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IAEA Publishes Report on Aging Management of Spent Fuel Dry Storage Systems

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has published the findings of a decade-long study on aging management of spent fuel dry storage systems. According to IAEA estimates, by the end of 2024, spent fuel discharged from nuclear power plants worldwide had exceeded 400,000 tonnes of heavy metal (tHM). Of this, 106,000 tHM is in dry storage, a long-term storage method that is becoming increasingly common compared with wet storage. Most IAEA member states are still decades away from commissioning permanent spent fuel repositories, which means dry storage systems will likely need to continue operating safely beyond their design lifetimes. Wet storage has been in operation for decades, and the IAEA states that aging management of such facilities is generally well understood. Utilities choose dry storage for its passive safety features, and many dry storage facilities have already received license extensions. The IAEA expects demand for dry storage to continue growing, with service periods extending well beyond the original 20-to-40-year licensing terms, potentially exceeding 120 years. Aging management programs (AMPs) are therefore needed to verify continued safe operation.

2026-08-06

South China Regional Office of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment Conducts Unannounced Special Inspection on Typhoon and Flood Prevention at Daya Bay Nuclear Power Base

To effectively strengthen the safety production defense line during the flood season, reinforce the primary responsibility of operating entities for typhoon and flood prevention, and prevent and mitigate nuclear safety risks posed by extreme weather such as typhoons and heavy rainfall, the South China Regional Office of Nuclear and Radiation Safety Supervision under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (hereinafter referred to as the South China Regional Office) recently conducted an unannounced special inspection on typhoon and flood prevention at the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Base. After Typhoon Hongxia, some buildings at the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Base experienced issues such as roof leakage and water seepage. This inspection focused on the aforementioned weak links, conducting on-site verification of key critical points including the diesel generator buildings, the open intake channel for the cold source, and the combined pump house one by one. The inspection team went deep into the production frontline, meticulously examining equipment operating conditions,...

2026-08-06

IAEA Director General to Inspect Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant

Preparations are in the final stages for IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi's first inspection of Tokyo Electric Power Company's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, expected to take place on August 18. Grossi has previously stated that there are "no obstacles to a swift restart," signaling a positive attitude toward the plant's reactivation. This inspection suggests that discussions surrounding the restart may accelerate. However, it is worth noting that local residents still harbor concerns, adopting a cautiously optimistic outlook on future developments. This marks Grossi's first visit to the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, making it a significant event. Against the backdrop of growing attention to nuclear safety, the IAEA's...

2026-08-06

South Korea Advances First Domestic Commercial Production of Lu-177 Using Wolsong Heavy Water Reactors

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) plans to use the heavy water reactors at the Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant to produce, for the first time domestically, the radioisotope lutetium-177 (Lu-177) for cancer treatment. Currently, South Korea relies entirely on imports for this material, which imposes cost pressures and supply instability on local radiopharmaceutical companies such as Cellbion and FutureChem. Industry experts generally believe that domestic production will help build a diversified supply chain and shorten transportation times. The primary goal of this plan is to achieve commercial production of Lu-177, with pilot production expected in 2028 and full-scale production commencing in 2031. Subsequently, KHNP will expand production to include cobalt...

2026-08-06

Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Conducts Safety Inspection at Hanul Nuclear Power Plant

Amid the ongoing heatwave, Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission is closely monitoring safety inspections at domestic nuclear power plants. On August 6, Commission Chairman Choi Won-ho visited the Hanul Nuclear Power Plant in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, for an on-site inspection. The primary purpose of this inspection was to verify whether the plant's safety systems can operate properly under continuously rising seawater temperatures. As rising seawater temperature is a factor that directly affects the cooling system, the Hanul plant conducted detailed checks on heat exchanger performance and thermometer conditions. Chairman Choi also held prior discussions via video conference with relevant nuclear agencies on response measures to high temperatures. During the subsequent on-site inspection, he reviewed...

2026-08-06

Yeonggwang Fire Station in South Jeolla Province, South Korea, visited Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant to strengthen the disaster response coordination system.

