Weekly Reports |Jun 13 2018Donald Trump is looking to take extraordinary measures to save America's coal-fired and nuclear power generators.-US government to intervene in electricity market-Upbeat mood at nuclear conference-Spot price continues to tick higher By Greg PeelWhile the US oil & gas industry is enjoying a significant resurgence with the advent of new technologies in shale fracking, the...Read More
Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has today approved the decommissioning plan for the country's oldest reprocessing plant. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) announced in September 2014 that it would permanently shut down the reprocessing plant in Tokai, Ibaraki prefecture.Modifications to the plant required under post-Fukushima safety regulations were too costly, JAEA decided. New saf...Read More
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) are to work together to enhance radiation protection of workers in the uranium mining and processing industries under a new cooperation agreement.Larsson (on the left) and Pinak pictured at the signing of the agreement in Melbourne (Image: IAEA)The agreement between the two or...Read More
Work has begun to reassemble Darlington unit 2, Ontario Power Generation announced yesterday. The 878 MWe Candu unit is the first of Darlington's four reactors to undergo refurbishment to enable it to operate for a further 30 years.The reactor face of Darlington 2 (Image: Ontario Power Generation)Refurbishment of Darlington 2 began in 2016 when the reactor was shut down and isolated from the oper...Read More
Uranium, known for its radioactive properties, has been found in predominant quantities in India's groundwater across 16 states. This is the first time that the extent of uranium present in the country's groundwater has been evaluated.According to a study in the Environmental Science and Technology Letters, the prevalence of uranium in the country's groundwater is well above the acceptable stand...Read More
The US House of Representatives has approved an amendment to an energy and water act expediting the cleanup of abandoned uranium mines across the country, particularly in the so-called Arizona Strip, which contains about 40% of the country's reserves of the yellow metal.Uranium was extracted there, mostly within the vast Navajo Nation reservation - from western New Mexico into Arizona and souther...Read More
Spanish media are reporting that between 3,000 and 5,000 people hailing from different cities in Spain, as well as from Portugal and France, rallied this weekend in Salamanca to express their rejection to a uranium mine being built in the Retortillo municipality.The Salamanca project is Berkeley Energia's (ASX, LSE: BKY) flagship mine and is located on the Retortillo-Santidad uranium deposit, in t...Read More
The UK last week completed two more milestones in its preparations to leave the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). On 7 June, Parliament passed the Nuclear Safeguards Bill and government officials signed new international safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).David Hall, Ambassador and UK Resident Representative to IAEA and UK Governor on IAEA Board of G...Read More
The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has unveiled a new supercomputer with a peak performance of 200,000 trillion calculations (200 petaflops) per second. The Summit supercomputer's power will be put to work in research in areas including energy, advanced materials and artificial intelligence.Summit (Image: DOE)Summit is eight times more powerful than the USA's curren...Read More
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has launched a competition to find "innovative ways to visualise, analyse and explore" simulations of different materials that can be used to build fusion reactors. Such materials would subject to extremely high temperatures and energetic particles.The IAEA said the results of the challenge will be useful for the development of a demonstration fusion p...Read More
Spanish media are reporting that between 3,000 and 5,000 people hailing from different cities in Spain, as well as from Portugal and France, rallied this weekend in Salamanca to express their rejection to a uranium mine being built in the Retortillo municipality.The Salamanca project is Berkeley Energia's (ASX, LSE: BKY) flagship mine and is located on the Retortillo-Santidad uranium deposit, in t...Read More
Delegates from the 2018 AusIMM International Uranium Conference have urged state and federal governments to embrace uranium mining and actively discuss nuclear energy, at the 13th annual conference in this series, showcasing Australia's capability in the sector.The conference, held on June 5-6 in Adelaide, was attended by 110 industry, government and NGO representatives from around the world and d...Read More
Russia and China have signed four agreements envisaging the construction of four VVER-1200 units at Xudabao and Tianwan, cooperation in the CFR-600 fast reactor pilot project, and supply of the RITEG (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) parts for China's lunar exploration programme. The signing ceremony was held today in Beijing and attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Presi...Read More
Wheeler River basement geology and summer 2018 regional uranium targets. (Image: Denison Mines)SASKATCHEWAN - Toronto-based Denison Mines Corp. has outlined its 20,500-metre summer 2018 drilling program for the Wheeler River uranium property in the Athabasca Basin. The project is owned 63.3% by Denison, 26.7% by Cameco Corp. and 10% by JCU (Canada) Exploration Co.The first target is K-North to fol...Read More
SNC-Lavalin subsidiary SNC-Lavalin Nuclear (USA) Inc has signed a letter of agreement (LOA) with Nuclear Development LLC to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) management services to complete construction of Bellefonte 1. Nuclear Development's acquisition of the Alabama facility is due to close later this year.Bellefonte (Image: TVA)Nuclear Development successfully bid to buy t...Read More
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) has released its closure plan for the Ranger uranium mine in Australia's Northern Territory. Under the existing authority from traditional land owners, mining and processing activities at Ranger must cease in January 2021, with final rehabilitation to be completed by January 2026.The Ranger mining site, pictured in 2015 (Image: ERA)The Ranger Mine Closure Plan h...Read More
French utility EDF has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Brazilian companies Centrais El?(C)tricas Brasileiras (Eletrobras) and Eletrobras Termonuclear SA (Eletronuclear) to promote cooperation in nuclear energy. This could include participation in the completion of Angra 3 and possible follow-up projects.Angra 3 under construction, with 1 and 2 operating in the background (Image: El...Read More
Ten projects have been selected to receive a total of up to USD24 million in funding under a new programme from the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) initiative. The projects selected include a transportable gas-cooled reactor, and technology to support load-following, improve safety and reduce costs in advanced reactors.HolosGen's integral reactor i...Read More
Japan's Hitachi and the UK government have decided to enter negotiations on the proposed Wylfa Newydd project. In a statement to Parliament yesterday, UK Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said actions the government is taking will support a "long-term pipeline" for new nuclear projects in the country.How the Wylfa Newydd plant could look alongside the existing Wylfa plant (Image: Horizon)Hi...Read More
A uranium trader focused on Kazakhstan is set to make its debut on AIM next month.Yellow Cake Plc is backed by Bacchus Capital, the corporate finance boutique set up in 2016 by a group of senior bankers led by Peter Bacchus.Uranium (U3O8) is structurally mis-priced, it says and Yellow Cake will make its money from stockpiling the radioactive metal, commodity streaming and royalties.Kazakhstan is o...Read More