Search Results

Drought Lowers Danube Water Levels, Romania Plans to Restrict Industrial Power Use if Necessary

Romania's Acting Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said after a cabinet meeting on August 6 that the government has developed a comprehensive risk prevention plan covering multiple risk scenarios, including earthquakes, public health events, and the current drought, with corresponding response measures clearly defined. Under the plan, Romania will establish a national operations center in the energy sector. Bolojan stated that the government will approve on August 7 measures by Transelectrica to take action when necessary: with 24 hours' prior notice, certain industrial users may be disconnected from the national grid. He also emphasized that power supply to ordinary citizens, apartments, and residential users will not be...

2026-08-07

X-Energy and Centrus Sign HALEU Supply Agreement, Accelerating U.S. Advanced Nuclear Fuel Supply Chain

X-Energy and Centrus Energy have signed a low-enriched uranium and high-assay low-enriched uranium supply agreement, marking a more concrete commercialization phase in fuel assurance for U.S. advanced nuclear reactors. Under the agreement, Centrus will provide uranium enrichment services at its American Centrifuge Plant in Pike County, Ohio, with the HALEU to be supplied to X-Energy's fuel subsidiary TRISO-X for the production of TRISO-coated particle fuel at its Oak Ridge, Tennessee fuel fabrication facility, serving the Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled small modular reactor. The significance of this agreement lies not only in the supply itself but also in its phased advance payment arrangement. X-Energy will support Centrus through advance payments...

2026-08-07

South Korea to Investigate Seawater Radioactivity Levels Along Maritime Transport Routes for Radioactive Waste

The Korea Atomic Energy Environment Corporation (KAEEC) will conduct an investigation this year into seawater radioactivity levels along the maritime transport routes for radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, in order to assess the radiological environmental impact during the transport of radioactive waste to the Gyeongju low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste disposal facility. According to information released on August 6 by the Korea National Electronic Procurement System, KAEEC recently published a public notice regarding radiation analysis services for seawater samples collected along the maritime transport routes for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. Once the contractor is selected, the investigation is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. Under the arrangement, KAEEC will conduct three maritime transport operations of radioactive waste this year, one each from the Gori, Hanul, and Hanbit nuclear power plants to the Gyeongju disposal facility...

2026-08-07

Self-developed "Dimeng" Engine Powers Trial Operation of Daya Bay Nuclear Power's Real-Scene 3D Twin Platform

Recently, the real-scene 3D twin platform for Daya Bay Nuclear Power, jointly developed by Daya Bay Nuclear Power and Zhike/Simulation Company under CGN Digital Technology, was launched for trial operation. Leveraging the self-developed Dimeng domestic 3D engine from the Simulation Company, the platform integrates multi-source data including 3D models, Gaussian splatting, forward design data, and GIS for the Daya Bay Nuclear Power base. The Dimeng engine is a graphics development tool independently developed by the Simulation Company to address the characteristics of the nuclear power industry, such as dense equipment, complex system interconnections, and scattered data, providing underlying capabilities including model rendering, spatial interaction, physical simulation, and data-driven processing. Building on this foundation, the Simulation Company, in collaboration with Daya Bay Nuclear Power, constructed the real-scene 3D twin platform...

2026-08-07

Unit 2 of Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant Resumes Grid Connection

According to the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 2 of the station was reconnected to the grid on August 4. The plant stated that after completing diagnostic testing of the electrical equipment of Unit 2, the unit was put into operation and reached rated operating parameters. Previously, Unit 2 of the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant was disconnected from the grid at the end of July.

