- USNC To Build Micro Reactor Factory in Alabama
- India PM Modi in US Visit Talks with President Biden About Plan for Six AP1000s
- Turkey’s Talks Continue With Russia, China, South Korea on New Nuclear Plants
- Romania Pledges Financial Support for Nuclear Power Projects Cernavoda 3, 4
- New Effort for Pebble Bed HTGR in South Africa
- Nuward, EDF, Tractebel Collaboration for Pilot SMR Project
USNC To Build Micro Reactor Factory in Alabama
- USNC Selects Gadsden, Al, for Advanced Microreactor Assembly Plant
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), based on Seattle, WA, has selected a site in Gadsen, Alabama, about 75 miles southeast of Huntsville, to build a factory to produce fourth-generation gas-cooled microreactors. The plant will be be a highly automated facility which will manufacture, assemble, test, and inspect the non-radiological modules needed to construct USNC’s Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR). (Technical Briefing – PDF file)
The decision to locate in Gadsden (pop:33,000) resulted from a year-long search spanning 16 states and hundreds of potential sites. Primary factors evaluated included site suitability and infrastructure, skilled workforce availability, and overall project economics. USNC and the State of Alabama formally sealed the deal through a Project Agreement executed by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (press release) and the company.
“Alabama is home to an impressive array of highly innovative companies, so our state is an ideal place for Ultra Safe Nuclear’s new advanced microreactor assembly plant,” Governor Kay Ivey said.
The non-nuclear production facility represents a $232 million investment in advanced nuclear manufacturing. The plant will employ 250 professional and technical workers. The 578,000 square foot factory features state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing processes and equipment and will be capable of producing up to ten (10) complete MMR nuclear units per year. The company emphasized that no radioactive material is to be used or stored at this facility.
Construction is slated to begin in 2024 with the facility operational in 2027. USNC representatives note significant potential for expansion and export as demand for the MMR high-temperature gas reactor grows over time. There is a high potential for USNC suppliers to establish a local presence to support the main manufacturing plant, thereby creating even more growth and opportunity in and around Gadsden.
News of the agreement came during a keynote address by USNC’s Chief Nuclear Officer, Dan Stout, at the 10th Advanced Reactors Summit and Technology Trailblazers Showcase. Stout joined USNC in May 2022 after leading SMR development work at TVA.
“We are attracted to Gadsden by their skilled workforce and the outstanding training programs and support they are bringing to the table,” said Ted Coulter, Plant Director for the MMR factory at USNC.
About Ultra Safe Nuclear
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), a U.S. company headquartered in Seattle (WA), is a global leader and strong vertical integrator of nuclear technologies and services, on Earth and in Space.
The company produces the Micro-Modular™ reactor (MMR), TRISO-based Fully Ceramic Micro-encapsulated (FCM) nuclear fuel, and develops nuclear power and propulsion technologies for space exploration.
The company has active micro reactor deployment projects in Canada at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories in Chalk River, and in the United States at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Additional units are in development in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
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India PM Modi in US Visit Talks with President Biden About Plan for Six AP1000s
- Biden, Modi affirm commitment to nuclear as Kovvada plans intensify, but India’s Supplier Liability Law remains a key barrier to a deal.
(WNN contributed to this report) The long planned, but often postponed, project to build six 1150 MW Westinghouse AP1000 PWRs at Kovvada, in Andhra Pradesh was a key topic of discussion between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden during a state visit to Washington, DC, last week.
Comments by the two world leaders in a wide-ranging joint statement noted “ongoing negotiations” for the construction of six AP1000 reactors in India, as well as discussions on small modular reactor development (SMRs).
The two leaders noted in a joint statement (Item 22) “ongoing negotiations between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC) for the construction of six nuclear reactors in India” and “welcomed intensified consultations between the US DOE (Department of Energy) and India’s DAE (Department of Atomic Energy) for facilitating opportunities for WEC to develop a techno-commercial offer for the Kovvada nuclear project,”
They also noted “the ongoing discussion on developing next generation small modular reactor technologies in a collaborative mode for the domestic market as well as for export.”
Small modular reactors (SMRs) do not currently feature in India’s formal nuclear energy plans. WNN noted in its report that the government’s NITI Aayog policy think-tank has said the government should consider including them.
Plans for the six AP1000s were first revealed years ago but a variety of issues in the US and India have stalled efforts to complete contract negotiations. The first issue, in the US, was the bankruptcy of Westinghouse due, in part to the mismanagement and collapse of the V C Summer project in South Carolina which left rate payers with $9 billion in debt for the shuttered project.
Since then Westinghouse was purchased by a Canadian private equity firm which still owns a substantial stake in the company, through a subsidiary. The other major equity owner is Canadian uranium miner Camerco which bought in to lock up sales of the mineral to Westinghouse nuclear fuels plants.
