New Reactor Types

Rolls-Royce being urged to carry out nuclear testing in UK after it emerged company was considering using site in northern Italy. Rolls-Royce is being urged to carry out nuclear testing in the UK after it emerged that the company was considering using a site in northern Italy. The engineering giant has shortlisted the SIET institute in Piacenza for testing work as part of its plan to build small nuclear reactors. Domestic options for the tests include a proposed site on Anglesey, north Wales.

This is Money 24th Oct 2021 read more »

For decades, scientists have sought to create clean energy from nuclear fusion – the process that powers the sun. If this can be employed in nuclear reactors on a huge scale, it could produce an almost unlimited supply of energy without radioactive waste. A lofty, if perhaps unlikely, ambition. Or so it seemed until last month, when scientists made what was instantly hailed as the most significant breakthrough in nuclear fusion for the last 50 years – demonstrating for the first time ‘fusion ignition’, the point at which fusion reaction becomes self-sustaining. Nuclear fusion requires temperatures to be maintained at more than 100 million degrees Celsius. It also needs a reactor capable of producing more energy than is pumped into it to start and contain the fusion reaction – something that has remained out of reach for years. The latest experiments, carried out by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, involved focusing a laser light generated by the National Ignition Facility on to a target capsule of fuel about 5mm wide. This produced a hotspot the diameter of a human hair. The experiment produced temperatures several times hotter than the centre of the sun for 100 trillionths of a second, while the pressure placed on the fuel pellet was twice that inside a star. In a nutshell: Potentially limitless zero carbon energy, if scientists can pull it off.

iNews 25th Oct 2021 read more »

ROLLS-ROYCE is being urged to carry out nuclear testing in the UK after it emerged that the company was considering using a site in northern Italy. The engineering giant has shortlisted the SIET institute in Piacenza for testing work as part of its plan to build small nuclear reactors. Domestic options for the tests include a proposed site on Anglesey, north Wales. MPs and unions have spoken out since The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that some of the work could take place in Piacenza. Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect trade union, said: ‘To justify taking these jobs offshore there should be a high bar and proof that there is not sufficient capacity or time to do the work indigenously.

Mail Plus 24th Oct 2021 read more »

Welsh Government economy minister Vaughan Gething says there is a predicted gap in the future production of medical isotopes. A research reactor at Trawsfynydd could create jobs and provide vital medical isotopes says Wales’ economy minister. Medical isotopes are used in radiopharma-ceuticals, medicines used for the diagnosis and management of some cancers and other chronic diseases. Welsh Government economy minister Vaughan Gething says a predicted gap in future production opens the way for a research reactor at Trawsfynydd. Research reactors are nuclear reactors used for research, development, education and training. They produce neutrons for use in industry and medicine.

Business Live 21st Oct 2021 read more »

Gloucestershire may have made it onto the shortlist to be the new home of the UK’s fusion plant, harnessing the power of the sun. But now the hard work really does begin. The team behind the bid will need to persuade the government that its plan for the £220m prototype plant meets all the Levelling Up criteria. In other words, it’s down to poIitics – but that has to be accepted. Gloucestershire is now in the race to build the plant with four other sites-some of those in the North- which might have an advantage in the Levelling Up process because of their geography. So, the Severn Edge bid from Gloucestershire for the site of the former nuclear power stations at Berkeley and Oldbury must tick all those government boxes. Having worked with the bid team for the last year, I believe Severn Edge can win.

Punchline Gloucester 20th Oct 2021 read more »

BRADWELL has been dropped from a long list of 15 potential candidate sites for a proposed prototype nuclear fusion plant. The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) had put Bradwell on a list of possible sites for the UK’s prototype fusion energy plant – STEP.

Maldon & Burnham Standard 21st Oct 2021 read more »

Essex Gazette 21st Oct 2021 read more »

Nuclear container ship sails back to St. Petersburg after only two months in the Arctic.

Barents Observer 21st Oct 2021 read more »

Mini nuclear reactors vie for key role in UK’s push to hit climate targets. Since the Wylfa nuclear power plant on the Isle of Anglesey shut down the community, which supports nuclear power, was waiting for its resurrection. This week, when the UK Government designated a location near the location where the old reactor would be decommissioned as a candidate site for a new large-scale plant or as a host for the first small modular technology under development in the United Kingdom. The possibility has increased. Reactor (SMR). One of the major selling points of SMR is that it promises significant cost savings compared to traditional large-scale reactors. Rolls-Royce, a British engineering group that leads a consortium that creates British designs, estimates that the first five SMR reactors will cost £ 2.2 billion each and subsequent units will cost £ 1.8 billion. This week, the government’s decision to make nuclear power a central part of its net zero-emission strategy has given new impetus to replace the existing UK reactors. More than £ 200 million of that money is expected to be sent to a Rolls-Royce-led consortium shortly. We are seeking private match funding so that SMR reactor designs can be submitted to a wide range of regulatory approval processes by the end of the year.

FT 20th Oct 2021 read more »

Dockyard firm involved in plans for new generation of mini nuclear power stations. The project led by Rolls-Royce for 16 reactors is set for government backing. A new generation of mini nuclear reactors is set to be built on 16 sites across the UK as part of the push for zero carbon energy. A company with a base at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth is part of the consortium led by Rolls-Royce developing the project. The consortium includes Cavendish Nuclear, part of Babcock International Group, which has nuclear manufacturing capabilities at Rosyth in Scotland. It also operates at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, which is run by Babcock, where the Navy’s nuclear submarines are repaired and refuelled. Cavendish is also involved in the construction of two new nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The technology behind the mini power stations is being seen as an important part of delivering the UK’s government’s pledge to reach zero carbon electricity by 2035. The carbon-free energy plants are also being promoted as a way to produce sustainable aviation fuel and power the production of green hydrogen, which is seen as the next generation of carbon-free fuel.

Plymouth Herald 20th Oct 2021 read more »