[Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

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Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 07 avr. 2024, 10:14

Malgré une déconvenue, les petits réacteurs nucléaires américains vont de l'avant

AFPle 07 avr. 2024

L'annulation d'un projet majeur et la flambée des coûts représentent de nouveaux obstacles pour l'industrie naissante des petits réacteurs nucléaires américains, qui croit néanmoins toujours à de premières mises en service d'ici la fin de la décennie.

L'année 2023 s'est mal terminée pour les SMR (small modular reactor), réacteurs de nouvelle génération considérés comme l'avenir du secteur, avec l'annulation de la construction du site de la startup NuScale dans l'Idaho.

Son projet était d'autant plus scruté que son SMR était le seul à avoir été homologué par la Commission américaine de régulation du nucléaire (NRC).

Le désengagement de certaines collectivités et l'explosion de la facture estimée, passée de 5,3 à 9,3 milliards de dollars, ont eu raison de l'infrastructure.

"L'effondrement du projet de NuScale devrait annoncer la fin des SMR", exhortait même M.V Ramana, professeur à l'université canadienne de Colombie britannique (UBC), spécialisé dans la sécurité énergétique, dans une tribune publiée sur le site Utility Dive.

"C'est facile de se concentrer sur le négatif mais il y a eu aussi beaucoup de développements positifs" ces derniers mois, tempère Mason Lester, analyste de S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Il mentionne le site de Darlington, en Ontario (Canada), toujours sur les rails et dont l'échéance est la plus rapprochée en Amérique du Nord, avec une mise en service de réacteurs BWRX-300 de la société commune GE Hitachi prévue pour 2029.

"Sous réserve du feu vert des régulateurs, la construction nucléaire démarrera en 2025", indique à l'AFP l'opérateur Ontario Power Generation (OPG).

La Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), agence fédérale qui alimente en électricité plusieurs régions du sud des Etats-Unis, a également investi dans le développement du BWRX-300.

Le dossier NuScale "n'était qu'un projet" parmi d'autres, souligne John Kotek, de l'organisation professionnelle Nuclear Energy Institute.

Pour lui, "le problème n'était pas le coût initial du projet, mais le risque de le voir gonfler".

Pour éviter de nouvelles déconvenues, dit-il, "nous travaillons avec les élus pour trouver une manière de répartir les risques afin d'aider à franchir le palier de la construction des premiers modèles".

- "Standardiser" -

"Le prix de l'acier augmente, comme celui de l'uranium ou de la main d'oeuvre", reconnaît Marcia Burkey, directrice financière de la startup TerraPower, qui compte mettre en chantier son réacteur en juin sur le site d'une centrale à charbon en fin de vie, à Kemmerer (Wyoming).

"Donc je peux comprendre que les gens se disent: ça recommence avec le nucléaire", lesté par sa réputation de gouffre financier, dit la dirigeante.

"Mais nous sommes plus déterminés que jamais et nous espérons que l'innovation va nous permettre d'aller plus vite" et ainsi d'alléger la facture.

Egalement partenaire de GE Hitachi, TerraPower --soutenue par un groupe d'investisseurs, dont Bill Gates-- s'appuie sur la technologie dite des sels fondus, qui ne nécessite pas d'enceinte de confinement classique et qui requiert moins de matériaux et de main d'oeuvre, fait valoir Marcia Burkey.

Selon elle, les SMR veulent rompre avec l'industrie nucléaire traditionnelle américaine, qui n'est jamais parvenue à produire des réacteurs en série, à la différence de la France.

"Pour abaisser les coûts rapidement, il faut standardiser", insiste Mme Burkey.

Le Natrium de TerraPower ou le MMR (Micro-Modular Reactor) d'un autre nouveau venu, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC), ont été conçus pour être construits à la chaîne.

USNC table ainsi sur la fabrication de dix MMR par an dans son usine de Gadsden (Alabama), qui devrait ouvrir en 2027.

