Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Your rad waste reporter is headed off to Maryland’s eastern shore this weekend, but before that, here are some other stories RadWaste Monitor was tracking from across the civilian nuclear power space this week.
NRC licenses Vogtle operations, fuel loading
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week said it cleared one of the nation’s two new nuclear power reactors to begin operations.
Georgia’s Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant’s Unit 3 reactor can now load fuel and start running, NRC said in a Wednesday press release. Vogtle Unit 3 is the first reactor construction project to become operational under the commission’s Part 52 licensing regulations, established in 2016, the agency said.
“Before authorization, we independently verified that Vogtle Unit 3 has been properly built and will protect public health and safety when it transitions to operation,” Andrea Veil, director of NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation said in a statement. “Our resident inspectors at Vogtle will keep a close eye on Unit 3 as the fuel load and startup testing move forward.”
The Waynesboro, Ga., Vogtle plant, operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Company, is the only reactor construction site in the country — the utility is in the process of adding two new units to the two-reactor facility. Vogtle Unit 4 is still under construction.
ANS says ‘no’ to Russian missiles at occupied Zaporizhzhia plant
A prominent U.S. nuclear industry professional organization spoke out this week against reports that the Russian military has staged missiles at an occupied nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
The American Nuclear Society (ANS) in a Wednesday statement urged Moscow to stop using the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as a staging ground for missile strikes, saying in a press release that it “opposes the misuse of nuclear power plants as shields for military operations.”
“Russia’s behavior at the Zaporizhzhia facility violates international humanitarian law, which prohibits both attacks on nuclear power plants and the use of human shields to avoid enemy attacks or reprisals,” ANS said.
The organization also said it was concerned about “alarming reports of alleged human rights abuses” on plant workers by occupying Russian forces.
In the months since Russian forces invaded Ukraine, several of the country’s nuclear facilities have come under threat. Moscow on Feb. 24 seized the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and captured on March 3 the country’s six-reactor Zaporizhzhia plant. Russian forces have since evacuated the Chernobyl plant amid reports that some soldiers were exposed to radiation.
Germany considering extending nuclear fleet lifespan
German chancellor Olaf Scholz said this week that the country could keep its remaining nuclear power plants online despite plans to shutter them later this year, German media reported.
While touring a gas turbine plant Wednesday, the German chancellor said that it “can make sense” to extend the lives of the country’s three remaining nuclear power stations, according to state-funded news agency Deutsche Welle. A possible about-face from Berlin would come as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine squeezes the country’s supply of natural gas imports, which it gets largely from Russia.
Despite that, nuclear power would only account for only a small amount of Germany’s total electricity production, Scholz said.
Berlin announced in 2011 its intention to phase out nuclear power by closing its six operating plants. Just three of those — the Emsland, Isar and Neckarwestheim facilities — are still running.
TVA, GE Hitachi to cooperate on advanced nuclear at Clinch River site
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and nuclear technology company GE-Hitachi announced this week that they signed an agreement to build an advanced reactor at the utility’s nuclear test bed site, according to a press release.
Under the agreement, GE-Hitachi would “support TVA’s planning and preliminary licensing” to potentially deploy one of its BWRX-300 small modular reactors (SMRs) at the utility’s Clinch River Site near Oak Ridge, Tenn., TVA said in a press release Tuesday. GE-Hitachi would continue to support the utility as it analyzes the prospect of rolling out more SMRs in the Tennessee Valley region, the release said.
Tuesday’s announcement comes after TVA in April announced a partnership with Canadian utility Ontario Power Generation to explore the deployment of SMRs in both the U.S. and Canada, the utility said. “Such collaborations could help reduce the financial risk that comes from development of innovative technology, as well as future deployment costs,” TVA said.
The BWRX-300 design is currently undergoing a pre-application licensing review at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which started in 2019. NRC has not published a timeline for when that review would be completed.
