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Progress and pain with RERTR – 20 years on
30 November, 1998
First the USA, then other countries have dragged their heels over converting research reactors from high to low enrichment fuel in line with the anti-proliferation targets set over 20 years ago. However, over the past couple of years, a renewed impetus has built up as progress in several areas has been achieved.

Shipping foreign research reactor spent fuel to the US enters smoother waters
30 November, 1998
The US DOE’s programme to take US-origin research reactor spent fuel from other countries has had a difficult journey through review procedures and court actions despite the motive of reducing proliferation risks. Now, however, NAC International’s shipment of the fuel from foreign shores to US storage facilities is running smoothly. This may also be a positive harbinger for the future transportation of spent fuel from US nuclear power plants.

Phébus PF incident rates INES 2
30 November, 1998

AEA Technology rides the commercial wave
30 November, 1998
Privatised in September 1996, AEA Technology’s success shows there are many opportunities for commercialisation of nuclear technology, often in fields well beyond the nuclear industry itself. by NOLAN FELL

Russian industry looks west
30 November, 1998
Through improved efficiencies, Russia’s nuclear fuel industry intends to increase its presence in Western markets. The Russian nuclear industry also plans to use its plutonium stocks in MOX fuel as part of a closed fuel cycle involving fast reactors. These were the main messages of the Russian Nuclear Society organised conference, Nuclear Fuel for Mankind, held in Electrostal in October. By JUDITH PERERA

Japan’s HTTR goes critical
30 November, 1998

Eskom sees a nuclear future in the pebble bed
30 November, 1998
Is there a reactor type for which public acceptance, and the costs of safety in the achievement of that acceptance, would allow a renewal of a nuclear power programme? In South Africa, Eskom successfully operates the two unit Koeberg PWR station, but it does not see LWRs as a solution for the present. Rather, it is putting its technical and financial resources behind a modular pebble bed high temperature reactor project which it sees as the best approach to take.

Czech Republic
30 November, 1998
The four 432 MWe VVERs at Dukovany provide 19% of the country’s electricity. The two 981 MWe VVERs under construction at Temelin are being modified, in a first-of-its-kind operation, to take a Western I&C system. Uranium production is being run down and all fuel cycle services are imported.

Surry ends its summer slump in output
30 November, 1998
This year, the Surry nuclear plant was determined to win back the megawatts which are normally lost through poor condenser performance during the hot summer months. To resolve the problem, caused mainly by micro and macro biological fouling of condenser tubing in the water boxes, the plant initiated an aggressive tube cleaning programme that raised the plant’s thermal efficiency and its output. It also increased the company’s bottom line by more than $800 000 compared with 1997.

How Oconee plans to reach 60
30 November, 1998
Licence renewal planning for the Oconee Nuclear Station has been a strong motivator in establishing a larger life cycle management perspective for the station, focused not only on extending operation from 40 to 60 years, but also on benefitting operations for the remainder of the facility’s currently licensed plant life. Among the most critical technical challenges faced are obsolescence of component technology, lack of spare parts and material ageing.

Applying ALARA for a large-scale backfit at Borssele
29 October, 1998
An extensive backfitting programme (called the Modifications Project) was carried out at the Borssele nuclear power plant in 1997. It was clear from the start that a high collective dose had to be taken into account in planning and carrying out the 16 projects involved. Maximum attention to radiation protection in all phases of the project resulted in a final collective dose of 2505 mSv, which was a factor of 4 below the initial estimate.

Decontamination for decommissioning at Connecticut Yankee
29 October, 1998
The Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company’s Haddam Neck Plant has entered into the decommissioning phase. In preparation for decommissioning, the site elected to perform a full system decontamination using the Siemens HP CORD D UV process. Connecticut Yankee developed a unique application method utilising major plant equipment to perform the decontamination rather than using external decontamination equipment.

From below the Sarcophagus
29 October, 1998
A method for dismantling the destroyed Chernobyl reactor and its Sarcophagus is proposed, involving tunnelling from underneath the plant. Coming from below should be the safest approach, causing the least disturbance to the structure particularly during operations to remove the highly radioactive material. This will then facilitate the next stages: removing the remaining less active material and the Sarcophagus, and disposing of the waste.

BNFL Engineering developing Sellafield Drypack Process with world in mind
29 October, 1998
BNFL is developing processes to clean up historic wastes at its Sellafield site. One of the most advanced is the Sellafield Drypack Plant, designed to transform intermediate level waste into a stable form. Apart from improving the situation at Sellafield, the SDP process may help BNFL develop its international clean up business.

Clearing the industry’s past
29 October, 1998
The UK Atomic Energy Authority has turned full cycle, in effect, going from being one of the world’s primary nuclear energy development organisations to becoming one of the world’s major decommissioning agencies and has some valuable lessons for all nuclear facility operators when faced with the closure of their plants.

To decommission or not to decommission ? That is the question!
29 October, 1998
Increased competitiveness and deregulation of the US electric utility industry is imposing new performance expectations upon nuclear power plant owners. The availability of cheap natural gas and new combined cycle gas turbine technology with 60% thermal efficiencies, low capital cost, and quick construction cycles of two years have created new competition for nuclear generators.

Licensing Data Base: a tool to aid safety upgrading
29 October, 1998
To assist in designing, supplying and licensing plant and systems used in nuclear applications, Stork Nucon developed the Licensing Data Base (LDB) which contains vital national and international nuclear codes and standards documents. Safety upgrading, renovating and maintenance are only a few of activities that can benefit from using this tool.

Dose management during the Borssele modifications
29 October, 1998
The large-scale backfitting operation carried out at the Borssele nuclear power plant in 1997, a major part of the plant’s Modification Project, took approximately four months. Managing dose was a critical consideration in planning and executing the work.

Russia
01 October, 1998
Russia’s nuclear industry remains one of the biggest nuclear complexes in the world, even after the 1986 Chernobyl accident drastically curtailed its ambitious nuclear power programme.

Steam generator replacements get better all the time
01 October, 1998
This past summer, Westinghouse/PCI undertook its largest steam generator replacement effort to date. In the end, the Tihange 3 replacement project in Belgium also turned out to be one of the most successful it ever performed.