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Inside Japanese outages
21 December, 2010
Tadahisa Nagata of the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute and Toshihiro Okajima of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum respond to our query in August issue’s load factors article (pp28-33) about why the load factors for Japanese nuclear power plants are lower than those in the USA.

Rise of the radwaste depot
21 December, 2010
Increasing low-level waste disposition costs and pressure from government are forcing UK industry toward greater processing of radwaste; centralised services in this field offer economies of scale and other benefits. By David Lee

Russia reviews radwaste
21 December, 2010
Russia is preparing for a second reading of a new law on radioactive waste later this year. By Judith Perera

The copper controversy
21 December, 2010
Sweden’s spent fuel disposal concept is based on the idea that the copper waste canisters do not degrade for even hundreds of thousands of years. But a group of researchers has found evidence of copper corrosion, even in conditions without oxygen. A special workshop with an expert panel convened in November 2009 to try to resolve the issue.

Excavating Chooz A
21 December, 2010
Modern nuclear reactors are designed with decommissioning in mind. Earlier reactors were not, so a current industry challenge is to demonstrate that existing reactors can be decommissioned and decontaminated in a timely, cost effective and efficient way. Just such a test case is beginning in France, where, earlier this year, French utility EDF awarded Westinghouse a contract for decommissioning of the first of its fleet of 59 commercial PWRs. By Penny Hitchin

France’s future: export
08 December, 2010

Inside Japanese outages
06 November, 2010
Tadahisa Nagata of the Japan Nuclear Technology Institute and Toshihiro Okajima of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum respond to our query in August issue’s load factors article (pp28-33) about why the load factors for Japanese nuclear power plants are lower than those in the USA.

SMRs on the radar in the USA
06 November, 2010
In September, American Nuclear Society released a report on licensing issues relating to small and medium sized reactors and the US regulator asked its staff to look into steps that could improve the review of license applications for SMRs.

Russia reviews radwaste
06 November, 2010
Russia is preparing for a second reading of a new law on radioactive waste later this year. By Judith Perera

The copper controversy
06 November, 2010
Sweden’s spent fuel disposal concept is based on the idea that the copper waste canisters do not degrade for even hundreds of thousands of years. But a group of researchers has found evidence of copper corrosion, even in conditions without oxygen. A special workshop with an expert panel convened in November 2009 to try to resolve the issue.

Aker’s ADS uses thorium
06 November, 2010
In this Generation IV design, a subcritical 600MWe power reactor sustains a nuclear chain reaction in thorium and MOX fuel by using an accelerator to shoot a beam of particles into the molten lead coolant. By Victoria Ashley, Roger Ashworth, John Earp and Colin Fuller

Excavating Chooz A
06 November, 2010
Modern nuclear reactors are designed with decommissioning in mind. Earlier reactors were not, so a current industry challenge is to demonstrate that existing reactors can be decommissioned and decontaminated in a timely, cost effective and efficient way. Just such a test case is beginning in France, where, earlier this year, French utility EDF awarded Westinghouse a contract for decommissioning of the first of its fleet of 59 commercial PWRs. By Penny Hitchin

Rise of the radwaste depot
06 November, 2010
Increasing low-level waste disposition costs and pressure from government are forcing UK industry toward greater processing of radwaste; centralised services in this field offer economies of scale and other benefits. By David Lee

South Korea thinks small
06 November, 2010
Preparations for a design licence application are under way for South Korea's home-grown 100MWe small reactor

Gas turbines go west
06 October, 2010
A successful regulatory review will see the USA’s first approval of gas turbines for emergency backup of a nuclear power plant. However, they have been used in Europe for years. By Will Dalrymple

The power behind power
06 October, 2010
Emergency diesel backup generators are vital for safety; every nuclear power reactor has at least two of them. So as new-build begins to take off and the market for replacements heats up, suppliers are gearing up and battling for orders. By Claire Maden

Learning from failures
06 October, 2010
Over the last 30 years the number of fuel failures has fallen dramatically, and the common causes of these events have changed, according to a report from a European Union body set up to improve communication, regional collaboration and sharing of lessons learned on operational events. By Manuel Martín Ramos, M Nöel and Christiane Bruynooghe

Fuel vendor audits
06 October, 2010
The current goal of zero fuel failures requires meticulous quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) of fuel design, fabrication and fuel operation. Although fuel vendors are responsible for the fuel’s design and fabrication, utilities have the added responsibility of exercising QA over the design and fabrication of the fuel at the vendor’s facilities. By Alfred Strasser

Supply satisfactory–excepting surprises
06 October, 2010
The enrichment market is expected to remain relatively in balance for the long term. A number of suppliers are capable of adding new capacity as needed, though the capital-intensive nature of enrichment technology will prevent significant oversupply. Small shortages are certainly possible during the next several years, in the event of delays in new plant commissioning. By Thomas Meade and Michael H. Schwartz

New capacity needed
06 October, 2010
According to a high case demand forecast, current conversion capacity could begin to fall behind requirements as early as 2013, although the uncertainties of secondary supply play a crucial role. The costs of capacity expansion in conversion could nearly double current kgU prices. By Michael H. Schwartz and Julian Steyn