Construction officially started today of the ACP100 small modular reactor demonstration project at the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China’s island province of Hainan. China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) said the project will be the world’s first land-based commercial SMR. The multi-purpose 125 MWe pressurised water reactor (PWR) – also referred to as the Linglong …
The world’s first cosmic-ray muon detector developed specifically for use in industry-standard boreholes, has been deployed at Orano’s McClean Lake site in northern Saskatchewan where it will be used to image a uranium deposit. The technology developed by Canadian start-up company Ideon Technologies could transform mineral exploration. Muon tomography uses muons – naturally occurring subatomic …
Canada’s first Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project is now one step closer to reality after recently reaching a licensing milestone. Global First Power (GFP), a Canadian energy company jointly owned by OPG and USNC-Power, announced its Micro Modular Reactor™ (MMR™) Project is moving onto the next phase of licensing with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission …
The China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) informed the IAEA yesterday that a minor fuel cladding failure had occurred at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant. What are fuel cladding failures, and what do they mean for safety? Read our explainer to find out. Nuclear power plants are designed with multiple back-up and diverse safety systems as part of …
South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries will undertake a joint research and development project with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), for the first modern exploration of nuclear-powered ships. Under the strategic cooperative agreement, they plan to explore the opportunities to use nuclear power as a solution for carbon-neutral shipping. There was great interest …
The construction of a 300 MW nuclear power unit with an innovative lead coolant BREST-OD-300 fast reactor has begun at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine (an enterprise of TVEL Fuel Company of ROSATOM) in Seversk, Russia’s Tomsk region. The event was attended by Tomsk regional governor Sergei Zhvachkin, ROSATOM Director General Alexey Likhachev, …
A fresh design for a compact nuclear power station being developed by hundreds of Rolls-Royce engineers in Derby has been revealed. Nuclear power experts in the city have also helped increase the power of the small modular reactors (SMR), working as part of a large consortium led by Rolls-Royce. The consortium estimates that the nuclear …
‘Small modular reactors have a role to play in moving forward on climate change,’ CEO says Three Indigenous-owned companies in Saskatchewan have announced they’re exploring small modular reactors (SMR). Kitsaki Management, Athabasca Basin Development and Des Nedhe Group have all signed a memorandum of understanding concerning their support for nuclear power in Saskatchewan. “We think …
Lightbridge Corporation has demonstrated the manufacturing process for surrogate fuel rods for commercial-scale small modular reactors, using an internally developed and patented high-temperature coextrusion process. The six-foot (1.8 metre) length of the surrogate rods is typical of the fuel rods used by many small modular reactors now in the development and licensing phases, the Reston, Virginia-based …
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is planning to build a microreactor to help researchers and end-users understand how microreactors can integrate with other technologies. The Microreactor Applications Research Validation and EvaLuation (MARVEL) liquid-metal cooled microreactor could be operational within three years. Microreactors are very small, factory fabricated, transportable reactors which could provide power and …