#haleu — Public Fediverse posts

Deutsche Uranfabriken – Viele Fragen von Abgeordneten – Kaum Antworten der Bundesregierung – umweltFAIRaendern

https://umweltfairaendern.de/2026/04/01/deutsche-uranfabriken-vielen-frage-von-abgeordneten-kaum-antworten-der-bundesregierung/

#Uran #Atomenergie #urenco #Uranfabrik #Uranbrennstoff #urananreicherung #u235 #Kritikalität #HALEU #nuclearfuel #kernbrennstoffe

Deutsche Uranfabriken – Viele Fragen von Abgeordneten – Kaum Antworten der Bundesregierung – umweltFAIRaendern

https://umweltfairaendern.de/2026/04/01/deutsche-uranfabriken-vielen-frage-von-abgeordneten-kaum-antworten-der-bundesregierung/

#Uran #Atomenergie #urenco #Uranfabrik #Uranbrennstoff #urananreicherung #u235 #Kritikalität #HALEU #nuclearfuel #kernbrennstoffe

Deutsche Uranfabriken – Viele Fragen von Abgeordneten – Kaum Antworten der Bundesregierung – umweltFAIRaendern

https://umweltfairaendern.de/2026/04/01/deutsche-uranfabriken-vielen-frage-von-abgeordneten-kaum-antworten-der-bundesregierung/

#Uran #Atomenergie #urenco #Uranfabrik #Uranbrennstoff #urananreicherung #u235 #Kritikalität #HALEU #nuclearfuel #kernbrennstoffe

Urananreicherung in Deutschland – Modernisierung läuft – Sicherheitsbegutachtung PSÜ abgeschlossen – umweltFAIRaendern
https://umweltfairaendern.de/2025/08/18/urananreicherung-in-deutschland-modernisierung-laeuft-sicherheitsbegutachtung-psue-abgeschlossen/

#Uran #Atomenergie #urenco #Uranfabrik #Uranbrennstoff #urananreicherung #u235 #Kritikalität #HALEU #nuclearfuel #kernbrennstoffe

Urananreicherung in Deutschland – Modernisierung läuft – Sicherheitsbegutachtung PSÜ abgeschlossen – umweltFAIRaendern
https://umweltfairaendern.de/2025/08/18/urananreicherung-in-deutschland-modernisierung-laeuft-sicherheitsbegutachtung-psue-abgeschlossen/

#Uran #Atomenergie #urenco #Uranfabrik #Uranbrennstoff #urananreicherung #u235 #Kritikalität #HALEU #nuclearfuel #kernbrennstoffe

https://www.europesays.com/uk/1056456/ The World Is Racing to Develop New Nuclear Fuels #Business #CentrusEnergy #HALEU #LEU+ #NuclearEnergy #NuclearFuel #Russia #SMRs #TRISO #UK #UnitedKingdom #uranium #Urenco

Whatever Happened to the Small Modular Reactor Revolution? https://www.byteseu.com/2127875/ #AdvancedReactors #EnergySecurity #HALEU #Nuclear #NuclearEnergy #NuclearPower #Nuscale #RollsRoyceSMR #SmallModularReactors #SMR #TerraPower

US nuclear firm to deploy multiple 390 MW reactors for 4 GW of power https://www.byteseu.com/2001756/ #AI #DataCenters #Energy&Environment #HALEU #IntegralMoltenSaltReactor #Nuclear #NuclearEnergy #RIOTPLATFORMS #TerrestrialEnergy

⚛️ ASP Isotopes (ASPI) firma un acuerdo preliminar con una gran energética de EE.UU. para producir combustible nuclear avanzado (HALEU y LEU+). El objetivo es asegurar la cadena de suministro nacional de uranio enriquecido. #EnergíaNuclear #ASPI #HALEU.

TRISO-X Secures First-Ever NRC Category II License for Commercial Advanced Nuclear Fuel Fabrication

In a milestone for the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Feb. 13 issued…
#Nuclear #AdvancedNuclear #CategoryIILicense #fuelfabrication #HALEU #NRC #nuclear #OakRidge #Tennessee #TRISO #TRISO-X #X-energy #Xe-100
https://www.europesays.com/2777140/

ans.org:
"
Fuel Cycle
H Canyon restarts uranium recovery operations
"
"The Department of Energy has restarted uranium recovery operations at the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon facility in South Carolina, ..."

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7746/h-canyon-restarts-uranium-recovery-operations/

10.2.2026

"Fuel Cycle". Oh..

#Atomkraft #DOE #HALEU #HCanyon #HEU #Kernenergie #NuclearReprocessing #SavannahRiverSite #SRS #USA #Uran #uranium #Wiederaufarbeitung

ans.org:
"
Fuel Cycle
H Canyon restarts uranium recovery operations
"
"The Department of Energy has restarted uranium recovery operations at the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon facility in South Carolina, ..."

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7746/h-canyon-restarts-uranium-recovery-operations/

10.2.2026

"Fuel Cycle". Oh..

#Atomkraft #DOE #HALEU #HCanyon #HEU #Kernenergie #NuclearReprocessing #SavannahRiverSite #SRS #USA #Uran #uranium #Wiederaufarbeitung

ans.org:
"
Fuel Cycle
H Canyon restarts uranium recovery operations
"
"The Department of Energy has restarted uranium recovery operations at the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon facility in South Carolina, ..."

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7746/h-canyon-restarts-uranium-recovery-operations/

10.2.2026

"Fuel Cycle". Oh..

#Atomkraft #DOE #HALEU #HCanyon #HEU #Kernenergie #NuclearReprocessing #SavannahRiverSite #SRS #USA #Uran #uranium #Wiederaufarbeitung

ans.org:
"
Fuel Cycle
H Canyon restarts uranium recovery operations
"
"The Department of Energy has restarted uranium recovery operations at the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon facility in South Carolina, ..."

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7746/h-canyon-restarts-uranium-recovery-operations/

10.2.2026

"Fuel Cycle". Oh..

#Atomkraft #DOE #HALEU #HCanyon #HEU #Kernenergie #NuclearReprocessing #SavannahRiverSite #SRS #USA #Uran #uranium #Wiederaufarbeitung

ans.org:
"
Fuel Cycle
H Canyon restarts uranium recovery operations
"
"The Department of Energy has restarted uranium recovery operations at the Savannah River Site’s H Canyon facility in South Carolina, ..."

https://www.ans.org/news/article-7746/h-canyon-restarts-uranium-recovery-operations/

10.2.2026

"Fuel Cycle". Oh..

#Atomkraft #DOE #HALEU #HCanyon #HEU #Kernenergie #NuclearReprocessing #SavannahRiverSite #SRS #USA #Uran #uranium #Wiederaufarbeitung

Studie Haskoning: “Potentie” van SMRs is een opeenstapeling van nadelen

Vandaag publiceerde het kabinet het rapport “Ruimtelijke en Energetische inpassing van Small Modular Reactors (SMR’s) bij de industrie”, vergezeld van een Kamerbrief die stelt dat SMR’s “potentie” hebben voor de Nederlandse industrie na 2035. Een zorgvuldige bestudering van het rapport laat echter een heel ander beeld zien. In plaats van een toekomstbestendige kernenergievorm schetst het document een technologie die verre van marktrijp is, ruimtelijk nauwelijks in te passen blijkt en economisch vooral op overheidssteun leunt.
Uit de analyse van de onderzoekers blijkt dat de regio waarvoor het onderzoek is uitgevoerd, de Schelde‑Deltaregio, de komende decennia juist kampt met een structureel elektriciteitsoverschot ("congestie"). Door de combinatie van bestaande productie uit de kerncentrale Borssele, snelle groei van wind‑op‑zee en geplande nieuwe kerncentrales loopt de capaciteit op tot meer dan 13 gigawatt richting 2050. Hierdoor ontstaat jaarlijks een structureel productieoverschot van tientallen terawattuur. Extra elektriciteitsproductie door SMR’s vergroot deze exportdruk en biedt nauwelijks toegevoegde waarde voor de Nederlandse energievoorziening.

Waar het kabinet stelt dat SMR’s vooral interessant zijn voor industriële warmtelevering, laten de onderzoekers zien dat geen van de korte‑termijnreactoren die rol kan vervullen. De eerste commerciële SMR‑ontwerpen van het type Gen III+ leveren slechts stoom van 200 tot 300°C, wat veel te laag is voor procesindustrie. Alleen geavanceerdere Gen IV‑reactoren kunnen de benodigde procestemperaturen van 400 tot 600°C halen, maar deze technologie is volgens het rapport pas na 2040 realistisch beschikbaar. Bovendien zijn de splijtstofketens die hiervoor nodig zijn — waaronder HALEU, TRISO‑brandstof en gesmoltenzoutsystemen — nog niet ontwikkeld of gecertificeerd. Daarmee zijn SMR’s geen antwoord op de warmtevraag die de industrie nu en in de komende tien jaar heeft.

Ook ruimtelijk gezien toont het rapport een reeks fundamentele problemen. Alle onderzochte locaties in Zeeland liggen in óf grenzend aan Natura 2000‑ en NNN‑gebieden. In sommige gevallen gaat het zelfs om direct verlies van beschermde natuurgronden. De onderzoekers constateren dat alleen het Sloegebied en het Dow‑terrein in Terneuzen überhaupt enige potentie hebben, maar zelfs daar spelen ecologie, veiligheidscontouren, ruimtegebrek en hoogwaterbescherming een grote rol.

De economische haalbaarheid van SMR’s is volgens het rapport hoogst onzeker. Investeringskosten van €3.000 tot €7.000 per kWe en een kostprijs van €60 tot €120 per megawattuur zijn gebaseerd op theoretische modellering, niet op bestaande installaties. Er bestaat wereldwijd nog geen enkel commercieel operationeel SMR‑project. De onderzoekers wijzen bovendien op recente vertragingen en beëindigde projecten, wat de risico’s verder onderstreept. Bedrijven zijn volgens het rapport terughoudend: de benodigde contractduren van 30 tot 40 jaar, de technische onzekerheden en het ontbreken van praktijkervaring maken dat vrijwel geen enkele industriële partij een SMR wil realiseren zonder forse overheidsgaranties en risicodeling.

Ook het vergunningenproces blijkt allesbehalve eenvoudig. Een SMR valt volledig onder de Kernenergiewet en kent precies dezelfde grondige, langdurige procedures als conventionele kerncentrales. De onderzoekers merken expliciet op dat een SMR niet sneller te realiseren is dan een conventionele reactor. Alleen de locatiekeuze duurt al circa 3,5 jaar. Bovendien ontbreekt in Nederland elke vorm van richtafstanden of ruimtelijke kaders voor SMR’s, waardoor provincies deze zelf moeten opstellen — opnieuw een bron van vertraging en onzekerheid

Het nieuwe SMR‑rapport bevestigt vooral dat SMR’s in Nederland geen realistische bijdrage leveren aan de energie‑ en klimaatdoelen van de komende decennia. De technologie is technisch onvolwassen, ruimtelijk problematisch, economisch riskant en afhankelijk van publiek geld, terwijl de regio waarvoor het kabinet dit rapport liet schrijven helemaal geen extra kernproductie nodig heeft. Waar het kabinet spreekt van “potentie”, laat het rapport vooral risico’s, beperkingen en vertraging zien. SMR’s zijn geen oplossing voor de industrie, maar een toekomstige mogelijkheid met grote onzekerheden — en zeker geen technologie om op korte termijn op in te zetten.

