Part 1 of 2 Parts
     The 29th International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Fusion Energy Conference was held from the 16th to the 21st of October 2023. The first edition of World Fusion Outlook as well as their plans to form a World Fusion Energy Group will be unveiled at the conference. In addition, updates on progress across the nuclear fusion industry and new investment from the U.K. host were also shared.
     The event was held in the U.K. for the first time since 1984. It was opened by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. He began the event by wishing a happy 40th anniversary to the soon-to-be closed Joint European Torus. He said, “the first tritium experiment in Europe, breaker of scientific records, producer of generations of accomplished scientists and engineers, and a true magnet for international collaboration”.
     Grossi outlined some of the breakthroughs and achievements by fusion experts over the two years since the previous conference was held. He added that current momentum and enthusiasm made it “crucial moment in the development of the field” and that fusion was moving “out of the laboratories and experimental centers”. He went on to say that credible pathways were needed to achieve the ambition of bringing fusion energy to the world economy.
     The IAEA plans to create the World Fusion Energy Group by bringing together the “next leg of the fusion energy journey will get us from experiment to demonstration to commercial fusion energy production”. Before their first meeting next year, he said that the IAEA  would “shortly invite fusion experts to work with the IAEA to outline Fusion Key Elements such as fusion-related definitions, characteristics and criteria for fusion energy to help develop common understanding among stakeholders essential for global deployment”.
     During the opening session of the six-day conference in London, the first edition of the World Fusion Outlook was published and distributed to the attendees. The IAEA said that they intend it to be a regular publication providing “authoritative information and updates on fusion energy” and to become “a global reference for energy R&D, technology development and prospective deployment of fusion as a source of unlimited low carbon energy”.
     Grossi called nuclear fusion energy the “grand engineering endeavor of the 21st Century”. He added that even if nuclear fusion does not play a big role in meeting the world’s climate goals by 2050, “the world will continue after 2050 and it will need clean energy on a massive scale beyond that date” and “while we may have different views on how exactly the global energy landscape will look in the coming years, we all see a place for fusion”.
    Pietro Barabaschi is the director general of the multinational International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in France. One of the issues he raised was ensuring there was a sufficient, and skilled, workforce for fusion development. The conference attendees were told that there was a need to recruit people who had retired, because of skills and knowledge they had.
Please read Part 2 next

Ambient office = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 114 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Vine ripened tomato from Central Market = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 74 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 59 nanosieverts per hour

     The Government of Niger has confirmed its “full support” for Global Atomic Corporation’s (GAC) Dasa uranium project, according to GAC. The project intends to make its first yellowcake deliveries to utilities in 2025. The project will not be influenced by a recent U.S. decision to put a hold on U.S. Development Bank financing following the coup that took place in Niger earlier this year.
     On the 10th of October, the U.S. State Department officially designated the events in the African republic at the end of July 2023 as a “coup d’état”. Most U.S. assistance to the government of Niger has been suspended pending action by Niger to return to “democratic governance”. This includes the U.S. Development Bank financing. The suspension does not apply to humanitarian, food and health assistance.
     GAC has its headquarters in Toronto, Canada. It is developing a high-grade uranium deposit sixty-five miles south of the established uranium mining town of Arlit. GAC said that it has been “engaged in contingency planning with parties interested in non-dilutive financing options at the operating level” from groups interested in purchasing uranium from the mine.
     Existing uranium offtake agreements with utilities are unaffected by the State Department decision, according to GAC. The company has no “no immediate need to finance” because it has sufficient cash on hand for the next year. GAC recently announced its third offtake agreement for the sale of as much as three and a half million pounds of U2O8 from the project to a North American utility beginning in 2026. It has received additional Requests for Proposal for uranium offtake agreements from utilities. Almost one and a half million pounds of U2O8 over the first five years of the mine’s operation, representing almost thirty percent of the scheduled production, are now contracted under such offtake agreements.
     Stephen Roman is the Global Atomic President and CEO. He said, “The Government of Niger has confirmed its full support for the Dasa Project and recognizes it’s a new mine that will benefit the Republic of Niger by creating new jobs and opportunities for local business and revitalize the northern region of the country. The Government has offered its encouragement in the development of Dasa and all support required to accelerate construction and the start of mining operations.”
     Logistics issues regarding importing goods into Niger are being addressed by the government. Niger has recently given full approval for the transport of goods via ports in Ghana and Togo and overland via Burkina Faso, according to GAC. Internal cargo flights are expected to be restored shortly.
     Mine excavation began at Dasa in 2022. The project’s 2021 Phase1 Feasibility Study estimates that yellowcake delivered to utilities can begin in 2025. A revised mine plan for Dasa that will integrate recently updated mineral resource figures is nearing completion. It will form the basis of a revised feasibility study to be completed in the first half of 2024, according to GAC.
     Hopefully, Niger will return to “democratic governance” soon so regular commercial operations can be restored.