Si Chine et Russie disposent déjà chacune d'un SMR opérationnel, les Etats-Unis restent mieux positionnés que l'Europe dans la course aux petits réacteurs, selon Sylvain Cognet-Dauphin, de S&P Global Insights.

"Des discussions sont en cours et des projets ont été proposés, mais rien d'aussi avancé que pour (les fournisseurs d'électricité) OPG, TVA, ou d'autres" en Amérique du Nord, dit-il.

Sur le plan réglementaire, la Chambre des représentants a adopté fin février un texte accélérant l'examen des candidatures à l'homologation de SMR, qui doit maintenant être réconcilié avec une proposition similaire votée au Sénat.

"C'est un grand pas" vers la mise en service de petits réacteurs, considère Mason Lester.

Et, malgré la défection des collectivités dans le dossier NuScale, la demande émerge progressivement.

Mi-mars, Google, Microsoft et l'aciériste Nucor ont acté leur association dans l'achat d'énergie renouvelable, mentionnant notamment la technologie nucléaire de nouvelle génération.

De son côté, le fournisseur d'énergie PacifiCorp étudie actuellement l'intégration de plusieurs Natrium à son réseau.

"Il y a de l'intérêt mais, tant que ce n'est pas une réalité", décrit Sylvain Cognet-Dauphin, "cela reste un peu difficile. (...) Il faut faire la démonstration que ça marche."
https://www.connaissancedesenergies.org ... ant-240407

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 30 mars 2024, 16:21

Loan guarantee for Palisades restart

28 March 2024

The US Department of Energy Loan Programs Office has conditionally committed up to USD1.52 billion for a loan guarantee to Holtec Palisades for its project to bring the Palisades plant, which ceased operations in May 2022, back online. If the project proceeds, it will be the first nuclear power plant in the USA to return to commercial operations after being closed down.

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Holtec agreed to purchase the 800 MWe pressurised water reactor from then-owner and operator Entergy in 2018, ahead of the scheduled closure, for decommissioning. The acquisition was completed in June 2022, within weeks of the reactor's closure, and at that time Holtec planned to complete the dismantling, decontamination, and remediation of the plant by 2041. But the company then announced plans to apply for federal funding to enable it to reopen the plant, with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer amongst those pledging support for the move. The State of Michigan's Fiscal Year 2024 budget, signed by Whitmer in mid-2023, provides USD150 million in funding towards the plant's restart.

Responding to the loan guarantee announcement, Whitmer said reopening Palisades would protect 600 "good-paying, high-skill jobs" as well as "clean, reliable power" for 800,000 homes. "Once open, Palisades will be the first successfully restarted nuclear power plant in American history, driving USD363 million of regional economic impact and helping Michigan lead the future of clean energy," she said.

In October 2023, Holtec formally began the process of seeking reauthorisation from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to restart Palisades, having already signed a long-term power purchase agreement with the non-profit Wolverine Power Cooperative for the sale of the output from the restarted plant.

Subject to NRC approvals, the project aims to bring the plant back online and upgrade it to produce baseload clean power until at least 2051, the Department of Energy (DOE) said. Restarting the plant will avoid some 4.47 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, for a total of 111 million tonnes over the next 25 years.

"Nuclear power is our single largest source of carbon-free electricity, directly supporting 100,000 jobs across the country and hundreds of thousands more indirectly," said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. "President Biden's Investing in America agenda is supporting and expanding this vibrant clean energy workforce here in Michigan with significant funding for the Holtec Palisades nuclear power plant."