On August 6, Lee Min-seok, Chief of Yeonggwang Fire Station in South Jeolla Province, led a team of 10 commanders and working-level personnel, including the head of the Prevention Safety Division and the captain of the Field Response Unit, to visit the Hanbit Nuclear Power Plant Headquarters of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a Class A national critical facility, for an on-site inspection and special check aimed at establishing a rapid and effective initial response system in the event of a disaster. The visit placed particular emphasis on the unique characteristics of nuclear power facilities, with the goal of consolidating the coordination system with KHNP's self-defense fire brigade and enhancing the disaster response capabilities of field commanders. At the site, the fire station confirmed the status of major fire protection facilities and firefighting equipment at the nuclear power plant, inspected access routes and fire water supply facilities for fire and disaster situations, toured major power generation facilities, and reviewed disaster response routes. Discussions were also held on the linked response system and cooperation plans with KHNP's self-defense fire brigade.

2026-08-06

Clobot Signs MOU with Korea Atomic Energy Environment Corporation and Others to Demonstrate Multi-Robot System for Safe Radioactive Waste Management

Clobot, a specialized enterprise in intelligent robot services and integrated control of heterogeneous robots, announced on August 6 that it will apply its multi-robot integrated control system to radioactive waste safety management sites. On August 3, the company signed a business agreement at the headquarters of the Korea Atomic Energy Environment Corporation, with partners including T-Robotics, the Gyeongbuk ICT Convergence Industry Promotion Association, and the Korea Atomic Energy Environment Corporation, under the project name "Demonstration Project for Multi-Robot Operation in High-Risk Radioactive Waste Safety Management." The collaboration is based on the selection through the public call for proposals for the "Large-Scale Converged Robot Demonstration Project: Social Problem-Solving Type" hosted by the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement in 2026, with Clobot serving as the lead organization.

2026-08-06

MIT Develops Ultrafast X-ray Thermometry Method to Observe Heat Transfer in Multilayer Chip Structures

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a new method for observing how heat transfers through multilayer materials, which can be used to precisely measure heat flow variations inside electronic devices such as computer chips. The findings have been published in Nature Communications. As computer chips continue to shrink in size and power density keeps rising, device overheating has become a major factor limiting performance improvements. Traditional heat flow measurement methods face limitations when dealing with the multilayer structures of real electronic devices—for example, the commonly used time-domain thermoreflectance method struggles to distinguish heat transport in different material layers, while infrared imaging and other approaches also fail to capture rapid changes at microscopic scales. To address this issue...

2026-08-06

Dark Energy Survey Releases Six-Year Results: Data from 669 Million Galaxies Helps Constrain Cosmic Accelerated Expansion

On August 4, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) project released its six-year findings on dark energy detection. The project compiled 18 related papers, based on nearly 300,000 astronomical images captured between 2013 and 2019, recording information on 669 million galaxies, thousands of galaxy clusters, and more than 3,000 supernovae to study the accelerated expansion of the universe and the evolution of cosmic structure. To carry out DES, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory built an extremely sensitive 570-megapixel digital camera, DECam, which was installed on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the National Science Foundation's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in the Chilean Andes. (Image courtesy of Reidar Hahn/Fermi National Acceler...

2026-08-06

U.S. Laboratories Plan "Materials Discovery Cloud" to Use AI to Predict Impact of Defects in Microelectronic Devices

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Northwestern University are planning to develop a Materials Discovery Cloud platform that leverages a physics-based artificial intelligence framework to predict how tiny defects affect the performance and lifespan of microelectronic devices. Visualization of the Materials Discovery Cloud, a physics-based AI framework that integrates experimental data, simulations, and high-performance computing to predict how tiny defects affect the performance and lifespan of microelectronic devices. (Image provided by ChatGPT.) Microelectronic devices are widely used in smartphones, laptops, secure communications, and artificial intelligence hardware. As device dimensions continue to shrink and operating speeds increase, tiny defects within materials and at interfaces have a more pronounced impact on device stability. These defects can cause overheating, leakage current, switching instability, and other issues, or in certain conditions, improve electrical or thermal performance. Identifying critical defects and understanding their evolution under real-world operating conditions has become a key challenge in the design of next-generation microelectronic materials.

