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IAEA launches ESBWR sim
11 December, 2009
The International Atomic Energy Agency provides PC-based nuclear power plant simulators for education and training in member states. Last month, the programme launched a simulator of GE’s ESBWR design. By Sama Bilbao y León.

Two birds with one stone
11 December, 2009
Combining nuclear reactor simulators for engineering and operations applications could save money. This is what EDF?did for the Flamanville 3 EPR engineering and training simulator, and what CGNPC did for the Ling Ao 2 CPR-1000 verification & validation (V&V) simulator. By Pascal Gain and Jody Ryan

Putting our heads together
11 December, 2009
With over 50 Russian VVER reactors in operation, reactor pressure vessel embrittlement is, and will continue to be, an important issue. As experts in this field begin to retire, a pilot project aims summarise their knowledge and experience before it is lost. By Ulrik von Estorff and Milan Brumovsky

Waterford 3 in 3D
11 December, 2009
US utility Entergy is using laser scanning and 3D modelling solutions to help plan maintenance projects at its Waterford 3 plant in Louisiana. The technology will be put to the test this month when the reactor coolant pump motor is due to be replaced.

Finding what is left
11 December, 2009
Engineering consultancy Morson has begun a pilot project to catalogue and monitor asset lifetimes in four shut-down facilities at UK nuclear facility Sellafield. The company tailors the frequency of inspections of 500 assets depending on the risk and consequences of the assets failing. By Will Dalrymple

Digital I&C is safe enough
11 December, 2009
Claims of very low failure on demand probabilities – circa 10-9 – for digital I&C systems are not realistic, especially because other factors, such as human error and hardware, start to play a role at probabilities below 10-4. The most important common cause failures, which dwarf software errors, are listed with their probabilities. By John Bickel.

Clearing Yugoslavia’s nuclear past
13 November, 2009
Just one challenge in the international cleanup operation of a nuclear research lab now in Serbia is to remove 2000 drums full of radioactive waste whose contents are unknown. By Andrea Bucalossi, Rudolf Burcl, Lucien Cécille, Jadranka Djuricic´ and John Kelly

Giving homes to orphans
13 November, 2009
Cement encapsulation is not suitable for some types of intermediate level wastes including ion exchange resins, organic liquors and metallic wastes. Polymer encapsulation methods being studied by the UKAEA offer a viable alternative. By Steve Black and Michelle Wise

Burning down the waste
13 November, 2009
A consortium has begun a two-year, EUR13 million project to apply a wet oxidation process to nuclear decommissioning at Italy’s shut down Trino plant.

Let’s get on with it
13 November, 2009
Plans to build new nuclear power plants in the UK gives us an incentive to clear up old reactor sites and to re-evaluate the country’s current decommissioning plans. We have the technical capability to decommission nuclear reactors today – why wait? By David Bradbury, George Elder and Susan Hewish

Small is not new
13 November, 2009
B&W's mPower reactor is not the only small reactor to hit the market. By Judith Perera

B&W’s baby
13 November, 2009
Babcock & Wilcox, maker of the nuclear reactors in US Navy submarines, believes that thinking small may be the best way to approach nuclear new build. Will Dalrymple reports

Dissolution solution
13 November, 2009
Ten years on, the Dungeness A Magnox dissolution plant is proving to be a UK decommissioning success story. By reducing the amount of waste, the plant is expected to save GBP35 million over its lifetime at the shut down gas-cooled, graphite-moderated reactor. Other UK sites are now considering building similar facilities.

A thought for thorium
03 November, 2009
Could thorium fuel be used in future nuclear power plants? Recent indications from Areva and AECL show they are not ruling it out yet. By Caroline Peachey

The coming oversupply
03 November, 2009
Several trade issues were resolved and enrichment suppliers moved to implement technology evolution and expansion plans; market prices continued their climb. By Gene Clark and Treva Klingbiel

Enough for today
03 November, 2009
The current margin of available conversion supply may not be adequate to overcome another extended disruption at any of the converters. By Julian Steyn

Stability in tough times
03 November, 2009
The dramatic change in the global financial outlook during the past year, coupled with the change in the administration in the United States, have underlined the uncertainties confronting the nuclear industry, and in particular the uranium market. By Julian Steyn & Thomas Meade

A view to 2030
03 November, 2009
A new European forecast predicts 70GW of nuclear new build by 2030, even after wide-ranging uprating and PLEX, to meet expected demand. By Jacques Leclercq, with Guy Bettoun and Jacques David

Leaker leaders look back
03 November, 2009
Problems with leaking fuel at four Exelon BWRs and four PWRs in Illinois, and at TVA’s Watts Bar PWR led to a major R&D effort with the Electric Power Research Institute and vendors. In 2009, the PWRs are scheduled to start their first cycle without any of the fuel assemblies from the time of the failure. In separate interviews, Exelon vice president of nuclear fuels Jim Malone and TVA nuclear fuel design manager James Lemons told NEI how they dealt with the problem.

Oblast opportunity
03 November, 2009
Russia has welcomed foreign investment in Baltic NPP, which also aims to export about 1000MW of electricity to its European neighbours. Will Dalrymple reports