Holtec Palisades is the first project to be offered a conditional commitment through the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) programme under the US Inflation Reduction Act, a wide-ranging bill including clean energy, climate mitigation and resilience, agriculture, and conservation-related investment programmes which was signed into law in August 2022. The EIR programme can finance projects to repower existing energy infrastructure that has been non-operational, or enable operating infrastructure, to combat greenhouse gas emissions.
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https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... es-restart

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 23 mars 2024, 14:20

Uranium: face à la Russie, les USA changent de stratégie

Charly Hessoun 23/03/2024 La Nouvelle Tribune

Les tensions historiques entre les États-Unis et la Russie, héritées de la Guerre froide, continuent de façonner leur interdépendance économique, en particulier dans le domaine stratégique de l’uranium enrichi. Cette dépendance, accentuée par les accords post-Guerre froide, soulève des préoccupations majeures quant à la sécurité nationale américaine, exacerbées par la part significative de l’uranium enrichi fourni par la Russie pour alimenter les centrales nucléaires américaines. Face à cette réalité, les autorités américaines, dont Kathryn Huff, secrétaire adjointe à l’énergie nucléaire, alertent sur l’urgence de réduire cette dépendance, tandis que la Russie maintient sa position dominante dans l’enrichissement de l’uranium au niveau mondial.

Dans ce contexte, les États-Unis entament une réorientation stratégique visant à diminuer leur vulnérabilité énergétique vis-à-vis de la Russie. Avec une consommation d’uranium dépassant les 18 000 tonnes par an, principalement destinée à leurs plus de 90 réacteurs nucléaires, les États-Unis se trouvent dans une position délicate, leur production nationale ne couvrant actuellement que 10 % de ces besoins. La réactivation des mines d’uranium inactives et l’ouverture de nouvelles exploitations émergent comme des solutions vitales pour surmonter cette dépendance.

Pour concrétiser cette ambition, l’Association des producteurs d’uranium naturel des États-Unis indique que l’ouverture de 8 à 10 nouvelles mines majeures s’avère nécessaire. Le contexte actuel, marqué par un prix de l’uranium dépassant les 100 dollars la livre en janvier 2024, offre un terrain propice à la relance de cette industrie. Toutefois, les efforts déployés par cinq entreprises, bien qu’importants, semblent insuffisants pour inverser la tendance à court terme.

Cette stratégie s’inscrit dans une perspective plus large, où les enjeux de sécurité nationale se mêlent à des considérations environnementales et économiques. Réduire la dépendance envers l’uranium russe ne constitue pas seulement une réponse aux tensions géopolitiques, mais aussi un moyen de promouvoir une autonomie énergétique durable. L’initiative américaine pour relancer sa production d’uranium interne s’accompagne ainsi d’un impératif de responsabilité envers l’environnement et les communautés locales.

L’approche américaine reflète une prise de conscience aiguë des enjeux multidimensionnels associés à l’uranium. Au-delà de la réduction de la dépendance énergétique, elle vise à assurer une sécurité énergétique pérenne tout en respectant des principes de durabilité et de responsabilité sociale. Cette démarche, bien que complexe, est cruciale pour naviguer dans un environnement international incertain et pour préserver les intérêts stratégiques à long terme des États-Unis.
https://lanouvelletribune.info/2024/03/ ... strategie/

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 16 mars 2024, 15:30

Ur-Energy to 'build out' second Wyoming project
14 March 2024

Ur-Energy has announced a decision to "build out" the fully permitted and licensed Shirley Basin Project in Carbon County, Wyoming. The company recently made its first shipment of uranium from the restarted Lost Creek project.


The decision to build out Shirley Basin was based on the company's growing uranium sales contracts, a strong uranium market price, and an expectation of increasing uranium demand, the company said. Building out Shirley Basin will "nearly double" the company's annual permitted mine production capacity to 2.2 million pounds U3O8 (846 tU) while diversifying supply, CEO and Chairman John Cash said.

"We look forward to bringing in-situ mining technology back to its birthplace in Shirley Basin where it was pioneered beginning in 1963," he added. "The Shirley Basin Uranium District has a long, proud history and we are excited to bring the jobs back while responsibly operating."

The satellite plant at the Shirley Basin project will be a "relatively low-cost facility" consisting of ion exchange, wastewater and groundwater restoration circuits, with the capacity to produce up to 1.0 million pounds U3O8 per year, the company said. Ion exchange resin loaded with uranium from the mine will be shipped to the operating Lost Creek in-situ leach facility for processing before being recycled back into operations at Shirley Basin. This approach will help minimise costs, with initial facility capital costs of around USD24.4 million and pre-operational wellfield development costs of USD16.3 million.

