Ultra Safe Nuclear Inks Advanced Fuel Deal with Framatome

• Ultra Safe Nuclear Inks Advanced Fuel Deal with Framatome
• OPG Inks Deals for SMR Fuels
• DOE Issues RFP for HALEU Fuel via Deconversion
• No US Equity Investments for Poland’s Reactor Program
• EDF Plans Accelerated New Build of Reactors in 2030s
• France Selects Six SMR Start-Ups for Construction Funding

Ultra Safe Nuclear Inks Advanced Fuel Deal with Framatome

Framatome Inc.and Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture (JV) at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris, France. This JV will provide nuclear fuel for the fourth generation Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR) and other advanced reactor designs. The fuel supply will include commercial quantities of Tri-structural Isotropic (TRISO) particles and USNC’s proprietary Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated (FCM) fuel.

The joint venture plans to manufacture TRISO particles and FCM fuel starting in 2026. The creation of the JV is currently subject to regulatory approval in the U.S

Framatome’s manufacturing and regulatory licensing are being amended to incorporate USNC’s proven and codified processes similar to USNC’s operating Pilot Fuel Manufacturing Facility (PFM) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The firm claims it is the only private sector capability in the Western Hemisphere at present manufacturing TRISO-based nuclear fuels.

Framatome has notified the NRC of their intent to submit the amendment in summer 2024 and has conducted the pre-licensing briefing with NRC personnel in advance of the amendment.

The JV will be managed by a board of directors composed of senior leadership from both USNC and Framatome.

The firm will leverage its expertise, infrastructure, and programs to ensure that USNC’s processes are efficiently deployed and operating. USNC will bring technical manufacturing capabilities and expertise. Working together, the JV will deliver finished TRISO-based fuel products, meeting the demands of USNC’s fleet as well as others in the advanced reactors market.

The MMR Energy System is a fourth-generation nuclear energy system that can operate at various power levels from 10 to 45 MWt and delivers safe, clean, and cost-effective electricity and process heat to users anywhere.

The MMR is being licensed in Canada and the U.S. and will be the first commercially available “nuclear battery.” MMR deployments are moving forward, including the projects at Chalk River, which is on target for first power in 2028, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, targeted for first power the same year.

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OPG Inks Deals for SMR Fuels

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) announced it is partnering with companies from Canada, the U.S., and France to ensure a fuel supply for the first unit of its four-unit Darlington New Nuclear Project. The arrangements signal a strengthening nuclear fuel supply chain and the self-sufficiency of western nations leading the development of nuclear generation to decarbonize their economies.

The four contracts will involve:

• Canadian company, Cameco, which has uranium mines in Saskatchewan and a Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6) conversion facility in Port Hope, will supply natural UF6.
• US-based, Urenco USA (UUSA) will provide uranium enrichment services from their operations in Eunice, New Mexico.
• France’s Orano will provide additional Enriched Uranium Product (EUP) from their operations in France.
• US-based, Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas LLC, a GE-led joint venture, will provide fuel fabrication and related technical services and fuel assemblies.

OPG is building North America’s first fleet of SMRs at its Darlington New Nuclear site. The first SMR, a BWRX-300, based on a light water design,  will be completed by the end of 2028, and online by the end of 2029.

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DOE Issues RFP for HALEU Fuel via Deconversion

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for deconversion services to help establish a reliable domestic supply of fuels for advanced reactors using high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The fuel once fabricated for specific advanced reactors is enriched to between 5% and 19% U235.

DOE plans to award one or more contracts to deconvert HALEU as uranium hexafluoride gas to various chemical forms, such as metal or oxide, used to fabricate fuels required by many advanced reactor developers. The deconverted material will be stored until there is a need to ship it to a fuel fabricator or other end user.

All deconversion contracts will last for up to 10 years, and the base awards guarantee a minimum of $2 million to each recipient. Deconversion and storage services must occur in the continental United States and activities must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. Proposals are due by 5:00 p.m. MST on January 30, 2024.

DOE plans to issue a second RFP later this year, which focuses on acquiring, storing, and transporting enriched uranium hexafluoride gas to the deconverters.

“Deconversion services are a key link in developing an advanced reactor fuel supply chain here in the United States,” said Dr. Kathryn Huff, Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy.

“We need these services urgently to enable advanced reactor deployments in support of our clean energy future.”

DOE projects that more than 40 metric tons of HALEU could be needed before the end of the decade, with additional amounts required each year, to deploy a new fleet of advanced reactors in time to supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.

The Energy Act of 2020 authorizes DOE to establish and carry out a program to support the availability of HALEU for civilian domestic research, development, demonstration, and commercial use.

More information on the HALEU Availability Program can be found at HALEU Availability Program

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No US Equity Investments for Poland’s Reactor Program

• US Firms Dismiss Call to Buy Into Polish Nuclear Plant Project

The Bloomberg wire service reports that Westinghouse Electric Co. and Bechtel Group Inc., which are set to build three 1150 MW AP1000 nuclear reactors in the country by next decade have declined to offer equity investments to help fund the project. The decision is see as a setback for Poland’s ambitious plans to close coal-fired power plants by replacing them with commercial nuclear reactors.

