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UK Public Accounts Committee Assesses Financial Risks of Sizewell C Project

Recently, the UK Public Accounts Committee (PAC) published a report warning that the government's planned Sizewell C nuclear reactor project in Suffolk is a bad deal for taxpayers and consumers, with total construction costs potentially soaring to between £40.5 billion and £47.7 billion, exposing the public to extremely high risk of cost overruns. It is understood that under the currently approved financing structure, the UK government holds a 44.9% stake, Électricité de France (EDF) holds 12.5%, and the remaining shares are held by private investors including Centrica (15%), La Caisse (20%) and Amber Infrastructure (7.6%).

2026-10-28

U.S. NRC Issues New Rule Allowing Use of Demonstration Data to Accelerate Commercial Licensing

Recently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) finalized a major new regulatory rule that explicitly allows applicants for commercial nuclear reactors to cite analyses, test data, and operating experience from reactor demonstration projects previously authorized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) or the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) as technical support basis for commercial licensing applications. It is reported that the rule implements Executive Order 14300 and amends relevant provisions of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50 (adding new Section 50.43(f)) and Part 53....

2026-10-27

First Small Modular Reactor in Uzbekistan Scheduled to Complete Base Slab Concrete Pouring by End of 2026

Recently, Rosatom announced that the concrete pouring of the foundation base slab for the first 55 MW small modular reactor (SMR) building of the Jizzakh nuclear power project in Uzbekistan is progressing steadily and is expected to be fully completed by the end of 2026. It is reported that 25 large construction machinery and equipment have been deployed at the project site, concentrating efforts on the continuous pouring of the reactor building foundation base slab. As Uzbekistan's first nuclear power plant, the project adopts Rosatom's land-based small modular reactor design developed based on RITM-200N technology, marking a solid step forward for Uzbekistan in advancing its national energy transition and...

2026-10-27

UK-Canada-Poland Tripartite Plan to Deploy 14 Small Reactors in the UK

Recently, SGE SMR UK, the UK subsidiary of SGE, a nuclear developer under Polish industrial giant MS Galleon Group, and Origin Nuclear, a subsidiary of Canada's Ontario Power Generation (OPG), formally signed a letter of intent announcing the establishment of a joint venture to jointly build and operate a nuclear fleet of 14 small modular reactors (SMRs) in the UK, with a total installed capacity of 4.2 gigawatts (GW). It is reported that the project will fully adopt GE Vernova Hitachi (GVH)'s BWRX-300 reactor technology. SGE's UK deployment plan covers three multi-unit sites, with the first selected...

2026-10-27

Final Environmental Impact Statement Issued for U.S. Laser Enrichment Facility

Recently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) officially released the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Paducah Laser Enrichment Facility (PLEF) of Global Laser Enrichment (GLE), recommending the formal issuance of a construction and operating license for the proposed plant. It is understood that the facility, located in Kentucky, will use the proprietary SILEX laser uranium enrichment technology of Silex Systems Ltd. to re-enrich depleted uranium tailings from previous gaseous diffusion enrichment plant operations of the U.S. Department of Energy. The project will not only produce conventional low...

2026-10-27

Holtec Successfully Recovers Tilted Fuel Assembly at Palisades Nuclear Power Plant

Recently, the engineering team of Holtec International has successfully used a specially manufactured device—conceived, designed, and delivered in just two weeks—to safely retrieve and recover a previously tilted fuel assembly from the Reactor Pressure Vessel at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan. It is reported that the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, a single-unit Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) retired in 2022, officially commenced fuel loading operations in late August this year. However, on September 21, due to a fuel assembly...

2026-10-27

Liangjing Technology Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Financing to Advance High-Temperature Superconducting Tapes

Recently, Shanghai Liangjing Wanwei Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Liangjing Technology), a Chinese high-temperature superconducting materials industrialization enterprise, announced the consecutive completion of angel round, angel+ round, and Pre-A round financing totaling hundreds of millions of yuan. This round of financing was jointly led by Shenzhen Capital Group and China Reform Fund, with participation from China Nuclear Fund, CRRC Transformation and Upgrading Fund, Zijin Mining, and several other industrial and state-owned funds. The funds will be used for capacity expansion, research platform construction, and full-chain self-development of core equipment. It is reported that Liangjing Technology was established in May 2025, with core technology originating from the team of Professor Li Yijie at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The company adopts an independent pulsed laser deposition (PLD) route, having achieved breakthroughs in superconducting target self-manufacturing...

2026-10-26

Vesta Engineering Deploys Industrial Television System for Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant

Recently, engineering equipment supplier Vesta Engineering is integrating the latest industrial television system into the infrastructure of Units 1 and 2 of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant under construction in Turkey. The system complies with high safety class 3 and 4 standards, and is designed to provide comprehensive continuous monitoring of nuclear power plant processes, delivering real-time information support and emergency response assurance for operating personnel. It is reported that the industrial television system consists of plant-wide and unit-level process video monitoring subsystems, as well as a dedicated video recording subsystem for operating personnel behavior (VDOP). The hardware architecture integrates power supply and digital trans...

2026-10-26

World's Largest Stellarator W7-X Launches New Experimental Campaign to Pursue Long Pulses

Recently, Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), the world's largest and most complex stellarator fusion device operated by the Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Germany, has officially launched its latest OP2.4 experimental campaign. This three-month experiment has attracted over one hundred top scientists from approximately 20 laboratories across Europe and around the world, jointly advancing stellarator technology toward longer pulses and higher performance. It is understood that the OP2.4 experiment will focus on three key research areas: high-performance plasmas, fast ions and turbulent transport, and long-pulse operation. Sci...