The estimated time to finalise designs, order materials and construct the satellite plant and initial wellfield is approximately 24 months, Ur-Energy said. Work has already started on long-lead items and ion exchange vessels have already been designed and ordered.

Ur-Energy has been ramping up operations at Lost Creek over the past year since its decision in 2022 to restart operations, making its first shipment of U3O8 to the converter in February this year. The project produced a total of 22,278 pounds of drummed U3O8 in 2023; 2024's production had already reached some 32,000 pounds of drummed product as of 29 February.

Lost Creek has estimated measured and indicated mineral resources of 12.7 million pounds U3O8 and inferred resources of 6.1 million pounds, according to updated S-K 1300 reports filed by the company earlier this month. Shirley Basin is estimated to have mineral resources of 8.8 million pounds, all in the Measured and Indicated categories.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... ng-project

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 08 mars 2024, 23:21

suite de ce post du 2 dec 2023 http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 4#p2381054
First uranium shipped from enCore's Rosita plant
07 March 2024

EnCore Energy Corp has announced the first shipment of uranium from its Rosita Central Processing Plant in South Texas, which was returned to operation in November last year. The company also announced the signing of its fifth long-term supply contract.

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The Rosita Central Processing Plant (Image: enCore Energy)

The restart of the Rosita plant - which last produced yellowcake in 2008 - is the first step in enCore's South Texas in-situ leach uranium production pipeline strategy. The plant - about 60 miles from Corpus Christi, Texas - has undergone refurbishment since enCore acquired it in 2021. It has a capacity of 800,000 pounds U3O8 (308 tU) per year and is designed to process uranium feed from multiple satellite operations in the South Texas area.

EnCore said the initial shipment of uranium from the Rosita plant is expected to be delivered to a conversion facility next week. "This is followed by delivery of uranium to the utility customer under our sales contracts," enCore added.

The company has now executed its fifth commercial uranium sales contract, with a fourth US utility with deliveries between 2026 and 2032. enCore said the terms of the contract reflect the spot price at the time of delivery subject to pricing collars that ensure its revenue stream and allow for potential upside.

With this latest contract, enCore's existing commitment has increased to 4.25 million pounds U3O8 through to 2032, which it says is well under 50% of its planned production.
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https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... sita-plant

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 02 mars 2024, 15:30

Plans announced for pilot US nuclear fuel recycling plant

01 March 2024

Orano USA and SHINE Technologies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on the development of a US pilot plant with commercial-scale technology for recycling used nuclear fuel from light water reactors.

Site selection for the pilot facility is expected by the end of this year. The pilot plant concept - expected to recycle 100 tonnes per year of used nuclear fuel, extracting 99% of usable uranium and plutonium - will validate commercial-scale aqueous recycling with integrated non-proliferation measures.

The system is based on SHINE's proven critical separation technology and Orano's methods in operation at its La Hague facility in France, where more than 40,000 tonnes of used nuclear fuel have been reprocessed.

The recovered nuclear material can be made into new fuel for advanced and existing reactor designs, along with using certain critical isotopes for medical and industrial purposes.

"This MoU aligns two innovative companies in the single pursuit of recycling 100 metric tons a year of used nuclear fuel into a valuable resource," said Orano CEO Nicolas Maes. "For this initiative with SHINE, we bring more than 55 years of experience transporting and recycling used nuclear fuel in France and managing used fuel in the US."

"Our goal is to stand up an operational pilot facility by the early 2030s," added SHINE Technologies founder and CEO Greg Piefer. "While this is challenging, our track record with the Chrysalis facility shows that we know how to navigate the complex design, regulatory, and build aspects of 10 CFR part 50 nuclear facilities and do so cost-effectively. The lessons learned in the execution of that project are directly applicable to waste recycling, and uniquely position us for timely delivery on this important national priority.

