Nuclear Street - Nuclear Power Plant News, Jobs, and Careers

In an extensive interview with Neutron Bytes, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of NuScale Power Jose N. Reyes laid out the timeline for the first modular reactor power plant, which is expected to be up and running in 2027.

With no plans to retreat from nuclear power, the Finish government said last week that it was on the way to becoming the world’s first “fossil-free prosperous society,” reaffirming its climate change targets.

Russian nuclear power giant Rosatom announced late last week it has signed contracts, along with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), for construction of two VVER-1200, Generation 3 plus reactors specified for the Xudabao site in North East China.

Rosatom operating division Rosenergoatom said Tuesday that Novovoronezh-II Unit 2 has been brought up to 50 percent power as the first of four pre-commissioning testing levels known as pilot operations.

After the International Energy Agency in May issued a report decrying the weak support for nuclear power, a few notable voices, including two prominent Op-ed articles this week, have taken Germany to task for their retreat from nuclear power.

Entergy Nuclear shut down the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for the final time on Friday, dropping the number of operating nuclear plants in the United States to 97.

A late-March announcement that tagged Motlex Energy as the preferred vendor for Fermi Energia’s goals of reducing carbon emissions with Moltex advanced reactors was slightly misleading, the company’s Chairman of the Board Sandor Liive said.

Framatome said Wednesday it had received a voucher from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear program (GAIN) to support development of Lightbridge Fuel in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Duke Energy said Thursday that it planned to decommission the previously retired Crystal River Nuclear Plant in Florida by 2027, jumping ahead on the previously announced schedule by close to 50 years.

Electricite de France (EDF) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy said that the Taishan Unit 2 reactor had achieved first criticality, the second European Pressurized Reactor to do so.

Arguably the world’s most respected energy authority, the International Energy Agency, said Tuesday that the aging of nuclear power fleets in Europe and the United States threatened to derail global climate change goals and upend energy security.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH)said it had submitted its BWRX-300 small modular reactor design for a Vendor Design Review with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).

Russia on Saturday launched an enormous new nuclear powered ice breaker, named the Ural, from its shipyard in St. Petersburg, hoping to take advantage of global warming with regards to expanded Arctic shipping and oil exploration.

Russia and Vietnam have expanded their collaborative arrangements for cooperation on nuclear technology, signing a memorandum of understanding that covers development of a science center to be built in Vietnam.

South Korea’s nuclear power regulator the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) said it would expand the investigation into a Hanbit power plant incident earlier this month in which the reactor was allowed to run after breaching security parameters.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said this week that spent fuel transfers could resume at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Clemente, California.

--Press Release-- Radium Incorporated (Radium) announced today that it has been issued a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a new type of transparent radiation shield. Branded as ClearView Radiation Shielding™, the proprietary shielding solution is 50% lighter in weight than lead (Pb) for an equivalent attenuation from high energy gammas and shields significantly better than lead glass.

An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts completed a review of long term operational safety at the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) Unit 1 in China on 10 May, the agency said.

UzAtom, the nuclear development agency of Uzbekistan, has signed stage two agreements for construction of a two-unit nuclear power plant with Russian representatives of Atomstroyexport, the engineering division of Rosatom.

A United Nations inspection team said that Electricite de France, operator of the Golfech Nuclear Power Plant, had made significant improvements to enhance operational safety at the plant since a prior inspection three years ago.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) said Monday that Unit 1 reactor at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in the Surat district of Gujarat ha reached criticality three months ahead of schedule after a lengthy renovation and modernization program.

U.S.-based small modular reactor developer NuScale Power and fuel-development company Enfission, announced Wednesday they had signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the use of next generation nuclear fuel technology in NuScale’s small modular reactors.

Wisconsin-based SHINE Medical Technologies, Inc., announced May 9 that the company had launched into construction of their first medical isotope production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin with a ground-breaking ceremony.

Several Chinese companies, notably Dongfang Electric Corporation and China State Construction and Engineering Corporation, have expressed interest in building a second nuclear power plant for Bangladesh, the country’s nuclear power regulator said.

French nuclear regulator ASN (Autorite de surete nucleaire) said that it was investigating potential fraud cases as a wider reach to the documentation scandal at Areva's Creusot Forge that began with the discovery of irregularities in pressure vessel steel found at the Flamanville Unit 3 construction project in Normandy in April 2015.