The French government has said it is “seriously” studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich reprocessed uranium to cut its reliance on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for use in nuclear power plants is located in Russia. “The option of carrying out an industrial project to convert reprocessed uranium in France is being seriously …
Ansaldo Nuclear has been awarded a contract for the installation of key connections between existing and new facilities at the Sellafield site in Cumbria, England. It is the first contract awarded under Sellafield Ltd’s Programme and Project Partners new goods and services agreement. Under the contract – the value of which has not been disclosed …
The Magnox reprocessing plant at Sellafield will end its operations in July, marking the completion of the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) Magnox Operating Programme. The plant, which began operations in 1964, had been scheduled to close in 2020 but disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meant the schedule was moved back. The plant …
China is still actively promoting a nuclear fuel reprocessing project with France’s Orano, formerly called Areva, the head of China’s nuclear safety watchdog said on Tuesday. France is one of the world’s few civil nuclear powers which reprocesses and reuses part of the spent fuel of its nuclear reactors, rather than treating it as waste. …
A spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, looks set to gain approval for full operation as the country’s regulator completed most of its safety review Friday. The Nuclear Regulation Authority checked remaining safety measures against the risks of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and its members made no objection. Operator Japan Nuclear Fuel …
Japan’s nuclear watchdog on Wednesday granted its first approval for a plan to reuse nuclear fuel taken out of decommissioned reactors in operational ones. The decision will allow Kansai Electric Power Co., the operator of the Oi nuclear power plant in central Japan, to load some nuclear fuel assemblies from its scrapped No. 1 and …
French reactor firm Framatome has entered a deal to design, manufacture and supply fuel assemblies made from enriched reprocessed uranium (ERU) to utility firm EDF between 2023 and 2032. Framatome has noted that the collaboration is subject to administrative and regulatory authorisations. The reactor firm is to fabricate the fuel assemblies at its facility in …
The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site has begun dissolving uranium fuel cores from Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor for the first time since 1988. The spent fuel will help deliver electricity to residents in the Tennessee Valley. The High Flux Isotope Reactor is fueled by highly enriched uranium, which the Savannah …
SHANGHAI/PARIS (Reuters) – A deal long sought by French company Areva to build a $12-billion nuclear waste reprocessing plant in China looks increasingly unlikely to go ahead despite a visit to Beijing by President Emmanuel Macron meant to drum up business. During Macron’s state visit this week, Areva and China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) signed …
The cost of recycling spent nuclear fuel has surged since Japan began using it in 1999, raising questions about the viability of the reprocessing strategy, it has been learned. Japan is the only non-nuclear weapons state in the world that still engaged in a commercial spent-fuel reprocessing program. While it struggles to keep its nuclear …