- South Korea to Complete Two Reactors at Shin-Hanul
- Centrus And KHNP Sign Sign Major Uranium Fuel Contract
- Prague to Decide on SMR reactors by the End of 2024
- Finnish Energy Firm Helen Launches SMR Effort for District Heating
- Sweden’s Blykalla Doubles Early-Stage Capital Raise To €14 Million
- Westinghouse and Hyundai Team for AP1000 Opportunities in Sweden and Finland
- DOE Finds 60 GW of New Nuclear Could be Built at Existing Sites
South Korea to Complete Two Reactors at Shin-Hanul
Construction will be underway once again at the Shin-Hanul-3 and Shin-Hanul-4 units in Uljin. Both reactors use South Korea’s APR1400 PWR type designs. (Image: Microsoft Bing Image Creator)
The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approved the construction of Shin Hanul nuclear reactors No. 3 and No. 4 and related facilities in Uljin, 330 km southeast of Seoul. These projects were halted under the Moon administration.
The commission concluded that the technical capability, suitability and safety of the two nuclear reactors met legal standards and regulations. The project, estimated to cost $8.8 billion, involves building two 1,400 MW advanced pressurized water nuclear reactors. The reactors are expected to be completed by the early 2030s. It is worth noting that the relatively low cost of twin 1400 MW PWR is due to South Korea having a workforce that has experience building these kinds of mega projects and a mature supply chain both focused on a standard reactor design. South Korea built four similar plants in the UAE at that country’s Barakah site on the Persian Gulf for $20 billion.
According to English language news media in South Korea, Doosan Enerbility Co., a South Korean power plant engineering company and the project’s main contractor, will build reactors, generators and other related equipment. Bosung Powertec Co. will supplies steel for the project. Woori Technology Inc. is the project’s supplier of nuclear control systems.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), the state-run developer, owner and operator of nuclear plants, first sought construction approval for the two units in 2016. Former president Moon Jae-in’s policy had been to retire the country’s 26 commercial reactors, which supply about 30% of its electricity generation, and to stop the building of new ones. Energy analysts rated Moon’s policies as “unsustainable” and very likely to raise energy costs by as much as 25%.
Now President Yoon Suk Yeol has vowed to strike a balance on energy sources for Asia’s fourth-largest economy, emphasizing nuclear power while expanding renewable energy and reducing South Korea’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.
Yoon is bullish on the need for South Korea to embrace nuclear energy. He has said building nuclear power plants is a global trend and essential to the reduction of carbon and energy security.
In April, the Shin-Hanul-2 nuclear plant began commercial operation, marking a major political turnaround in energy policy. South Korea also has two plants under construction at the Saeul nuclear station in the southeast of the country. They will also use South Korea’s APR1400 technology.
Plan for Small Modular Reactors
According to the country’s latest energy blueprint, the 11th Basic Plan for Long-Term Electricity Supply and Demand, up to three new nuclear plants will be constructed by 2038 and Korea’s first small modular reactors (SMRs) will be introduced in 2035. South Korea has intermittently worked on development of a 100 MW PWR type SMR, but has not brought the design to commercial maturity.
According to the plan, the government will promote the development of small modular reactors, citing Korea’s increased reliance on fossil fuels. The government also seeks to export 10 APR1400 nuclear power plants by 2030. Recently, KHNP won the contract to build two and as many as four APR1000s (the European approved design) for CEZ, the state-owned utility in the Czech Republic. Two will be at the Dukovany site and two more are planned for the Temelin site.
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Centrus And KHNP Sign Sign Major Uranium Fuel Contract
- Low-enriched Uranium to Help Fuel South Korea’ Growing Fleet of Over two Dozen Nuclear Power Plants
(NucNet) US-based Centrus Energy and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) have entered into a conditional purchase commitment that will support construction of new uranium enrichment capacity at Centrus’ American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio.
The purchase commitment from state-owned KHNP covers a decade of deliveries of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to help fuel South Korea’s fleet of commercial nuclear power reactors, all of which are owned and operated by KHNP. The utility has 26 reactors in operation and is building at least four new units that will need fuel by 2030.
Centrus, a supplier of nuclear fuel and services, said it has now secured a total of $1.8 billion in contingent sales commitments to date, including the contract with KHNP, to support deployment of new enrichment capacity. The commitments are contingent upon the signing of definitive agreements and also upon Centrus securing the substantial public and private investment necessary to build the new capacity.
