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Landmark follows news of cost increase for twin-EPR nuclear station The 13-metre RPV, which weighs 500-tonnes, makes the final leg of its journey by road. Courtesy HPC. The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for the first of two nuclear power plants under construction at Hinkley Point C in England has arrived onsite from France.

The 13-metre RPV, which weighs 500-tonnes, is the first of two RPVs which will be installed at Hinkley Point C.

Each France-supplied EPR at the new power station will help provide enough low-carbon electricity for 3-million homes and will be vital in helping Britain achieve net zero and stronger energy security.

The RPV, which contains the nuclear reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core, was made by Framatome in France. It comes from the same factory which made the last nuclear reactor for a British power station at Sizewell B in Suffolk, which began commercial operation in 1995.

Date: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Original article: nucnet.org/news/first-reactor-pressure-vessel-arrives-onsite-from-france-2-1-2023

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Focus will be on waste management and development of supply chains The government says Canadians need to look to all forms of clean energy, including nuclear. Courtesy Government of Canada. Canada is offering up to CAD5m ($3.6m, €3.4m) to fund research and development projects that support provinces and territories as they work to develop and deploy small modular reactors as part of their decarbonisation and economic development plans.

The government, which has already announced tax credit and budget support for reactors projects, said it is aiming to support funding applicants in their efforts to address waste generated from SMRs and develop supply chains for SMR manufacturing and SMR fuel supply.

Waste management projects could include identifying and characterising waste streams; researching waste management solutions; understanding the long-term safety requirements for waste storage and disposal; and exploring packaging and transportation requirements.

Supply chain projects could include developing techniques for SMR construction; economic analysis of nuclear and non-nuclear supply chains; and the economic impact and understanding policies related to fuel fabrication and or enrichment in Canada.

Date: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Original article: nucnet.org/news/ottawa-announces-further-backing-for-smr-deployment-with-millions-in-funding-for-r-and-d-projects-2-1-2023

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The main drivers of support for nuclear energy in Bulgaria are economics and energy security, a new poll suggests. A majority support state investment in new nuclear plants to secure energy supply and generate revenue from exports.

Date: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Bulgarian-nuclear-support-driven-by-economics-and

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Argentina will export some of the heavy water produced at its re-commissioned Neuquén production plant for scientific and medical purposes. Most of the heavy water will go to support the country's three nuclear power plants. The plant may also be modified to produce clean fuels like ammonia and hydrogen.

Date: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Argentina-looks-to-heavy-water-exports

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The 12-foot (3.7 metre) long heat pipe manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Company in a project supported by the US Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project (ARDP) is one of the largest of its kind made and will be used to support a test reactor the company aims to operate in 2026.

Date: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Major-component-manufacture-is-eVinci-milestone

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The first new nuclear reactor for a UK power station in more than three decades has finished its journey - by barge and then road - at the Hinkley Point C site in Somerset in southwest England.

Date: Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/In-Pictures-Hinkley-Point-C-s-first-reactor-arriv

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US-based Nano Nuclear Energy has been selected as a founding member of the US Department of Energy’s HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) Consortium. This came after Nano Nuclear earlier in February established a new subsidiary - HALEU Energy Fuel. The HALEU Consortium was established in 2022 to support the availability of HALEU for civilian domestic research, development, demonstration, and commercial use. Nano says HALEU Energy Fuel “will play a crucial role in the collaboration with the DOE on the future of North America’s HALEU fuel pipeline, reinforcing the United States energy sovereignty”.

Date: Saturday, 25 February 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsnano-nuclear-selected-as-founding-member-of-haleu-consortium-10622631

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Finland’s radioactive waste management company, Posiva Oy has completed the first two deposition holes at the used fuel disposal facility under construction at Onkalo. Posiva staff used a new DHBM boring machine to drill the holes, which are located at a depth of 430 metres in the deposition tunnel built for the Joint Functional Test (JFT). The first four holes in the tunnel were drilled in the autumn of 2022 as a test drilling operation by a crew from the machine's manufacturer, Herrenknecht AG.

Date: Saturday, 25 February 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsdrilling-of-first-test-deposition-holes-completed-at-onkalo-used-fuel-storage-10622637

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Russia’s Smolensk NPP has sent to Leningrad NPP the first ever batch of cobalt-60 (Co-60) in four containers. Co-60 is used in the production of gamma radiation sources widely employed in medicine, industry and agriculture. The most widely used Co-60 from nuclear utility Rosenergoatom is the production of Co-60 ionising radiation sources for irradiators that sterilise medical devices, food and other products. One such shipment of Co-60 from Smolensk will sterilise at least 30,000 cubic metres of medical products.

Date: Saturday, 25 February 2023
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsrussias-smolensk-npp-delivers-first-batch-of-cobalt-60-10622665

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Russia plans ‘full control’ as standoff continues over IAEA staff rotation and little progress made on protection zone Russia is pushing ahead with plans to take full control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. Petro Kotin said. Courtesy Energoatom. One year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is pushing ahead with plans to take full control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and use it for the supply of electricity to occupied territories and Russia, the head of Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom said.

Petro Kotin told the My-Ukraina (“We are Ukraine”) news channel that Russia’s shelling of the station and the area around it since the invasion began in February 2022 is “an act of nuclear terrorism”.

He said Zaporizhzhia – which has six Soviet era reactors and is the largest commercial nuclear facility in Europe – had operated safely for almost 40 years, but since Russia took control “we have had 20 very serious events, including those on the [International Atomic Energy Agency’s] emergency scale”.

Kotin said Russia had seized the nuclear station and all the infrastructure used to detect and respond to possible nuclear radiation incidents.

“They are all seized, all this infrastructure is broken,” he said. Kotin added that staff are being pressured to sign a contract to work for Russia’s Rosenergoatom, the nuclear plant operations subsidiary of Atomenergoprom, itself a subsidiary of state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Date: Saturday, 25 February 2023
Original article: nucnet.org/news/no-end-in-sight-to-crisis-at-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-station-2-5-2023

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