Ambient office = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 118 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 143 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 81 nanosieverts per hour

     Sheffield Forgemasters, X-energy and Cavendish Nuclear have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperating to explore opportunities around the deployment of fleet of Xe-100 high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) in the U.K.
     X-energy of the U.S. and Cavendish Nuclear, a U.K. subsidiary of the Babcock International group, will have access to Sheffield Forgemasters’ decades of experience in the development of nuclear forging and castings. They have plans to build up to forty Xe-100s across the U.K.
     Dominic Ashmore is the Head of Strategy and Business Development – Clean Energy at Sheffield Forgemasters. He said, “Following the key step forward recently made by Great British Nuclear (GBN) to boost UK nuclear power generation through small modular reactor (SMR) development, GBN is also developing a route to market for other technologies, including advanced nuclear and a consultation will be published this autumn. The UK’s civil nuclear development is part of our business strategy and this MoU is the latest in a line of agreements that we have signed with a number of SMR companies looking to deploy in the UK market.”
     Ashmore added. “Our work with X-Energy and Cavendish Nuclear will provide specialist engineering services, support and components including forgings, to the UK Xe-100 deployment program. Sheffield Forgemasters will undertake a detailed review of the Xe-100 forgings and look to facilitate more definitive cost estimates and production plans.”
     Carol Tansley is a vice president of U.K. Nuclear New Build at X-Energy. She said, “We’re delighted to be collaborating with Sheffield Forgemasters, which is a world-renowned industry leader in its field. Our technology will be the first small modular reactor operational in the US and we want to build on that progress by moving forward quickly with our U.K. program. In delivering that fleet we want to maximize the involvement of the UK supply chain as part of our target to achieve 80% by value UK content, and the MoU with a company with the experience and capabilities of Sheffield Forgemasters is a crucial step in that journey.”
     The Xe-100 is a Generation IV advanced reactor design. X-energy says it is based on decades of HTGR operation, research and development. Designed to operate as a standard three hundred and twenty megawatt four-unit power plant with each unit contributing eighty megawatts. It is engineered to deliver reliable and load-following grid-scale power to electricity systems and to pair seamlessly with renewables. At two hundred thermal megawatts of five hundred sixty-five degrees steam, the Xe-100 is also suitable for other power applications including mining and heavy industry.
     In December of 2021, U.K. energy minister Greg Hands announced that HTGRs have been selected as the preferred advanced reactor technology for the U.K. Advanced Modular Reactor Research, Development & Demonstration Program. The program counts on two hundred and ten million dollars of government funding from a four hundred and seventy million dollar package which is intended to accelerate of highly flexible nuclear technologies.
     In May of 2022, Cavendish Nuclear signed a MoU with X-energy to act as its deployment collaborator for HTGRs in the U.K. The two companies have applied to the U.K.’s Future Nuclear Enabling Fund to support a Generic Design Assessment of the Xe-100 SMR. It also calls for supply chain development for the first proposed project.

     An agreement between Orano and Erdenes Mongol LLC sets out the framework for an investment agreement that will lay the foundation for a long-term relationship for the development and industrial operations of the Zuuvch-Ovoo uranium project in south-western Mongolia. The investment agreement is expected to be signed by the end of the year. Erdenes Mongol LLC is a Mongolian state-owned investment company.
     The protocol was signed on the 12th of October at the Elysée Palace in Paris by Orano Chairman Claude Imauven and Erdenes Mongol CEO Sanjaagiin Narantsogt. President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh of Mongolia were present.
    Pilot operations over 2021-2022 have already confirmed the economic, environmental, and societal feasibility of operating the Zuuvch-Ovoo site, according to Orano. The project has been developed by Badrakh Energy which is a joint venture between Orano Mining and the Mongolian state-owned company MonAtom.
     The joint Franco-Mongolian project will be based on international standards and best practices in terms of safety, security, and the environment according to Orano. Orano said that it is “committed over the long term, alongside communities for responsible mining with a development and cooperation program in favor of local populations”.
     Imauven said that the signature of the protocol “marks a decisive step” in a relationship with Mongolia that has been in existence for over twenty-five years. He added that “This cooperation will enable us to develop the uranium sector in Mongolia while furthering the Group’s strategy of diversifying its mining activities.”
     Agnès Pannier-Runacher is France’s Minister for Energy Transition. She said on X that the agreement contributes to the diversification of French sources of Supply. She added that “This is good news for our nuclear industry and our energy sovereignty.”
     Badrakh Energy’s on-site pilot at Zuuvch-Ovoo in the Gobi Desert took place from July 2021 to December 2022. The pilot tested uranium extraction by in-situ leach methods. The pilot produced ten tons of natural uranium concentrate. Orano has previously stated that over a forecast thirty year mine life, the Zuuvch-Ovoo project has the potential to earn Mongolia around one billion six hundred million dollars of direct investment over the life of the project as well as one billion dollars in tax income nationally and locally. The report Uranium 2022: Resources, Production and Demand is a joint publication of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency, also known as the Red Book, said that the deposit has ninety-three thousand two hundred and ninety on tons of uranium resources at a grade of 0.022% uranium.
     Mongolia has substantial known uranium resources. However, no uranium has been mined there since the closure in 1995 of an open-pit mine at the Dornod deposit in the north-east of the country. The Dornod mine was operated by Russian interest. It produced five hundred thirty-five tons of uranium over six years of production. Uranium ore from the mine was transported by rail to the Riargunsky facility in Frasnokamensk, Russia, for processing.
     The price of uranium ore on the international market has been soft but is currently rising to the point where more dormant mines are being brought online.