Delayed reactor returns slash French nuclear availability nearly 9 GW

HIGHLIGHTS Operator halts Civaux-1 reactor Monday for planned outage Environmental issues plague St Alban-2, runs at reduced capacity Nuclear outages boost European day-ahead power prices London — Available nuclear power generating capacity in France fell sharply by almost 9 GW after EDF delayed the return of multiple nuclear plants, while high temperatures continued to restrict …

Steady growth in nuclear generation continues

Global nuclear power generation in 2017 increased for the fifth consecutive year, reaching 2506 TWh, according to a new World Nuclear Association report. The Association says the industry is on target to meet the near-term goals of its Harmony programme. In the World Nuclear Performance Report 2018, the Association details power generation and construction achievements for the …

Chinese AP1000 reaches full power operation

Unit 1 of the Sanmen nuclear power plant in China’s Zhejiang province has reached full power operation for the first time. The unit became the world’s first AP1000 to achieve grid connection and power generation. Sanmen 1 reached 100% power for the first time at 2.10pm today, China National Nuclear Corporation and State Nuclear Technology …

New nuclear reactor being built in western Japan applies for safety checks

Chugoku Electric Power Co. on Friday applied to the government for safety screening of a nuclear reactor it is constructing, opening up the possibility of it becoming Japan’s first newly built reactor to go into operation since the 2011 Fukushima crisis. Work on the No. 3 unit at the Shimane plant in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, …

Investment fund Yellow Cake snaps up more uranium after float success

An investment vehicle designed to profit from the rising price of uranium is to snap up another £8m-worth of the radioactive mineral. Yellow Cake, which raised $200m (£156m) in a successful float on the London Stock Exchange earlier this summer, said it would buy another 350,000 lb of uranium from Kazakh supplier Kazatomprom and store it …

Nuclear Construction Update: New Progress Made in Russia, UAE, and U.S.

Several milestones have been reached at nuclear power plant construction sites around the world including on the Leningrad II-2, Novovoronezh II-2, Barakah, and Plant Vogtle projects. Russian Progress At the Leningrad site, Rosatom—the Russian state atomic energy corporation—reported on August 7 that the main turbine equipment installation for Phase II Unit 2 was completed. The …