Another stumbling block for the firm doing business with India, which remains unresolved, is that India has not changed its Supplier Liability Law which is a poison pill for any publicly owned US firm to do business in that country. While the law is touted as a way to insure compensation for harm from a nuclear accident, it serves as significant barrier to trade and protects India’s domestic nuclear reactor industry which is building a fleet of 10 and as many as 17 700 MWe PHWRs.
The plants, similar to AECL’ CANDU design, do not require reactor pressure vessels and run on natural uranium. India’s domestic heavy industry is the exclusive supply chain for the PHWRs as well as balance of plant equipment such as turbines and switchgear.
Separately, Russia’s Rosatom has built and commissioned two 1000 MWe VVERs at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, is building four more at that site. Rosatom has had its eye on the Andhra Pradesh site. The bilateral talks at the White House this week probably put an end to that ambition.
Lastly, India has a problem acquiring uranium for its reactors. It is not a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which manages globally sales and supply of uranium for making nuclear fuel to operate commercial reactors. India is not a signatory of the international Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) which is a requirement for membership.
The NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries, that contributes to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons by controlling the export of materials, equipment and technology that could be used to fabricate them. India and the USA signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement (also known as a 123 Agreement) in 2008, after it reached a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The Modi/ Biden statement said the USA also reaffirmed its support for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). It said it would “continue engagement with likeminded partners to advance this goa.l”
India formally applied to join the NSG in 2016, but to date the group, whose current members, including China, are all signatories of the NPT. The NSG to date has declined to approve India’s membership.
Natural uranium required for India’s pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) has been imported from Kazakhstan, Canada, Russia and France, and a reserve is reportedly being built to ensure the reliability of fuel supplies for these reactors, India has imported just over 7600 tonnes of uranium in the past three years, mostly from Kazakhstan and Canada, according to official figures released by the government. The requirements of the PHWRs which are under Indian, rather than IAEA, safeguards are “adequately met” with domestic uranium production, which is undertaken by Uranium Corporation of India Ltd.
Russia provides the commercial nuclear fuel for the VVERs at Kudankulam and also retrogrades the spent fuel back to a Russian spent fuel storage and reprocessing facilities.
India’s 22 operable nuclear power plants currently generate about 3% of the country’s electricity needs and the country has confirmed plans for 21 new reactors (including 8 under construction and one – Kakrapar 3 – which has been grid-connected but is not yet in commercial operation).
Separately, France is had a proposal to NPCIL pending to build six 1650 MW EPRs at Jaitapur in Maharashtra to NPCIL for over a decade. NPCIL has balked at the high price of the EPRs pointing out that it can build up its fleet of PHWRs using Indian firms, creating Indian jobs, at at a far lower cost. Also, as of April 2023 the Hindu newspaper reported that differences over the application of India’s Supplier Liability Law remained unresolved and were a significant barrier to closing a deal to build the reactors.
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Turkey / Negotiations Continue With Russia, China, South Korea on New Nuclear Plants
(NucNet) Turkey is talking to Russia, China, and South Korea about the proposed construction of two new nuclear power stations, The news was reported in Ankara’s official Anadolu news agency quoting Salih Sari, head of the directorate of nuclear energy at the Turkish energy and natural resources ministry. He told Anadolu that negotiations with Russia and South Korea are for the Sinop project on the Black Sea coast in northern Turkey.
He said talks with China are for a nuclear plant site in its European Thrace region which possibly could be Igneada on the county’s European Black Sea shore, very close to the border with Bulgaria. The site is located along Turkey’s western most Black Sea coast about 140 miles north of Istanbul.
Talks with China have been ongoing since 2015 for the construction of several 1400 MW PWRs based on China’s domestic upgraded design of an 1100 MW AP1000. The Sinop site was previously slated for construction of four 1100 MW ATMEA 1100 MW PWRs as part of a joint design by Areva, now EDF, and Japan’s Mitsubishi. The project was withdrawn after Japanese investors backed out of the project over concerns about cost overruns that could occur building four first-of-a-kind large commercial reactors.
Minister Sari also said that authorities have begun a site search for a fourth nuclear station in Turkey. He added, {“In addition, we are in close contact with US, UK and French companies for small modular reactors (SMRs).”
Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 pressurized water reactor (VVER) units at the Akkuyu site, near Mersin on the Mediterranean coast.
The $20 billion (€18.3bn) Akkuyu will be the first commercial nuclear power station in Turkey and its first unit is expected to come online in 2025 and a further unit starting every year afterwards.
Turkey needs to generate slightly over 11% of electricity from nuclear energy by 2035, and 29% by 2053 to reach its climate goals, the minister told a local nuclear industry conference earlier this week.
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Romania Pledges Financial Support for Nuclear Power Projects Cernavoda 3, 4
(Balkan Green Energy News) The Romanian Government signed a support agreement with state-owned Nuclearelectrica for the development of national strategic projects to complete construction of units 3 and 4 in the Cernavoda nuclear power plant. The two partially build PHWRs are designed to produce 700 MW each if they ever enter revenue service. Romania has been struggling to finance completion of the two units for more than decade.
