A programme of work is underway at Torness power station bringing a boost to the East Lothian economy.
One of the station’s two units (Unit 1) has been taken offline for a major maintenance programme called a statutory outage. This planned 10 week outage is like an MOT for the unit, allowing work to be carried out that cannot take place while the reactor is at power.
Two projects featuring nuclear energy are among 11 international space projects selected to receive funding from the UK Space Agency. Rolls-Royce's collaboration with BWXT receives GBP1.18 million (USD1.5 million) to further its work on fission nuclear systems for space power missions, while an international project led by the University of Leicester receives GBP800,000.
X-energy and Cavendish Nuclear have been granted GBP3.34 million (USD4.23 million) in funding from the UK government to develop plans for the deployment of X-energy's Xe-100 high temperature gas-cooled reactor in the country.
X-Energy UK Holdings - a wholly owned subsidiary of the USA's X-Energy Reactor Company - and UK firm Cavendish applied to the UK's Future Nuclear Enabling Fund (FNEF) to support a Generic Design Assessment of the Xe-100 small modular reactor (SMR) and also supply chain development for the first proposed project.
Rolls-Royce SMR has welcomed the agreement between Polish industrial group, Industria, and UK-based Chiltern Vital Group (CVG) to collaborate on international projects to deliver low-carbon energy using Rolls-Royce SMR technology.
In 2023, after working with Rolls-Royce SMR for over two years, Industria selected Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology to fulfil the zero-emission energy goals of the Central Hydrogen Cluster in Poland and as part of their plans to produce 50,000 tonnes of low-carbon hydrogen every year.
Westinghouse has signed an agreement with Community Nuclear Power Limited (CNP) for the construction of four AP300 small modular reactors (SMRs) in the North Teesside region of northeast England. It would be the UK's first privately-financed SMR fleet.
CNP - formed in September 2022 - is working with strategic partners, including Jacobs and Interpath Advisory, to develop a fully licensed site for the project, with a target of 2027. The project is being privately funded.
EDF manages the UK’s eight nuclear power station sites, five that are generating (Sizewell B, Torness, Heysham 2, Heysham 1, Hartlepool) and three that are defueling (Hunterston B, Hinkley Point B and Dungeness B) and is issuing its annual fleet update on 9 January 2024.
The transfer trolley for moving used fuel transport casks has been installed at Finnish waste management company Posiva's encapsulation plant under construction at Olkiluoto.
The trolley - measuring about five metres by four meters and weighing some 30 tonnes - was manufactured by the French company CSI and delivered to the encapsulation plant in early February.
The trolley has now been moved from the fuel reception hall one floor down and placed on the rails on which it will operate.
In the UK's new energy roadmap, it sets out how the UK will increase nuclear generation by up to 4 times to 24GW by 2050, creating new jobs, reducing bills and strengthening Britain’s energy security.
In the 2 years since Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the government has doubled down on security of supply to protect the country from price volatility and hostile foreign regimes and bolster the UK’s energy independence.
A major collaboration between Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS) and Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS) to safely and efficiently manage, and permanently dispose of more than 1,000 drums of waste, has completed earlier than expected.
The innovative project was an accumulation of eight years’ work and has seen eleven consignments, of low level radioactive waste, transported by rail from the NRS site at Winfrith, Dorset, to the Low Level Waste Repository in Cumbria for final disposal.