Amir Vexler, Centrus CEO said, “This supply commitment is a key building block as we work toward the public-private partnership that will enable us to re-establish a large-scale, US-owned uranium enrichment capability.”
Whang Joo-ho, president chief executive officer of KHNP, said new production from Centrus will help bring greater stability, supply diversity and price competition to the global nuclear fuel market, “supporting the long-term growth of carbon-free nuclear energy in Korea and around the world”.
The Path to New US Enrichment Capacity
Under contract with the US Department of Energy, Centrus has deployed a cascade of 16 advanced centrifuges at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio. In late 2023, the plant began producing the high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) needed for the next generation of advanced reactors, becoming the first US-owned and US-technology uranium enrichment plant to start production in 70 years.
Domestic production of HALEU will help break a Russian monopoly and be crucial to the deployment and operation of a next generation of advanced reactors including but not limited to DOE funded plants under the agency’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. Centrus now plans to scale up this plant with additional centrifuges for large-scale production of LEU for existing reactors.
Centrus said deployment of new domestic uranium enrichment will require a public-private partnership that combines “robust federal investment with private capital and commercial purchase agreements”.
Centrus is competing for federal funding from the DOE aimed at jump-starting US production of LEU and HALEU To date, the US Congress has provided more than $3.4 billion for this effort.
In May, US president Joe Biden signed legislation banning the import of Russian enriched uranium as part of moves by many western governments to ends reliance on Moscow’s nuclear fuel supplies.
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Prague to Decide on SMR Reactors by the End of 2024
According to English language news media in the Czech Republic, Czech state-owned CEZ plans to announce its choice of supplier(s) for small modular reactors (SMRs) by the end of 2024. Candidates include Westinghouse (USA), GE Hitachi (US-Japan) and Rolls-Royce (UK).
CEZ plans to install its first SMR in Temelin by 2032, with a target of ten units by 2050. The SMR project is part of a wider strategy to diversify energy sources in the Czech Republic, as the country gradually reduces its dependence on coal.
Evolution of CEZ’s Energy Strategy
This strategy echoes Prague’s desire to increase the share of nuclear power in its energy mix to 50%, from the current 30%, as part of a plan to gradually replace coal-fired power plants. At the same time, CEZ is also opting to build two new conventional nuclear units at Dukovany. The contract, worth almost nine billion dollars, was awarded to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP).
Westinghouse is challenging the contract award as part of its ongoing intellectual property dispute with KHNP. For its part, KHNP recently offered to settle the dispute by purchases nuclear components from Westinghouse for the CEZ reactor program. EDF is also appealing the decision to award the work to KHNP but on separate grounds of “procedural irregularities” and a lack of contract fairness and transparency. For its part, the Czech government would only say that it has received the appeals and is reviewing them.
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Finnish Energy Firm Helen Launches SMR Effort for District Heating
(WNN) Finland’s Helen has launched the first phase of its nuclear program, aimed at constructing a small nuclear power plant (SMR) for producing heat for Helsinki city. Meanwhile, Finnish small modular reactor developer Steady Energy has submitted documentation about its design to the country’s nuclear regulator for pre-licensing review.
During the initial phase of its nuclear program, Helen will seek new potential equity investors, evaluate plant suppliers and determine potential plant sites. The first phase of the program is due to be completed in 2026.
Helen CEO Olli Sirkka said, “Our goal of non-combustion requires determined measures to harness all clean forms of production as part of our energy system. If everything falls into place, we will have our first SMR providing heat for Helsinki no later than in the early 2030s.”
Helen – which currently produces heat, electricity and cooling in power plants and heating plants in different parts of Helsinki – said its nuclear energy program will evaluates small modular reactors (SMRs) based on “proven solutions,” which can be used to produce just heat or both electricity and heat.
Is there a Proven Solution for Nuclear Energy to Provide District Heating?
So far no SMRs that are designed for just for district heating have been built in western nations so attaining the goal of finding a “proven solution” may be delayed until one crosses that finish line.
World Nuclear News reported that so far the only “proven solution” for an SMR that is intended to provide district heating is the world’s first modular high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) nuclear power plant which entered commercial operation in December 2023 according to the China’s National Energy Administration. The HTR-PM was built in Shidao Bay (also known as Shidaowan), in Shandong Province, which is currently operating at 2×200 MWt power.
The HTR-PM features two small reactors (each of 250 MWt) that drive a single 210 MWe steam turbine. It uses helium as coolant and graphite as the moderator.
