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CNNC Engineering Wins International ISOP Award for Advanced Instrumentation and Control

On September 17, 2026, during the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the project "Plant-Wide Networked Monitoring and Diagnostic System for Critical Equipment" from the Instrumentation and Control Design Institute of the Nuclear Engineering Institute of CNNC Engineering stood out and successfully won the Third ISOP (International Network on Innovation to Support Operating Nuclear Power Plants) Innovation Award in the Advanced Instrumentation and Control category, becoming the only winning project in the advanced instrumentation and control category. The achievement has been deployed and implemented at Zhangzhou Units 1 and 2 and Hainan Nuclear Power Units 3 and 4, with excellent engineering results. This ISOP Award is the International Atomic Energy Agency...

2026-09-20

South Korea Deeply Integrates 50 Years of Nuclear Power Design Experience with Artificial Intelligence

KEPCO E&C has deeply integrated its 50 years of accumulated technology and data in the nuclear power design field with artificial intelligence (AI), and its digital transformation strategy is being comprehensively accelerated. At the 2026 National Contribution Awards ceremony, KEPCO E&C received the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award in the AI innovation category. This award aims to recognize the company's outstanding achievements in organically combining nuclear power design experience with technical materials and successfully applying them to business innovation and safety management technology R&D in the power generation and energy sectors. Among the most notable achievements is NEXA, an autonomous generative AI platform developed specifically for power plant design. The platform ensures...

2026-09-20

Canada's Pickering Nuclear Power Station in Toronto is about to shut down for refurbishment

Nicole Butcher, CEO of Ontario Power Generation (OPG), announced at the Canada Investment Summit that the four units at Pickering Nuclear Power Station's B plant, namely Units 5 through 8, will be gradually taken out of service and enter a comprehensive refurbishment phase lasting five to seven years. Since these four units began operation in the mid-1980s, they have consistently provided about one-tenth of Ontario's electricity supply. With the shutdown of these units, all eight reactors at Pickering Nuclear Power Station will cease generating electricity. According to OPG's financial plan, the refurbishment project will begin first with Unit 5, which is expected to be reconnected to the grid in 2031, while the entire project is planned to be fully completed by 2034. This pr...

2026-09-20

Russia's Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 begins scheduled comprehensive overhaul, equipment upgrades to be carried out

On September 19, 2026, Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 officially entered a period of scheduled maintenance according to plan. The unit belongs to Rosenergoatom, a branch of the Electric Power Division of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation. The maintenance will involve nuclear fuel replacement, routine inspection and repair of the reactor and turbine generator set, as well as a comprehensive assessment of the technical condition of the metal materials of core equipment. During the maintenance period, technical personnel from the Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant will work closely with experts from Atomenergoremont Company. While carrying out routine maintenance, they will also implement nine upgrade and modification projects on some key nodes and process systems of Unit 2. The entire overhaul process requires...

2026-09-20

ORNL Develops Duct Radiation Monitoring System to Enhance Fuel Cycle Facility Safety and Protection

Recently, a research team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), led by embedded systems hardware and software engineer Brett Witherspoon, successfully developed a new type of radiation monitoring system. The system can continuously assess the accumulation of radioactive materials inside ventilation ducts at facilities that manufacture nuclear fuel or process nuclear waste. The system can be powered by battery or Ethernet, with a core cylindrical device approximately 12 inches tall. The device is installed inside the duct, and ORNL states that it can provide unprecedented monitoring frequency and accuracy at a lower cost than existing detection systems, thereby effectively protecting people...

2026-09-18

X-energy and Centrica Partner to Launch the UK's First Xe-100 Advanced Modular Nuclear Power Plant Project

The UK government has approved the regulatory assessment phase for advanced reactors, marking an important step forward for the construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants. X-energy and Centrica are collaborating to build a new generation of nuclear power plants in the UK using the Xe-100 advanced modular reactor, with the first project sited at Hartlepool. This collaboration is of great significance, marking substantial progress on the UK's nuclear energy development path and laying the foundation for broader nuclear power plant construction in the future. Alistair Black, Vice President and UK Market Lead at X-energy, emphasized that since signing the cooperation agreement with Centrica, both parties have been working together on the first project at Hartlepool...

2026-09-18

Planning permission granted for tunnel component production facility for Sizewell C nuclear power station in the UK

The Sizewell C nuclear power station project in the UK has successfully obtained planning permission to build a dedicated tunnel component production facility at Avonmouth in Bristol. The factory will be responsible for producing 38,000 precast concrete segments as well as tunnel head pieces for the three subsea tunnels of Sizewell C. All finished components will be transported by rail and water to the Sizewell C construction site in Suffolk, which directly supports the project's environmental commitment that at least 60% of construction materials will be transported by rail and sea. Subject to the relevant preconditions being met, the facility is expected to officially begin production in 2028....

2026-09-18

North China Regional Office Formulates Risk Grading List and Implements Differentiated and Targeted Supervision

The North China Regional Office of Nuclear and Radiation Safety Supervision of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment is committed to enhancing the level of nuclear safety control and has innovatively built a risk-informed supervision system. Through the implementation of a risk grading list, it promotes differentiated and targeted supervision, thereby advancing safety control and effectively improving supervision efficiency. By comprehensively identifying risk points in the design and manufacturing activities of Class 1E electrical equipment, the North China Regional Office has established the "Class 1E Electrical Equipment Supervision Risk Grading List." This list classifies risk hazards into four levels and establishes a closed-loop supervision mechanism featuring pre-event warning, in-process tracking, and post-event review. This enables supervision intensity to be dynamically adjusted according to risk levels, ensuring...

