Doomsday warnings for 2023: Risk of nuclear war is at its ‘highest ever’ and the planet is on a ‘highway to climate hell’ dailymail.co.uk

Lapid: Israel will use force to prevent Iran from going nuclear clevelandjewishnews.com

Poland looks to nuclear power to guarantee its energy independence ft.com

Top Putin aide visits Ukraine’s Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reuters.com

Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 114 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 88 nanosieverts per hour

Israel fears Biden still wants Iran nuclear deal foxnews.com

US, Europe will ‘shortly’ return to JCPOA talks, says Iranian official jns.org

Large nuclear power stations cannot be made safe enough heraldscotland.com

South Korea Must Respond to North Korea Despite Its Nuclear Arms  usnews.com

 

Ambient office = 138 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 91 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 120 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 112 nanosieverts per hour

Israeli Officials Fear U.S. Still Keen on Iran Nuclear Deal Haaretz.com

Israel must do what it can to end Iran’s nuclear program and the regime jpost.com

Putin readies world’s ‘most powerful’ Satan II nuclear missile for ‘combat duty’ foxnews.com

Nuclear chief: IAEA officials to visit Iran soon ifpnews.com

 

Ambient office = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 98 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Tomato from Central Market = 102 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 111 nanosieverts per hour

     Rolls-Royce SMR has chosen three sites in the U.K. for its shortlist of sites to host its first factory for producing components for a fleet of small modular reactors (SMRs). The new factory will manufacture heavy pressure vessels for the SMRs. The final choice of a location for the factory is expected to be announced early next year.
     The three sites on the short list are the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) in Sunderland, South Tyneside in Northeast England; Teesworks, Redcar, in Teesside also in Northeast England, and Gateway, Deeside, in North Wales.
     Rolls-Royce SMR said that the selection of the three potentials sites was made following a series of visits and further assessment of each of the sites’ suitably to host the factory for the heavy pressure vessels.
     The factory is expected to be around two hundred and fifty thousand square feet. It is expected to create two hundred permanent jobs. The estimated cost of the factory will be between one hundred and twenty million dollars and two hundred and forty-two million dollars.
     Tom Samson is the CEO of Rolls-Royce SMR. He said, “This is part of the process to build the first of at least three factories that will manufacture components for a fleet of small modular reactors and will present an incredible opportunity for a region of the UK. Our power stations will be built in British factories situated in the north of England or Wales and will generate tens of thousands of long-term highly skilled jobs – accelerating regional economic growth.”
     Last July, Roll-Royce SMR announced six possible sites for their planned factories. The six sites select were chosen from over one hundred submissions from local enterprise partnerships and development agencies. The six original short list choices were Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, Richmond in North Yorkshire, Deeside in Wales, Ferrybridge in Yorkshire, Stallingborough in Lincolnshire and Carlisle in Cumbria. In October, Deeside and Teesworks were added after the sites met the shortlist criteria. 
     The company will decide on the locations early next year after final evaluations and detailed assessments are made against the requirements and criteria for the factory. The factory will manufacture and assemble some of the largest and more complex components of the Rolls-Royce SMR power plant.
     The company added that they wanted “To ensure commercial processes move in parallel, negotiations will be initiated when Rolls-Royce SMR has entered formal discussions on deployment with the government.”
     The other two factories being planned will manufacture civils modules and mechanical and plumbing (MEP) modules. These modules will be transported to sites and assembled into an operational nuclear power plant.
     Rolls-Royce SMR said, “All of the initial responses will be retained, and separate selection processes will be run for the following two factory locations (civils modules and MEP modules).”
     The Rolls-Royce SMR design was accepted for Generic Design Assessment review in March. The U.K.’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy asked the Office for Nuclear Regulation along with the environmental regulators for England and Wales to begin the process.
     To minimize the construction phase of the program, the Rolls-Royce SMR is fully modularized with the fifty foot by thirteen foot reactor able to be transported by road, sea or rail. They are hoping for construction to be completed in about five hundred days. The company says that this concept minimizes the onsite time and effort required to construct the plant. About ninety percent of the manufacturing and assembly activities will be carried out in factor conditions.
      Last November, Rolls-Royce SMR announced that a siting review had identified a variety of existing nuclear power plant sites in the U.K. that could potentially host its SMRs. Four of these sites are owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and are prioritized.

