Many of the existing four hundred plus commercial nuclear power reactors in the world are reaching or have reached the end of their original forty-year licenses life span. Some of them are going to be shut down and others are applying for or have been granted extension of their legal life span. As reactors age, their concrete and steel deteriorate, and maintenance becomes more and more expensive. There is a lot of research around the world on the question of how to safely and economically extent reactor life spans.
       Russia is aggressively pursuing nuclear technology for internal power generation and external exports not to mention for nuclear weapons development. Scientists from the R and students from the National Research Nuclear University are collaborating on research on new technology to extend the service life of their popular VVER-440 commercial power reactors by up to forty five years. They published their work in the Journal of Nuclear Materials.
       The Russian VVER-440 is the most popular commercial nuclear power reactor in the world. The water-water energetic reactor vessel is one of the most import parts of a nuclear power plant. It could be said that the safety and operating efficiency of the reactor vessel virtually defines the level of safety at a nuclear power plant.
       The components of an operating nuclear power plant are subjected to fast neutron exposure. This results in radiation hardening which is a loss of plasticity in the base metals in the components due to radiation-induced defects phase at the nanoscale.
        The combination of radiation and temperatures of almost six hundred degrees Fahrenheit cause impurity elements to differentiate at the boundaries of the grains in the matrix of the metal alloy. This, in turn, results in reduced crack resistance in the component.
         This reduction in crack resistance limits the safe lifespan of a reactor. The probability of a brittle fracture occurring when a reactor vessel is flooded by cold water in case there is an emergency where the core has to be quickly cooled. In 1991, Russian scientists carried out a “recovery annealing process” on some VVER-440 reactor vessels which extended their service life by up to forty-five years.
         The recover annealing process was developed and patented at the Kurchatov Institute. It requires that a reactor vessel be heated to and baked at different temperatures in a series of phases. Samples are cut from the inner surface of a functional VVER-440 and subjected to comprehensive studies, re-annealing and then studying the samples.
        A professor at MEPhI’s Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering said, “It is essential to conduct this procedure so we can give recommendations on further extending the service life of the reactor vessel and determine the rate of post-annealing radiation embrittlement.”
“Conducting re-annealing with this technology results in the dissolution of radiation-induced precipitation and defects as well as grain boundary segregations,” Kuleshova stated. “This leads to the restoration of the original properties and structures of the base metals, increasing their service life. That is why we need to know more about the structure and mechanical properties of the reactor vessel base metals at different stages in their lifespan, including after re-annealing.”
        Researchers involved in this annealing program said that in order to extend service life by sixty years, there would need to be a second round of recovery annealing after carrying out preliminary studies on the structure and mechanical properties of the base metals in the reactor vessel. This would take place after an annealed reactor vessel had been in operation for a long time.
       This research project required the use of modern high-resolution analytical techniques including transmission and raster electron microscopy, atom probe tomography and Auger electron spectroscopy. In order to ascertain the amount of radiation embrittlement in the metals, there were mechanical tests on static tension and impact bending.
“The participation of MEPhI students in this research showcases the connection Russian students have with real science and the economy, which allows them to work on scientific developments and solve large-scale problems while they are still studying at the university. This increases their knowledge and competence levels and benefits the country’s economy.”

Ambient office  = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 105 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Probleno pepper from Central Market = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 57 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 52 nanosieverts per hour

