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Latest APR-1400 Reactor Now Online at South Korea’s Shin Hanul Nuclear Plant

June 11, 2022

The first of what could be as many as four APR-1400 nuclear reactors at the Shin Hanul site in South Korea is now supplying electricity to the country’s power grid.

Unit 1 at Shin Hanul is a 1,400-MW reactor. It was connected to the grid on June 9, just more than two weeks after the pressurized water reactor reached first criticality on May 22, according to officials with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP).

South Korean officials said Shin Hanul, located in Uljin on the country’s east coast, is part of the new government’s strategy to achieve energy security while also supporting environmental goals. The start-up of the reactor comes three months after the election of Yoon Suk-yeol as South Korea’s new president. Suk-yeol has said he plans to reverse the strategy of former President Moon Jae-in, who wanted to phase-out nuclear power generation. Jae-in adopted that policy after he assumed office in 2017, in part citing the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan.…

INL Mulling Building New Nuclear Reactor to Energize Net-Zero Campus Microgrid

April 30, 2022

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Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is exploring designing, building, and operating an onsite nuclear reactor resource as part of a broader effort to achieve net-zero emissions at its sprawling campus in Idaho Falls by 2031.

Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), an entity that manages and operates the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory, on April 29 launched a request for information (RFI) from industry, utilities, energy users, and other stakeholders that could inform how it can integrate nuclear-generated power and heat into a campus microgrid. The initiative falls under the April 2021–launched INL Net-Zero Program, which aims to eliminate or offset all emissions from the campus where 5,400 employees work.

The quest to achieve net-zero in less than a decade will serve as a crucial demonstration of a decarbonization pathway that would utilize “technology innovations, collaborations, increased efficiencies, and novel approaches,” BEA suggested. The city-like INL campus already has 100 miles of transmission lines, a landfill, a 605-vehicle fleet, 357 buildings, and hundreds of miles of roads.…

NRC Dismisses Application for Oklo Advanced Nuclear Reactor

January 7, 2022

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The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it has dismissed a license application for one of the first advanced nuclear reactor designs to be considered by the agency.

The NRC on Jan. 6 said it could not make a judgment on the merits of the design of Oklo Inc.’s 1.5-MW advanced fission power system, known as Aurora. The agency in a letter to Oklo about its decision said it needed more information about the technology, though the NRC’s move to dismiss the application without prejudice means Oklo could resubmit an application for the system in the future.

Want to learn more? Go here to read a feature about new advancements in nuclear power technology in POWER’s January 2022 issue.

Oklo, a Silicon Valley company based in Sunnyvale, California, said it expects to respond to the NRC’s move by the end of today. The NRC in a statement Thursday said, “As the application lacks information on key topics, the NRC’s action makes no safety findings regarding the Aurora design.…

Icebreaker Reactor Approved for Ground-Based Nuclear Plant

August 9, 2021

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The post Icebreaker Reactor Approved for Ground-Based Nuclear Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The international business arm of Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company has received a license that will allow construction of small modular reactors (SMRs), based on the design used in the country’s icebreaker shipping fleet, at ground-based nuclear power plants.

Rusatom Overseas JSC (RAOS JSC), the company representing parent company Rosatom’s international interests, on Aug. 9 announced it was granted the license from the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision—known as Rostekhnadzor—that will allow construction to proceed. The license specifically was granted authorizing Rusatom Overseas to move forward with a project to build an SMR with a RITM-200N reactor at a site in Ust-Kuyga, in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia.

The Yakutia SMR project is based on technology from Rosatom used in the design of the RITM-200 reactor that powers the icebreaker ships. The RITM-200 is an integrated generation 3+ pressurized water reactor, developed by OKBM Afrikantov—a Russian nuclear engineering company—and designed to produce 55 MW of power.…

TVA, Kairos Partner to Deploy Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor Demonstration

May 8, 2021

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The post TVA, Kairos Partner to Deploy Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor Demonstration appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a notable, dedicated effort by a major U.S. utility to boost the development of an advanced reactor technology, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Kairos Power, developer of a novel fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature nuclear reactor, on May 6 said they will team to demonstrate Kairos’ Hermes test reactor at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

As part of their agreement, TVA will provide engineering, operations, and licensing support to help California-based Kairos Power deploy its “low-power” demonstration reactor. According to Kairos, Hermes is a 50-MWth test reactor that will integrate the Kairos Power Fluoride Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (KP-FHR) as part of a cost- and risk-reduction–focused development pathway that ultimately envisions commercial deployment of a 140-MWe “KP-X” plant.

“Kairos Power’s singular objective for deploying the Hermes Reactor is to demonstrate the capability to deliver an advanced reactor at the costs necessary to make nuclear power the most affordable source of dispatchable electricity in the United States,” it said on Thursday.…

Hualong One Reactor Now Operating in China

February 2, 2021

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The post Hualong One Reactor Now Operating in China appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The first of two new reactors at a nuclear power plant in China has entered commercial operation, becoming that country’s 50^th operating reactor, according to the China Nuclear Energy Association (CNEA).

Hualong One is a third-generation pressurized water reactor, developed by China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) and China General Nuclear Power. It is the fifth reactor now operating at Fujian Province’s Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant. It began commercial operation on Jan. 30 after being connected to the grid on Nov. 27 of last year. Construction of the reactor began in 2015.

*The Hualong One reactor entered commercial operation Jan. 30, 2021, at the Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant in China’s Fujian Province. Courtesy: China National Nuclear Corp.*

A second Hualong One reactor at Fuqing is scheduled to be completed this year.

“This marks that China has mastered independent third-generation nuclear power technology following the United States, France, Russia and others,” CNNC said in a statement on the company’s official WeChat account.…