CNNC Technology Delivers Nearly 1,000 Ultra-Low-Temperature Ball Valves, Achieving Breakthrough in New Processes

Recently, the Ball and Butterfly Valve Factory under CNNC Sufa Technology Industry Co., Ltd. successfully completed the delivery of an order for nearly 1,000 cast steel ultra-low-temperature metal-seated ball valves. The products for this project are required to meet the stringent ultra-low-temperature operating conditions of -196°C and are characterized by a large batch size, a tight schedule, and the adoption of entirely new processes. It is understood that this project involved 33 sets of entirely new designs. The technical team completed the pre-investment of blanks and product design in advance, and through tiered special technical briefings, clarified the quality standards for casting, machining, assembly, and inspection positions, ensuring that the products succeeded in pump installation testing on the first attempt and laying a solid foundation for subsequent mass production. Facing extremely high requirements for assembly and pressure testing precision, the factory established a special task force and coordinated continuous efforts across multiple departments including testing, production, procurement, and sales. The team closely monitored key processes throughout the entire process, including blank microstructure, non-destructive testing, and pump installation pressure testing, cleared production bottlenecks, and strictly controlled quality. Ultimately, the products successfully passed acceptance under both ambient and ultra-low-temperature operating conditions.

2026-10-20

US Oak Ridge National Laboratory Develops 3D-Printed Composite Molds, Significantly Shortening Construction Cycles for Advanced Nuclear Power Plants

According to reports, the US Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and its partners have successfully developed new 3D-printed composite molds that can shorten the production cycle of specialized concrete formwork for nuclear facilities from approximately six months to about two weeks. The project, titled Advanced Composite Formwork for Accelerated High-Precision Nuclear Infrastructure Construction, was awarded the 2026 CAMX Combined Strength Award for its breakthroughs in additive manufacturing and advanced materials. It is understood that the technology has been fully...

2026-10-16

China-led NEA Severe Accident International Benchmark Approved

Recently, at the 29th meeting of the Working Group on Accident Analysis and Management (WGAMA) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the Severe Accident International Benchmark (ISP—54), carefully organized and coordinated by the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and jointly proposed by China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd., was officially approved. The project brings together top institutions from China, Sweden, Germany, Canada and other countries, integrates core resources in the field of in-vessel melt pool research, and is the world's first international benchmark focusing on in-vessel melt pool research for severe reactor accidents. Since taking the lead in launching international promotion in 2024, the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center has maintained close interaction with domestic units and actively communicated and coordinated with the NEA, providing solid support for the project's smooth approval...

2026-10-14

MIPT and U.S. Partners Develop Precise Method for Calculating Nuclear Power Plant Seismic Resistance

Recently, the Science Communication Center of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) reported that Russian and American researchers have jointly developed a method capable of precisely calculating the seismic resistance of nuclear power plants, taking into account the heterogeneous structure of reinforced concrete, including the presence of individual rebar within walls and domes. The new method helps improve nuclear power plant safety by accounting for differences in how different types of seismic waves act on reinforced concrete. Alena Favorskaya, a lead researcher at MIPT, stated that the study explicitly identifies metal rebar as heterogeneities in the computational domain rather than averaging them; the grid-characteristic method (gr...

2026-10-13

Harbin Electric Power Equipment Company Nuclear Power MES System Has Been Fully Switched into Operation

Recently, the nuclear power MES system of Harbin Electric Power Equipment Company has been fully switched into operation, achieving that work plan maintenance, tracking, and all other operations are based on MES. This is a key achievement of the company's independent research and development of information systems realizing a zero breakthrough. The full name of the nuclear power MES system is Nuclear Power Manufacturing Execution System. It is the smart brain or neural center in the nuclear power production workshop, specifically responsible for accurately and transparently implementing upper-level production plans into the actions of each process in the workshop. The full switch of the nuclear power MES system is an important measure for building a world-class nuclear main pump research and development base. Harbin Electric Power Equipment Company conducted an in-depth analysis of pain points such as insufficient cross-link plan coordination, constraints from material completeness, and weak refined process control...

2026-10-10

ITER Tokamak Plasma Instability Simulation Tool JOREK Released as Open Source

JOREK, a key simulation software used for simulating large-scale plasma instabilities in nuclear fusion devices, was officially released as open source on October 8, 2026, and its code has been hosted under the official GitHub account of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Organization. This move aims to promote global nuclear fusion research toward a more open and innovative ecosystem, greatly lowering the threshold for researchers in various countries to obtain, use, and further develop this core algorithm code. Nina Schwarz, a researcher at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), pointed out that this open license allows researchers worldwide to contribute code to JOREK and publicly improve the algorithm. A clear open-source license...

2026-10-10

Final Design Review Completed for ITER Neutron Flux Monitor System #7

Recently, the Final Design Review (FDR-2) for the ITER Neutron Flux Monitor System #7 (NFM#7), led by the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP), was successfully held, and the system design scheme was fully affirmed by the review expert panel. The successful passage of this review marks an important milestone achievement in China's development of key ITER diagnostic systems, laying a solid foundation for subsequent system manufacturing and overall delivery. At the review meeting, the project team comprehensively reported the overall and component-level design schemes of the NFM#7 system, and responded item by item to the inquiries raised by ITER international review experts. The expert panel unanimously agreed that the final design of the NFM#7 system...