25% of EU electricity production from nuclear sources ec.europa.eu

Iran: Medicines, drugs and peaceful use of nuclear energy plenglis.com

Finnish EPR set to resume test operation world-nuclear-news.com

Israel’s readiness to attack Iran’s nuclear sites improved jpost.com

Ambient office = 130 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 78 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 86 nanosieverts per hour

Roma tomato from Central Market = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 133 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 123 nanosieverts per hour

     Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology to consider the deployment of a Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR) in Lappeenranta. The USNC has also signed an MoU with Canadian privately held investment firm Portland Holdings Investco Limited to promote the MMR in the Middle East, North Africa and the Caribbean regions.
     Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) plans to deploy an MMR as a research and test reactors at or near its campus in the city. The reactor will be used as a training, research, and demonstration facility. It will be connected to the local district heating network of Lappeenrannan Energia, to provide carbon-free district heating to the university and surrounding area.
      The MMR research and test reactor will test new nuclear technologies to decarbonize energy production, microgrid integration, and help train the future workforce through hands-on experience with a next-generation high-temperature gas cooled microreactor.
      Juhani Hyvärinen is a professor of nuclear engineering at LUT. He said, “The safety and design of the micro-modular reactor makes partnering with Ultra Safe Nuclear the ideal choice for LUT and for Finland as we work toward decarbonized municipal and industrial heat supply and a carbon-neutral world.”
     Francesco Venneri is a USNC founder and CEO. He said, “The work LUT is doing in transitioning to a carbon-neutral world is important, and the micro-modular reactor is the perfect research and training facility to advance their knowledge and experience – especially when it comes to decarbonizing district heating systems.”
     The USNC’s MMR is a fifteen megawatt thermal energy and five megawatts electrical energy gas-cooler reactor, drawing on operational experience from reactor developed by China, Germany, Japan and the U.S. It consists of two plants. The first plant is the nuclear plant that generates heat, The second plant is adjacent to the first and it converts heat into electricity or provides process heat for industrial applications. The USNC system is designed to be simple with minimal operation and maintenance requirements. There will be no on-site fuel storage, handling or processing. The MMR uses TRISO fuel in prismatic graphite blocks and has a sealed transportable core.
     The MMR is at an advanced licensing stage with the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s Chalk River Laboratories campus in Ontario. The project is a collaboration between the USNC and Ontario Power Generation through the jointly-owned Global First Power Limited Partnership.
     The project at LUT joins the growing list of global training, test and research MMR projects at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the U.S. and at McMasters University in Canada.
     The USNC is based in Seattle, Washington. It has also signed an MoU with Burlington, Ontario-based Portland Holdings. Under the terms of the MoU, Portland, its affiliates, and related entities will invest up to three hundred and fifty million dollars in the USNC. They intend to bring MMR technology solutions to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and the Caribbean regions.
     Michael Lee-Chin is the Portland Holdings President and Chairman. He said, “Our investment in Ultra Safe Nuclear will also contribute to significant milestones in the advancement of the MMR initial deployment sites at Chalk River, Canada, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the United States. This partnership represents our commitment to investing in innovative solutions and addressing humankind’s most unmet need – climate change.”
     Venneri added “We are seeing high and growing interest in our Fully Ceramic Micro-Encapsulated fueled, micro reactor solutions for a number of carbon-free power and heat applications. Partnering with global financial leader Portland will give USNC a tremendous boost to meet this market demand worldwide. Portland’s corporate vision ‘Doing Well by Doing Good’ is well aligned with our mission to foster growth and sustainable economic benefits for the United States, Canada, and countless countries across the globe.”