IAEA Kicks Off Nuclear Summit March 21st in Brussels

• IAEA Kicks Off Nuclear Summit March 21st in Brussels
• Experts Outline Key Challenges for SMR Commercialization
• Japan’s Government to Back Restart Of Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Station
• Germany / Minister Announces Funding Program For First Fusion Reactor By 2040
• Turkey Continues Negotiations on New Nuclear Power Plants – No Decisions for Now
• X-Energy Opens Advanced Reactor Training Facility
• NuScale Power Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

IAEA Kicks Off Nuclear Summit March 21st in Brussels

Nuclear industry and government leaders from around the world will gather at a Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels to focus on the role of nuclear energy in addressing the global challenges to reduce the use of fossil fuels, enhance energy security and boost economic development.

Others attending the invitational event are the heads of think-tanks, experts, and representatives from civil society.

Hosted jointly by the IAEA and Belgium, the Summit will take place on 21-22 March 2024. Around 30 countries are expected to be represented at the Summit.

Co-chaired by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, it will be a high-level meeting exclusively focused on the topic of nuclear energy, which is attracting growing interest from many countries because it can both help to cut the consumption of fossil fuels while meeting rising demand for low-carbon dispatchable electricity.

The Summit comes in the wake of the historic inclusion of nuclear energy in the agreement by 22 nations at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai in December 2023, which called for accelerating its deployment along with other low carbon energy sources.

The Summit will provide heads of state and government of participating countries the opportunity to share their vision on the key role of nuclear power in reaching net zero and promoting sustainable development, including national plans to fully exploit its potential.

The event will include panel discussions with experts showcasing how innovation is further enhancing the competitiveness, usability, and sustainability of nuclear power as well as opportunities and challenges in establishing a level playing field for funding and financing nuclear power projects.

The Summit will consist of a high-level segment of dialog with heads of state and government as well as a scientific debate with leading experts about issues ranging from new reactor technologies to hybrid energy systems integrating both nuclear power and renewable energy, and innovation throughout the entire fuel cycle and the life cycle of nuclear facilities. (Detailed Program)

A separate policy debate will focus on the hurdles that are hindering the early deployment of new nuclear technologies and the solutions and opportunities identified worldwide to overcome them. It will examine challenges such as the security of supply and safe dismantling of nuclear power reactors.

In addition, the Summit will showcase the IAEA’s Atom4NetZero initiative, which  provides decision makers with comprehensive, data-driven energy scenario modelling that also includes the full potential of nuclear power in contributing to net zero emissions.

Atoms4NetZero is an IAEA initiative that supports efforts by Member States to harness the power of nuclear energy in the transition to net zero. The initiative provides Member States and stakeholders including industry, financial institutions, and international organizations with technical expertise and scientific evidence on the potential of nuclear energy to decarbonize electricity production as well as hard-to-abate sectors such as industry and transport. (Video)

The IAEA’s new annual nuclear power outlook high case projection predicts installed nuclear capacity will more than double to 890 gigawatts by 2050, compared to 369 gigawatts today. This represents an almost 25% increase from the Agency’s prediction in 2020, with its projections revised up for a third consecutive year.

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Ahead Of Brussels Summit, Experts Outline Key Challenges for SMR Commercialization

(NucNet) Ahead of the first Nuclear Energy Summit (NES) in Brussels later this month, experts have looked at the challenges facing the commercialization of small modular reactors in Europe and how to make new projects more competitive.

“NES is a big and well attended event, so I am expecting that it will create political momentum and a lot of money will have to be mobilized,” said Yves Desbazeilles, director-general of the Brussels-based Nucleareurope industry group at a webinar organized by the New Nuclear Watch Institute (NNWI) in London.

“The event wants to create momentum beyond Europe. Building the equivalent of 100 GW to 120 GW of new installed nuclear capacity is required in Europe, and SMRs will take a significant share of that.”

He emphasize that the NES should aim to set a clear timetable for the expansion of nuclear capacity and commit to working to remove regulatory barriers to closer cooperation as quickly as possible.