"This agreement for closing the nuclear fuel cycle launches our company’s planned Phase 3 business along our path to ultimately achieving commercialised fusion energy."

SHINE's Chrysalis production facility, currently under construction in Janesville, Wisconsin, has a goal of creating the largest dedicated medical isotope production capacity in the world. At full capacity, it will produce nearly half of the global demand for molybdenum-99. A second facility planned in Veendam, the Netherlands, is expected to have a similar capacity.

This initial agreement between Orano and SHINE is seen as a first step in a broader coalition of companies focused on developing a national used nuclear fuel recycling industry.

"Two of the biggest challenges for increasing carbon-free nuclear energy are waste disposal and cost," the partners said. "This coalition aims to play a leading role in providing a cost-effective solution to nuclear energy growth by recycling and reusing used nuclear fuel, and by transforming long-lived radioactive waste into shorter-lived or stable materials."

Used nuclear fuel still contains more than 90% of its energy capacity when it is removed from the reactor. Globally, a few countries have chosen to recycle used fuel in what is termed a 'closed fuel cycle'. Although the USA originally developed the technology and began recycling used nuclear fuel in 1963, the programme ceased operation in 1972. Since then, the USA has an 'open fuel cycle', with used nuclear fuel stored in interim facilities at operating or closed nuclear reactor sites around the country for eventual disposal as waste in a future permanent geologic repository.

"Recycling used nuclear fuel into useful products will significantly reduce the mass, volume, and toxicity of the remaining nuclear material for permanent disposal," according to Orano and SHINE. "By helping to solve the used fuel problem, this coalition's new recycling programme will help fission nuclear energy grow and deliver carbon-free energy faster."

"It is time for the US to seriously consider recycling used nuclear fuel," said Orano USA CEO Jean-Luc Palayer. "Working together, SHINE and Orano will extract the valuable material for use in critical industrial applications and in creating new nuclear fuels for existing reactors and future advanced reactors."
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... l-recyclin

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 01 mars 2024, 23:02

IsoEnergy to reopen Utah uranium mine
01 March 2024

The Saskatoon-based company will reopen underground access at the Tony M uranium mine in Utah during the first half of this year, with the goal of restarting uranium production operations in 2025, should market conditions continue as expected.

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https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... anium-mine

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 17 févr. 2024, 19:24

L'énergéticien Constellation dépose une demande de prolongation de licence de 20 ans pour la centrale de Clinton dans l' IIlinois.
Constellation files Clinton licence renewal application

16 February 2024

The 20-year licence renewal would allow the Illinois nuclear power plant to continue providing carbon-free energy to the region until 2047 with adequate market or policy support, Constellation Energy Corp said.

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The Clinton plant (Image: NRC/Exelon)
Filing the licence renewal application with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) kicks off a comprehensive regulatory review process which will proceed along two tracks, one for the review of safety issues and another for environmental issues. The process involves site inspections, environmental reviews and public participation. This would be a first licence renewal for the single-unit boiling water reactor (BWR) unit, which entered commercial operation in 1987 and is currently licensed to operate until April 2027.

"Our nation desperately needs more new, clean, firm megawatts to power our homes, businesses, and new technologies to improve our everyday lives," Constellation President and CEO Joe Dominguez said. "This facility has operated 24/7 during the most extreme summer and winter weather to hit the Midwest in a generation, and we are doing everything possible to ensure it has the opportunity to continue to operate for another 20 years."

The continued operation of Clinton has been enabled by Illinois state legislation enacted in 2016 that recognises the unique environmental, economic and reliability benefits of nuclear energy, Constellation said, but added that future policy and market conditions will ultimately determine how long the plant operates. Federal nuclear production tax credits - announced in 2022 as one of the initiatives under the wide-ranging Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - provide policy support until 2032.