2026-09-18

Announcement of South Korea's U.S. investment plan delayed due to need to clarify related procedural issues

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Thursday that the announcement of South Korea's U.S. investment plan under the South Korea-U.S. trade agreement has been delayed due to the need to clarify related procedural issues, but he did not disclose further specific details. Cho made the remarks at the airport before departing for the United States, where he is scheduled to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday. According to officials familiar with the matter and media reports, the South Korean government this week postponed the briefing on the investment plan originally scheduled to be submitted to a congressional committee, and tentatively rescheduled it to September 22. South Korean lawmakers said that a dedicated briefing to the National Assembly is a core step before the two countries finalize the details of South Korea's massive investment commitment to the United States...

2026-09-18

Microstructure Imaging's MICSI-PET Software Receives FDA Clearance to Enhance Neurological PET Imaging Using MRI

Microstructure Imaging's software platform has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The platform is designed to enhance neurological positron emission tomography (PET) images using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The software, called MICSI-PET, can denoise and super-resolve PET images using MRI guidance while preserving quantitative PET information. It supports PET exams for amyloid, Tau, and FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose), and can provide automated Centiloid measurements for amyloid imaging and CenTauR measurements for Tau imaging....

2026-09-18

Professor Yan Lixin's Research Group in the Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University Collaborates to Achieve a Beyond-Megawatt Average Power Laser Optical Enhancement Cavity

Recently, the research group of Professor Yan Lixin from the Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University, in collaboration with the team of Professor Fabian Zomer from IJCLab at Université Paris-Saclay, France, published important progress in the field of high-finesse optical enhancement cavities. The research team achieved a four-mirror bow-tie optical cavity with an average laser power exceeding 1 megawatt and its stable operation at the Tsinghua University Accelerator Laboratory, with a maximum intracavity average power of 1.15 MW, while maintaining an excellent Gaussian fundamental mode. This is the first published work internationally on an optical enhancement cavity with an intracavity average laser power reaching the megawatt level, which will lay a solid foundation for important applications such as the development of steady-state microbunching (SSMB) extreme ultraviolet light sources, quantum electrodynamics (QED) vacuum nonlinearity detection, ion beam photoneutralization for magnetic confinement fusion, and the development of future inertial confinement fusion reactors.

2026-09-18

Two UK nuclear companies sign memorandum of understanding to jointly develop nuclear microreactor

Cambridge Vacuum Engineering (CVE) and Cambridge Atomworks have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which the two companies will engage in deep collaboration on a UK-built nuclear microreactor. Cambridge Atomworks is an ambitious and vibrant nuclear engineering startup whose core goal is to build a nuclear microreactor in the UK for off-grid applications. The signing of this memorandum of understanding marks that the two companies will jointly explore how to maximize CVE's deep expertise in electron beam welding, including the company's Ebflow technology, which has been proven to significantly accelerate the production process of key nuclear power components such as reactor vessels...

2026-09-18

UK and Cook Islands Sign International Legal Instruments, Reaffirming Commitment to International Nuclear Cooperation

At the annual treaty signing event held during the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference, the United Kingdom and the Cook Islands each deposited relevant legal instruments, demonstrating their strong commitment to the international legal framework supporting the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi stated that by acceding to such treaties, contracting parties not only assume important national responsibilities but also signal to the international community their dedication to building a solid legal framework to ensure the safe, secure and peaceful uses of nuclear technology. During the event, the United Kingdom deposited the ratification of the Amendment to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage...

2026-09-17

Rwanda Plans to Introduce Nuclear Technology to Boost Agricultural Production and Address Climate Change

Armand Zingiro, Minister of State in Rwanda's Ministry of Infrastructure, stated at the 70th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held in Vienna that the government is exploring the use of nuclear and isotope technologies to improve agricultural productivity, ensure food security, and enhance capacity to address climate change. The conference was held from September 14 to 18, and Zingiro led the Rwandan delegation to attend the meeting. Zingiro pointed out that Rwanda fully recognizes the enormous potential of nuclear and isotope technologies in the fields of agriculture and food security. The application of nuclear technology in agriculture is mainly reflected in improving crop yields, controlling...

2026-09-17

IAEA 2024 Marine Radionuclide Intercomparison Exercise Shows: Credibility of Japan's Monitoring Data Continues to Remain High

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently released the results of the 2024 Interlaboratory Comparison (ILC) on radionuclides in the marine environment. The report shows that relevant Japanese monitoring institutions have demonstrated a high level of professionalism and data reliability in marine radionuclide analysis, and the credibility of the test data they provided continues to remain high. This intercomparison, as an important component of the IAEA's "Ocean Monitoring: Building Trust and Data Quality Assurance" project, constitutes another independent and systematic verification of Japan's Comprehensive Radiation Monitoring Plan (CRMP). This intercomparison exercise covered three main types of marine environmental media: seawater, sediment, and fish. Sampling work was conducted from September to October 2024 in the waters near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and surrounding markets.

2026-09-17