Note to Readers: Enthusiasm for SMRs in Europe may be overdone in some quarters. For instance, assuming Romania’s Cernavoda #3 & #4 PHWRs, at 700 MW each, are completed, that’s the equivalent of 50 of NuScale’s 50MWe SMRs or 18 of its 77 MWe design units. The 50 MWe units have passed the NRC’s review. The 77 MWe unit design, a power uprate of the 50 MWe design, is expected to be submitted by NuScale to the NRC in 2024. Either way, economies of scale will significantly determine what size reactors are built in Europe.

UK Nuclear Site Consultation Labeled as ‘A Mistake’

NNWI chairman Tim Yeo told NucNet; “NES should aim to set a clear timetable for the expansion of nuclear energy capacity and commit to working to remove regulatory barriers to closer cooperation as quickly as possible.”

Yeo has harsh words for the UK’s slow roll out of its SMR program.

“The lack of available sites and project financing for first-of-a-kind [reactors] are challenging, though their effects vary from one country to another as the UK, for example, has unwisely started a consultation about possible new sites for nuclear plants.”

He labels the consultation as a mistake because it will take years to reach a conclusion and the UK already has enough sites which are approved for nuclear construction.

“Inviting proposals for new sites will make it much harder to develop the existing approved ones because objectors will argue that until all the possible alternative sites have been fully explored, none of the existing ones should be developed.”

The consequence of this unnecessary consultation Yeo said is that no new SMRs will be built in the UK before at least half a dozen have been built elsewhere in Europe.”

“Other countries are likely to avoid falling into this trap.”

UK Said to be Squandering its Opportunities for Domestic Progress

In those countries, a lack of project finance for first-of-a-kind SMRs may present a bigger challenge. Yeo is worried that there is a real risk that the first SMR in Europe will not be deployed in the UK. His comments echo recent remarks by the CEO of Rolls-Royce who said that the UK government was squandering its opportunities for using domestic firms and supply chains to address time to market issues for SMRs.

Companies like France’s state utility and nuclear operator EDF have repeatedly called for SMRs to be developed as European rather than country specific projects, given the ongoing supply chain collaborations between Italy and France and beyond.

“The creation of the European Industrial Alliance on SMRs opens up this possibility and it should be strongly encouraged,” said Yeo.

“Potential supply chain companies may realize that Europe desperately needs to exploit first mover advantage to catch up with Russia, China and North America and see more benefits from cooperation than competition. It is essential that streamlining of the regulatory regime for new European SMR projects is in place as soon as possible to support deployment, thus helping to achieve [the EU’s and global] net zero targets.” .

Globally, SMR Projects Need Multi-Billion Investment

“The EIB’s [European Investment Bank] recent announcement to invest in nuclear power is very welcome and reflects a significant change of tack from the policy adopted by the outgoing EIB president”, Yeo said. “Active support for investment in nuclear will encourage private investors.”

In an interview a spokesman for the European Investment Bank told NucNet that nuclear energy projects – potentially including research and development of small modular reactors (SMRs) – can be eligible for financing because they can be “bankable” under strict economic assessment criteria.

“The EIB is ready to finance research and development SMRs as the sector “can be essential for the strategic autonomy of Europe.”

“It’s true that we haven’t financed greenfield nuclear power generation in more than three decades. There are various reasons for that: any project that we finance must be “bankable”, meaning that we apply strict economic assessment criteria,” the EIB spokesperson said.

“Each project is assessed on its own merits, depending on economic and financial viability, environmental viability, and technical viability. Europe needs to be present in those technologies, which can be relevant in meeting the Paris climate goals.”

Wood MacKenzie Report Projects Significant Growth for SMRs

A recent report by UK-based consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, SMR nuclear market update 2024, illustrates the scale of the effort needed for new investment as “the global nuclear SMR project pipeline expands to 22 GW, increasing more than 65% since 2021.”

“COP28 also provided a new tailwind for nuclear with a new goal to triple nuclear capacity by 2050. In Wood Mackenzie’s net zero scenario, SMRs would account for 30% of the nuclear fleet. The global focus on net zero means the market for SMRs has widened from utilities to industrial and technology companies. For these sectors, SMRs provide a range of solutions, including around-the-clock carbon-free power, carbon-free industrial heat, and the ability to meet power demand growth long term; the latter is a particular area of focus in the US with increasing demand for high-capacity data centers.”