"Renewing the licence of Clinton would provide the State of Illinois an estimated 179 terawatt hours of additional carbon-free electricity over the 20-year extended lifespan of the licence," the company said. "This is more clean energy than all of Illinois' wind and solar facilities have produced to date."

The site employs 532 people and is the largest employer in De Witt County, where it is situated, and Dan Matthews, president of the Clinton School District Board and a member of the DeWitt County Board, said that as well as being the largest carbon-free electricity source in Central Illinois, it also provides a major boost to the economy. "The more than USD13 million in annual property taxes supports education and county services, and the large number of employees live here and spend money, which supports local business and creates additional jobs. The plant's relicensing is an important part of DeWitt County’s economic future," he said.

Constellation said the Clinton licence renewal application is the latest in a series of clean-energy investments, following its acquisition of a 44% stake in the South Texas Project nuclear plant, a USD800 million uprate project at the Braidwood and Byron nuclear plants in Illinois, and a USD350 million uprate of its Criterion Wind Project in Maryland.

It intends to file a second licence renewal for its two-unit Dresden nuclear power plant, also in Illinois, later this year. The Dresden BWR units have previously received a first licence renewal from the NRC and are currently licensed to operate until 2029 and 2031 respectively. They would have faced early permanent closure in November 2021 had Illinois not passed its policy reforms to support their continued operation.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... wal-applic

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 17 févr. 2024, 19:17

GNF gets approval to manufacture higher enrichment fuel

15 February 2024

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved GE Vernova's nuclear fuel business to manufacture, ship and analyse the performance of nuclear fuel with uranium-235 enrichments of up to 8%.

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GNF's plant is now authorised to manufacture fuel with 8% enrichment (Image: GE Vernova)

The NRC's licence amendment approval means that Global Nuclear Fuel's plant in Wilmington, North Carolina, is the first commercial facility in the USA licensed to fabricate fuel enrichments containing up to 8% by weight uranium-235 (U-235).

The regulator has issued a Certificate of Compliance allowing GNF to ship nuclear fuel bundles containing uranium enriched up to 8% using the company's RAJ-II shipping container. It has also approved licensing topical reports for advanced nuclear methods that enable GNF to analyse fuel with enrichments greater than 5% by weight.

U-235 is the main fissile isotope of uranium. Natural uranium contains about 0.7% U-235. Standard fuel used in today's operating light water reactors contains uranium enriched at various levels up to about 4.8% U-235, known as low-enriched uranium. But fuel containing slightly higher levels of enrichment - up to 10% U-235 - can potentially offer improved nuclear fuel cycle economics for currently operating reactors. Such fuel is sometimes referred to as higher-enriched fuel or LEU+.

Uranium fuel containing between 5% and 20% U-235 is known as high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel, or HALEU. Such fuels will be required to fuel many of the advanced reactors and small modular reactors that are now being developed.

"These regulatory milestones build on our long history of designing and fabricating fuel for the nuclear industry," Mike Chilton, GNF executive vice president, said. "We will continue to innovate to help our customers run their plants even more efficiently and be ready to support the next generation of reactor technology with reliable, flexible fuel products as the industry progresses to the use of higher enrichments."

These approvals were made possible in part by work GNF and GE Vernova's Advanced Research business have conducted for the US Department of Energy's Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) Program, the company said. Framatome, GE/GNF and Westinghouse have all been developing ATF concepts with DOE support. The NRC last year issued the first authorisation for US commercial reactor to use fuel with over 5% enrichment, allowing Southern Nuclear to use advanced nuclear fuel enriched up to 6% U-235 at Vogtle unit 2.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... enrichment

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 17 févr. 2024, 16:30

suite de ce post du 31 juillet 2023 http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 3#p2374693

Premier réaction en chaine dans le reacteur Vogtle 4.

Quand à Vogtle 3 il fête ses 6 mois de service commercial.

