BRIN, Russia forge cooperation to develop nuclear human resources antaranews.com

Excavation of Chinese underground lab begins world-nuclear-news.org

Kremlin denies Russians are about to withdraw from nuclear plant; ‘ugly’ clash erupts between Kyiv officials cnbc.com

India sees SMRs in its clean energy future world-nuclear-news.org

 

 

 

Ambient office = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Red bell pepper from Central Market = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Part 1 of 2 Parts
     French President Emmanuel Macron tours Washington, DC starting Wednesday for his first state visit to the Biden administration. One of the reasons for his visit is to promote his plans for a French nuclear renaissance. His entourage includes major players from France’s nuclear energy industry. They are looking to Macron to help boost the development and export of their nuclear technology. This includes small modular and advanced reactors. Unfortunately, this is a very awkward time to promote French nuclear expertise.
     While Macron was preparing to travel to Washington, DC, France was getting international assistance to assist them in preventing their nuclear-reliant power grid from collapsing. U.S. and Canadian contractors have been flown into France to help after serious safety concerns forced the closure of half of France’s nuclear power plants. Last week, 23 out of 26 French nuclear power reactors were still offline. Problems include concerns over corrosion cracks and an accumulation of pandemic-related inspection delays.
     2022 could have been a great opportunity for the French nuclear industry to demonstrate the promise Macron has talked about. Last February, Macron announced that France intends to construct as many as fourteen new reactors by 2050. Days later, during the Russian invasion Ukraine, Europe began moving away from Russian fossil fuels. Countries such as Germany that had already chosen to abandon nuclear energy were forced to reconsider the shut down of their existing power reactors.
     France used to be an energy exporter but recently it has had to import electricity from German. Germany was the country that bore the greatest impact by shifting away from Russian fuels. Britain has normally depended on France for energy to survive harsh winters. It is now asking people to keep their dishwashers and ovens off to avoid blackout.
     Other European neighbors of France, including Belgium, Switzerland and Italy might be under even more pressure because of problems that have taken French reactors offline. Clement Bouilloux is the country manager for France at emergency consultancy EnAppSys. He said, “Everyone was relying on the French nuclear power plants.”
     The current situation has tarnished France’s reputation as a nuclear power leader and may have caused France to miss out on key nuclear contracts. A few weeks ago, France’s state-owned energy company EDF lost the first part of a forty billion dollar contract to construct Poland’s first nuclear power plant. U.S. company Westinghouse got that contract.
     The U.S. and France may be aligned in their response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, they are often competitors when it comes to exporting nuclear technology.
     Russia and China have emerged as dominant forces in the international nuclear marketplace. French officials say that transatlantic partnerships would be of benefit to both them and the U.S. A French official speaking anonymously for protocol reasons said, “We have a strong base, and we have the same challenges.
     Energy consultancy Enerdata said in an assessment of the nuclear market last year that while the U.S, “had an historic leadership in the sector, its nuclear energy industry has become sluggish in comparison to Russia and China.
Please read Part 2 next

Ambient office = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 99 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Seedless grape from Central Market = 111 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Russia-US nuclear disarmament talks postponed Aljazeera.com

FANR hosts workshop on developing nuclear security systems during major public events wam.ae

Gecko Robotics to Help U.S. Air Force Modernize Nuclear Triad businesswire.com

Uranium-rich Niger struggles despite nuclear resurgence iraqinews.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

China completes core component for ITER neimagazine.com

Reactor bottom prepared for Akkuyu unit 4 neimagazine.com

Orano to support Uzbek uranium expansion plans world-nuclear-news.org

Major nuclear manufacturing operation opens in north Wales wrexham.com

 

 

 

 

Ambient office = 81 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 128 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 125 nanosieverts per hour

Butternut Squash from Central Market = 135 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 130 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 117 nanosieverts per hour

KHNP, CANDU Energy to cooperate in decommissioning world-nuclear-news.org

Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants reconnected to grid – IAEA finance.yahoo.com

Yakutia nuclear icebreaker launched world-nuclear-news.org

Breakthrough with Russia as two nations look to avoid nuclear disaster msn.com

Ambient office = 79 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 131 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 121 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 108 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 89 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 102 nanosieverts per hour

     Uranium has been one of the best-preforming asset classes in 2022. This information was supplied by HANetf’s Sprott Uranium Miners UCITS ETF (URNM). The uranium spot price has increased by twenty one percent during the year through October 31st.
     October was a particularly strong month for uranium oxide (U3O8). It is used to make fuel for nuclear power plant reactors. The spot price of U3O8 increased about eight percent in October. Broader commodity markets gained only one and two thirds of a percent.
      Jacob White is a senior analyst for URNM. He said, “We believe that strong demand for uranium conversion and enrichment, coupled with a shift away from Russian suppliers, supports a further increase in the U3O8 uranium spot price.”
     Most of the demand for uranium comes from the nuclear power generation industry. Many nuclear power plants operate on an eighteen month or twenty four month refueling cycle. Nearly all owners of nuclear power plants contract for fuel well in advance of their refueling outages.
     The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that four hundred and thirty-seven nuclear power plant reactors were operational across the globe at the end of 2021. Their total net capacity was more than three hundred and eighty-nine gigawatts. The agency said that fifty-six additional power reactors were under construction at that time.
     In a Sprott report released on November 11th, White expressed his optimism for uranium based in part on a forecast by the International Energy Agency (IEA). White wrote that the agency “expects nuclear energy generation to grow 53% from 2021 to 2050 based on current stated government policies in place, 84% based on announced government targets, and 109% on its net zero emissions by 2050 scenario.”
     The underlying fundamentals may be strong for U3O8 spot, conversion and enriched uranium prices. However, the effect that this will have on nuclear power plant profitability may be negligible. The World Nuclear Association (WNA) reports that fuel costs are a minor part of total generating costs for nuclear power plants. The association said that “Nuclear power plants are expensive to build but relatively cheap to run.”
     In a report by the WNA that was published several years ago, it said that the economics of nuclear plants are heavily influenced by their capital costs. These include the cost of site preparations, construction, manufacture, commissioning and financing of nuclear power plants. As most people know, the construction of a nuclear power plant takes thousands of workers, huge amounts of steel and concrete, thousands of components and many interrelated systems to provide electricity, cooling, ventilation, information, control and communication.
     Financing costs change materially for nuclear projects in relation to time to complete the plant construction. With the interest rate and/or mode of financing employed, it is not uncommon for capital costs to account for more than sixty percent of the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) from a nuclear facility. While uranium demand many continue to rise, it is unlikely to significantly affect the overall economics of most nuclear power plants.