2026-08-07

Basic research cracks an application challenge that has persisted for nearly half a century: quantitative prediction of neutron irradiation swelling via ion irradiation

Whether advanced nuclear energy systems can operate safely over the long term depends on the ability of structural materials to resist neutron irradiation damage. Neutrons create numerous atomic-scale defects in materials, which gradually aggregate into nanoscale cavities, ultimately causing material swelling, dimensional instability, and performance degradation. However, obtaining high-dose neutron irradiation data often requires years or even more than a decade, with high costs and post-irradiation sample radioactivity; in contrast, ion irradiation can simulate years of accumulated damage within days and is therefore widely adopted (approximately 95% of irradiation experimental data in existing literature come from ion irradiation). But the dose rate of ion irradiation is typically 3—4 orders of magnitude higher than that of neutron irradiation, making direct conversion between the two results difficult. Recently, the research team of Wang Chenxu and Wang Yugang from the Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, School of Physics, and the State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Technology at Peking University, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Tennessee and other institutions, established a quantitative relationship between material swelling and irradiation dose and dose rate at fixed temperatures based on cluster dynamics simulations, theoretical derivations, and ion irradiation experiments, achieving prediction of neutron irradiation swelling using rapid ion irradiation and providing a new tool for rapid screening and lifetime evaluation of nuclear materials.

2026-08-07

New Chair Takes Office for ASME BPV III China International Working Group

On August 4, the 2026 First Working Meeting and the Fourth Chairmanship Election Conference of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section III (BPV III) China International Working Group (hereinafter referred to as the "Working Group") were held at Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute (SNERDI). Following a vote by attending committee members, Jiao Ming, Deputy General Manager of the company, was unanimously elected as the new Chair of the Working Group, while Zhou Zhou, Director of the Nuclear Equipment Safety and Reliability Center at China Productivity Center for Machinery, and Jiang Cailin, Vice President of Shanghai Electric Nuclear Power Group, were elected as Vice Chairs. Jiao Ming stated that the Working Group will continue to establish regular communication channels between the domestic industry and ASME, leverage key domestic nuclear power projects, and lead the industry in tackling cutting-edge technologies such as radiography testing of ultra-thick forgings, phased array ultrasonic testing, and additive manufacturing of nuclear equipment...

2026-08-07

Nuclear science helps reduce global food spoilage and waste

On April 10, 2026, the International Atomic Energy Agency introduced several applications of nuclear science in reducing food spoilage and food waste. According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 1 billion tonnes of edible food are wasted globally each year, accounting for about one-fifth of the total food available to consumers. Of this, 13.2% of food is lost before reaching the retail stage, valued at approximately $400 billion; another 19% is wasted at the retail and consumption stages due to spoilage and other reasons. Food loss not only means wasted resource consumption but also exacerbates greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and biodiversity loss. The International Atomic Energy Agency, through the Food and Agriculture Organization...

2026-04-10

FAO and IAEA: Nuclear Technologies Are Enhancing Agricultural Production and Food Security

On March 30, 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency presented multiple applications of nuclear technologies in agriculture and food security. The two organizations have collaborated for over 50 years in knowledge sharing and capacity building, further strengthening their partnership through the establishment of the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture. In the field of animal health, nuclear technologies are used for the detection, control, and prevention of transboundary animal diseases and zoonoses. Belize previously had to send animal disease testing samples to overseas laboratories; with support from the Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, the Belize Agricultural Health Authority established a molecular diagnostic laboratory for animal health and adopted real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing technology. This method can detect animal diseases within 24 hours, helping frontline personnel take rapid prevention and control measures. Recently, the laboratory has also been used to assist in human COVID-19 testing, reflecting the "One Health" concept that animal, human, plant, and environmental health are interconnected.

2021-03-30

China's First Industry Standard for LOCA BEPU Analysis, Led by CGN Research Institute, Officially Released

Recently, approved by the National Energy Administration, the energy industry standard "Technical Requirements for Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty Analysis of Loss of Coolant Accident in Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plants" (NB/T 20751-2026), led by CGN Research Institute, was officially released. The standard was developed under the leadership of the Research Institute, in collaboration with the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China Nuclear Power Research and Design Institute, Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute, Hualong Nuclear Power Technology Co., Ltd., and China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd., among other organizations. It will come into effect on December 26, 2026. This standard is China's first BEPU analysis...

2026-08-06

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

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