Vogtle Unit 4 reaches initial criticality

Image

February 14, 2024
Georgia Power announced today that Unit 4 at the Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Georgia, has safely reached initial criticality. Initial criticality is a key step during the startup testing sequence and demonstrates that -- for the first time -- operators have safely started the nuclear reaction inside the second reactor. This means atoms are being split and nuclear heat is being made, which will be used to produce steam.

A reactor achieves criticality when the nuclear fission reaction becomes self-sustaining. Achieving initial criticality is necessary to continue the startup of the unit in order to generate sufficient heat for the production of electricity. Vogtle Unit 4 continues with startup testing, which demonstrates the integrated operation of the primary coolant system and steam supply system at design temperature and pressure with fuel inside the reactor. These tests are designed to ensure all systems are operating together and to validate operating procedures prior to declaration of commercial operation.

Now that the Unit 4 reactor has reached criticality, operators will continue to raise power to support synchronizing the generator to the electric grid and begin producing electricity. Then, operators will continue increasing power through multiple steps, ultimately raising power to 100 percent.

Vogtle Unit 3 entered commercial operation on July 31, 2023, (read more) and is providing safe, reliable, emission-free energy to Georgia today. The in-service date for Unit 4 is projected during the second quarter of 2024.

The new Vogtle units are an essential part of Georgia Power's commitment to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy to its 2.7 million customers. When operating, each of the new units can produce enough electricity to power an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses. Southern Nuclear will operate the new units on behalf of the co-owners: Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, MEAG Power and Dalton Utilities.
https://www.georgiapower.com/company/ne ... ality.html

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 27 janv. 2024, 14:40

Forage de nouvelles chambres souterraines en dépot de sel pour l'entreposage de déchets radioactifs au Nouveau Mexique.
First new panel in a decade at US waste facility

26 January 2024

Work has started on mining a new panel at the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Panel 11 is the first of two waste emplacement panels approved last year by the New Mexico Environment Department as part of a 10-year extension of WIPP's operating permit.

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The continuous mining machine excavating Panel 11 at WIPP (Image: DOE Office of Environmental Management)

Mined out of an ancient salt formation more than 2000 feet (610 metres) below ground, WIPP is the USA's only repository for the disposal of transuranic, or TRU, waste. Clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris, soil and other items contaminated with small amounts of plutonium and other man-made radioactive elements from the US military programme in sealed drums are placed in "rooms" within each panel.

A panel consists of seven rooms, each measuring 300 feet long by 33 feet wide by 14 feet high. It takes about two years to cut and outfit a panel, requiring the mining of around 120,000 tons of salt rock. A continuous miner cuts into the salt rock with a rotating drum, and can generate 10 tonnes of salt per minute which is either trucked for use elsewhere in the underground facility or hoisted to a salt tailings pile on the surface.

The natural movement of the salt rock that will eventually permanently encapsulate the waste also causes mined openings to close, so mining at WIPP is timed so that a panel is only ready when it is needed for waste emplacement. Waste is currently being emplaced in Panel 8, where the first room - Room 7 - has already been filled.

The creation of new panels allows safe and compliant emplacement of waste to continue, supporting environmental cleanup and national security missions, the DOE said.

Panel 11 is connected to WIPP's new air intake shaft, constructed as part of a major investment project to increase airflow, and to the rest of the underground facility by around half a mile (just under a kilometre) of new pathways.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... e-facility

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 21 janv. 2024, 10:34

Global Uranium obtains key permit for US uranium project
The approval allows up to 20 new drill holes annually over the next five years.


January 19, 2024

Global Uranium and Enrichment (GUE) has received a notice of intent (NOI) from the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS) to commence prospecting operations at the Tallahassee Uranium Project.

The approval enables up to 20 new drill holes annually over the next five years, in line with the company’s application.

The NOI follows the conditional use permit (CUP) granted by the Fremont Board of County Commissioners, completing the necessary steps for GUE to begin its exploration activities.

The Hansen Deposit, discovered in 1977 within the project area, features a 13m interval of 1,600 parts per million triuranium octoxide (U3O8) and 100m of the favourable Echo Park sandstone.

