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Clearing out Kozloduy 1-4
23 November, 2014
With support from the European Union, work towards decommissioning Units 1-4 of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power plant is now well under way. By Denitsa Dishkova

Evaluating the safety of new fuel types. Part 2: accident & storage conditions
29 October, 2014
Determining the overall safety level for a new nuclear fuel is not trivial because it involves balancing a host of attributes in several operating scenarios. Currently, there is no focussed, peer-reviewed guidance to help perform such assessments. The work described here, based on a report by the World Nuclear Association’s Fuel Technology Working Group, is intended to be a starting point for formal safety assessment. By Julian Kelly

Evaluating the safety of new fuel types. Part 1: normal conditions
27 October, 2014
Determining the overall safety level for a new nuclear fuel is not trivial because it involves balancing a host of attributes in several operating scenarios. Currently, there is no focussed, peer-reviewed guidance to help perform such assessments. The work described here, based on a report by the World Nuclear Association’s Fuel Technology Working Group, is intended to be a starting point for formal safety assessment. By Julian Kelly

Demonstration of a new recycled fuel for CANDU
22 October, 2014
In collaboration with the Third Qinshan Nuclear Power Company (TQNPC), the China North Nuclear Fuel Corporation (CNNFC), and the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC), Candu Energy Inc has successfully accomplished a demonstration irradiation of a first-of-a-kind fuel called Natural Uranium Equivalent (NUE) which makes use of recycled and depleted uranium at Qinshan CANDU® Unit 1. It has completed detailed technical analyses to prove that NUE fuel can be implemented in existing CANDU stations without any major modifications to the plant or the licensing basis. By Valeh Aleyaseen, Catherine M. Cottrell and Sermet Kuran

European skills pass
22 October, 2014
A standardized, pan-European vocational transfer system has been proposed. Its benefits include worker mobility, mutual recognition, harmonization and improvement of education, all of which happen to be pressing issues in the European labour market’s international competitiveness. By Alicia Lacal Molina and Ulrik von Estorff

Small change, powerful gains
16 October, 2014
Simple, low-cost improvements to valves, MSRs and preheaters can improve water-steam cycle efficiency and have the potential to increase the electrical output of a boiling water reactor by up to 30 MW. By Sören Künne and Wolfgang Schuch

Optimizing maintenance
10 September, 2014
Efforts are under way to update technical guidance to include maintenance optimization

EU assistance to Ukraine - project roundup
15 August, 2014
After the Chernobyl nuclear accident and particularly after independence in 1991, Ukraine received significant technical assistance from the European Union. This article give a round-up of specific projects.

Transport of spent fuel after dry storage
12 August, 2014
It now appears that spent fuel may be stored in interim dry stores for longer than was expected. The safety analysis requires knowledge of the characteristics and behaviour of materials under these storage conditions. Despite much R&D, questions about material properties remain open. Two key issues are residual water after drying and subsequent radiolytic generation, and the possibility of cladding embrittlement caused by thermal transients during the cask drying process and its impact on the cooling of stored fuel. By Maurice Dallongeville, Hervé Issard, Elisa Leoni and Aravinda Zeachandirin

The CSC is coming
16 July, 2014
Although international nuclear liability has been an incomplete patchwork of conventions and treaties, there is now hope for much greater cohesion, thanks to Japan’s announcement that it is planning to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage 1997. By Mark Richards

China’s nuclear growth
12 June, 2014
Over the next two years, many more new reactors are expected to start up in China, doubling nuclear capacity from today’s levels. Although its nuclear new-build programme remains vastly larger than anywhere else in the world, nuclear capacity growth is expected to diminish in the 2020s. By Ian Hore-Lacy and Stephen Tarlton

Canada’s uncertain nuclear future
06 June, 2014
Three meetings in May and September 2013 brought together Canadian nuclear stakeholders to discuss the opportunities and challenges that sector leaders will face over the next 20 to 25 years.

CAREM: Argentina's innovative SMR
14 May, 2014
First concrete was poured in February for the prototype of the domestically-designed CAREM 27 MWe small modular reactor. This article gives an overview of the main thermal-hydraulic features of the natural circulation, self-pressurized, integral reactor. By Christian Marcel, Darío Delmastro, M. Celeste Magni and Osvaldo Calzetta.

Information-rich design for large-screen displays
09 April, 2014
A new approach to human-machine interfaces has produced a radically different design of control room displays. The first of these has now been installed at the Halden research reactor in Norway. By Alf Ove Braseth

Developing a spent fuel cask for air transport
07 April, 2014
In the framework of the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return (RRRFR) Program, US DOE and Russian organizations have developed the first Type C cask to ship by air research reactor spent nuclear fuel. By M.E. Budu, D. V. Derganov, O.A. Savina, S.V. Komarov and S.D. Moses

Nuclear to 2030: up or down?
01 April, 2014
The World Nuclear Association’s latest projections for nuclear generating capacity in the period from 2013 to 2030 give mixed messages. In the high case, capacity could almost double from 374 GWe today to 700 GWe by 2030, while the low-case projections see nuclear capacity falling to 340 GWe.

Practical acoustic thermometry: a new way to measure reactor temps?
25 March, 2014
A new way to measure reactor temperatures up to 1000 °C is proposed, based on the comparison of acoustic signals in gas-filled tubes. Proof-of-concept experiments demonstrate an accuracy of within 2 °C with just one calibration point, although drift remains a potential issue. By Michael de Podesta

A eulogy for San Onofre
05 March, 2014
Andrew Benson looks back at energy policy in California and lays out how the state plans to 'replace' the San Onfore Nuclear Generating Station, which supplied almost 7% of Califonia's electricity in 2010.

Nuclear back-end opportunities
04 March, 2014
The market for back-end solutions from decommissioning projects to nuclear waste and spent fuel management solutions is expected to be worth in excess of $360 billion in the period from 2012 to 2030.

Assessing five years of hydrogen water chemistry in Taiwan
31 January, 2014
Hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) was only introduced into Taiwanese boiling water reactors in 2006. An inspection campaign after about five years of operation has found no evidence of fuel rod damage as a result of the change. By Wan-June Chiu, Shih-Chung Cheng and Yaw-Hwa Shiu