyarsk NPP said that to extend the operation to 2040 major upgrades would be required, including replacing the steam generator modules.
- Source: NEI Magazine
- Date: Friday, 06 March 2020
- Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsbeloyarsk-bn-600-prepares-for-life-extension-7808599
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