The government, including the ministries of energy, finance and transportation, has signed a support agreement with state-controlled Nuclearelectrica for activities such as engineering, financing and obtaining clearances from the European Commission.
Romania pledged to provide state rate and financial guarantees, implement a contracts-for-difference (CfD) incentives scheme, adopt necessary legislation and facilitate the installation of transmission lines to deliver power to customers. Romania controls 82.5% of shares of Nuclearelectrica.
Nuclearelectrica’s Chief Executive Officer Cosmin Ghita sounded hopeful saying, “Units 3 and 4, which are scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2030 and 2031 respectively, will add another 10 TWh of clean, stable and affordable energy to the national energy system, supporting energy security.”
Separately, SMR developer NuScale has been working on provisioning its 77 MWe SMR to Romania backed by the the US Exim Bank which last November that it issued two letters of interest for the financing of technical services to be provided by the US.
Romania is counting on nuclear energy to significantly contribute to decarbonization efforts, which include eliminating the dependence on Russian fossil fuels as soon as possible.
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New Effort for Pebble Bed HTGR in South Africa
(WNN) Stratek Global hopes to produce a pilot plant of the High Temperature Modular Reactor (HTMR-100), which is derived from the South African Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) program.
South Africa’s PBMR was to have been a small-scale high-temperature reactor using graphite-coated spherical uranium oxycarbide tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel, with helium as the coolant, able to supply process heat as well as generating electricity.
Based on German technology, South Africa had been working on the PBMR project since 1993, however, in 2010 the government formally announced its decision no longer to invest in the project, which was then placed under ‘care and maintenance’ to protect its intellectual property and assets. In the US several principals of the original program joined what became the X-Energy XE-100 HTGR which is now being developed with funding from the US Department of Energy.
Chairman and CEO of Stratek Global, Kelvin Kemm, a former chairman of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, told World Nuclear News the Pretoria-based firm hopes the advanced designs mean there could be a first-of-a-kind HTMR-100 plant built within five years, adding that the country had also produced the TRISO fuel which would be used.
He said the 35 MWe reactor’s relatively small size meant it could be used in a wide variety of locations, including for industrial and other applications such as process heat or desalination. The TRISO pebble fuel is also “very robust and can be thrown on a concrete floor with no effect. It can therefore be easily transported over long distances and over rough roads.”
Speaking during a visit to London where he was meeting potential funders, Kemm told World Nuclear News the design was particularly suited to Africa, with its low cooling water needs and its ability to power, for instance, a remote mine and community without the requirement of long-distance power distribution network lines.
He said that the initial target market is for the African continent, as well as further afield in the Pacific Rim and Asia. A current focus is South Africa’s forthcoming program to develop 2500 MW of new nuclear. It isn’t yet decided what portion of that generation capacity will be for full size and SMR type reactors.
South Africa’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Gwede Mantashe, told the National Council of Provinces – the upper house of the South African Parliament – last month that the government intends to issue a request for proposals for the procurement of 2500 MW of nuclear energy in the fourth quarter of this year as part of its electricity procurement plans.
The company says there are two main differences between the PBMR and the HTMR-100:
- The first is that gas outlet temperature was reduced from 940°C to 750°C. This was done to reduce some engineering design and material requirements to make the reactor more affordable and competitive to build.
- The second main difference is that the PBMR used a direct helium cycle through the reactor and into the turbines.
The HTMR-100 instead takes the heat into a water heat exchanger or steam generator, which produces steam for conventional steam turbines or process heat. The important point of this decision is that all the equipment downstream of the heat exchanger can be purchased off-the-shelf. This considerably reduces the design development time, and cost for the secondary equipment.
There are more than 50 different small modular reactors in design or development across the world, encompassing a wide variety of concepts, including China’s demonstration High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor-Pebble-bed Module (HTR-PM) at the Shidaowan site in Shandong province which reached its initial full power in December 2022.
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Nuward, EDF, Tractebel Collaboration for Pilot SMR Project
(NucNet) French companies Nuward and EDF and Belgium-based Tractebel have singed a framework cooperation agreement to further joint efforts on the development of Nuward’s small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
A joint statement said the agreement has a long-term focus and will involve increased dedication of engineering staff by Tractebel to the Nuward SMR project. Around 50 engineers from Tractebel are currently working on Nuward under a 2022 agreement, and this number is expected to double in the coming years in all fields of engineering.
Nuward is currently in the basic design phase, which focuses on bringing the design of the SMR to maturity. EDF said the technology could replace high CO2-emitting coal, fuel, oil and gas plants around the world and support other uses such as hydrogen production, urban and district heating or desalination.
The Nuward project is being led by EDF with contributions from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), French industrial group Naval Group, reactor design and maintenance company TechnicAtome, nuclear company Framatome and engineering company Tractebel.
Nuward is a Generation III pressurized water reactor combining two 170 MW reactors for a total output of 340 MW. One of the main characteristics of the plant will be the integration of proven PWR technology into a compact modular configuration.
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