Poland has a history of making big plans for nuclear energy, but neither having the funds itself nor being able to attract foreign direct investment in the project. The instability of the government in the post cold war era has been one of the factors making potential investors wary of making the long term financial commitments needed for success of the projects.

The two US firms are reported by Bloomberg to be “skeptical” of buying into a joint venture with the Polish government. Grzegorz Onichimowski, the government’s energy chief, pushed earlier earlier this month the proposition that the US partners should take a capital stake to help reduce the risks of the investment seen costing at least $20 billion.

Earlier government statements alluded to the two firms helping secure  debt financing from the Export-Import Bank of the US. The bank has not made any such commitments to the Polish nuclear program.

According to Bloomberg, Miroslaw Kowalik, head of the Westinghouse unit in Poland, said the firm,as a technology supplier, is not a capital investor in the projects.

“In principle, we don’t make money on being an investor or operator in such projects. It’s not our scope of business.”

Kowalik’s doubts were echoed by Leszek Holda, Bechtel’s country manager.

“When it comes to mitigating risks, Poland has two most experienced players on this market,” he said. “As contractors, we’re not the right partners to invest in equity.”

Poland is building the nuclear plant to help it replace aging coal-fired power plants, which currently generate about 70% of the country’s electricity. The incoming administration seeks to speed up the coal-exit process, betting on renewable energy sources and nuclear power to help it cut emissions.

In April 2023 the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) signed a letter of interest issued to ORLEN Synthos Green Energy (OSGE) for up to $3 billion in financing for a potential project in Poland to deploy BWRX-300 small modular nuclear reactors designed by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. This action is unrelated to Poland’s plans to build three Westinghouse AP1000s.

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EDF Plans Accelerated New Build of Reactors in 2030s

Reuters reports that Luc Remont, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDF, said the French nuclear operator EDF aims to build at least one large reactor a year during the 2030s.

The company is working on the construction of six new EPR2 reactors in France, two new EPRs in Britain at the Sizewell site, as well as projects in India, the Czech Republic and Poland. His statement was designed to boost confidence in the state-owned enterprise’s capabilities which some have questioned as being over-committed.

Remont pushed back on this concern saying, “We are counting on an accelerated rate of construction capacity for large reactors to (build on) what we have today, that is to say one or two per decade, (…) and gradually increase to one or even 1.5 per year.”

Remont said EDF aims to build a series of reactors and “standardization on a large scale” after the decades’ long delays at the Flamanville site and would focus on Europe first.

Asked by Reuters about EDF’s export plans for the newly designed EPRs, he issued a note of caution. He told the wire service, “EDF had “neither the vocation (…), nor the means to be an investor everywhere. There are countries in which we will simply be developers – in part – and suppliers of technologies, or simply suppliers of technologies.”

He declined to issue a timetable for EDF’s long delayed new build for India of six EPRs at Jaitapur. While NPCIL has accepted the technical proposal, the project has been hung up on the huge cost of six 1650 MW PWRs. While this negotiation is stalled, NPCIL is going ahead with the construction of 10 700 MW PHWRs of Indian design and with a 100% Indian supply chain.

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France Selects Six SMR Start-Ups for Construction Funding

(Wire services) France’s Ministry of Energy Transition, Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher has announced the names of six Frenchstart-up firms to receive government funds for construction of SMRs. Five of the projects are fission reactors and one is a fusion project.

These six start-ups will receive a total of €77.2 million in funding, plus another €18.9 million in technical support from the CEA research institute.

The call launched in March 2022 by this French initiative for projects involving “innovative nuclear reactors” worth €500 million yielded some 15 applications. In June 2023, the first two winners, Naarea and Newcleo, who shared a €25 million grant, were previously announced.

Names of Start-Ups

Jimmy, a CEA startup, has received a €32 million grant to industrialize its generator, the first unit of which will be put into service in 2026 at an industrial site in France. Jimmy designs thermal generators that produce low-carbon heat that is cheaper than fossil fuel heat. In March 2024, it will be announced where and for whom Jimmy’s first project will be launched.

The five other winners include three CEA start-ups:

• Blue Capsule, with its project for a high-temperature sodium coolant reactor (sodium fast reactor);
• Otrera Nuclear Energy and Hexana, with two projects for sodium coolant fast neutron reactors; and
• Calogena, a subsidiary of Groupe Gorgé, with a project for a 30-MW low-pressure water nuclear boiler for district heating, funded to the tune of 5.2 million euros.

The sixth project is not a fission reactor but a fusion reactor: Renaissance Fusion. The start-up aims to develop a modular stellarator-type reactor with an electrical capacity of 1GW. However, the project is still at a very early stage.

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