       Early this year, Natural Resources Canada began a process to prepare a roadmap to guide exploration of the potential of on-grid and off-grid applications for small modular reactors (SMRs). Canada wants to be a leader in the SMR marketplace. The Canadian National Laboratories has established a goal of building and operating an SMR at its Chalk River site by 2026. Canadian company Terrestrial Energy began a feasibility study in June of 2017 for siting the first commercial Integrated Molten Salt Reactor at Chalk River. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is currently pre-licensing vendor design reviews for ten small reactors in the three to three hundred megawatt range.
       On June 26th, the government of the Canadian Province of New Brunswick announced that it was committing seven million five hundred thousand dollars to assist the New Brunswick Energy Solutions Corporation (NBESC) in establishing a nuclear research cluster in New Brunswick (NB). The Point Lepreau nuclear power plant is located in NB. NB wants to become a leader in the research and development of SMRs.
       The NBESC is a joint venture between the New Brunswick provincial government and NB Power which operates the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant. It was formed to investigate energy export possibilities.
       It was announced last week that Advanced Reactor Concepts (ARC) would be the first partner in the NBESC nuclear research cluster. ARC is working on the ARC-100 which is a one hundred megawatt integrated sodium-cooled fast reactor with a metallic uranium alloy core.
        Moltex Energy is a UK based company that is the second partner in the new research cluster in NB that is dedicated to the research and development of small modular reactors. Moltex has signed a contract with New Brunswick Energy Solutions Corporation and NB Power.
       The agreement signed by Moltex provides three million eight hundred thousand dollars for immediate development activities. Moltex will open its North American headquarters in Saint John where they will put together their development team. The contract calls for Moltex to deploy its first Stable Salt Reactor – Wasteburner (SSR-W) at the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant before 2030.
        The Moltex SSR is based on a design developed in the U.K. It contains no pumps. Instead, it utilizes convection from static vertical fuel tubes in the core to transfer heat to the steam generators. The fuel assemblies are positioned in the center of a tank that is half filled with coolant salt. The coolant salt moves the heat away from the fuel assemblies to the steam generators which are on the periphery of the tank. The core temperature in the SSR will operate in a range from about nine hundred degrees Fahrenheit to a thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike most common commercial nuclear reactors, the system operates at normal atmospheric pressure. Moltex has also developed the GridRerserve molten salt storage heat concept which would allow their reactor to store energy from intermittent renewable sources.
       Moltex submitted both a fast version and a thermal version of their SSR to the U.K. competition for SMR designs. It has applied for Phase 1 of the Vendor Design Review with the CNSC. Its focus for commercial product development is aimed at the Canadian energy market.
       The Moltex CEO said, “The Moltex stable salt reactor technology is a perfect fit for New Brunswick’s power needs. It uses spent nuclear fuel, which could help solve the province’s future spent-fuel disposal challenge. It is a physically small modular reactor but is able to store energy, so can double or triple its output at peak demand times during the day. Most importantly, the stable salt reactor technology produces very low-cost, clean energy and can reduce the cost of electricity to consumers while achieving low-carbon targets. We are very excited to join our new partners and establish our North American headquarters in New Brunswick.”
       The Provincial Energy and Resource Development Minister said, “We are positioning New Brunswick as a leader in small modular reactor development and deployment in Canada on a global scale. We are looking to grow our economy while we transition to a lower-carbon environment, and partners like Moltex have the ability to make advancements in the energy sector.”
       The NB Power CEO said, “This represents the second significant private sector partner in nuclear technology, research and potential development to join the recently established nuclear research cluster at the University of New Brunswick. It shows that, here in New Brunswick, we can be leaders in developing energy solutions that will not only help meet energy needs but provide great opportunities for development and exports.”

Ambient office  = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 84 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Snap pea from Central Market = 80 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 119 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 112 nanosieverts per hour

