Kazakh-French Joint Venture to Commence Uranium Mining at South Tortkuduk at Year-End

KATCO, a joint venture of the French Orano Mining and Kazatomprom national atomic company, will start mining uranium at Kazakhstan’s South Tortkuduk site at the end of 2023, Trend.az reported on Nov. 12, citing a source at Orano multinational nuclear fuel cycle company. As the world’s largest uranium producer, Kazakhstan hosts Orano through KATCO, established in …

Orano to expand capacity of French enrichment plant

The board of directors of Orano has approved an investment of some EUR1.7 billion (USD1.8 billion) to raise the production capacity of the Georges Besse II (GB-II) uranium enrichment plant at the Tricastin site in southern France by more than 30%. The project consists of building a further four modules identical to the 14 existing …

What Can Investors Learn From the French-Mongolian Uranium Mining Deal

French President Emmanuel Macron and Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh in Paris, October 12, 2023. Photo credit: Reuters The ink is barely dry on a landmark French-Mongolian uranium mining deal. After over 20 years of exploratory work in the Gobi desert, France’s state-owned Orano has secured rights to begin commercial production around 2028 at the Zuuvch …

Niger coup designation puts US development bank financing on hold – Global Atomic

he US State Department on Tuesday officially classified the events in Niger at the end of July as a ‘coup d’etat’. This designation has placed a temporary hold on US development bank financing for the Dasa project. In a response, Toronto-listed Global Atomic has acknowledged that, although it has sufficient cash reserves to cover its operations for the …

Rolls-Royce partners for SMR fuel design and analytics

Rolls-Royce SMR has awarded a contract to Westinghouse for the development of a fuel design for its small modular reactor (SMR). Meanwhile, it has partnered with the UK’s National Physical Laboratory to investigate safe automated reactor operation for SMRs. Westinghouse Electric Company UK Ltd is to develop a fuel design for the Rolls-Royce SMR. The …

Westinghouse to Supply the Most Advanced BWR Nuclear Fuel to Large U.S. Utility

The TRITON11® fuel assembly is Westinghouse’s optimized and robust BWR fuel design, offering unmatched fuel cycle economic and performance benefits. Westinghouse Electric Company has signed a contract to deliver advanced fuel to one of the largest Boiling Water Reactor utilities in the U.S. This milestone marks the re-entry of Westinghouse into America’s BWR fuel market …

EU countries eye tighter subsidies in hunt for energy market deal

European Union countries are considering stricter limits on state aid for power plants in an upcoming revamp of Europe’s electricity market, after disagreements between Germany and France over the issue sunk a deal last week. EU energy ministers failed to agree the reforms last week, after countries including Germany, Austria and Luxembourg opposed plans to …

Fuel cycle players need certainty to support future nuclear growth: panel

Key players from the front end of the fuel cycle came together at World Nuclear Symposium 2022 to discuss where they see the pinch points in meeting the needs of expanding nuclear generating capacity to meet decarbonisation goals, and the certainty they need to ensure future needs can be met. A bright outlook for nuclear will mean …