Studie Haskoning: “Potentie” van SMRs is een opeenstapeling van nadelen

Vandaag publiceerde het kabinet het rapport “Ruimtelijke en Energetische inpassing van Small Modular Reactors (SMR’s) bij de industrie”, vergezeld van een Kamerbrief die stelt dat SMR’s “potentie” hebben voor de Nederlandse industrie na 2035. Een zorgvuldige bestudering van het rapport laat echter een heel ander beeld zien. In plaats van een toekomstbestendige kernenergievorm schetst het document een technologie die verre van marktrijp is, ruimtelijk nauwelijks in te passen blijkt en economisch vooral op overheidssteun leunt.
Uit de analyse van de onderzoekers blijkt dat de regio waarvoor het onderzoek is uitgevoerd, de Schelde‑Deltaregio, de komende decennia juist kampt met een structureel elektriciteitsoverschot ("congestie"). Door de combinatie van bestaande productie uit de kerncentrale Borssele, snelle groei van wind‑op‑zee en geplande nieuwe kerncentrales loopt de capaciteit op tot meer dan 13 gigawatt richting 2050. Hierdoor ontstaat jaarlijks een structureel productieoverschot van tientallen terawattuur. Extra elektriciteitsproductie door SMR’s vergroot deze exportdruk en biedt nauwelijks toegevoegde waarde voor de Nederlandse energievoorziening.

Waar het kabinet stelt dat SMR’s vooral interessant zijn voor industriële warmtelevering, laten de onderzoekers zien dat geen van de korte‑termijnreactoren die rol kan vervullen. De eerste commerciële SMR‑ontwerpen van het type Gen III+ leveren slechts stoom van 200 tot 300°C, wat veel te laag is voor procesindustrie. Alleen geavanceerdere Gen IV‑reactoren kunnen de benodigde procestemperaturen van 400 tot 600°C halen, maar deze technologie is volgens het rapport pas na 2040 realistisch beschikbaar. Bovendien zijn de splijtstofketens die hiervoor nodig zijn — waaronder HALEU, TRISO‑brandstof en gesmoltenzoutsystemen — nog niet ontwikkeld of gecertificeerd. Daarmee zijn SMR’s geen antwoord op de warmtevraag die de industrie nu en in de komende tien jaar heeft.

Ook ruimtelijk gezien toont het rapport een reeks fundamentele problemen. Alle onderzochte locaties in Zeeland liggen in óf grenzend aan Natura 2000‑ en NNN‑gebieden. In sommige gevallen gaat het zelfs om direct verlies van beschermde natuurgronden. De onderzoekers constateren dat alleen het Sloegebied en het Dow‑terrein in Terneuzen überhaupt enige potentie hebben, maar zelfs daar spelen ecologie, veiligheidscontouren, ruimtegebrek en hoogwaterbescherming een grote rol.

De economische haalbaarheid van SMR’s is volgens het rapport hoogst onzeker. Investeringskosten van €3.000 tot €7.000 per kWe en een kostprijs van €60 tot €120 per megawattuur zijn gebaseerd op theoretische modellering, niet op bestaande installaties. Er bestaat wereldwijd nog geen enkel commercieel operationeel SMR‑project. De onderzoekers wijzen bovendien op recente vertragingen en beëindigde projecten, wat de risico’s verder onderstreept. Bedrijven zijn volgens het rapport terughoudend: de benodigde contractduren van 30 tot 40 jaar, de technische onzekerheden en het ontbreken van praktijkervaring maken dat vrijwel geen enkele industriële partij een SMR wil realiseren zonder forse overheidsgaranties en risicodeling.

Ook het vergunningenproces blijkt allesbehalve eenvoudig. Een SMR valt volledig onder de Kernenergiewet en kent precies dezelfde grondige, langdurige procedures als conventionele kerncentrales. De onderzoekers merken expliciet op dat een SMR niet sneller te realiseren is dan een conventionele reactor. Alleen de locatiekeuze duurt al circa 3,5 jaar. Bovendien ontbreekt in Nederland elke vorm van richtafstanden of ruimtelijke kaders voor SMR’s, waardoor provincies deze zelf moeten opstellen — opnieuw een bron van vertraging en onzekerheid

Het nieuwe SMR‑rapport bevestigt vooral dat SMR’s in Nederland geen realistische bijdrage leveren aan de energie‑ en klimaatdoelen van de komende decennia. De technologie is technisch onvolwassen, ruimtelijk problematisch, economisch riskant en afhankelijk van publiek geld, terwijl de regio waarvoor het kabinet dit rapport liet schrijven helemaal geen extra kernproductie nodig heeft. Waar het kabinet spreekt van “potentie”, laat het rapport vooral risico’s, beperkingen en vertraging zien. SMR’s zijn geen oplossing voor de industrie, maar een toekomstige mogelijkheid met grote onzekerheden — en zeker geen technologie om op korte termijn op in te zetten.

This is one of the main reasons why liquid Thorium is preferable to HALEU $$$ Compare to Copenhagen Atomics Onion Core tech...

#nuclear #HALEU #TRISO #TMSR

https://youtu.be/O2JLbNDhoO4

This is one of the main reasons why liquid Thorium is preferable to HALEU $$$ Compare to Copenhagen Atomics Onion Core tech...

#nuclear #HALEU #TRISO #TMSR

https://youtu.be/O2JLbNDhoO4

Meta Is Making a Big Bet on Nuclear With Oklo https://www.wired.com/story/meta-is-making-a-big-bet-on-nuclear-with-oklo/ #Science #HALEU

Meta Is Making a Big Bet on Nuclear With Oklo https://www.wired.com/story/meta-is-making-a-big-bet-on-nuclear-with-oklo/ #Science #HALEU

Meta Is Making a Big Bet on Nuclear With Oklo

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/meta-is-making-a-big-bet-on-nuclear-with-oklo/

Meta Is Making a Big Bet on Nuclear With Oklo

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/meta-is-making-a-big-bet-on-nuclear-with-oklo/

"
Google stellt ersten Atomreaktor-Standort für KI-Betrieb vor
"
"Künstliche Intelligenz gilt als Energiefresser. Zusammen mit Kairos Power will Google die eigenen KI-Server auch künftig mit ausreichend Strom versorgen – aus Kernenergie. Das Start-up baut nun ein erstes Atomkraftwerk im Rahmen der Kooperation."

https://www.itmagazine.ch/artikel/85329/Google_stellt_ersten_Atomreaktor-Standort_fuer_KI-Betrieb_vor.html

20.8.2025

BS tech to run BS.

#AI #AKW #Atomkraft #Atomkraftwerk #Google #HALEU #Hermes2 #KairosPower #Kernenergie #KI #NPP #OakRidge #SMR #TRISO #USA

"
Google stellt ersten Atomreaktor-Standort für KI-Betrieb vor
"
"Künstliche Intelligenz gilt als Energiefresser. Zusammen mit Kairos Power will Google die eigenen KI-Server auch künftig mit ausreichend Strom versorgen – aus Kernenergie. Das Start-up baut nun ein erstes Atomkraftwerk im Rahmen der Kooperation."

https://www.itmagazine.ch/artikel/85329/Google_stellt_ersten_Atomreaktor-Standort_fuer_KI-Betrieb_vor.html

20.8.2025

BS tech to run BS.

#AI #AKW #Atomkraft #Atomkraftwerk #Google #HALEU #Hermes2 #KairosPower #Kernenergie #KI #NPP #OakRidge #SMR #TRISO #USA

Ядерные реакторы для космоса. Возвращение

Схема ядерного ракетного двигателя NERVA , 1972 г, источник Ядерные ракетные двигатели (ЯРД) ведут давнюю историю с 60-х гг прошлого века, после чего были забыты на десятилетия. Последние испытания ЯРД в США состоялись более 50-ти лет назад в рамках проектов NERVA и Rover . Однако технологии не стоят на месте — и благодаря последним достижениям в области аэрокосмических материалов и инженерных разработок теперь ЯРД наконец-то созрели для практического использования в космосе.

https://habr.com/ru/companies/ruvds/articles/853404/

#ядерная_энергия #ядерный_реактор #ядерная_бомба #самодельная_бомба #DRACO #DARPA #ядерный_ракетный_двигатель #ЯРД #Lockheed_Martin #BWX_Technologies #Project_Rover #низкообогащённый_уран #HALEU #Vulcan_Centaur #ruvds_статьи

Not to mention all the #WaterConsumption! There are plans to restart aging nuclear reactor as well as untested SMR reactors! Will #AI’s huge energy demands spur a #nuclear renaissance?

By Davide Castelvecchi
25 October 2024

Do small modular reactors carry extra risks?

"In some cases, small modular reactors 'could actually push nuclear power in a more dangerous direction', says #EdwinLyman. 'Advanced isn’t always better.'

"In particular, Lyman points out that the pebble-bed designs drawn up by #XEnergy and #Kairos would rely on high-assay low-enriched #uranium (#HALEU), which comprises 10–20% uranium-235 — compared with the 5% enrichment level required by most existing reactors (and by #NuScale’s reactor). HALEU is still classified as low-enrichment fuel (as opposed to the highly enriched uranium used to make nuclear bombs), but that distinction is misleading, Lyman says. In June, he and his collaborators — including physicist Richard Garwin, who led the design of the first hydrogen bomb — warned in a Science article that a bomb could be built with a few hundred kilograms of HALEU, with no need for further enrichment.

"Smaller reactors are also likely to produce more nuclear waste and to use fuel less efficiently, according to work reported in 2022 by Macfarlane and her collaborators. In a full-size reactor, most of the neutrons produced by the splitting of uranium travel through a large volume of fuel, meaning that they have a high probability of hitting another nucleus, rather than colliding with the walls of the reactor vessel or escaping into the surrounding building. 'When you shrink the reactor, there’s less material in there, so you will have more neutron leakage,' Macfarlane says. These rogue neutrons can be absorbed by other atomic nuclei — which would then themselves become radioactive."

Original article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03490-3

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/mODpF#selection-952.0-991.164

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Cryptocurrency #DataCenters #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NoNukes #NuclearHype #NeutronEmbrittlement #NuclearWaste #NotCarbonFree

Not to mention all the #WaterConsumption! There are plans to restart aging nuclear reactor as well as untested SMR reactors! Will #AI’s huge energy demands spur a #nuclear renaissance?