Each reactor is loaded with more than 400,000 spherical fuel elements (pebbles), each 60 mm in diameter and containing 7 g of fuel enriched to 8.5%. Each pebble has an outer layer of graphite and contains some 12,000 four-layer ceramic-coated fuel particles dispersed in a graphite matrix.
The fuel has high inherent safety characteristics, and has been shown to remain intact and to continue to contain radioactivity at temperatures up to 1620°C – far higher than the temperatures that would be encountered even in extreme accident situations.
Steady Energy’s LDR-50 SMR
In October last year, Helen became the first energy company to engage in cooperation with Steady Energy by signing a letter of intent aimed at enabling an investment in a small-scale nuclear power plant for the production of district heating. It would enable Helen to procure up to ten reactor units with an output of 50 MW from Steady Energy.
In November 2022, Helen announced a joint study with Finnish utility Fortum – operator of the Loviisa nuclear power plant – to explore possible collaboration in new nuclear power, especially SMRs. The companies formed a study group to explore possible synergy benefits for the two firms.
Steady Energy – which was spun out in early 2023 from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland – aims to build the world’s first district heating plant featuring its LDR-50 SMR by 2030. The reactor is built according to generally accepted light water design principles.
The LDR-50 district heating SMR – with a thermal output of 50 MW – has been in development at VTT since 2020. Designed to operate at around 150°C and below 10 bar (145 psi), Steady Energy says its “operating conditions are less demanding compared with those of traditional reactors, simplifying the technical solutions needed to meet the high safety standards of the nuclear industry”.
When heat removal through the primary heat exchangers is comprised of, water in the intermediate space begins to boil, forming an efficient passive heat transfer route into the reactor pool, the company said.
The system does not rely on electricity or any mechanical moving parts, which could fail and prevent the cooling function.
In order for a nuclear power plant to produce electricity cost-effectively, steam temperature in the turbine cycle must be raised to almost 300 degrees. This means that the reactor has to be operated at high pressure. The typical operating pressure of a boiling water reactor is 70 bar. Pressurized water reactors operate at even higher 140-150 bar pressures.
District heating does not require similar high temperatures. The feed temperature of the network varies between 65 and 120 degrees, which allows the reactor to be operated below 10 bar pressure. The operating pressure of LDR-50 is closer to a bottle of champagne or an espresso machine than to a conventional nuclear reactor designed for electricity production.
The moderate operating conditions simplify the plant design and manufacturing of components. Reactor pressure vessels of conventional nuclear power plants can be made of 25 cm thick steel. The wall thickness of similar components for LDR-50 is only a few centimeters. The plant process is also simplified by the fact that the turbine cycle and generator can be completely left out.
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Westinghouse and Hyundai Team for AP1000 Opportunities in Sweden and Finland
Westinghouse Electric Company and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company have signed a teaming agreement to pursue AP1000 technology opportunities in Sweden and Finland.
Under this teaming agreement, Westinghouse will provide the design and development of its AP1000 technology, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction will provide its industrial engineering and construction services for the project.
Reuters reports Sweden’s plans to expand nuclear power to help tackle climate change are likely to cost $38 billion and should be financed by government loans and price guarantees, The numbers were calculated by a government appointed commission.
The money is expected to pay for construction of 2,500 MW (two new reactors) of nuclear generating capacity, grid improvements, and related costs and to complete the job by 2035. The commission proposed a fleet of four or five new power plants with 4,000-6,000 MW of installed capacity in order to make the program cost-effective.
Sweden’s utilities would be incentivized to support the program with rate guarantees to prevent market factors from undercutting the financial case for the new construction. Also, the national government would be expected to lend nuclear companies 75% of the cost of building power plants with the owners contributing 25%. Cost overruns should be financed in the same proportions.
Finland commissioned an EDF EPR Olkiluoto 3 in 2023 after years of schedule delays and cost overruns. It cancelled plans for Hanhikivi 1, which was to be a Russian built 1200 MW VVER, after disputes over regulatory compliance and a lack of transparency regarding outside investors.
Fennovoima, the Finnish utility, had expected to apply for a construction license in 2022, with commercial operation in 2029, but in February 2022 the company said that the “Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the countermeasures by EU and western countries as a consequence, pose a major risk for the Hanhikivi 1 project.” The project was cancelled as a result. Since then Finland has not initiated any new efforts to build full size reactors.
