Media Watch

The prospect of a new nuclear project coming to Wylfa on Anglesey in north Wales is never too far from the Welsh press, with the promise of new jobs and substantial investment two major drivers. In May the NIA’s Head of Communications, Iolo James, spoke to BBC Cymru Wales’s Newyddion programme to react to a Welsh Affairs Committee report into new nuclear in the country.

The report concluded that new nuclear projects could be a ‘game-changer’ for the north Wales economy, but action was needed to make projects happen. Iolo told the programme that Wylfa is one of the best places in the UK for new nuclear and that there was now real political momentum to make projects like Wylfa happen.

The NIA’s Director of Policy and External Affairs, Lincoln Hill, spoke to the Daily Telegraph on the partnership between the UK, Canada, Japan and France, which aims to squeeze Russia’s share of nuclear exports, particularly when it comes to nuclear fuel.

“The main challenge,” according to Lincoln Hill “is to get out of the asymmetric mindset we’ve been in. In the past, the West has seen this as a purely commercial, marketbased situation and the Russians approached it as a strategic priority, so our companies were undercut and struggled to compete.”

In April, Germany shut down their last remaining nuclear power stations, bringing to an end the country’s campaign to phase out atomic power. The NIA’s Chief Executive, told The Guardian that the phaseout would worsen carbon emissions and “for a country supposedly renowned for its logical and evidence-driven approach is environmentally damaging, economically illiterate and deeply irresponsible”.

He also told the paper: “At a time of heightened concern about energy security, Germany will be abandoning assets that can displace 34 billion cubic metres of gas a year.”

Reacting to a report from RePlanet on how the recycling and repurposing of nuclear waste as fuel for reactors could enable the generation of more than 2,000 years of zerocarbon electricity for the UK, Tom Greatrex said: “The sky’s the limit when it comes to producing low-carbon electricity from spent nuclear fuel. It offers an innovative way of producing abundant clean energy to ensure energy security and hit our net-zero goals, alongside other reactor types and clean energy sources. The UK can and should be leading the deployment of these technologies, and companies like UK Atomics and Newcleo are already looking to develop their technologies in Britain.”

The Sunday Times reported on the Bill Gates backed TerraPower, the company that’s looking to develop their AMR technology in the UK. They’re developing a Natrium reactor which the company says can flex its output to meet energy demand on the grid. The NIA’s Tom Greatrex told the paper that AMRs and “SMRs have a potentially pivotal role to play”, but he urged GBN to “work at pace” to make them happen.

For full versions and more details on these and other stories visit www.world-nuclear-news.org

Romania’s NuScale SMR plan gets $275m boost

Funding of up to $275m to advance the deployment of a NuScale Power Corporation VOYGR small modular reactor (SMR) plant in Romania was announced at the G7 leaders’ summit.

NuScale and RoPower Nuclear are conducting a FEED phase 1 study to analyse the preferred site of the first VOYGR-6 SMR power plant, which is a former coal plant in Doicesti. The new funding will support the phase 2 study which also initiates the process of securing authorisations and licenses for the project.

Westinghouse unveils AP300 SMR

Westinghouse has launched the AP300 small modular reactor, a scaled-down version of its AP1000 reactor, with a goal for the first one to deliver power to the grid within a decade.

Based on AP1000 technology, the SMR is an ultra-compact, modular constructed unit leveraging the innovation and operational knowledge of the AP1000 fleet and will use identical technology including “major equipment, structural components, passive safety, proven fuel and I&C systems”.

The AP300 SMR will sit between the AP1000 and the eVinci microreactor, a range of products which, the company said meant Westinghouse was providing “the technology to create a sustainable future and enhance energy security around the globe and eventually in outer space”.

Mass deployment of Holtec SMRs in Ukraine is part of accord’s aims

Up to 20 Holtec SMR-160 plants will be built in Ukraine under a cooperation agreement signed between Holtec International and Ukrainian national nuclear operator Energoatom.

The cooperation agreement envisions implementation of the first SMR-160 Pilot Project with the goal to reach minimum controlled reactor power and connection to the grid by March 2029,

In 2018, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Holtec and Energoatom envisaging the adoption by Ukraine of Holtec’s SMR technology with the country becoming a manufacturing hub for SMR-160 reactor components.

The Ukrainian manufacturing hub is to mirror the capabilities of Holtec’s Advanced Manufacturing Plant in Camden, and will be one of four manufacturing plants Holtec plans to build at distributed sites around the world by the mid-2020s.

Praise for Sweden’s waste management

Sweden demonstrates a solid commitment to ensuring the safe implementation of nuclear radioactive waste and used fuel management activities, including its efforts towards establishing a deep geological facility, an IAEA team of experts has concluded.

The IAEA sent an Integrated Review Service for Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Management, Decommissioning and Remediation (Artemis) mission to Sweden at the request of the country’s government to support it in meeting European Union obligations under the Council Directive on radioactive waste and used fuel management.

Artemis missions provide independent expert opinion and advice, drawn from an international team. The team recognised the way in which Sweden has developed and implemented the KBS-3 concept for used fuel disposal as a good practice. The KBS-3 system consists of a central facility for interim storage and encapsulation of used nuclear fuel, a transport system for the transportation of canisters with encapsulated used nuclear fuel and a final repository facility.