2026-08-06

Final Voyage Completed for Rebar Cage Sea Transport to Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station

This summer, the cargo vessel Anfield Peak departed from the Port of Bristol in the UK, heading to Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station in Somerset. This marked the vessel's final voyage for the related transport mission. Previously, it had made over 100 round trips between the two locations, delivering factory-prefabricated rebar cages to the nuclear construction site. These rebar cages are large in volume and high in density, serving as critical foundational components in civil engineering construction. Under traditional practices, such rebar cages are typically prefabricated on-site before concrete pouring. The Hinkley Point C project, however, has shifted part of the rebar cage prefabrication process to a factory in Bristol, with the cages then transported by sea to the site for installation...

2026-08-06

United States to Host IAEA ATLAS Initiative Ministerial Launch

The United States will host the ministerial launch of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Atoms for Transport Licensing and Applications at Sea (ATLAS) Initiative in Washington, D.C., on August 26-27, 2026. The event will bring together ministers, policymakers, and industry representatives to discuss topics related to the safe and reliable application of nuclear technology in the maritime domain. The ATLAS Initiative aims to establish an international framework to harmonize legal and regulatory issues facing maritime nuclear energy applications and to support the deployment of related civilian nuclear technologies. Building on the IAEA's experience in nuclear safety, nuclear security, and safeguards, the Initiative emphasizes technology neutrality and places safety, security, and non-proliferation requirements as the foundation for advancing maritime nuclear applications...

2026-08-06

Argentina's nuclear power generates 4.45 million kWh in half a year, accounting for over 7% of national electricity and meeting the residential electricity needs of 6 million people

Operating data from Nucleoeléctrica Argentina for the first half of 2026 shows that the Atucha 2 and Embalse nuclear power plants generated a combined 4,450,355 kWh, accounting for over 7% of the country's total electricity generation during the period and covering 13% of national residential electricity demand. Notably, although Atucha 1 is temporarily out of service due to a life extension project, the nuclear plants are still able to supply electricity to approximately 6 million people. In addition to its operational breakthroughs, Nucleoeléctrica Argentina is also actively expanding its international business. The company has formally established a new business unit aimed at...

2026-08-06

Kazakh experts call for enhanced radioecological monitoring in border regions

As Central Asian countries accelerate the development of nuclear energy, Kazakh experts have recently proposed that the radioecological monitoring system in border regions should be improved as soon as possible to provide long-term environmental data support for the construction and operation of regional nuclear power projects. Relevant materials indicate that nuclear energy is becoming an important direction in the energy policies of several Central Asian countries. Kazakhstan has decided to build its own nuclear power plant, while neighboring countries such as Uzbekistan are also advancing or preparing similar projects. Growing electricity demand and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are key factors driving the development of nuclear energy in the region. Experts believe that nuclear power development involves not only the construction of advanced units, but also the simultaneous establishment of an effective ecological and radiation safety assurance system. Modern nuclear power plants...

2026-08-06

Germany Establishes Three Fusion Centers, HZDR Contributes to Advancing Key Technologies for Fusion Power Plants

The German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) recently established three fusion centers under the German High-Tech Agenda (HTAD), aiming to pool the efforts of research institutions and industry to advance technology development for future fusion power plants. The German federal government will provide €125 million in initial funding for the related work, with a focus on laser fusion, magnetic confinement fusion, and cross-cutting areas such as fuel cycle and materials development. The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) will participate in the construction of the relevant centers leveraging its research infrastructure, contributing capabilities in high-power lasers, materials research, simulation and data analysis. The SAXFUSION capability network, jointly coordinated by HZDR and the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (Fraunhofer IWS), will also take on tasks of exchange, cooperation and knowledge transfer.

2026-08-06