By Davide Castelvecchi
25 October 2024

Do small modular reactors carry extra risks?

"In some cases, small modular reactors 'could actually push nuclear power in a more dangerous direction', says #EdwinLyman. 'Advanced isn’t always better.'

"In particular, Lyman points out that the pebble-bed designs drawn up by #XEnergy and #Kairos would rely on high-assay low-enriched #uranium (#HALEU), which comprises 10–20% uranium-235 — compared with the 5% enrichment level required by most existing reactors (and by #NuScale’s reactor). HALEU is still classified as low-enrichment fuel (as opposed to the highly enriched uranium used to make nuclear bombs), but that distinction is misleading, Lyman says. In June, he and his collaborators — including physicist Richard Garwin, who led the design of the first hydrogen bomb — warned in a Science article that a bomb could be built with a few hundred kilograms of HALEU, with no need for further enrichment.

"Smaller reactors are also likely to produce more nuclear waste and to use fuel less efficiently, according to work reported in 2022 by Macfarlane and her collaborators. In a full-size reactor, most of the neutrons produced by the splitting of uranium travel through a large volume of fuel, meaning that they have a high probability of hitting another nucleus, rather than colliding with the walls of the reactor vessel or escaping into the surrounding building. 'When you shrink the reactor, there’s less material in there, so you will have more neutron leakage,' Macfarlane says. These rogue neutrons can be absorbed by other atomic nuclei — which would then themselves become radioactive."

Original article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03490-3

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/mODpF#selection-952.0-991.164

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Cryptocurrency #DataCenters #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NoNukes #NuclearHype #NeutronEmbrittlement #NuclearWaste #NotCarbonFree

Not to mention all the #WaterConsumption! There are plans to restart aging nuclear reactor as well as untested SMR reactors! Will #AI’s huge energy demands spur a #nuclear renaissance?

By Davide Castelvecchi
25 October 2024

Do small modular reactors carry extra risks?

"In some cases, small modular reactors 'could actually push nuclear power in a more dangerous direction', says #EdwinLyman. 'Advanced isn’t always better.'

"In particular, Lyman points out that the pebble-bed designs drawn up by #XEnergy and #Kairos would rely on high-assay low-enriched #uranium (#HALEU), which comprises 10–20% uranium-235 — compared with the 5% enrichment level required by most existing reactors (and by #NuScale’s reactor). HALEU is still classified as low-enrichment fuel (as opposed to the highly enriched uranium used to make nuclear bombs), but that distinction is misleading, Lyman says. In June, he and his collaborators — including physicist Richard Garwin, who led the design of the first hydrogen bomb — warned in a Science article that a bomb could be built with a few hundred kilograms of HALEU, with no need for further enrichment.

"Smaller reactors are also likely to produce more nuclear waste and to use fuel less efficiently, according to work reported in 2022 by Macfarlane and her collaborators. In a full-size reactor, most of the neutrons produced by the splitting of uranium travel through a large volume of fuel, meaning that they have a high probability of hitting another nucleus, rather than colliding with the walls of the reactor vessel or escaping into the surrounding building. 'When you shrink the reactor, there’s less material in there, so you will have more neutron leakage,' Macfarlane says. These rogue neutrons can be absorbed by other atomic nuclei — which would then themselves become radioactive."

Original article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03490-3

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/mODpF#selection-952.0-991.164

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Cryptocurrency #DataCenters #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NoNukes #NuclearHype #NeutronEmbrittlement #NuclearWaste #NotCarbonFree

Not to mention all the #WaterConsumption! There are plans to restart aging nuclear reactor as well as untested SMR reactors! Will #AI’s huge energy demands spur a #nuclear renaissance?

By Davide Castelvecchi
25 October 2024

Do small modular reactors carry extra risks?

"In some cases, small modular reactors 'could actually push nuclear power in a more dangerous direction', says #EdwinLyman. 'Advanced isn’t always better.'

"In particular, Lyman points out that the pebble-bed designs drawn up by #XEnergy and #Kairos would rely on high-assay low-enriched #uranium (#HALEU), which comprises 10–20% uranium-235 — compared with the 5% enrichment level required by most existing reactors (and by #NuScale’s reactor). HALEU is still classified as low-enrichment fuel (as opposed to the highly enriched uranium used to make nuclear bombs), but that distinction is misleading, Lyman says. In June, he and his collaborators — including physicist Richard Garwin, who led the design of the first hydrogen bomb — warned in a Science article that a bomb could be built with a few hundred kilograms of HALEU, with no need for further enrichment.

"Smaller reactors are also likely to produce more nuclear waste and to use fuel less efficiently, according to work reported in 2022 by Macfarlane and her collaborators. In a full-size reactor, most of the neutrons produced by the splitting of uranium travel through a large volume of fuel, meaning that they have a high probability of hitting another nucleus, rather than colliding with the walls of the reactor vessel or escaping into the surrounding building. 'When you shrink the reactor, there’s less material in there, so you will have more neutron leakage,' Macfarlane says. These rogue neutrons can be absorbed by other atomic nuclei — which would then themselves become radioactive."

Original article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03490-3

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/mODpF#selection-952.0-991.164

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Cryptocurrency #DataCenters #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NoNukes #NuclearHype #NeutronEmbrittlement #NuclearWaste #NotCarbonFree

Not to mention all the #WaterConsumption! There are plans to restart aging nuclear reactor as well as untested SMR reactors! Will #AI’s huge energy demands spur a #nuclear renaissance?

By Davide Castelvecchi
25 October 2024

Do small modular reactors carry extra risks?

"In some cases, small modular reactors 'could actually push nuclear power in a more dangerous direction', says #EdwinLyman. 'Advanced isn’t always better.'

"In particular, Lyman points out that the pebble-bed designs drawn up by #XEnergy and #Kairos would rely on high-assay low-enriched #uranium (#HALEU), which comprises 10–20% uranium-235 — compared with the 5% enrichment level required by most existing reactors (and by #NuScale’s reactor). HALEU is still classified as low-enrichment fuel (as opposed to the highly enriched uranium used to make nuclear bombs), but that distinction is misleading, Lyman says. In June, he and his collaborators — including physicist Richard Garwin, who led the design of the first hydrogen bomb — warned in a Science article that a bomb could be built with a few hundred kilograms of HALEU, with no need for further enrichment.

"Smaller reactors are also likely to produce more nuclear waste and to use fuel less efficiently, according to work reported in 2022 by Macfarlane and her collaborators. In a full-size reactor, most of the neutrons produced by the splitting of uranium travel through a large volume of fuel, meaning that they have a high probability of hitting another nucleus, rather than colliding with the walls of the reactor vessel or escaping into the surrounding building. 'When you shrink the reactor, there’s less material in there, so you will have more neutron leakage,' Macfarlane says. These rogue neutrons can be absorbed by other atomic nuclei — which would then themselves become radioactive."

Original article:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03490-3

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/mODpF#selection-952.0-991.164

#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Cryptocurrency #DataCenters #RethinkNotRestart #NoNukesForAI #NoNukes #NuclearHype #NeutronEmbrittlement #NuclearWaste #NotCarbonFree

• DOE Its Opens Checkbook to Four Firms for HALEU Contracts
• Urenco Signs Enrichment Contract With French HTGR Developer Jimmy
• Tokamak Energy Gives Details of Its Pilot Fusion Energy Plant Design
• U Michigan Opens $35M Center for Nuclear Powered Space Propulsion

DOE Opens Its Checkbook to Four Firms for HALEU Contracts

• DOE Awards $2.7 billion to Four Firms for HALEU Production Contracts
• Selected companies can compete for work to provide enrichment services to produce fuel for advanced reactors

Four companies have been awarded contracts funded by the President’s Inflation Reduction Act, creating strong competition and allowing DOE to select the firms that are the best fit for future work.

All contracts will last for up to 10 years and each firm winning a contract under the program will receive a minimum of $2 million. A total of $2.7 billion is available for these services, subject to congressional appropriations.

Selected companies include:

• Louisiana Energy Services (Urenco USA)
• Orano Federal Services
• General Matter
• American Centrifuge Operating  (Centrus)

Asides from the usual business related press statements expected from an award of this magnitude, the four firms has little to say, for obvious competitive reasons, about how they will ramp up their operations to compete for pieces of DOE’s$2.7 billion pie.

The HALEU that DOE acquires through these contracts, in the form of UF6, will be used to support reactors like those under development through DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program—TerraPower’s Natrium reactor and X-energy’s Xe-100.

How Much HALEU is Needed and How Much Will These Contracts Produce?

Under these four contracts, selected companies will bid on future work to produce and store HALEU in the form of uranium hexafluoride gas to eventually be made into fuel for advanced reactors. Under separate contracts to some of these same firms DOE will issue production orders for deconversion and fuel fabrication into uranium oxide or uranium metal fuels.

According to the HALEU Availability Program DOE projects that more than 40 metric tons of HALEU will be needed by 2030 with additional as yet unspecified amounts which will required each year thereafter to deploy a new fleet of advanced reactors in a timeframe that supports the Administration’s 2050 net-zero emissions target.

Additional demand numbers will be gathered through the surveys required by the Energy Act of 2020 and interactions with the members of the HALEU Consortium. Its members, which include TerraPower, X-Energy, BWXT, and other developers of advanced reactors, are all targeting electrical generation power levels near or below 300MWe either as single units or in multiples of units of smaller capacity.

Demand for HALEU will depend on the success of advanced reactor developers to license their designs at the NRC and to convince customers to place orders for multiple units in “fleet mode” in order to realize the economies of scale of factory production of nuclear reactors. which fit the IAEA definition of small modular reactors.

DOE says it is track to demonstrate domestic production at the Centrus enrichment facility in Piketon, OH. The demonstration is expected to produce a 900 kilogram/year production rate starting in 2024 to address near-term HALEU needs for fuel qualification testing and DOE-supported advanced reactor demonstration projects.

This number means that to meet DOE’s target of delivering 40 metric tonnes of HALEU by 2030, the four contracts will have to produce 39 metric tonnes over the next five years or, on average, eight metric tonnes/year, and, on average, leaving aside the actual production capacity of each contractor, two metric tonnes of HALEU per contractor per year which is twice the amount Centrus is tasked by DOE to product this year.

About DOE’s HALEU Programs

HALEU is uranium enriched between 5% and 19.5% U235, which increases the amount of fissile material to make the fuel more efficient relative to lower-enriched forms of uranium. Many advanced reactors will use HALEU to achieve smaller designs, longer operating cycles, and increased efficiencies over current technologies.

Advanced nuclear reactors are key to our nation’s clean energy future and meeting our nation’s ambitious clean energy and climate goals. The United States currently lacks commercial HALEU enrichment capabilities to support the deployment of advanced reactors.

