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Nuclear energy provides enormous opportunities to bring about a fast, cost-effective and just decarbonisation, World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León said yesterday in a COP26 event titled The Role of Nuclear Energy in a Net-Zero Future. Innovations in technologies - such as small modular reactors (SMRs) - and new ways of financing projects will help nuclear play its role in decarbonising the world, participants said.

Date: Saturday, 06 November 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Nuclear-a-vital-tool-in-achieving-decarbonisation,

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Rosenergoatom owns and operates all 38 commercial nuclear reactors across Russia. Courtesy Rosatom/Rosenergoatom. Russia’s state nuclear operator Rosenergoatom has strengthened operational safety by addressing the findings of an agency review which took place in 2018, but more needs to be done to prevent “severe injuries and fatalities”, the International Atomic Energy Agency said

The IAEA gave no details of any injuries and fatalities it was referring to, but said an operational safety review team (Osart) mission that ended on 29 October concluded that Rosenergoatom’s managers need to implement planned corrective actions with the aim of eliminating severe injuries and fatalities.

The company should also continue to monitor and review the implementation of its severe accident management guidelines improvement programme until all planned corrective actions are completed, the IAEA said

The team said Rosenergoatom has made significant efforts in addressing the findings of the 2018 Osart mission and the follow-up team saw measurable improvements in the review areas.

Date: Friday, 05 November 2021
Original article: nucnet.org/news/iaea-says-more-needs-to-be-done-to-prevent-injuries-and-fatalities-11-4-2021

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The Volgodonsk branch of AEM Technologies has started assembling the upper part of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for unit 5 of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant under construction in India. Two Russian-designed AES-92 VVER-1000 pressurised water reactors are being built as the third phase of the plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Date: Friday, 05 November 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Reactor-vessel-for-Kudankulam-5-takes-shape

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A five-year test programme on an innovative mining method that could potentially be used to access high-grade orebodies that are either too small or too deep to be mined economically using conventional methods has been completed by Denison Mines Corp and Orano Canada Inc. The patented Surface Access Borehole Resource Extraction - SABRE - mining method has been tested on the McClean Lake property in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Date: Friday, 05 November 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Mining-test-showcases-SABRE-potential

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The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA's) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said he is "absolutely confident" that "some arrangement" will be made to accept nuclear energy in the EU's taxonomy of sustainable investment. In an on-stage interview at COP26, he said the escalation of gas prices has increased political interest in nuclear power.

Date: Friday, 05 November 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Grossi-absolutely-confident-of-nuclears-inclusion

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Construction of the third unit at the UAE's Barakah nuclear power plant has been completed, and the unit is on track to start up in 2023, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) has announced today on the sidelines of COP26 in Glasgow.

Date: Friday, 05 November 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Third-unit-completed-at-Barakah

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Countries have "re-appreciated" the value of nuclear power, International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said at COP26 today. Birol, who called for new build in Europe, North America and Asia, also said that national commitments made at COP26 would put the world on track to limit global warming to 1.8°C.

Date: Friday, 05 November 2021
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Birol-calls-for-nuclear-acceleration

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Framatome announced that it has delivered the first 100% accident tolerant fuel assembly (ATF) to Exelon Generation’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Maryland. 

Date: Thursday, 04 November 2021
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsframatome-delivers-accident-tolerant-fuel-to-calvert-cliffs-9211465

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White House says partnership will position US technology to lead global race for SMR deployment NuScale’s SMR design features a fully factory-fabricated module capable of generating 77 MW of electricity. Courtesy NuScale. US president Joe Biden and Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis announced at the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow that NuScale Power and Romania’s state-owned nuclear company Nuclearelectrica are planning to build a first-of-a-kind small modular reactor plant in Romania.

US-based NuScale, which has developed a modular, light-water SMR, said the “teaming agreement” builds upon an intergovernmental agreement signed by the US Department of Energy and the Romanian energy ministry. In 2019, NuScale and Nuclearelectrica signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate the development, licensing and construction of a NuScale SMR in Romania.

The White House had said earlier in a fact sheet on president Joe Biden’s climate plans that the partnership will position US technology to lead in the global race for SMR deployment.

NuScale said the partnership comes at a pivotal time as senior government policymakers from around the world discuss the urgency of accelerating the clean energy transition. NuScale’s SMRs can support international climate goals to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change while strengthening global prosperity, the company said.

Date: Thursday, 04 November 2021
Original article: nucnet.org/news/us-and-romania-confirm-agreement-to-collaborate-on-nuscale-plant-11-3-2021

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Ireland’s European commissioner Maireád McGuinness is moving closer to classifying nuclear energy and gas as having a role to play in the transition to climate neutrality as an energy price crisis consumes the European Union, the Irish Times reported.

The European commission is preparing to release the second part of its so-called sustainable finance taxonomy, which determines what activities are eligible for funding by green bonds, and therefore billions of euro in budget and Covid-19 stimulus cash directed towards the EU’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.

France and a number of other member states have lobbied intensely for nuclear energy to be classified as green, but the inclusion of nuclear has been resisted by other countries, including Italy and Germany, which has almost completed a planned phaseout of its nuclear plants begun in response to the 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi accident.

“Member states will travel on different paths in order to reach the goal of climate neutrality by 2050,” Ms McGuinness said in a statement to The Irish Times. She added that €350bn in additional investment would be needed annually to reach the EU’s aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by 2030.

Date: Thursday, 04 November 2021
Original article: nucnet.org/news/ireland-s-commissioner-moving-closer-to-calling-for-nuclear-in-taxonomy-11-3-2021

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