2026-10-09

Deployable Energy 1MW Microreactor UNB Achieves Initial Criticality: Scheduled to Enter INL DOME Test Bed in 2027 for Full-Power Testing

Houston-based nuclear energy startup Deployable Energy recently announced that its independently developed Microreactor, the Unity Nuclear Battery (UNB), has successfully completed its Initial Criticality Test. According to the established deployment plan, the system will officially arrive at the Demonstration and Operation of Microreactor Experiments (DOME), the dedicated microreactor test bed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), in 2027 to conduct full-power comprehensive performance testing. Although branded as a Nuclear...

2026-10-02

All Four ITER Test Blanket Module (TBM) Conceptual Designs Pass Preliminary Design Review

Recently, the ITER Organization officially completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of four Test Blanket Module (TBM) conceptual designs. The four blanket system technical designs led by China, the EU, Japan, and Korea — core ITER member parties — all passed independent review to high standards, marking that "tritium breeding and energy extraction validation," one of ITER's three major engineering goals, has fully entered the final engineering implementation phase, providing critical engineering pathway support for the next-generation fusion demonstration reactor (DEMO) to achieve commercial tritium self-sufficiency. In the blueprint for magnetic confinement fusion power generation, deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reactions...

2026-09-30

Argonne National Laboratory Achieves Latest Research Progress in Advanced Reactor Passive Safety, Revealing Flow Characteristics of Reactor Cavity Cooling System Using NSTF Facility

A research team at Argonne National Laboratory, under the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), has achieved the latest research progress on passive shutdown decay heat removal mechanisms for next-generation advanced nuclear reactors. Under unplanned reactor shutdown or sudden emergency accident conditions, nuclear fuel continues to release decay heat. Ensuring continuous and reliable heat removal under complete power loss and without manual intervention is a core issue in the inherent safety design of Generation IV advanced reactors. The Argonne research team recently focused on the transient thermal-hydraulic response characteristics of key passive heat removal systems under realistic dynamic decay heat curves. This...

2026-09-30

Shanghai Electric Delivers the First Domestic Steam Generator Water Chamber Head Forging for the "Guohe One"

On September 28, the first domestic water chamber head forging for the Guohe One steam generator, manufactured by Shanghai Electric, completed acceptance and was officially shipped at Shanghai Electric Shangzhong Casting and Forging Co., Ltd. The water chamber head is a key pressure-bearing core component of the Guohe One steam generator, with a single-piece net weight of 90 tons. It features a complex structure with ultra-large dimensions, ultra-thick cross-sections, and irregular multi-nozzle geometry, making it the world's largest nuclear power irregular complex-structure large forging, with manufacturing difficulty far exceeding that of similar products for existing domestic nuclear power reactor types. Facing this world-class extreme manufacturing challenge, Shanghai Electric concentrated its efforts to successively break through 500-ton-class ultra-pure low-segregation large steel ingot manufacturing, integrated forging forming technology for multi-nozzle spherical heads,...

2026-09-29

The Fully Superconducting Tokamak EAST Marks 20 Years of Operation: From a 3-Second First Cry to Thousand-Second Steady State, China's "Artificial Sun" Opens a Leap Toward Fusion Engineering

On September 28, 2006, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), independently designed and developed by the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) under the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, successfully achieved its first plasma discharge on Hefei Science Island, with a current of 200 kA and a duration of nearly 3 seconds. This historic moment marked the official completion and operation of the world's first fully superconducting non-circular cross-section nuclear fusion experimental device, propelling China into the club of fully superconducting tokamak technology ahead of others. Over the past two decades, this artificial sun has completed more than 160,000 physical discharge experiments...

2026-09-28

Fudan University Approved for China's First "Fusion Science and Engineering" Interdisciplinary First-Level Doctoral Degree Program

Recently, Fudan University's "Fusion Science and Engineering" interdisciplinary first-level doctoral degree program was officially approved, making the university the first higher education institution in China to establish such an interdisciplinary first-level doctoral degree program. The degree program is led by the Institute of Modern Physics (Department of Nuclear Science and Technology), and will officially begin doctoral student admissions in 2026. Currently, global fusion R&D is transitioning from the stage of scientific exploration to the critical period of engineering verification and commercialization. China's "15th Five-Year Plan" recommendations list fusion energy as a new economic growth point for future industries. Accelerating the cultivation of high-level fusion talent has become an urgent task for safeguarding national energy security and seizing the high ground of future science and technology industries. Fudan University...