Five countries – the US, Poland, Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Korea – drive 58% of the risked project pipeline. The report added that the current total project pipeline would require an investment of close to US$176 billion. That number puts just over $102 billion of investment requirements in these five nations.

The report also noted that uprates of existing plants, reactor life extensions, and new reactor planned construction have significantly pushed up uranium prices.

“The uranium market is turning bullish, driven by production shutdowns, potential sanctions on Russian uranium supply, the addition of 8 GW of large-scale new nuclear capacity in 2023, and lifetime extensions of the current nuclear fleet. In turn, this has ignited concerns about uranium supply security across the OECD nations. As a response, there are plans from both governments and the private sector to fund expansions of the uranium supply chain.”

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Japan’s Government to Back Restart Of Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Station

(NucNet) Japan’s government is launching a full court press to secure local approval to resume operations at the world’s biggest nuclear power station, according to a report.

It will involve a combination of political persuasion and the likelihood of fat subsidies and economic development incentives to grease the wheels of change.

Local elected officials in the Niigata province have made careers out of bashing TEPCO with the rhetorical equivalents of Kendo sticks since the plant was built. In no small measure, their criticisms have been justified by TEPCO’s many instances of mismanagement of the giant energy center.

Kashiwazaki Kariwa, which has seven reactors totaling 8.2 gigawatts in capacity, is located about 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Tokyo.

Japan’s Nuclear Safety Agency said in 2017 that reactor units 6 and 7 met post-Fukushima safety protocols.  Last December Japan’s nuclear power regulator lifted an operational ban imposed on Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power station which will allow it to load fuel in all seven reactors thus, allowing TEPCO to work towards gaining local permission to restart.

Minister of economy, trade and industry (METI) Ken Saito will ask Niigata governor Hideyo Hanazumi to endorse the restart of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (Tepco) Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power station, according to the Niigata Nippo newspaper.

The governor’s approval is one of the last hurdles before the seven-unit nuclear facility in the northcentral region of Niigata can resume operations. TEPCO and the government are anxious to restart Kashiwazaki Kariwa, which was closed after the Fukushima-Daiichi accident, pending further safety checks.

International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi this week expressed his support for increasing Japan’s nuclear capacity and offered Japan technical assistance as its bids to restart Kashiwazaki Kariwa.

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Germany Says ‘Race Is On’ As Minister Announces Funding Program For First Fusion Reactor By 2040

(NucNet) According to a government announcement, the German government wants to invest more than €1 billion in fusion research over the next five years.

The government said it wants to build a “nuclear fusion ecosystem” made up of industry, startups and science so that a fusion power plant in the country becomes a reality as quickly as possible with a target of having a reactor in operation by 2040.

Launching a new funding program ‘Fusion 2040 – Research on the way to a fusion power plant’ on March 13th, federal research minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger said: “The global race is on. I would like us in Germany to be among the first to build a fusion power plant. We must not miss this huge opportunity, especially with a view to growth and prosperity.”

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) said it has long been supporting fusion research at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching and Greifswald, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the Research Centre Jülich. This institutional funding is now being supplemented by a second pillar with the new funding program. Some of the $1 billion in funding, about one-third, will come from government funds already slated for energy R&D.

Exact details of the funding remain unclear. In September Stark-Watzinger said Germany would invest more than €1 billion ($1.09 billion) in fusion research over the next five years as it sets out to “create a fusion ecosystem” so that a power plant can become “a reality in Germany as quickly as possible.”

In a second phase, the focus will be on integration of technologies, components and materials into a power plant design.

BMBF said it would be willing to back laser fusion and magnetic fusion projects, the two main competing designs in nuclear fusion. Laser fusion uses high-intensity lasers to trigger a series of reactions that slam atoms together many times per second. Magnetic fusion would use super-strong magnets to contain a cloud of plasma that burns hotter than the sun.

Germany’s energy policies over the past decade have been a disaster for the country. The country closed all of its nuclear reactors getting on renewables and fossil fuels to cover the gaps in energy supply. It didn’t work. German ratepayers have Europe’s highest electricity bills and the country has reopened coal mines and coal fired power plants to plug the holes in its energy security safety net making a mockery of its climate change goals.

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Turkey Continues Negotiations on New Nuclear Power Plants – No Decisions for Now

(WNN) Turkey’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar says it hopes to launch the first unit at Akkuyu by the end of the year – while negotiations continue with Russia, China and South Korea about two more nuclear power plants.

