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Utilities join Westinghouse SMR alliance

18 May 2012

Three major US nuclear utilities have joined an alliance formed by Westinghouse and Ameren to support the licensing and deployment of Westinghouse small modular reactor (SMR) technology.

Exelon, Dominion Virginia and FirstEnergy are among a dozen power utilities and electricity suppliers to sign up to the NexStart SMR Alliance - a group formed by Westinghouse and Missouri Electric Alliance to support Westinghouse in its application to secure investment funds from the US Department of Energy.

Members of the NexStart SMR Alliance have signed a memorandum of understanding that recognizes "the importance of advancing nuclear energy in helping secure clean, safe and reliable electricity in the future by deploying the Westinghouse SMR."

EDF posts record carbon efficiency

18 May 2012

The carbon intensity of generating capacity owned by the EDF group of companies fell below 100 g/kWh for the first time in 2011, while in France EDF's emission rate dived 25% to 30.4 g/kWh.

Ghana coordinates nuclear planning activities

17 May 2012

Ghana is moving ahead with its plans to introduce nuclear energy into its energy mix. The government recently established an organization to coordinate the activities of all stakeholder institutions involved in the planning of the nuclear power plant project.

Rolls-Royce technology for AECL

17 May 2012

NRU (AECL)_48Rolls-Royce has completed the delivery of the final components of a multimillion dollar technology package for use at AECL's Chalk River site.

Power shift begins to move German industry

18 May 2012

Aluminium ready for shipping (Voerde) 57x48Germany's third largest aluminium producer has filed for bankruptcy as trade groups call for affordable power supply equivalent to the nuclear capacity taken off the grid as a response to the Fukushima accident.

New French ministers assembled

17 May 2012

Francois Hollande investiture, 15 May 86x48France's new Council of Ministers has been announced, following the investiture of President Francois Hollande.

 

Low-dose study finds no effects

16 May 2012

Mice exposed to low-dose radiation for an extended period showed no signs of DNA damage, said a study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that challenges existing radiation guidelines.

Industry Talk

Civil contract for Chinese units

Civil engineering for the Tianwan 3 and 4 reactors in Jiangsu province has been contracted to China Nuclear Huaxing Construction Company. The company did the same work on Tianwan 1 and 2, the reference VVER-1000 AES-91 reactors on which units 3 and 4 will be based.

Metropolis in planned shutdown

Honeywell's Metropolis uranium conversion plant has entered its annual maintenance shutdown a few days earlier than planned to allow for thorough inspection of damaged equipment. The slight extension to the planned outage is not expected to lead to any delivery issues for the USA's only such facility. 

EIA process starts for BN-1200

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the construction and operation of Russia’s first BN-1200 fast neutron reactor has begun, Rosatom announced. The reactor would be built as the fifth unit at the Beloyarsk plant in Sverdlovsk Region, where a smaller BN-800 fast reactor is already under construction and an even smaller BN-350 unit has been in operation since 1981. OKBM Afrikantov expects to complete the engineering design of the BN-1200 in 2014.

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