Power & Operations

Japanese regulators have ordered further review at a nuclear power plant in central Japan following a series of deadly earthquakes that rocked the country on New Year’s Day.

The United Kingdom released plans yesterday for the biggest expansion of nuclear power in 70 years. Officials outlined Civil Nuclear: Roadmap to 2050 as an opportunity to improve the United Kingdom’s energy independence from foreign sources as it looks to build a new power station and invest in advanced nuclear fuel production.

French energy supplier Électricité de France announced this week it will invest $1.7 billion to keep its U.K. fleet in production through 2026.

As Spain prepares to shutter its fleet of seven nuclear power plants, France considers adding more than 14 new ones.

NuScale announced today a 28 percent reduction in full-time staff, affecting 154 workers, as part of the company’s move to focus resources on “key strategic areas”— including deployment of its small modular reactor.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has taken action to ensure an immediate supply of backup electricity at the site in case the main external power line is lost.

Amid Ukraine's ongoing military conflict with Russia, Zaporizhzhia has experienced frequent power cuts. Since August 2022, the plant has suffered eight events with a complete loss of off-site power, according to a statement from International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Mariano Grossi.

A series of earthquakes on New Year’s Day that resulted in a tsunami warning and prompted evacuations from Japan’s west coast caused no irregularities at the country’s nuclear plants, Japanese officials have reported.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has finalized an inspection finding as “white” related to an inoperable emergency diesel generator at the V. C. Summer nuclear power plant in Jenkinsville, S.C. Under the NRC’s reactor oversight process, a white inspection finding reflects low-to-moderate safety significance.

“Maintaining the operational readiness of all safety-related equipment is crucial for the plant's ability to respond effectively in emergencies,” said Laura Dudes, NRC Region II administrator. “While not indicative of immediate risk, this finding underscores the need for continuous vigilance and improvement in the plant’s corrective action process.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review Pacific Gas and Electric’s formal request to extend Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant’s operating licenses for another 20 years.

EDF Energy’s new nuclear build megaproject at Hinkley Point C last Friday moved forward—or, more literally, upward then downward—when workers, with a substantial assist from Big Carl, the world’s largest crane, successfully lifted the C1 reactor building’s 47-meter-wide, 245-ton steel dome into place.

Unit 4 at India’s Kakrapar nuclear plant has achieved initial criticality, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) has announced. This latest milestone in the country’s ambitious nuclear power program was reached early on December 17.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted last Thursday to extend the life of Diablo Canyon an additional five years. The decision was the final step in the extension of the state's last remaining nuclear power plant, whose two reactors will now operate until at least 2029 and 2030, respectively, instead of closing in 2024 and 2025.

The World Nuclear Association and the African Commission on Nuclear Energy (AFCONE) last year signed a memorandum of understanding to encourage the use of nuclear energy in support of economic growth and sustainable energy development in Africa.

Kairos Power has received the go-ahead from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build its Hermes demonstration reactor at the Heritage Industrial Park in Oak Ridge, Tenn., making it the first non–light water reactor approved for construction in the United States in more than 50 years.

Energy secretary Jennifer Granholm visited the Clinch River Nuclear Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., on December 5 to highlight the Biden administration’s support for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s advanced nuclear technology program.

Granholm indicated that the administration is willing to provide funding for the nation’s first commercial small modular reactor at the site. “Excited to see a shovel in the ground, hopefully in a few more years,” she said. “TVA is leading on small modular reactors with this site. Everybody’s looking to TVA to make sure that this can actually happen.”

Aerial view of Sweden’s parliament building, Riksdagshuset, in Stockholm. (Photo: Arild Vågen/Wikipedia)

Sweden’s parliament, the Riksdag, has approved legislative amendments from Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s government that will remove the country’s prohibition on new reactor construction at sites other than Sweden’s three current nuclear plants—Forsmark, Ringhals, and Oskarshamn—and do away with the limitation on the number of simultaneously operating reactors, currently capped at 10.

The amendments enter force on January 1.

“The Riksdag shares the government’s assessment that fossil-free electricity from nuclear power will also continue to play a role of central importance in the Swedish energy mix,” the legislative body said in a statement following the November 29 vote. “The main reasons for this are an expected greater demand for electricity in combination with the fact that fossil fuels have to be phased out, particularly for climate reasons. Nuclear power also contributes to the stable and predictable functioning of the Swedish power system.”

The 2023 Materials in Nuclear Energy Systems (MiNES 2023) meeting will take place December 10–14 in New Orleans, La. The third installment of MiNES will focus on cutting-edge research in the fission reactor materials community.

A notice of opportunity from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was published in the November 22 Federal Register to intervene in an adjudicatory hearing on Kairos Power’s application for a construction permit to build the Hermes 2 test reactor facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

We’re failing.

We’re failing to decarbonize the world in any significant way. Global greenhouse gas emissions are still rising and appear on track to continue rising until at least 2040—the result of energizing the developing world.

Blaming “the criminal actions of the ruscists,” Ukraine nuclear plant operator Energoatom this morning reported a primary-to-secondary reagent leak at Unit 5 of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), as well as a partial blackout at the facility earlier this week. (The term “ruscist” [рашизм] is a portmanteau of the words “Russian” and “fascist.”)