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A decommissioning revolution
21 February, 2018
William Roberts reflects on how attitudes towards decommissioning have evolved over the past 30 years.

Asia assesses effects of Westinghouse bankruptcy
03 April, 2017
China's State Power Investment Corp (SPIC) said Westinghouse's bankruptcy filing would not have a "substantial impact" on China’s nuclear plans and the two sides would ensure a key AP1000 reactor project would be completed on schedule this year, Reuters reported on 30 March. Two AP1000 reactors are under construction at the Sanmen NPP in Zhejiang province and two more at the Haiyang NPP Shandong province. According to the recently-published 13th Five-Year Plan China aimed to have all four AP1000 units in operation by the end of 2017.

Second thoughts on South Africa’s pebble-bed reactor
02 April, 2017
South Africa’s state utility and nuclear operator Eskom is looking again at plans abandoned in 2010 to develop a Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR), according chief nuclear officer David Nicholls. South Africa began working on the PBMR in 1993, and PBMR Pty, the company set up to lead the project, was on the point of beginning construction when the government cut funding and withdrew its support in 2010. It would have been the first Generation IV unit to enter the construction phase. In an interview with EE Publishers on 28 March, Nicholls. A former CEO of PBMR Pty, said Eskom was investigating whether there is now a market for ultra-safe, small, nuclear reactors for power generation, using high-temperature technology. He said Eskom had started looking at the PBMR again with “a clean sheet” and is carrying out a paper study “with limited research funding going into it”.

Goodbye to BNFL
09 August, 2016
The UK government, as part of a major reduction of public bodies, has decided to finally abolish British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL). The company, which was launched in 1971, grew to manage the UK's nuclear fuel cycle centres and all 26 Magnox nuclear power reactors. It established a US-based decommissioning division in 1990, bought the reactor vendor Westinghouse in 1999, and in 2000 bought the nuclear business of ABB and integrated it into Westinghouse. In its own words, BNFL was "a highly influential and respected nuclear company with operations across the UK and overseas”.

Rise to the challenge
07 July, 2016
A decommissioning project of a reactor built five decades ago at Winfrith will be technically challenging. NEI looks at the project, it’s challenges and what the award might mean for the winner, James Fisher Nuclear.

Toshiba ends agreements with US CB&I
18 May, 2016
Japan’s Toshiba and US CB&I have agreed to terminate agreements signed in 2010 between Toshiba and Shaw Group related to construction of two Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) at the South Texas Project (STP). Shaw was subsequently acquired by CB&I, which later sold the reactor construction business to Westinghouse, which is part of Toshiba. Earlier in 2008, Toshiba and US utility NRG Energy set up Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA), and applied for a combined construction and operation licence through the STP Nuclear Operating Company, which was granted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in February. NINA owns over 92% of the STP newbuild project, and Toshiba has bankrolled the licensing process since NRG withdrew from the project in 2011.

Is small beautiful?
10 May, 2016
Today, as technology evolves, we are forever being presented with familiar things, just a lot smaller. The mobile phone has shrunk markedly since the very early models. But are we on the cusp of a revolution in the nuclear industry as small modular reactor development gains pace? Penny Hitchin reports.

Germany revises waste disposal programme
04 November, 2015
Judith Perera gives an overview of Germany’s new radioactive waste disposal plans, which were submitted to the European Commission in August.

Conversion - Optimism despite tough times
08 October, 2015
Uranium converters are facing a depressed market with surplus uranium and low spot prices. Times are tough for a business that has never been the most profitable part of the nuclear fuel cycle but optimism remains. By Steve Kidd

Diversification of the VVER fuel market
30 September, 2015
Mark Dye, Jan Höglund, and Ulf Benjaminsson give an overview of Westinghouse’s 15-year nuclear fuel development programme at South Ukraine, along with its plans to re-enter the VVER-440 fuel market with a new design.

MOX rig decommissioning: a towering achievement
12 April, 2015
Cleanup of a MOX rig will support decommissioning of the Sellafield MOX Plant. By David Checkley and Kieron Ryding

Sellafield signs cooperation agreement with Fukushima-updated
30 April, 2014
UK nuclear fuel cycle and R&D site Sellafied has signed a cooperation agreement with Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Decontamination and Decommissioning Engineering Company (FDEC).

Nukenomics author joins NNL
15 October, 2012

Supply margins erode
06 October, 2011
Long-term and spot prices for conversion services remain on a rising trend. Production interruptions highlight the risk posed by thin supply margins. By Michael Schwartz and Julian Steyn

A history of the UK's IP-2 ISO freight containers
13 September, 2011
The most common container for low-level waste in the UK were based on ISO containers 25 years ago. The history and development of IP-2 ISO freight containers are reviewed. By Bob Vaughan and Ron Hows

Old meets new
13 September, 2011
Decommissioning of a 60-year-old pile fuel cladding silo at Sellafield requires the construction of modular steel packaging and retrieval cells, which will be bolted on to the old structure. By Penny Hitchin

NE Atlantic discharges
15 August, 2011
European countries signed up to the OSPAR Convention are committed to achieve ‘good environmental status’ of the Atlantic Ocean. This includes reducing radioactive discharges to levels where the additional concentrations above historic levels are close to zero by 2020. The most recent report finds the nuclear industry making progress, but improvements are still required. By Penny Hitchin

The cautious strategy of the third UK new-build consortium: news analysis
04 March, 2011