These contracts support the buildout of a robust HALEU supply chain in the United States and complement last week’s announcement of contracts to support HALEU deconversion services. The HALEU enrichment/acquisition RFP is focused on mining/milling, conversion, enrichment, and storage activities. Whereas the second RFP is for HALEU deconversion from uranium hexafluoride gas to metal or oxide forms, as well as transport to deconversion site(s), if needed, and storage.

& & &

Urenco Signs Enrichment Contract With French HTGR Developer Jimmy

• French company’s microreactor design will use TRISO fuel

(NucNet) Anglo-German-Dutch uranium enrichment company Urenco has signed a contract with France-based nuclear technology developer Jimmy to supply low-enriched uranium plus (LEU+) for its high-temperature gas-cooled (HTGR) micro reactor development project.

Urenco said in a statement that a first delivery is to be made in 2026 from Urenco’s US plant site in Eunice, New Mexico.

Jimmy says it designs reactors that provide industrial heat as an alternative to fossil fuels in support of decarbonization efforts. Jimmy’s proposed 20-MWt microreactor design will use tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) fuel.

According to Urenco, Jimmy’s design will initially use LEU+ with plans to move to high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel once it is available.

“This announcement marks the second advanced fuels contract for Urenco, showing the market is starting to gather momentum,” said Magnus Mori, head of market development and technical sales at Urenco.

In November 2023, Canada’s Ontario Power Generation chose Urenco to provide uranium enrichment services required to fuel up to four first-of-a-kind GE Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor plants at the Darlington site in Ontario.

Urenco has been investing in the expansion of its enrichment capacity, with projects announced in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands.

LEU+ refers to uranium enriched between 5% and 10% U-235, while Haleu has a higher enrichment level of 10% to 20%, with both fuel types being crucial for next-generation nuclear technologies.

Urenco expects to be able to supply HALEU to its advanced reactor customers in the early 2030s. In May 2024, the UK government announced it will provide funding to Urenco to build a dedicated HALEU facility at its Capenhurst site in northern England.

& & &

Tokamak Energy Gives Details of Its Pilot Fusion Energy Plant Design

(WNN) Tokamak Energy, a UK-based company, gave first details of a high-field spherical tokamak plant “capable of generating 800 MW of fusion power and 85 MW of net electricity” as part of the USA’s Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy program.

Tokamak Energy says that the aim is for the pilot fusion energy plant to be operational by the mid-2030s and gave details of the emerging design at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics in held Atlanta, Georgia earlier this month.

The company says “initial designs are for the tokamak to have an aspect ratio of 2.0, plasma major radius of 4.25 meters and a magnetic field of 4.25 Tesla, as well as a liquid lithium tritium breeding blanket”. It will include a new generation set of high temperature superconducting magnets “to confine and control the deuterium and tritium hydrogen fuel in a plasma many times hotter than the center of the sun”.

Tokamak Energy was spun out of the UK’s Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in 2009. It announced in February last year it was to build a prototype spherical tokamak, the ST80-HTS, at the UKAEA’s Culham Campus, near Oxford, England, by 2026.

The objectives of the projects are;

• to demonstrate the full potential of high temperature superconducting magnets”
• to inform the design of its fusion pilot plant, to demonstrate the capability to deliver electricity into the grid in the 2030s,
• support the aim of producing globally deployable 500-megawatt commercial plants.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Bold Decadal Vision aims to use public-private partnerships to accelerate fusion energy research and development to “enable commercially relevant fusion pilot plants” and demonstrate an operating fusion pilot plant, led by the private sector, in the 2030s.

Tokamak Energy, which became the first private firm to reach a plasma temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, already has links with US national laboratories and universities and has had seven previous awards through the US Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program. Last June it signed the agreement, as one of eight firms taking part in the DOE’s $46 million milestone-based fusion development program.

& & &

U Michigan Opens $35M Center for Nuclear Powered Space Propulsion

To develop spacecraft that can “maneuver without regret,” the U.S. Space Force is providing $35 million to a national research team led by the University of Michigan. It will be the first to bring fast chemical rockets together with efficient electric propulsion powered by a nuclear microreactor.

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. will design a new lightweight microreactor while engineers at U-M will build a heat source that can mimic its output to test the other components of the power and space nuclear propulsion system.

The newly formed Space Power and Propulsion for Agility, Responsiveness and Resilience Institute involves eight universities and 14 industry partners and advisers in one of the nation’s largest efforts to advance space power and propulsion, a critical need for national defense and space exploration.

Right now, most spacecraft propulsion comes in one of two forms: chemical rockets, which provide a lot of thrust but burn through fuel quickly, or electric propulsion powered by solar panels, which is slow and cumbersome but fuel-efficient. Chemical propulsion comes with the highest risk of regret, as fuel is limited. But in some situations, such as when a collision is imminent, speed may be necessary.

Meanwhile, electric propulsion could be much faster, such as a 100-kilowatt Hall thruster built at U-M. The problem is finding the power to run these thrusters.

“The space station generates about 100 kilowatts of power, but the solar arrays are the size of a couple of football fields, and this is too large for some of the power-hungry applications that are of interest to the Space Force,” said Benjamin Jorns, U-M associate professor of aerospace engineering and institute director.

To power faster, efficient electric propulsion, one sub-team is developing a concept for a nuclear microreactor, exploring the early feasibility of a new path for safe, reliable and sustainable nuclear power for space. Others will build technologies to turn the heat from a microreactor into usable electricity, and electric engines to turn the electricity into thrust. The propulsion system design includes a chemical rocket for quick maneuvers.

While chemical rockets need fuel to burn, electric propulsion needs propellant to accelerate. Both generate thrust by shooting out material opposite the direction of travel. Electric thrusters strip electrons off the propellant atoms—turning them into ions—and use electric fields to accelerate them to extremely high speeds. To simplify refueling, the team is trying to demonstrate fuels that can be used to drive the chemical rocket, and which are also effective propellant for electric propulsion.

Two teams will explore how to extract the thermal energy as electricity. U-M and Spark Thermionics will investigate thermionic emission cells, which take advantage of the difference between the heat of the reactor and the cold of space to help drive an electrical current. Another U-M team will pair with Antora Energy to implement thermal photovoltaics, like solar cells that turn heat into electricity.

Cornell University, Advanced Cooling Technologies and Ultramet will design lightweight panels that can extract waste heat and radiate it out into space, as the reactor will produce more energy than either conversion approach can realistically use. The University of Wisconsin, U-M and Cislunar Industries will design a power processing module that will convert the electricity extracted from the microreactor so that it can meet the high power demands of the electric engine.

Subteams will explore three different styles of electric propulsion:

• the Hall thruster (Jorns’ team at U-M),
• the applied-field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster (Princeton University and Champaign Urbana Aerospace) and
• the electron cyclotron resonance thruster (University of Washington and NuWaves Inc.).

Any of these thrusters will rely on a module that turns the propellant into a gas, developed by Western Michigan University and Champaign Urbana Aerospace, and a cathode to prevent the spacecraft from accumulating an electric charge by neutralizing the propellant, developed by Colorado State University.

A new concept for a chemical rocket will be developed by U-M and Pennsylvania State University. Benchmark Space Systems will provide an already developed commercial system for a proof-of-concept test.

The project will be supported with computer modeling and experimental diagnostics developed by U-M, Cornell, Colorado State and the University of Colorado. Analytical Mechanics Associates will assess the full system.

Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and Aerospace Corp. form the advisory board.

# # #

https://neutronbytes.com/2024/10/19/doe-opens-its-checkbook-to-four-firms-for-haleu-contracts/

#haleu #nuclearEnergy

• DOE Awards Six HALEU Fuel Contracts
• Urenco Boosts US Enrichment Capacity
• US Navy Releases RFI for Nuclear Power at Seven Sites
• US Gov’t Wants to Re-start More Nuclear Reactors
• Blue Energy Secures $45M to Build Underwater SMRs for Data Center Power
• Zap Energy Lands $130M in New Capital
• General Atomics Releases FUSE ~ Open Source Fusion Software

DOE Awards Six HALEU Fuel Contracts for Fuel Advanced Reactors

• High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU – 5-20% U235) is for use by advanced reactors
• The contracts will allow companies to compete for work to provide deconversion services

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded contracts to six companies to spur the buildout of a U.S. supply chain for fuels for advanced nuclear reactors. Many advanced reactors will require high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to achieve smaller designs, longer operating cycles, and increased efficiencies over current technologies.

These contracts will allow selected companies to bid on work for deconversion services, a critical component of the HALEU supply chain. Deconversion transforms the gaseous form of enriched uranium (uranium hexafluoride aka UF6) into either uranium oxide or uranium metal forms for fabrication into solid fuel elements intended for specific reactors.

The United States currently lacks commercial HALEU enrichment and deconversion services to support the deployment of advanced reactors. DOE also plans to award contracts for enrichment services to support the full breadth of the HALEU supply chain.

Progress towards commercialization of advanced reactors has been delayed by the lack of access to reliable supplies of HALEU. For instance, TerraPower, which is developing a 345 MW sodium cooled advanced reactor, funded in part with a cost shared contract with DOE, has postponed its startup date by two years to 2030 due to delays in getting HALEU fuel.

Selected companies awarded HALEU contracts include: BWXT, Centrus, Framatome, GE Vernova, Orano, and Westinghouse. In terms of market shares, the six companies will each receive a minimum contract of $2 million, with up to $800 million available for deconversion services over the 10-year contract period.

Cumulatively, the firms are expected to deliver 290 tonnes of fuel (638,000 lbs) during the decade long period of performance.  DOE said in 2023 it has immediate needs for 22 metric tonnes of HALEU for first fuel loads of the advanced reactors it has funded including TerraPower and X-Energy.

The firms bring different capabilities to the program.

• Centrus through its enrichment operation began producing HALEU fuel last year under a DOE contract in the form of uranium hexafluoride (UF6). To be used in a reactor, the gaseous form of the fuel must be converted to either uranium oxide or uranium metal fuel and fabricated as solid nuclear fuel elements to meet the needs of specific customers.
• Orano has the capability to carry out the deconversion process from gas to oxide. The firm announced plans in September to build a multi-billion dollar uranium enrichment plant in Oak Ridge, TN. Once built and in production Orano says the plant will produce commercial quantities of low enriched uranium up to 5% U235 and some with higher enrichment levels up to 8% U235. The firm has not indicated, at least for now, that it has any plans to produce enriched uranium for use in HALEU fuel, e.g., 9-20% U235.

The other four firms – BWX Technologies, Framatome, GE Vernova, and Westinghouse – are positioned as fuel fabrication firms with a wide range of capabilities.

