Altrad and Doosan Babcock have signed a three-year contract to support the UK Atomic Energy Authority's fusion research and technology program at its Culham Science Center. The work includes providing "safe and efficient operations" at the center, which is operated under a European Commission contract.
Officials at a Pueblo County, Colo., town hall discussed the possibility of replacing Xcel Energy's Comanche 3 coal power plant with nuclear energy as its planned closing in 2040 approaches. County Commissioner Chris Wiseman said that with new nuclear technologies emerging, "now is the time to look at it."
Workers at the Energy Department's Hanford Site in Washington have finished testing a backup battery system for the site's Low-Activity Waste Facility. Mat Irwin, Office of Environmental Management deputy assistant manager for the facility, says testing the backup power system "is an important step in the commissioning sequence and preparing for an upcoming loss-of-power test and then melter heatup later this year."
The Army Corps of Engineers has developed a $205.6 million plan to demolish parts of the 9-acre Simonds Saw & Steel Co. site in Lockport, N.Y., which rolled uranium steel billets into rods for the federal government from 1948 to 1956. The demolition and soil removal plan also includes building a water treatment plant to mitigate groundwater contamination.
Matt Baca, chief counsel for the New Mexico Attorney General's Office, told the state Legislature's Radioactive and Hazardous Waste Interim Committee that the state's lawsuit to stop a proposed temporary high-level radioactive waste storage facility could push the federal government to develop a permanent solution for the waste. "Should New Mexico win, it would certainly be precedent-setting and force the federal government to get serious about a permanent plan," agreed committee chair Jeff Steinborn.
The Energy Department's nuclear cleanup office says the Savannah River Site has decommissioned 50 buildings, totaling more than 1 million square feet since 2008; with another 13 structures set to be demolished within the next 12 months. "As a result of this extensive number of deactivation and decommission projects across the site, we no longer need to incur the ongoing costs associated with these inactive and obsolete structures," says Steve Conner of Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.
Canada's International Consolidated Uranium has acquired uranium projects in Utah and Colorado from Energy Fuels, including three past-producing mines. The deal also includes International Consolidated Uranium's access to Energy Fuels' White Mesa mill for toll milling of the ore produced at the projects.
Facing public opposition to building new nuclear power plants, Japan is considering amending the law to allow existing nuclear reactors to operate for more than 60 years, sources say. Japan estimates that it will need 30 reactors, generating 22% of the country's electricity, to meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal by 2030.
Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission have agreed to cooperate on the renovation of Bangladesh's 3-megawatt TRIGA Research Reactor by January 2023. South Korea will export the needed nuclear reactor technology for the upgrade, including digital instrumentation and control systems.
The Experimental Breeder Reactor Atomic Museum in Idaho will open its doors for the annual Atomic Days celebration on Saturday, commemorating the first nuclear reactor in the world to make useable amounts of electricity. Following the Atomic Days Parade in Arco, tours will be conducted of the EBR-I reactor site.