2026-09-28

World's First Compact Fusion Energy Experimental Device BEST TF Coil Cases Delivered in Batch

On September 27, the completion and shipment ceremony for the batch components of the toroidal field (TF) coil cases of the world's first compact fusion energy experimental device—the Burning Experimental Fusion Test (BEST)—was held at the Deyang, Sichuan base of China National Machinery Industry Heavy Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (Sinomach Heavy Equipment). With this, all 8 BEST TF coil case batch components undertaken and developed by Sinomach Heavy Equipment have been fully manufactured and assembled, and successfully shipped for delivery. Song Yuntao, Party Secretary and Director of the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Han Xiaojun, Party Secretary and Chairman of Sinomach Heavy Equipment, delivered speeches at the ceremony respectively. Liu Zhihong, Deputy Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the Institute of Plasma Physics and Deputy General Manager of Fusion New Energy (Anhui) Co., Ltd...

2026-09-28

China Institute of Atomic Energy Holds 2026 Science and Technology Innovation Conference, Releases Three Independently Developed Scientific and Technological Achievements: Industrial Software, Radiation-Resistant Robot, and Monitoring Watch

On September 23, China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) officially convened the 2026 Science and Technology Innovation Conference, systematically planning and coordinating key tasks for nuclear basic research and original innovation. The conference brought together Sun Changpu, Ye Guoan, Liu Weiping, and Li Jun, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Hu Shilin, Wang Hualin, and Su Guanghui, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; as well as representatives from research and industrial units including CNNC and Aerospace Software. Three independently developed innovative scientific and technological achievements were released on site: the Yundian Product Data Management System N-PDM, the Anluan-R Radiation-Resistant Inspection Robot, and the Antai-W1 Smart Radiation Monitoring Watch...

2026-09-24

The first international severe accident melt pool standard problem led by China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd. has been officially approved

Recently, the annual meeting of the Working Group on Accident Analysis and Management (WGAMA) of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) reviewed and approved the International Standard Problem (ISP) in the field of severe accident research, which was led and submitted by China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd. This approval marks the 54th International Standard Problem since the OECD established the ISP program half a century ago, the first International Standard Problem in the field of in-vessel melt pool research for reactor severe accidents, and the second International Standard Problem led by China. The project entered the international promotion stage in 2024. The project team collaborated with multiple top research...

2026-09-21

NASA Seeks Proposals for Radioisotope Power and Other Technologies for Lunar Missions

On September 8, 2026, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a solicitation seeking proposals for critical technologies and infrastructure for lunar exploration, with near-term focus on supporting the construction of a lunar base in the lunar south pole region. This solicitation is included under Appendix A of the NextSTEP-3 Broad Agency Announcement, the Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator framework, and covers five technology areas: vertical solar arrays, lunar regolith oxygen extraction, radioisotope power, advanced space manufacturing, and innovative nanomaterial production. NASA stated that these capabilities will be used to address the power generation, resource utilization, materials...

2026-09-13

Antares Wins U.S. Air Force Space Nuclear Energy Technology Contract

Antares recently announced that it has received a Strategic Breakthrough Award from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration to advance space nuclear energy technology development. The company said this is currently the largest contract awarded by the U.S. War Department in the field of space nuclear energy. Antares CEO and co-founder Jordan Bramble said that space applications have been a core focus since the company's founding, and that cooperation with the Space Force has turned related concepts into formal space missions. He said nuclear fission technology is expected to provide space missions with strategic capabilities that are currently difficult to achieve. Under the project arrangement, Antares will carry out a ground nuclear power demonstration of the R1-S reactor...

2026-09-13

India's Hylenr Technologies Claims Detection of Rare Earth Element Signatures in Lattice-Confined Fusion System

Indian deep-tech company Hylenr Technologies announced on September 9 that it has observed evidence of element formation in an engineered lattice structure system, including rare earth element signatures. The company stated that this result could provide a technological pathway for nucleosynthesis and strategic materials production that differs from traditional mining. According to the company, the related results stem from Hylenr Technologies' more than 10 years of fusion technology research centered on lattice-confined fusion. Part of the research, titled "Nuclear Signatures in Hydrogen-Loaded Nickel-Palladium Lattice-Confined Systems," was presented earlier this month at the 27th International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science...

2026-09-10

Lightbridge Approved to Conduct Advanced Nuclear Fuel Irradiation Testing at Idaho National Laboratory

On September 9, Lightbridge Corporation (Lightbridge, Nasdaq: LTBR), a developer of advanced nuclear fuel technology, announced that it has completed the signing of Project Task Statement No. 2 (PTS No. 2) under the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), the operating contractor of Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Under this task statement, Lightbridge will gain access to the loop test facility of the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory to conduct irradiation testing of Lightbridge Fuel™ cladded fuel rods. The loop...

2026-09-10

US-based Thea Energy Unveils Helios Stellarator Fusion Power Plant Design

On September 9, 2026, Thea Energy, Inc., a fusion energy company based in Kearny, New Jersey, announced that 16 peer-reviewed papers on its Helios fusion power plant design had been published in a special issue of Fusion Engineering and Design (FED). The special issue, titled "Thea Energy's Helios Stellarator Power Plant Design," presents the Helios architecture and its key engineering solutions. According to Thea Energy, Helios is a stellarator fusion power plant architecture oriented toward commercial deployment requirements, integrating magnet coils that can be controlled by software to adapt to actual operating conditions, a stellarator divertor exhaust system for continuous fusion power generation operations, and a sectorized maintenance scheme supporting long-term operation...

2026-09-10