• BWXT inked a contract in August 2023 with DOE’s NNSA to produce HALEU from “scrap” materials” to produce 2 metric tonnes (4,400 lbs) of HALEU.
• Framatome last May announced a deal with TerraPower to produce HALEU at its Richland, WA, fuel fabrication plant. It will convert uranium oxide into uranium metal  for eventual use in TerraPower’s 345 MW sodium cooled advanced reactor which the firm is building in Wyoming.
• In 2022 Global Fuel Americas (GE Verona) announced a $200 million deal with TerraPower to fabricate HALEU uranium metal fuel for the firm’s advanced reactor.  In July 2023
• Westinghouse announced the UK government’s nuclear fuel fund had awarded the firm $11 million to upgrade its Springfields nuclear fuel production plant in the UK to produce HALEU as well as to produce accident tolerant fuels for light water reactors.

More information on the HALEU Availability Program can be found at HALEU Availability Program | Department of Energy.

& & &

Urenco Boosts US Enrichment Capacity

Urenco has installed the first new centrifuges of an expansion project in the United States, which is on track to be deliver additional capacity next year. The centrifuges are installed in an existing centrifuge hall at the company’s enrichment site in Eunice, New Mexico.

The project will provide an approximately 15% increase in enrichment capacity at the site, providing an additional 700,000 SWU per year. Urenco USA is on schedule to begin producing enriched uranium from newly installed centrifuges in 2025.

The site’s expansion project is the first to be delivered under Urenco’s capacity expansion program, and will strengthen the nuclear fuel supply chain both in the U.S. and globally. In total, under Urenco’s current expansion, an additional 1.8 million SWU will be delivered across three projects, including two others at Urenco’s sites in Germany and the Netherlands.

Urenco’s Eunice, NM, site is the only commercial enrichment facility in the U.S. In 2023, its annual production was 4.4 million SWU. The site has the physical space and the NRC  license to further expand its annual production up to 10 million SWU.  The firm has not announced plans to produce HALEU fuels at levels of enrichment for between 9-20% U235.

Urenco CEO, Boris Schucht, said, ““This is only the latest step. We are intending to further expand our capacity in the U.S., subject to market needs, as the strong momentum in the nuclear industry continues.”

& & &

US Navy Releases RFI for Nuclear Power at Seven Sites

The Department of the Navy has released a Request for Information (RFI) to industry, seeking to explore concepts for the development of nuclear power facilities aimed at enhancing energy security at seven Navy and Marine Corps installations in the United States.

The RFI’s goal is to collect input for privately-funded concepts that would ensure continuous operational capability of Navy installations in the event of grid power outages, adversary attacks, extreme weather events, or other disruptions. At the same time it will improve utility and regional grid capacity, flexibility, affordability and resilience to support continuity of services.

According to the RFI installation reliance / tactical readiness are a top priorities for the Navy “to achieve full resilience and operational continuity.”

“We welcome input from developers, utilities, and consortia on innovative approaches that may include, but are not limited to, Shore Based Nuclear Technologies and other advanced technologies.”

“Contractors who own or operate nuclear power sites on Navy or USMC installations would be responsible for the possession, storage and management of nuclear and spent fuel, as well as complying with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing requirements.”

Locations Of Interest

• Virginia

– Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana (VA)
– Naval Support Activity (NSA) South Potomac (includes Naval Support Facility (NSF)
– Dahlgren, VA and
– Naval Weapons Station (NWS) Yorktown (VA)
– Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico (VA)

• Maryland

– NAS Patuxent River (MD)
– NSF Indian Head, MD)

North Carolina

– Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point (NC)
– MCB Camp Lejeune (NC)

Nuclear reactors, including small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors, have the potential to provide defense installations with resilient energy for several years, even in the face of physical or cyberattacks, extreme weather, pandemics, biothreats, and other emerging challenges that could disrupt commercial energy networks.

This announcement builds on recent Department of Defense initiatives in this area, including an announcement earlier this year by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy, and Environment regarding the release of an RFI last June to support a deployment program for advanced reactors to power multiple Army sites across the United States.

In related congressional testimony, the Secretary of the Army, Christine Wormuth, stated: “We are certainly very focused on energy and resilience at our installations and being able to operate in a more resilient manner. We are interested in the potential of micro reactors.”

This effort is also complemented by other initiatives, such as the Department of the Air Force’s microreactor pathfinder project at Eielson AFB and the Office of the Secretary of Defense Strategic Capabilities Office Project Pele, a transportable microreactor prototype that recently broke ground at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.

& & &

US Gov’t Wants to Re-start More Nuclear Reactors

Reuters reports that White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said last week the Biden administration is working on plans to bring additional shut down nuclear power reactors back online to help meet soaring demand for emissions-free electricity needed to power AI related data centers.  (Image: Microsoft Bing Image Creator)

He referenced two projects including the planned recommissioning of Holtec’s Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan and the potential restart of a unit at Constellation Energy’s Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.

Asked if additional shuttered plants could be restarted, Zaidi said: “We’re working on it in a very concrete way. There are two that I can think of.”

Zaidi declined to identify the two power plants or provide further details about the effort.

One of the likely restarts is the Duane Arnold plant in Iowa which faces expensive repairs. On August 10, 2020, the plant cooling towers were damaged during a severe storm and repairs were assessed to be uneconomical, as the plant had was scheduled for decommissioning in October 2020. The operator and majority owner is NextEra Energy Resources (70%). The Central Iowa Power Cooperative owns 20% and the Corn Belt Power Cooperative owns 10%.

In Iowa NextERA CEO John Ketchum, said that the firm will consider reopening the plant to meet the demand for power from data centers. Ketchum told Bloomberg on June 12th he had inquiries from potential data center customers interested in the 600 MW of power that could be provided by the reactor. Google and other data center users are building computing facilities in Iowa and will need power to run them.

“I would consider it, if it could be done safely and on budget.”

Another possible candidate is Indian Point Energy Center – located north of New York city in Buchanan, NY. It is now owned for the purpose of decommissioning by Holtec International. It isn’t clear how much work has been done so far or whether the decommissioning work has gone past the point that would prevent the reactor from being restarted.

Holtec said on its website that Indian Point’s fuel has been removed from the reactor vessel and placed in the spent fuel pool to cool. An April 2024 technical briefing shows significant work to decommission the twin reactors is underway.

Indian Point’s reactors, which each generated 1,000 MW of power, were shut down as a result of intense political pressure from New York State’s then governor Andrew Cuomo due to the extraordinary influence of green groups who’s support was essential to his re-election. The reactor’s capacity has since been partially replaced by natural gas plants.

Three-prong Nuclear Strategy

Speaking at the Reuters IMPACT conference in New York, Zaidi said repowering existing dormant nuclear plants was part of a three-pronged strategy of President Joe Biden’s administration to bring more nuclear power online to fight climate change and boost production.

The other two prongs include development of small modular reactors (SMRs) for certain applications, and continuing development of next generation, advanced nuclear reactors.

Biden has called for a tripling of U.S. nuclear power capacity to respond to energy demand that is accelerating in part due to expansion of power hungry technologies like artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

Last week, the Biden administration said it closed a $1.52 billion loan to restart  the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan, which would take at least two years to re-open.

Constellation and Microsoft signed a power deal last month but the Redmond, WA, computer giant will only pay for power once the reactor is running. Constellation hopes it will receive government support based on its expected request to the DOE Loan Program Office for a similar level of financial support that was given to Holtec at Palisades.

Zaidi told the conference that the U.S. Navy had requested information to build SMRs on a half dozen bases. “SMR is a technology that is not a decades-away play. It’s one that companies in the United States are looking to deploy in this decade.”

& & &

Blue Energy Secures $45M to Build Underwater SMRs for Data Center Power

Blue Energy, a nuclear power plant company, emerged from stealth mode with a $45 million Series A funding. The investors were co-led by Engine Ventures and At One Ventures, with investment from Angular Ventures, Tamarack Global, Propeller Ventures, Starlight Ventures, and Nucleation Capital.  The firm is a spinoff from MIT.

Blue Energy  introduced its modular nuclear power plant that can be centrally manufactured in existing shipyards. Shipyard manufacturing reduces the cost and build time of deploying nuclear power safely, making nuclear power economically competitive with fossil fuels and renewables. The funding will be used to advance Blue Energy’s core engineering work and site development, and secure additional partners.

Blue Energy said it is reactor agnostic, partnering with reactor vendors and designing modular power plants to house them. By partnering with reactor vendors, Blue Energy can leverage existing regulatory progress to further accelerate the time to market for their modular nuclear power plant.

Blue Energy says it will use mature light water reactor designs and the latest passive safety advancements to create a plant that is 100% walk-away safe. The reactor building is submerged in a pool that provides additional physical protection and backup cooling. The firm says customers can start with one reactor and add additional reactors over time.

Multi-unit underwater reactor complex – Image: Blue Energy

The reactor and passive safety functions are fully isolated from the rest of the power plant, allowing the turbine hall and other non-nuclear systems to be manufactured in non-nuclear shipyards.

Candidate SMR Scale Reactors

The prospects of sinking an entire nuclear reactor into the ocean or other large body of water immediately brings to mind the question of size. Small modular reactors, with less than 300 MW of generating capability, are plausible candidates for this approach to avoiding the need for a containment structure to protect against airplane crashes or drone attacks.

In the US only NuScale, as a LWR type SMR, has completed the NRC licensing process for its 50 MW SMR. A 77 MW SMR upgrade is expected to be approved by the NRC.

Two other LWR type designs are the GE-Hitachi BWRX300 and the Holtect SMR300. Both designs are in pre-licensing status with the NRC and are seen as completing that effort by the end of this decade or early 2030s. Westinghouse recently announced its AP300, a scaled down version of its PWR type AP1000, but work on licensing the design has just gotten underway.

In the UK the Rolls Royce 470 MW, a PWR,  is making its way through the UK Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) generic design assessment process (GDA), which can take up to four years to complete.  The firm is hoping for near term funding for its mid-size PWR from the UK government and has been pushing the for it as being the ‘home town’ team in the UK to gain an edge in the competition for SMR funding sponsored by the government.

For its part, the UK agency responsible for making the funding award has dithered repeatedly in terms of choosing one or more winners. The ministry named four short list contenders last month eliminating NuScale. In the next stage of the procurement process bidders will be invited to enter negotiations with GBN for funding and contract awards. EDF withdrew its SMR entry from the competition citing the need for further design work.

China is building its ACP100 small modular reactor demonstration project at the Changjiang site on China’s island province of Hainan. According to World Nuclear News, it has been under development since 2010. The 125 MWe ACP100 integrated PWR’s preliminary design was completed in 2014. In 2016, the design became the first SMR to pass a safety review by the International Atomic Energy Agency. So far China National Nuclear Corporation has not announced plans to export the design.

In South Korea the SMART100 small modular reactor design has been granted standard design approval by South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission.

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KA-CARE) applied for standard design approval of the SMART100 in December 2019. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) began its review of the application in August 2021. The NSSC announced it has now granted standard design approval for the reactor.

SMART is a 330 MWt pressurized water reactor with integral steam generators and advanced safety features. The unit is designed for electricity generation (up to 100 MWe) as well as thermal applications, such as seawater desalination, with a 60-year design life and three-year refueling cycle.