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Sweden’s Blykalla Doubles Early-Stage Capital Raise To €14 Million
- Company is Developing the Sealer-One Demonstration Plant
(NucNet) Sweden-based advanced reactor developer Blykalla announced it has doubled the capital raised in an early-stage investment round to €14 million ($15.4 million) as it seeks to industrialize its Sealer (Swedish Advanced Lead Reactor) lead-cooled reactor design.
The company said in April 2024 that it had raised about €7 million in Series A funding. Blykalla said the latest funding round was led by Danish entrepreneur Joachim Ante’s investment firm 92 Ventures and Daniel Aegerter’s Swiss investment group Armada, both of which have been investing in nuclear startups in the US and Europe.
Sealer is a 3-10 MW lead-cooled fast reactor operating on 19.9.% enriched UO2 fuel. For on-grid applications, the Sealer 55 would need 21 tonnes of 12% enriched uranium nitride fuel for a rated power output of 55 MW. Full power core life is expected to be 25 years. The company has estimated the cost of a single mass produced Sealer 55 at about €200 million including fuel costs.
Blykalla is focused on two projects – the construction of an electric non-nuclear prototype test reactor near the Oskarshamn nuclear power station in southern Sweden and the development of its flagship advanced reactor design demonstrator the Sealer-One.
Blykalla said that the funds will primarily be used for the construction of the prototype test reactor in collaboration with utilities OKG and Uniper, and the continued design and development of the Sealer-One.
The Oskarshamn prototype reactor will be heated by electricity and used for materials testing at high temperature, including testing of Blykalla’s corrosion-tolerant steel alloys, which are expected to enable the efficient cooling of liquid lead.
Blykalla has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Sweden’s Studsvik to conduct a feasibility study on the construction and operation of a demonstration Sealer reactor with associated infrastructure for fuel fabrication in Nyköping, south of Stockholm.
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DOE Finds 60 GW of New Nuclear Could be Built at Existing Sites
- DOE Report Finds More Than 60 Gigawatts of New Nuclear Capacity Could Be Built at Existing Nuclear Power Plants
- New nuclear capacity could help meet growing demand for clean, reliable electricity
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a report that found more than 60 gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear capacity could potentially be built at operating or recently retired nuclear power plant sites across the country by 2050.
“It is becoming increasingly important for the United States to deliver clean, firm electricity on a gigawatt-scale to meet growing energy demand,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dr. Mike Goff.
“This report offers valuable insight into the possibility of utilizing the nation’s existing nuclear power plant sites to build new nuclear capacity to reach the nation’s clean energy goals.”
The report evaluated all 54 operating and 11 recently retired nuclear power plant sites across 31 states. The sites were reviewed for factors such as availability of adequate cooling water, proximity to large population centers or hazardous facilities, or unacceptable seismic or flood hazards. Early research shows that 41 operating and retired nuclear power plant sites have room to host new reactors.
The report estimates that these sites could deliver an additional 60 GW or more of new electric power utilizing large light-water reactor technology — such as the AP1000 reactors recently built at Vogtle in Georgia — or 95 GW of electric power using smaller 600-megawatt electric advanced reactors.
The report also examined the potential of siting new nuclear capacity at sites that have already applied for a combined construction and operating license with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as well as at retired or soon-to-be retired coal power plant sites.
This report only serves as a preliminary analysis of sites that can potentially be used for new nuclear builds. Ultimately, utilities and communities must work together to determine whether or not to build a new plant.
This study was conducted by DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy Systems Analysis & Integration campaign with contributions from researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.
Speeding Up the Licensing Process
Researchers also looked at sites with operating nuclear power plants where companies have previously engaged with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on licensing for 17 additional reactors.
While these reactors were never built, they were planned to be added to existing sites and could have led to 24 GW of clean energy capacity.
According to the report, the NRC previously issued combined construction and operating licenses (COL) for eight large reactors at five existing sites—meaning they were already carefully characterized, evaluated, and determined to be suitable for operation.
Additional COL applications for nine more reactors were initiated at seven additional sites but were suspended or withdrawn before the NRC completed its review. This indicates there is a very high degree of confidence that these sites would be potentially suitable to host a reactor. Taking advantage of licensing engagements could speed up the licensing process and save time and money for new builds.
As always, capital costs will be a key factor influencing this deployment. To help in this area, DOE recently created a new tool to help quantify capital cost reduction pathways for new reactors to help stakeholders better identify strategies to lower costs.
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