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South Korea Officially Approved for 10-Year Life Extension of Kori Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4

Recently, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) officially received approval from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) to extend the operating life of Units 3 and 4 of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant near Busan by 10 years. It is reported that both units are Westinghouse pressurized water reactors with a single-unit power output of 1025 MW, and their original 40-year design lifetimes expired in September 2024 and August 2025, respectively, during which both had been in shutdown status. Under this license, Kori Unit 3 may operate until September 2034, and Unit 4 until August 2035...

2026-10-28

China's Largest Fusion Power Supply System Simulation Platform Begins Trial Operation

Recently, China's largest hardware-in-the-loop simulation platform for power supply systems in the fusion field has officially entered trial operation and passed final acceptance, with its comprehensive performance reaching the leading level among comparable international platforms. This marks that China has established a complete technology chain from algorithm research and development for fusion power supply systems, hardware-in-the-loop simulation verification, to the implementation of complete equipment sets. It is reported that the platform was developed by China Fusion Energy Co., Ltd. under CNNC, relying on a fully independent real-time simulation architecture. Under operating conditions where the number of model switches exceeds 10,000, the core solving step can reach as high as 0.8 microseconds. The performance parameters of the full-chain software and hardware all meet the preset design indicators at high standards, and core technologies are fully independently controlled. The platform's commissioning...

2026-10-28

Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety Holds Safety Work Meeting for the Third Quarter of 2026

Recently, the Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety held the safety work meeting for the third quarter of 2026, conveying and studying the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on work safety, summarizing the institute's safety management work in the third quarter and arranging key tasks for the fourth quarter. The meeting was chaired by Wang Rui, Party Secretary and Deputy Director of the institute, and attended by heads of all departments and safety officers. Lu Hui, business supervisor of the Science and Technology Safety Division, attended the meeting to provide guidance. At the meeting, Wang Rui led the study and conveyed General Secretary Xi Jinping's series of important instructions since the third quarter on strengthening disaster prevention and relief for natural disasters and on the investigation and handling of major safety accidents, conveyed the deployment requirements of the national work safety video conference and the requirements of Premier Li Qiang, and emphasized that all research departments,...

2026-10-28

Micro Suns of the Atom: Deconstructing the Radioisotope Nuclear Battery Supply Chain Behind Deep Space Exploration

In humanity's ultimate quest to explore the macrocosm and the abyssal depths of the Earth, the greatest physical constraint is often not the strength of mechanical structures, but the ubiquitous decay of energy. Whether in the red Martian deserts far from sunlight where photovoltaic panels completely fail, or on the seafloor ten thousand meters below where no daylight reaches and pressures exceed a thousand atmospheres, conventional chemical batteries and solar cells are both found wanting in extreme environments. However, at the intersection of microscopic nuclear physics and extreme engineering, a class of physical perpetual motion machines that require no charging, no sunlight, and rely on the energy released by the decay of microscopic atoms themselves—Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs, a static energy conversion device that directly converts the decay heat of radioisotopes into electrical energy through the thermoelectric effect)—is becoming the ultimate energy foundation for humanity to knock on the doors of deep space and the deep sea.

2026-10-28

CNNC and CSCEC Consortium Wins Major Zhuanghe Nuclear Power Marine Engineering Contract

Recently, the public announcement of the winning candidates for the marine engineering works of Phase I of the Liaoning Zhuanghe Nuclear Power Plant Project was officially released. The consortium composed of China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction Co., Ltd. and CSCEC Port and Waterway Engineering Bureau Group Co., Ltd. successfully secured the top position with a bid price of 1,356,800,300 yuan, becoming the first winning candidate. It is reported that this marine engineering works, as one of the key contract packages of the nuclear power project, covers core construction contents including the water intake open channel, plant area revetment, heavy-lift wharf, marine outfall drainage works, and temporary construction cofferdam. The maximum bid price for the project is approximately 1.484 billion yuan, with construction planned to commence on January 31, 2027, and a total construction period of 1,034 days. Upon completion, it will fully satisfy the nuclear power plant's cooling water intake and discharge, heavy equipment transportation, and plant area wave and flood protection requirements.

2026-10-28

Russian Maritime Register of Shipping Completes Inspection of Key Transformers for Nuclear-Powered Icebreaker

Recently, the Nuclear Ship Branch of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) successfully completed the technical inspection of the ТРСЗП-6000/10-ОМ4 three-phase dry-type power transformer intended for the Project 22220 universal nuclear-powered icebreaker Stalingrad. It is reported that the inspection was led by Alexander Mamontov, Chief Engineer Surveyor of the RS Nuclear Ship Branch, and the equipment was manufactured locally by the St. Petersburg-based Electro-Physics company. The transformer has a rated power of 6000 kVA and a rated voltage of 10.5 kV,...

2026-10-28

Tianwan Tidal Flat PV Project Surpasses One Million Kilowatts to Build a Nuclear-PV-Storage Hub

Recently, the cumulative grid-connected capacity of the CNNC Tianwan 2-million-kilowatt tidal flat photovoltaic demonstration project, located in the thermal discharge sea area of Tianwan Nuclear Power Station in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, has exceeded 1 million kilowatts. This marks a breakthrough of 77% in the construction progress of the world's first nuclear-thermal-PV-storage multi-energy complementary demonstration project, representing a key step toward the goal of full-capacity commissioning by the end of the year. It is understood that the project covers approximately 28,300 mu of sea area and is the largest offshore photovoltaic project in China as well as a project in the third batch of national large-scale wind and photovoltaic bases. Its core innovation lies in the three-dimensional composite utilization of sea areas—the water body retains the circulating function of nuclear power thermal discharge, while photovoltaic arrays are installed on the sea surface, achieving dual use of a single sea area without additional land occupation;...