The World Nuclear Exhibition has just ended in Paris, France. There were over nine thousand attendees for around the world and six hundred and eighty exhibitors. The Exhibition is held every two years and is dedicated to vendors and discussions of nuclear safety and the global nuclear supply chain. Three topics of interest at the Exhibition were equipment qualification; counterfeit, fraudulent, and suspect items (CFSI) and localizing the nuclear supply change.
       It is difficult for a manufacturer to introduce a new component into the nuclear supply chain because of the complexity and variety in the global regulatory environment. It is a risk for customers in the reactor business to try out new technologies because the nuclear industry is a small part of energy technology and there is a lack of international standards with which to evaluate a piece of equipment. Both of these problems need to address by cooperation among all the major stakeholders in the nuclear industry.
       With respect to CFSI, the focus has tended to be detecting fraud by monitoring processes. Lately, there have been more fraudulent items showing up in the global nuclear supply chain. The focus on detection is reactive. Processes are changed after fraud is detected. Recently there has been a call for changing the focus to corporate culture and prevention as the first line of defense against CFSI.
      It is difficult if not impossible for a reactor under construction or in need of spare parts to obtain those parts in country. Quite often, these components have to be ordered from other countries. The company working on the reactor has to examine the arriving parts to see if they are authentic. This means that it is important that the parts be ordered from factories with sterling reputations and a commitment to nuclear safety. There is a call to invest in a culture of responsibility and quality in the global nuclear supply chain.
        One major problem for the global nuclear industry is the fact that each country or association has its own set of rules and regulations with respect to nuclear reactors and nuclear materials. Sometimes, regulations can be so ambiguous that sincere vendors are not sure how to comply with them. On the other hand, they may violate some rule without even knowing it.
        When components are ordered from other countries, it can be difficult to satisfy the requirements of all the different countries that the component may pass through. Manufacturers and licenses really wish that this would change. Some agency with familiarity with the whole global system should move toward global standards. Local suppliers should take the lead in satisfying local rules and regulations. Working with global groups, local suppliers could find new markets.
        With the increasing pressure to build nuclear reactors to combat climate change and the marketing push by Russia and China, it is very important for the global nuclear supply chain to pull itself together and provide a culture where the problems detailed above can be solved and implemented.

Ambient office  = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 162 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 166 nanosieverts per hour

Zucinni from Central Market = 59 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 73 nanosieverts per hour

I have been saying for years that in the end it will be a matter of economics that will end the use of nuclear power in the United States. It will either be the steady drop of prices for renewables and the cheap fossil fuels that will scare off investors or it will be the massive public rejection of nuclear power after another major nuclear accident.
       The International Energy Agency just released a new report with the title World Energy Investment 2018. According to the report, the world invested about one trillion eight hundred billion dollars in energy last year. This represented a decline of about two percent over the previous year. Most of this decline took place in the power generation sector where there were fewer new builds of coal, hydro and nuclear energy sources. Although there was increase investments in solar photovoltaics, they were not enough to offset the decline in traditional generating capacity. Over seven hundred and fifty billion dollars were spent in the electricity sector in 2017 while seven hundred and fifteen billion were spent on oil and gas supplies. Investments in renewables and energy efficiency fell by three percent in 2017.
       Four new reactors were commissioned in 2017.
Three of those were in China. Over five gigawatts of nuclear generating capacity was retired in 2017. The net result was a two gigawatt loss of nuclear generating capacity worldwide. In the last ten years, nuclear generating capacity has risen by about ten gigawatts. Plants that will generate sixty gigawatts of nuclear power are under construction globally but only three gigawatts of that is represented by new construction starts.
       About half of the total investment in nuclear power last year involved modernization and upgrades of existing commercial power reactors. The IAE said, “Large investments have recently been made in OECD countries to extend lifetime operation and power uprates of the existing nuclear fleet. In general, spending on existing plants yields more output per dollar invested.”
        In the past five years, nuclear power plants with a combined capacity of over forty gigawatts have been authorized to extend their operations life time beyond the original forty years for which they were licensed. For comparison, funding for such purposes over the last five years was about seven billion dollars a year which is three times the annual average investment in the previous five years.
       The IEA said that, “Assuming these plants run an extra ten years, generation from lifetime extensions over the past five years is equivalent to 15% of expected lifetime output from solar PV and wind investments over the same period, at just 3% of the cost. At 20 years of long-term operation, the output from these upgrades would be equivalent to one-third of expected lifetime output from the solar PV and wind investments.”
       The IEA report states that with proper supportive regulatory and technical factors taken into account, extending the life time of existing nuclear power reactors could be, “a cost-effective transitional measure for maintaining low-carbon generation in the face of uncertainties for new nuclear plant development or that for other low-carbon sources”.
       The report said that both direct and indirect government financing would remain a very important factor in nuclear power investment. The government is also important with respect to other areas of concern such as market structure, price regulation and financing. The report also mentioned that “Most investment in new nuclear capacity has occurred in markets where the government retains full ownership or a majority stake in most of the utilities.”