Business Case

The business case promoted by the firm is that there is no required upfront capital investment from customers. Blue Energy finances, builds, owns, and operates its power plants. Customers buy new nuclear megawatts through risk-managed power purchase agreements.

The firm posted on its website that it projects it can build its reactors in two years and deliver power from them at $5/kw.

“Blue Energy is addressing the biggest obstacles to wide adoption of nuclear power: cost and build time. Using the traditional approach, it takes thousands of workers several years to construct nuclear power plants on site. We’ve designed a modular plant that can be fully prefabricated centrally in shipyards and transported to its operating location,” said Jake Jurewicz, CEO of Blue Energy.

About Blue Energy

Blue Energy was founded by Jake Jurewicz, based in Edinburgh, and Matt Slotkin, located in the New York city metro area.

Jurewicz previously co-founded Entropy Power and served on the corporate strategy team at Exelon Corporation. He holds a Masters in Nuclear Science & Engineering, and a dual Bachelors in Physics and Nuclear Science & Engineering from MIT, where he did his thesis on shipyard construction of offshore nuclear power plants.

Slotkin previously co-founded Vowel, an AI/video company acquired by Zapier, and led engineering in the Systemized Intelligence Lab at Bridgewater Associates. He graduated from Yale University in 2011 with a degree in economics and spent a year studying at Tsinghua University. He is fluent in Chinese.

Blue Energy’s leadership team also includes Chief Commercial Officer and Corporate Counsel Tom O’Neill, the former General Counsel and Vice President of Licensing at Exelon. CJ Fong, formerly Chief of Staff to NRC Commissioner Wright and NRC staff for 23 years, joins Blue Energy as VP of Regulatory. Charlie Bowser, who engineered, built and commissioned the NETPower pilot plant, joins as SVP of Engineering.

Blue Energy said in a press statement it has signed a letter of intent with an un-named datacenter and cloud provider to serve as the offtaker for the first plant. The firmis hiring and lists open positions for offices in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Bethesda, MD. The locations indicate a possible interest in both US and European markets.

& & &

Zap Energy Lands $130M in New Capital

• Demo power plant system begins operations and aims for first milestone. Total funding now at $330M
• Zap Energy is building a test platform for liquid metals and other key fusion energy technologies

Zap’s $130 million Series D was led by Soros Fund Management LLC, with participation by new investors that include BAM Elevate, Emerson Collective, Leitmotif, Mizuho Financial Group, Plynth Energy and Xplor Ventures.

Current investors participating in the new round include Addition, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, DCVC, Energy Impact Partners, Lowercarbon Capital and Shell Ventures.

The new funding will be used to continue parallel development of both plasma R&D and systems-level plant engineering and integration, including the next generation in the company’s FuZE device series and a cutting-edge pulsed power capacitor bank. The firm is located in San Diego, CA.

The team is now attempting to reach a milestone outlined as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program, and hopes to do so by the end of the year.

“The race for fusion commercialization has historically been thought of as a triathlon: science, then engineering, then commercialization,” says Zap CEO Benj Conway.

“But at Zap, we’re attempting to swim, cycle and run at the same time – such a parallel approach is key to delivering commercial fusion on a timescale that matters. Century is a vital part of the engineering leg and we’re quickly coming up to speed.”

According the company supplied information Zap Energy is building a low-cost, compact and scalable fusion energy platform that confines and compresses plasma without magnetic coils or high-power lasers. Zap’s sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch technology provides fusion economics and requires orders of magnitude less capital than conventional approaches.

About Century

Century is the world’s first 100-kilowatt-scale repetitive Z-pinch system. Its goal is to integrate and test three major aspects of Zap’s power design: repetitive pulsed power supplies, plasma-facing circulating liquid metal walls, and technology for mitigating electrode damage.

Century is designed to simulate plant-like operation by firing high-voltage pulses of power every ten seconds in a steady sequence for more than two hours (>1,000 pulses at 0.1 Hz). (Zap Energy image)

It is circulating 70 kilograms of hot liquid bismuth in its initial configuration and well over a ton in its final configuration. Air-cooled heat exchangers will remove the intense plasma heat absorbed by the liquid metal. The firm is testing critical strategies for mitigating electrode damage due to extreme heat and neutron flux.

“Zap’s fusion approach is pulsed, so ultimately it will run like an internal combustion engine with cylinders firing all day long to produce steady energy output,” explains Thompson.

“As you do that you also generate large neutron flux and heat loads in the system over time, which is exactly the energy output that you want, but requires unique engineering solutions. Century will test a lot of our assumptions and define the best path toward our first plant.”

Next year the platform will gradually ramp to 100 kilowatts of average input power. For comparison, the 100 kilowatts that drives Century is roughly equal to taking the average power draw of 75 U.S. homes and concentrating it into a chamber the size of a hot water heater.

Century, with a central stack about the size of a double-decker bus, is close to the eventual size of a single Zap Energy module that will produce 50 megawatts of electricity. Future power plants will have multiple modules.

Founded in 2o17 the firm’s collaborators include the University of Washington, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, UC Berkeley, Los Alamos National Laboratory, UC San Diego, University of Nevada, Reno, TransAlta A

& & &

General Atomics Releases FUSE ~ Open Source Fusion Software

• A Powerful Tool to Fast-Track the Development of Fusion Power Plants
• New Open-Source Software Aims to Drive Fusion Innovation for a Clean Energy Future

This month San Diego, CA, General Atomics (GA) took a big step towards achieving this goal by releasing the Fusion Synthesis Engine (FUSE)—a state-of-the-art, open-source software designed to help build fusion power plants.

Created by GA, the software is now accessible to anyone under the Apache 2.0 license, guaranteeing its free usage, modification, and commercialization. Written in “Julia”, a popular programming language, FUSE combines key elements needed to develop fusion power—such as plasma physics, engineering, and cost analysis—into one easy-to-use system.

GA developers explained that other researchers can easily install and run the program on their own systems, enabling more effective collaboration on fusion energy projects. This approach helps reduce costs and makes it easier to achieve the goal of fusion energy.

By integrating various complex models, researchers can generate simulations that are both faster and more accurate, including how a fusion plant operates in both steady and dynamic conditions.

“Releasing FUSE is a bold and exciting step that offers a powerful tool to the entire fusion community,” said Wayne Solomon, vice president of Magnetic Fusion Energy for the General Atomics Energy Group.

“This platform encourages teamwork and new ideas while fulfilling GA’s commitment to openness and progress. By making FUSE available to everyone, we’re not just advancing our own developments—we’re giving others the ability to build on it, with the goal of accelerating discoveries throughout the entire field.”

“FUSE could have a big impact on the future of fusion energy,” said Orso Meneghini, a theory and computational science manager for the General Atomics Energy Group.

“One of its strengths is that it uses machine learning to speed up simulations, making it useful for improving plant designs and reducing uncertainties. Overall, Fuse’s flexibility and generality make it an important tool for advancing research in this critical area of energy research.”

GA also operates the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a Department of Energy user facility that houses the only operating fusion reactor (tokamak) in the U.S., where scientists collaborate to find the best solutions for bringing fusion power to market.

For more information and full documentation about FUSE, visit https://fuse.help

###

https://neutronbytes.com/2024/10/12/doe-awards-six-haleu-fuel-contracts-for-advanced-reactors/

#deconversion #haleu #nuclearPower #uraniumEnrichment

"Inside a highly classified facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee — the same facility that enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb in the era of the Manhattan Project — workers are turning old, unexploded warheads into fuel that will power cities."

Amazing news! 👏

#Nuclear #Haleu #USA

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/09/climate/nuclear-warheads-haleu/index.html

"Inside a highly classified facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee — the same facility that enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb in the era of the Manhattan Project — workers are turning old, unexploded warheads into fuel that will power cities."

Amazing news! 👏

#Nuclear #Haleu #USA

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/09/climate/nuclear-warheads-haleu/index.html

#TerraPower advanced reactor on schedule but fuel remains a concern

Staff Writer May 14, 2024

"According to Reuters, fuel supply remains TerraPower’s main concern for the first plant, on which the company expects to begin non-nuclear-related construction in June. Director of External Affairs at TerraPower Jeff Navin said the supply of HALEU was considered the greatest uncertainty when planning for deployment. 'We still think 2030 is our best bet as to when we can get things completed, but I can’t tell you today that I can account for every kilogram of HALEU that we will need, where it will come from, and when we’ll have it, so that that is certainly something that still keeps us up at night.'

"Plans for US-produced fuel are being expedited, including a two-phase project to produce 900 kg of HALEU a year by the nuclear fuel and services company, #Centrus. In November 2023, Centrus announced its first delivery of 20 kilograms of HALEU uranium hexafluoride (#UF6), completing Phase 1 of the HALEU Operation Contract under budget and ahead of schedule. Centrus has so far achieved cumulative deliveries to the DOE of approximately 135 kilograms of HALEU. However, this is not enough."

https://www.neimagazine.com/advanced-reactors-fusion/terrapower-advanced-reactor-on-schedule-but-fuel-remains-a-concern-11767452/?cf-view

#PiketonOhio #Piketon #UraniumEnrichment #UraniumHexafluoride #HALEU #NewNuclearHype #NoNukes #NoUraniumEnrichment #Ohio #NoUraniumMining #Contamination

#TerraPower advanced reactor on schedule but fuel remains a concern

Staff Writer May 14, 2024

"According to Reuters, fuel supply remains TerraPower’s main concern for the first plant, on which the company expects to begin non-nuclear-related construction in June. Director of External Affairs at TerraPower Jeff Navin said the supply of HALEU was considered the greatest uncertainty when planning for deployment. 'We still think 2030 is our best bet as to when we can get things completed, but I can’t tell you today that I can account for every kilogram of HALEU that we will need, where it will come from, and when we’ll have it, so that that is certainly something that still keeps us up at night.'

"Plans for US-produced fuel are being expedited, including a two-phase project to produce 900 kg of HALEU a year by the nuclear fuel and services company, #Centrus. In November 2023, Centrus announced its first delivery of 20 kilograms of HALEU uranium hexafluoride (#UF6), completing Phase 1 of the HALEU Operation Contract under budget and ahead of schedule. Centrus has so far achieved cumulative deliveries to the DOE of approximately 135 kilograms of HALEU. However, this is not enough."

https://www.neimagazine.com/advanced-reactors-fusion/terrapower-advanced-reactor-on-schedule-but-fuel-remains-a-concern-11767452/?cf-view

#PiketonOhio #Piketon #UraniumEnrichment #UraniumHexafluoride #HALEU #NewNuclearHype #NoNukes #NoUraniumEnrichment #Ohio #NoUraniumMining #Contamination

What?!! #NEI is actually publishing something NEGATIVE about #NuclearEnergy? That doesn't happen very often!