2026-10-28

Israel Releases Report Calling for Immediate Launch of Nuclear Fusion Industry Layout

Recently, Israel's Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure officially released a strategic report, calling on the government to take immediate action to fully promote the development of the national nuclear fusion energy industry through the introduction of a public-private collaborative investment mechanism. It is reported that the report proposes three potential development roadmaps aimed at positioning Israel as a key player in the global nuclear fusion industry chain. The Israeli government plans to fully leverage the country's existing advantages in laser technology, radio frequency systems, advanced materials, and robotics to support technological breakthroughs and equipment development in controlled nuclear fusion. The report also acknowledges that Israel in...

2026-10-28

NVIDIA to Assess Construction of AI Data Centers at Decommissioned German Nuclear Power Plant Sites

Recently, PreussenElektra, the nuclear facility decommissioning subsidiary of Germany's E.ON Group, and multinational technology giant NVIDIA have entered into a partnership to jointly assess whether PreussenElektra's decommissioned nuclear power plant sites are suitable for building high-performance AI data centers (i.e., artificial intelligence factories). It is reported that PreussenElektra owns 8 decommissioned nuclear power plant sites currently in the dismantling phase, including well-known facilities such as Brokdorf. Since former nuclear power plant sites generally feature large industrial land areas, high-performance grid connections, and comprehensive infrastructure, they have become ideal sites for meeting extremely high power demands and computing...

2026-10-28

South Korea Expects Tripling of Demand for Nuclear Design Personnel by 2034

Recently, the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation of Seoul National University and KEPCO E&C jointly released a report titled "Human Resource Enhancement Plan to Boost Nuclear Power Plant Export Competitiveness," warning that with the revival of nuclear power at home and abroad, South Korea will simultaneously construct 15 nuclear power plants domestically and overseas by 2034, at which point demand for design personnel will surge to 4,171, facing a severe talent gap of up to 2,771. It is reported that the root cause of South Korea's nuclear design talent crisis lies in the brain drain and shrinkage of academic foundations caused by the previous nuclear phase-out policy. Data from the Ministry of Science and ICT of South Korea show that the number of domestic nuclear design personnel has plummeted from 2,486 in 2016 to 20...

2026-10-28

Rosatom Plans to Build Eight New Nuclear Power Units and SMRs in Iran

Recently, Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, announced that Russia and Iran have reached an agreement to jointly construct 8 new nuclear power units in Iran, and signed a cooperation agreement this autumn for the construction of small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power generation facilities in Iran. It is reported that the two sides are currently steadily advancing the construction of Units 2 and 3 of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. Likhachev refuted rumors that Russian personnel might evacuate from Bushehr, and explicitly stated that Rosatom is expanding the on-site construction workforce as planned, with the total number of Chinese and Russian technical personnel on site expected to gradually increase to ...

2026-10-28

Gigawatt-Scale Computing Meets Megawatt-Scale Fission: Examining the Underlying Assets and Geopolitical Restructuring Behind Asia-Pacific's Nuclear Renaissance

As human civilization enters the "century of electricity," large AI models and hyperscale data center clusters are devouring power grids at an astonishing pace. When intermittent renewable energy cannot satisfy the stringent demand of high-load data centers for absolutely stable baseload power, nuclear energy—long marginalized or viewed with caution in the Asia-Pacific region—is now experiencing an unprecedented rational return. According to the Asia-Pacific energy observations published by Ben Carrozzi, a partner at international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, data center electricity demand in Southeast Asia is projected to surge fourfold between 2025 and 2035, rising from 2.6 gigawatts (G...

2026-10-28

US Plans $15 Billion Nuclear Reactor Manufacturing Hub in Oak Ridge

Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and several nuclear energy companies jointly announced that they will invest a total of $15 billion to build a nationwide advanced nuclear reactor development and equipment manufacturing center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It is reported that the project is primarily driven and supported by private capital and is expected to create approximately 10,000 high-paying technical jobs locally over the next five years. The plan aims to completely reshape Oak Ridge's nuclear energy industrial landscape by shutting down legacy gaseous diffusion facilities and building new advanced nuclear fuel fabrication plants, uranium enrichment facilities, and modular reactor production lines, establishing a reactor manufacturing supply...

2026-10-28

U.S. Department of Energy Provides $5 Billion Loan to Support Constellation Energy's 1.1 GW Nuclear Power Uprate

Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a conditional loan commitment of up to $5 billion to Constellation Energy, the largest nuclear power operator in the United States, to fund large-scale upgrades and modernization of its 8 nuclear power plants (with a total of 15 operating reactors) located in Illinois, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. It is reported that this massive financing is aimed at improving thermal efficiency and power output through equipment modernization, and is expected to add nearly 1.1 GW (1,100 MW) of clean baseload generation capacity to the existing U.S. nuclear fleet. The affected projects cover 8 nuclear power plants including Braidwood, Byron, Calvert Cliffs, Clinton, Dresden, LaSalle, Quad Cities, and Limerick...

2026-10-28

Norway Funds Research and Development of Microreactors for Marine Nuclear Propulsion

Recently, the Research Council of Norway announced an early-stage grant of US$2 million to the Marine Nuclear Power Systems (MarNuPS) project to support the integration and testing of maritime nuclear propulsion technology. It is reported that the project is led by the Norwegian subsidiary of Emerald Nuclear, a U.S. microreactor startup, with a total first-phase research budget of approximately US$15 million. Emerald's GEM microreactor concept uses tristructural isotropic (TRISO) high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, has a refueling cycle of 5 to 15 years, and plans to adopt a "reactor leasing" rather than direct sales...

2026-10-28