2026-10-26

National Energy Administration Convenes Mobilization and Launch Meeting for a New Round of Nuclear Power Industry Safety and Quality Improvement Action

The National Energy Administration recently convened a mobilization and deployment meeting in Beijing for a new round of the National Nuclear Power Industry Safety and Quality Improvement Action. The meeting systematically summarized the practical achievements of the previous round of the special action, conducted in-depth analysis of the new situation in safety and quality control facing China's nuclear power industry during its current stage of large-scale expansion, and carried out comprehensive mobilization and task deployment for the new round of comprehensive improvement action. Wang Hongzhi, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the National Energy Administration, attended and delivered a work speech, and Deputy Director He Yang presided over the meeting. The meeting explicitly stated that nuclear power plays an irreplaceable role in safeguarding national strategic energy security and driving the green and low-carbon energy transition. Since the Qinshan and Daya Bay nuclear power projects...

2026-10-25

Hefei Energy Research Institute Achieves Progress in Research on Compatibility Between Fusion Materials and Liquid Metals, Providing a Basis for Cladding and First Wall Material Selection

The research team at the Neutron Technology Application Research Center of the Institute of Energy, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, has recently made important progress in research on material compatibility and performance evolution mechanisms under liquid metal environments in nuclear fusion reactors. The team conducted in-depth research on the long-term corrosion characteristics of austenitic heat-resistant stainless steel and iron-nickel-based heat-resistant alloys in high-temperature static liquid lead-lithium, as well as the contact damage mechanisms between tungsten fiber-reinforced tungsten matrix composites and liquid lithium. The related results were not only published in top academic journals in the field of nuclear materials, but also presented at the 9th International Symposium on Liquid Metal Applications in Fusion. Liquid lithium and lead-lithium eutectic alloys, due to their...

2026-10-25

Hainan Nuclear Power, CNNC Jianzhong, and CNNC Precision Sign Special Cooperation Agreement to Jointly Tackle the Full Process of Core Components for Nuclear Fuel Assemblies

To implement the relevant special deployments of CNNC and strengthen the independent controllability of the nuclear fuel industry chain and supply chain, Hainan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd., CNNC Jianzhong Nuclear Fuel Element Co., Ltd., and CNNC (Yibin) Precision Manufacturing Co., Ltd. officially signed a special cooperation agreement on nuclear fuel assembly grid strips and springs on October 22 in Yibin, Sichuan. This move marks substantive progress by CNNC in advancing the coordinated strengthening and consolidation of the two major sectors of the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear power generation. Grid strips and springs are the core supporting and positioning structural components of nuclear reactor fuel assemblies, and their manufacturing precision and mechanical durability directly determine the operational stability of fuel elements under extreme in-core neutron irradiation and strong scouring...

2026-10-25

CNNC Hosts the 6th Radiopharmaceutical and Radionuclide Production Worker Vocational Skills Competition, Leveraging Shared Laboratories to Deepen Skilled Talent Cultivation

The 2026 6th CNNC Radiopharmaceutical and Radionuclide Production Worker Vocational Skills Competition, themed "Forging Craftsmanship with Nuclear Power, Winning the Future with Skills," was successfully held from October 20 to 24 at the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The competition was hosted by CNNC and organized by China Isotope & Radiation Corporation, and is a key practical measure for CNNC and the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Center to deepen strategic coordination and advance the construction of shared laboratories. The two sides closely focused on research directions including radiation environmental monitoring, nuclide analysis, and precise sample testing, promoting the co-construction and sharing of instruments and equipment, reference materials, methodology systems, and data platforms. A total of 16 units and 3...

2026-10-25

Installation of key components of the core catcher for Unit 4 of Leningrad NPP Phase II completed

The under-construction Unit 4 of Leningrad NPP Phase II has recently reached a key engineering milestone: the engineering team of the general contractor TITAN-2 successfully positioned and secured the maintenance platform and cantilever truss of the core catcher (the core passive safety system molten core retention device) precisely in the reactor shaft. The two large components weigh 78 tonnes and 148 tonnes respectively. Following the installation of the first batch of components (the catcher vessel and internal filler materials) in the summer of this year, another breakthrough has been achieved in the assembly of large structures for this core safety facility. As the core barrier of the defense-in-depth system of the Generation III+ pressurized water reactor (VVER-1200), the core catcher is mainly used under severe accident conditions...

2026-10-25

Uzbekistan and Russia Discuss Establishing a Nuclear Power Plant Construction Joint Venture and Localized Production of Multiple Core Supporting Materials

At a dedicated industry matchmaking seminar held in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, representatives of the Uzbekistan Atomic Energy Development Agency and Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, along with experts from leading industrial enterprises of both Uzbekistan and Russia, gathered to conduct in-depth consultations on establishing a joint venture in Uzbekistan to advance the comprehensive national nuclear power plant development project. The meeting focused on expanding the participation share of Uzbekistan's domestic industrial enterprises throughout the entire nuclear power plant construction process and deepening bilateral industrial chain and engineering collaboration. Participants discussed introducing advanced engineering technologies into modern nuclear power plant construction systems, optimizing construction methods, and establishing in Uzbekistan key engineering materials and...

2026-10-25