US #NRC proposes fining #Urenco USA

Staff writer, April 7, 2023

"The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has proposed a $70,000 civil penalty for Urenco USA for two violations of agency requirements related to improperly implementing safety controls at its #EuniceNewMexico, #UraniumEnrichment plant.

"The first violation occurred during a March 2022 event when plant staff found three construction vehicles parked near a building that handles #UraniumHexafluoride [#UF6] without physical barriers in place. The company notified NRC as required and the agency launched a special inspection in response and documented its findings.

"Specifically, the company did not take enough precautions to prevent a potential accident sequence involving construction vehicles damaging the facility or the uranium hexafluoride inside – increasing the risk to plant workers and the public. Urenco USA was notified of the apparent violations in December 2022 and in a written response admitted the violations, and discussed plans for corrective actions. NRC said it had reviewed Urenco USA’s response and determined that, while the incidents did not result in the release of radioactive material, the potential safety consequences warrant the proposed fine. The company has 30 days to pay the proposed penalty or contest it. The NRC will consider any response from the company before making a final determination on the matter."

https://www.neimagazine.com/news/us-nrc-proposes-fining-urenco-us-10741390/

#NoUraniumEnrichment #HALEU #Uranium #NewMexico #NoNewNukes #NewNuclear #RenewablesNow

What?!! #NEI is actually publishing something NEGATIVE about #NuclearEnergy? That doesn't happen very often!

US #NRC proposes fining #Urenco USA

Staff writer, April 7, 2023

"The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has proposed a $70,000 civil penalty for Urenco USA for two violations of agency requirements related to improperly implementing safety controls at its #EuniceNewMexico, #UraniumEnrichment plant.

"The first violation occurred during a March 2022 event when plant staff found three construction vehicles parked near a building that handles #UraniumHexafluoride [#UF6] without physical barriers in place. The company notified NRC as required and the agency launched a special inspection in response and documented its findings.

"Specifically, the company did not take enough precautions to prevent a potential accident sequence involving construction vehicles damaging the facility or the uranium hexafluoride inside – increasing the risk to plant workers and the public. Urenco USA was notified of the apparent violations in December 2022 and in a written response admitted the violations, and discussed plans for corrective actions. NRC said it had reviewed Urenco USA’s response and determined that, while the incidents did not result in the release of radioactive material, the potential safety consequences warrant the proposed fine. The company has 30 days to pay the proposed penalty or contest it. The NRC will consider any response from the company before making a final determination on the matter."

https://www.neimagazine.com/news/us-nrc-proposes-fining-urenco-us-10741390/

#NoUraniumEnrichment #HALEU #Uranium #NewMexico #NoNewNukes #NewNuclear #RenewablesNow

A small town in rural Ohio is producing #EnrichedUranium again. Here's why that matters

The Ohio Newsroom | By Erin Gottsacker
Published April 18, 2024

"When Centrus Energy flipped three switches at its new plant last fall, it was a new beginning for an industry that had been dormant for more than a decade in #Ohio: #UraniumEnrichment.

"As the U.S. looks to meet its clean energy [sic] goals, there’s increasing demand for the resource, which is necessary for nuclear power generation.

"For years, the U.S. didn’t have a American-owned source of enriched uranium. (A subsidiary of #Urenco enriches #uranium in #NewMexico, but it's owned by a conglomeration of foreign governments and European-based businesses.) Now, #CentrusEnergy is attempting to fill in the gap. And it’s doing that at a plant in #PiketonOhio.

[...]

"Some locals aren’t thrilled. One group worries about the industry’s connection to #NuclearWeapons. Others fear the waste from the plant could #contaminate the surrounding #environment. The specter of the last time #uranium was being enriched in Piketon looms large: many former plant workers get federal compensation because of illnesses they sustained as a result of exposure to #toxic and #radioactive materials.

"'I feel violated,' said Vina Colley, a former worker at the #PortsmouthGaseousDiffusionPlant. 'They said I would get more radiation by getting on the plane than working out here.'

"In the time since she worked at the plant, she’s battled #beryllium disease, #ChronicBronchitis, #COPD, #neuropathy and #HeartFailure."

Read more:
https://www.wvxu.org/2024-04-18/a-small-town-in-rural-ohio-is-now-the-only-place-in-america-producing-enriched-uranium

#NoUraniumEnrichment #RadioactiveContamination #NewNuclear #Uranium #HALEU #UF6

A small town in rural Ohio is producing #EnrichedUranium again. Here's why that matters

The Ohio Newsroom | By Erin Gottsacker
Published April 18, 2024

"When Centrus Energy flipped three switches at its new plant last fall, it was a new beginning for an industry that had been dormant for more than a decade in #Ohio: #UraniumEnrichment.

"As the U.S. looks to meet its clean energy [sic] goals, there’s increasing demand for the resource, which is necessary for nuclear power generation.

"For years, the U.S. didn’t have a American-owned source of enriched uranium. (A subsidiary of #Urenco enriches #uranium in #NewMexico, but it's owned by a conglomeration of foreign governments and European-based businesses.) Now, #CentrusEnergy is attempting to fill in the gap. And it’s doing that at a plant in #PiketonOhio.

[...]

"Some locals aren’t thrilled. One group worries about the industry’s connection to #NuclearWeapons. Others fear the waste from the plant could #contaminate the surrounding #environment. The specter of the last time #uranium was being enriched in Piketon looms large: many former plant workers get federal compensation because of illnesses they sustained as a result of exposure to #toxic and #radioactive materials.

"'I feel violated,' said Vina Colley, a former worker at the #PortsmouthGaseousDiffusionPlant. 'They said I would get more radiation by getting on the plane than working out here.'

"In the time since she worked at the plant, she’s battled #beryllium disease, #ChronicBronchitis, #COPD, #neuropathy and #HeartFailure."

Read more:
https://www.wvxu.org/2024-04-18/a-small-town-in-rural-ohio-is-now-the-only-place-in-america-producing-enriched-uranium

#NoUraniumEnrichment #RadioactiveContamination #NewNuclear #Uranium #HALEU #UF6

A small town in rural Ohio is producing #EnrichedUranium again. Here's why that matters

The Ohio Newsroom | By Erin Gottsacker
Published April 18, 2024

"When Centrus Energy flipped three switches at its new plant last fall, it was a new beginning for an industry that had been dormant for more than a decade in #Ohio: #UraniumEnrichment.

"As the U.S. looks to meet its clean energy [sic] goals, there’s increasing demand for the resource, which is necessary for nuclear power generation.

"For years, the U.S. didn’t have a American-owned source of enriched uranium. (A subsidiary of #Urenco enriches #uranium in #NewMexico, but it's owned by a conglomeration of foreign governments and European-based businesses.) Now, #CentrusEnergy is attempting to fill in the gap. And it’s doing that at a plant in #PiketonOhio.

[...]

"Some locals aren’t thrilled. One group worries about the industry’s connection to #NuclearWeapons. Others fear the waste from the plant could #contaminate the surrounding #environment. The specter of the last time #uranium was being enriched in Piketon looms large: many former plant workers get federal compensation because of illnesses they sustained as a result of exposure to #toxic and #radioactive materials.

"'I feel violated,' said Vina Colley, a former worker at the #PortsmouthGaseousDiffusionPlant. 'They said I would get more radiation by getting on the plane than working out here.'

"In the time since she worked at the plant, she’s battled #beryllium disease, #ChronicBronchitis, #COPD, #neuropathy and #HeartFailure."

Read more:
https://www.wvxu.org/2024-04-18/a-small-town-in-rural-ohio-is-now-the-only-place-in-america-producing-enriched-uranium

#NoUraniumEnrichment #RadioactiveContamination #NewNuclear #Uranium #HALEU #UF6

A small town in rural Ohio is producing #EnrichedUranium again. Here's why that matters

The Ohio Newsroom | By Erin Gottsacker
Published April 18, 2024

"When Centrus Energy flipped three switches at its new plant last fall, it was a new beginning for an industry that had been dormant for more than a decade in #Ohio: #UraniumEnrichment.

"As the U.S. looks to meet its clean energy [sic] goals, there’s increasing demand for the resource, which is necessary for nuclear power generation.

"For years, the U.S. didn’t have a American-owned source of enriched uranium. (A subsidiary of #Urenco enriches #uranium in #NewMexico, but it's owned by a conglomeration of foreign governments and European-based businesses.) Now, #CentrusEnergy is attempting to fill in the gap. And it’s doing that at a plant in #PiketonOhio.

[...]

"Some locals aren’t thrilled. One group worries about the industry’s connection to #NuclearWeapons. Others fear the waste from the plant could #contaminate the surrounding #environment. The specter of the last time #uranium was being enriched in Piketon looms large: many former plant workers get federal compensation because of illnesses they sustained as a result of exposure to #toxic and #radioactive materials.

"'I feel violated,' said Vina Colley, a former worker at the #PortsmouthGaseousDiffusionPlant. 'They said I would get more radiation by getting on the plane than working out here.'

"In the time since she worked at the plant, she’s battled #beryllium disease, #ChronicBronchitis, #COPD, #neuropathy and #HeartFailure."

Read more:
https://www.wvxu.org/2024-04-18/a-small-town-in-rural-ohio-is-now-the-only-place-in-america-producing-enriched-uranium

#NoUraniumEnrichment #RadioactiveContamination #NewNuclear #Uranium #HALEU #UF6

A small town in rural Ohio is producing #EnrichedUranium again. Here's why that matters

The Ohio Newsroom | By Erin Gottsacker
Published April 18, 2024

"When Centrus Energy flipped three switches at its new plant last fall, it was a new beginning for an industry that had been dormant for more than a decade in #Ohio: #UraniumEnrichment.

"As the U.S. looks to meet its clean energy [sic] goals, there’s increasing demand for the resource, which is necessary for nuclear power generation.

"For years, the U.S. didn’t have a American-owned source of enriched uranium. (A subsidiary of #Urenco enriches #uranium in #NewMexico, but it's owned by a conglomeration of foreign governments and European-based businesses.) Now, #CentrusEnergy is attempting to fill in the gap. And it’s doing that at a plant in #PiketonOhio.

[...]

"Some locals aren’t thrilled. One group worries about the industry’s connection to #NuclearWeapons. Others fear the waste from the plant could #contaminate the surrounding #environment. The specter of the last time #uranium was being enriched in Piketon looms large: many former plant workers get federal compensation because of illnesses they sustained as a result of exposure to #toxic and #radioactive materials.

"'I feel violated,' said Vina Colley, a former worker at the #PortsmouthGaseousDiffusionPlant. 'They said I would get more radiation by getting on the plane than working out here.'

"In the time since she worked at the plant, she’s battled #beryllium disease, #ChronicBronchitis, #COPD, #neuropathy and #HeartFailure."