These are a site at Sinop on Turkey’s northern Black Sea coast and an as yet undetermined site on Turkey’s western Black Sea Coast in the Thrace region north of Istanbul.

According to a media report, Bayraktar said that there were some issues relating to sanctions to overcome, but the aim was still to produce the first electricity from the Russian built Akkuyu nuclear power plant during 2024, with all four units scheduled to be completed by 2028.

That would meet 10% of the country’s electricity needs. He said that with the country’s need for 20 GWe of installed nuclear capacity by 2050, it was also continuing to talk with Russia and South Korea about the second planned nuclear power plant in Turkey, in Sinop.

He is reported to have said Russia’s Rosatom “already have serious experience from the Akkuyu project, so we [may] want to carry it on to Sinop, as well. Our negotiations continue with both sides.”

Last week Rosatom claimed in a news media release that it has won the Sinop project. This statement prompted a sharp rebuke from Turkey’s energy ministry which said no decision had been made and that talks were ongoing with multiple vendors.

The 4800 MWe Akkuyu plant, in the southern Mersin province, is Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors, under a BOO (build-own-operate) model. Construction of the first unit began in 2018. The plan is for the operational plans to run for 15 years under Rosatom control and then be sold off to investors. Roastom would continue to supply the fuel for the plants for their expected service life of at least 60 years.

On the Thrace project, Bayraktar is reported to have said that negotiations with China – which last September he had described as being at an “important point” – were now at a “very serious” stage.” The talks have been ongoing in this condition since 2016 so it isn’t clear where the project stands now which is proposed to be four 1400 MW PWR type reactors of Chinese design based on the Westinghouse AP1000.

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X-Energy Opens Advanced Reactor Training Facility

X-energy Reactor Company, LLC, opened the first training center for future operators of its Xe-100 advanced small modular reactor. Called the Plant Support Center (PSC), the 10,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility includes a full-scale plant control room simulator, Reactor Protection System prototype, and virtual reality experience, as well as offices and classrooms.

Designed to train up to 52 operators at one time, the PSC offers a hands-on, experiential learning environment for future Xe-100 operators. X-energy’s comprehensive training program will employ virtual and simulated environments, providing trainees in the program with invaluable experience before entering the field.

The centerpiece of the PSC is a sophisticated control room simulator, designed to replicate the real-world plant control room. The Xe-100’s control room has automated digital systems aiming to enhance operator experience and increase cost efficiencies.

Prior to accepting its first cohort of trainees, X-energy will use the PSC for the final development of its training program and reactor operating procedures. The PSC will also be instrumental in validating and enhancing Human Factors Engineering and integrated system testing prior to deployment.

As plants become operational, the facility will host continuing education programs leveraging real performance and operating data collected in the field to enhance training and professional development. X-energy plans to establish additional regional centers to support an expanding reactor fleet, which will become hubs for X-energy’s operations, maintenance, and training services business.

X-Energy Clay Sell said, “We hope this is the catalyst for advancing the way nuclear operators are going to be trained in the future. From analog to digital displays, and from historical to real-time data, this is a highly engaging system of tools to propel U.S. nuclear forward.”

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NuScale Power Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

Highlights of the Formal Reports to Investors 

• Continued progress toward commercialization of small modular reactor (SMR) technology to meet consumer demand for safe, reliable, 24/7 and carbon-free baseload energy

• Planning underway for Romania’s RoPower project’s Phase 2 Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) work

• Doosan Enerbility continues to produce forgings and materials associated with the manufacture of the first NuScale Power Modules

• NuScale technology was selected by Standard Power to support the development of two SMR-powered facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The facilities are planned to produce nearly 2 GW of clean energy through the deployment of 24 NuScale Power Modules.

• Standard Design Approval (SDA) application for an uprated 77 MWe module design was accepted for review by the NRC in July 2023 and NuScale received a schedule for an anticipated 24-month review process. The increased power output will support the capacity needs of a wider range of customers with 12 modules producing nearly a gigawatt of electricity.

• Company executed a resource optimization plan to reduce expenses, via layoffs, and to better position NuScale commercially, financially and strategically

Complete details including financial statements here

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