Read more:
https://www.wvxu.org/2024-04-18/a-small-town-in-rural-ohio-is-now-the-only-place-in-america-producing-enriched-uranium

#NoUraniumEnrichment #RadioactiveContamination #NewNuclear #Uranium #HALEU #UF6

So, #Terrapower and other #HALEU energy projects are being touted as "carbon-free". But alas, a lot of energy is spent digging, milling, transporting and enriching #Uranium -- and there's still no place to permanently store #NuclearWaste.

And #NewNuclear is far from CLEAN -- ask the residents of #PiketonOhio -- who are still dealing with #contamination from when the uranium enrichment plant was operating before!

Radioactive cylinders abound at former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site

by The Guardian

August 7, 2024

PIKETON, Ohio – "The site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon is home to a significant number of radioactive cylinders, posing ongoing environmental and health risks. As of 2022, there are a total of 20,570 uranium hexafluoride (#UF6) cylinders at the site, including 1,879 low-enriched uranium (LEU) cylinders, 18,206 depleted uranium cylinders, and 385 empty cylinders.

"These cylinders, which have been stored in the open for decades, are known to be among the highest sources of #radioactive contamination at the entire plant site. The U.S. Department of Energy [#DOE] has repeatedly reported the #hazardous conditions associated with these cylinder yards.

Chemical Reaction and #Corrosion

"UF6 is highly reactive with moisture, forming uranyl fluoride (UO2F2) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). Both compounds are extremely corrosive and toxic. HF can lead to severe corrosion of the cylinder walls, potentially resulting in leaks and the release of hazardous materials. The environmental and health impacts of these compounds are severe; HF can cause respiratory issues, skin burns, and eye damage, while UO2F2 can lead to kidney damage and other serious health problems.

Historical Accidents

"The potential risks are not hypothetical. In 1978, a major incident occurred when a UF6 cylinder ruptured, releasing over 20,000 pounds of uranium hexafluoride into the atmosphere. Over the years, there have been dozens of such accidental releases, exacerbating the environmental and health risks associated with the site."

Read more:
https://sciotovalleyguardian.com/2024/08/07/radioactive-cylinders-abound-at-former-portsmouth-gaseous-diffusion-plant-site/

#NoUraniumEnrichment #BillGates #Greenwashing #NoUraniumMining #RenewablesNow #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #TerrapowerHype #NewNuclearHype #SameOldSameOld

So, #Terrapower and other #HALEU energy projects are being touted as "carbon-free". But alas, a lot of energy is spent digging, milling, transporting and enriching #Uranium -- and there's still no place to permanently store #NuclearWaste.

And #NewNuclear is far from CLEAN -- ask the residents of #PiketonOhio -- who are still dealing with #contamination from when the uranium enrichment plant was operating before!

Radioactive cylinders abound at former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site

by The Guardian

August 7, 2024

PIKETON, Ohio – "The site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon is home to a significant number of radioactive cylinders, posing ongoing environmental and health risks. As of 2022, there are a total of 20,570 uranium hexafluoride (#UF6) cylinders at the site, including 1,879 low-enriched uranium (LEU) cylinders, 18,206 depleted uranium cylinders, and 385 empty cylinders.

"These cylinders, which have been stored in the open for decades, are known to be among the highest sources of #radioactive contamination at the entire plant site. The U.S. Department of Energy [#DOE] has repeatedly reported the #hazardous conditions associated with these cylinder yards.

Chemical Reaction and #Corrosion

"UF6 is highly reactive with moisture, forming uranyl fluoride (UO2F2) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). Both compounds are extremely corrosive and toxic. HF can lead to severe corrosion of the cylinder walls, potentially resulting in leaks and the release of hazardous materials. The environmental and health impacts of these compounds are severe; HF can cause respiratory issues, skin burns, and eye damage, while UO2F2 can lead to kidney damage and other serious health problems.

Historical Accidents

"The potential risks are not hypothetical. In 1978, a major incident occurred when a UF6 cylinder ruptured, releasing over 20,000 pounds of uranium hexafluoride into the atmosphere. Over the years, there have been dozens of such accidental releases, exacerbating the environmental and health risks associated with the site."

Read more:
https://sciotovalleyguardian.com/2024/08/07/radioactive-cylinders-abound-at-former-portsmouth-gaseous-diffusion-plant-site/

#NoUraniumEnrichment #BillGates #Greenwashing #NoUraniumMining #RenewablesNow #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #TerrapowerHype #NewNuclearHype #SameOldSameOld

So, #Terrapower and other #HALEU energy projects are being touted as "carbon-free". But alas, a lot of energy is spent digging, milling, transporting and enriching #Uranium -- and there's still no place to permanently store #NuclearWaste.

And #NewNuclear is far from CLEAN -- ask the residents of #PiketonOhio -- who are still dealing with #contamination from when the uranium enrichment plant was operating before!

Radioactive cylinders abound at former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site

by The Guardian

August 7, 2024

PIKETON, Ohio – "The site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon is home to a significant number of radioactive cylinders, posing ongoing environmental and health risks. As of 2022, there are a total of 20,570 uranium hexafluoride (#UF6) cylinders at the site, including 1,879 low-enriched uranium (LEU) cylinders, 18,206 depleted uranium cylinders, and 385 empty cylinders.

"These cylinders, which have been stored in the open for decades, are known to be among the highest sources of #radioactive contamination at the entire plant site. The U.S. Department of Energy [#DOE] has repeatedly reported the #hazardous conditions associated with these cylinder yards.

Chemical Reaction and #Corrosion

"UF6 is highly reactive with moisture, forming uranyl fluoride (UO2F2) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). Both compounds are extremely corrosive and toxic. HF can lead to severe corrosion of the cylinder walls, potentially resulting in leaks and the release of hazardous materials. The environmental and health impacts of these compounds are severe; HF can cause respiratory issues, skin burns, and eye damage, while UO2F2 can lead to kidney damage and other serious health problems.

Historical Accidents

"The potential risks are not hypothetical. In 1978, a major incident occurred when a UF6 cylinder ruptured, releasing over 20,000 pounds of uranium hexafluoride into the atmosphere. Over the years, there have been dozens of such accidental releases, exacerbating the environmental and health risks associated with the site."

Read more:
https://sciotovalleyguardian.com/2024/08/07/radioactive-cylinders-abound-at-former-portsmouth-gaseous-diffusion-plant-site/

#NoUraniumEnrichment #BillGates #Greenwashing #NoUraniumMining #RenewablesNow #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #TerrapowerHype #NewNuclearHype #SameOldSameOld

So, #Terrapower and other #HALEU energy projects are being touted as "carbon-free". But alas, a lot of energy is spent digging, milling, transporting and enriching #Uranium -- and there's still no place to permanently store #NuclearWaste.

And #NewNuclear is far from CLEAN -- ask the residents of #PiketonOhio -- who are still dealing with #contamination from when the uranium enrichment plant was operating before!

Radioactive cylinders abound at former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site

by The Guardian

August 7, 2024

PIKETON, Ohio – "The site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon is home to a significant number of radioactive cylinders, posing ongoing environmental and health risks. As of 2022, there are a total of 20,570 uranium hexafluoride (#UF6) cylinders at the site, including 1,879 low-enriched uranium (LEU) cylinders, 18,206 depleted uranium cylinders, and 385 empty cylinders.

"These cylinders, which have been stored in the open for decades, are known to be among the highest sources of #radioactive contamination at the entire plant site. The U.S. Department of Energy [#DOE] has repeatedly reported the #hazardous conditions associated with these cylinder yards.

Chemical Reaction and #Corrosion

"UF6 is highly reactive with moisture, forming uranyl fluoride (UO2F2) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). Both compounds are extremely corrosive and toxic. HF can lead to severe corrosion of the cylinder walls, potentially resulting in leaks and the release of hazardous materials. The environmental and health impacts of these compounds are severe; HF can cause respiratory issues, skin burns, and eye damage, while UO2F2 can lead to kidney damage and other serious health problems.

Historical Accidents

"The potential risks are not hypothetical. In 1978, a major incident occurred when a UF6 cylinder ruptured, releasing over 20,000 pounds of uranium hexafluoride into the atmosphere. Over the years, there have been dozens of such accidental releases, exacerbating the environmental and health risks associated with the site."

Read more:
https://sciotovalleyguardian.com/2024/08/07/radioactive-cylinders-abound-at-former-portsmouth-gaseous-diffusion-plant-site/

#NoUraniumEnrichment #BillGates #Greenwashing #NoUraniumMining #RenewablesNow #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #TerrapowerHype #NewNuclearHype #SameOldSameOld

So, #Terrapower and other #HALEU energy projects are being touted as "carbon-free". But alas, a lot of energy is spent digging, milling, transporting and enriching #Uranium -- and there's still no place to permanently store #NuclearWaste.

And #NewNuclear is far from CLEAN -- ask the residents of #PiketonOhio -- who are still dealing with #contamination from when the uranium enrichment plant was operating before!

Radioactive cylinders abound at former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site

by The Guardian

August 7, 2024

PIKETON, Ohio – "The site of the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon is home to a significant number of radioactive cylinders, posing ongoing environmental and health risks. As of 2022, there are a total of 20,570 uranium hexafluoride (#UF6) cylinders at the site, including 1,879 low-enriched uranium (LEU) cylinders, 18,206 depleted uranium cylinders, and 385 empty cylinders.

"These cylinders, which have been stored in the open for decades, are known to be among the highest sources of #radioactive contamination at the entire plant site. The U.S. Department of Energy [#DOE] has repeatedly reported the #hazardous conditions associated with these cylinder yards.

Chemical Reaction and #Corrosion

"UF6 is highly reactive with moisture, forming uranyl fluoride (UO2F2) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). Both compounds are extremely corrosive and toxic. HF can lead to severe corrosion of the cylinder walls, potentially resulting in leaks and the release of hazardous materials. The environmental and health impacts of these compounds are severe; HF can cause respiratory issues, skin burns, and eye damage, while UO2F2 can lead to kidney damage and other serious health problems.

Historical Accidents

"The potential risks are not hypothetical. In 1978, a major incident occurred when a UF6 cylinder ruptured, releasing over 20,000 pounds of uranium hexafluoride into the atmosphere. Over the years, there have been dozens of such accidental releases, exacerbating the environmental and health risks associated with the site."

Read more:
https://sciotovalleyguardian.com/2024/08/07/radioactive-cylinders-abound-at-former-portsmouth-gaseous-diffusion-plant-site/

#NoUraniumEnrichment #BillGates #Greenwashing #NoUraniumMining #RenewablesNow #NoNukes #NoNewNukes #TerrapowerHype #NewNuclearHype #SameOldSameOld

#DARPA’s planned #nuclear #rocket would use enough High-assay low-enriched uranium (#HALEU) fuel to build a bomb
The US is still regulating some enriched #uranium based on an analysis from the 1950s.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/planned-nuclear-fuel-has-higher-proliferation-risks-than-thought/