Since the discovery, which revealed mineralisation in outcrop with limited drilling, approximately 1,000 drill holes have been completed across the Hansen and Picnic Tree Uranium Deposits.

The Hansen Deposit is characterised as a large, tabular sandstone deposit measuring 1,400m x 500m, formed in a fluvial-braided stream environment within a paleochannel.

The uranium mineralisation process involved uranium-bearing groundwater permeating the sandstone layers and depositing uranium minerals in carbon-rich areas.

The initial mine plan proposed predominantly open-pit mining, with underground mining to follow, and a one million tonne per annum conventional acid leach plant on the Taylor Ranch Property, expecting 95% metallurgical recoveries.

However, the uranium market collapse in 1982 put a halt to the development of the Hansen Project.

Looking ahead, GUE has outlined a work programme for 2024 at the Tallahassee Uranium Project, including drilling and a scoping study.

GUE managing director Andrew Ferrier said: “This is an important milestone for Global Uranium as it will allow us to conduct new exploration programmes that create a pathway towards unlocking more of the significant potential of the Tallahassee Uranium Project, which is already one of the largest undeveloped uranium projects in the United States.

“The next steps for the project will include preparations for the drill programme, launch of the drill programme mid-year, subsequent test work on the core and the execution of a scoping study.

“I would like to congratulate the team on the hard work conducted to achieve this permitting milestone. We look forward to working closely with Fremont County and the DRMS as we undertake future prospecting and exploration at the Tallahassee Uranium Project.”
https://www.mining-technology.com/news/ ... t/?cf-view

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 20 janv. 2024, 19:04

suite de ce post du 25 dec 2023 http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 4#p2382164

L' administration signe l' accès aux fond de 1.1 milliards de dollars pour l' aide à la continuation d'activité des 2 réacteurs de la centrale de Diablo Canyon en Californie.
US Administration signs off on federal funding for Diablo Canyon

19 January 2024

The US Administration has signed the credit award and payment agreement finalising the USD1.1 billion in credit payments awarded under the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) programme to help keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in operation.

The payments are through the Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) programme, a USD6 billion strategic investment under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help keep the USA's existing reactor fleet in operation. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) plant was conditionally awarded the credit in November 2022.

"Preserving the nation's nuclear fleet is critical not only to reaching America's clean energy goals, but also to ensuring that homes and businesses across the country have reliable energy," said Maria Robinson, director of the US Department of Energy's Grid Deployment Office. The announcement "demonstrates the Administration's commitment to domestic nuclear energy by preserving existing generation, while we continue to support a stronger nuclear power industry", she added.

The payments will be made in instalments over four years of operation from 2023, with the amounts adjusted to reflect factors including the actual costs of keeping the two-unit plant in operation. The first payment, to be made in 2025, will be based on the operation of the plant in 2023 and 2024.

While nuclear power currently provides nearly 50% of the USA's carbon-free electricity, shifting energy markets and other economic factors have resulted in the early closures of some 13 of the country's commercial reactors since 2012. The CNC programme - part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed by President Joe Biden in November 2021 - aims to address those challenges by allocating credits to "certified" reactors which can show that they are projected to close for economic reasons and that closure will lead to a rise in air pollutants and carbon emissions.

PG&E had agreed in 2016 that the two-unit Diablo Canyon plant would close at the end of its current licences - in 2024 for unit 1 and 2025 for unit 2. At that time, it was thought that the plant's output would no longer be required as California focused on an energy policy centred on efficiency, renewables and storage. However, in September 2022 - as California's energy grid saw its highest-ever peak demand during a record-breaking heatwave - the state passed a law allowing the two nuclear units that provide 9% of California's power generation to continue operation.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... unding-for

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 20 janv. 2024, 18:57

suite de ce post du 14 juillet 2023 http://www.oleocene.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 7#p2373497
UEC to restart Wyoming uranium operation

17 January 2024

First uranium production at Christensen Ranch is expected in August after Uranium Energy Corp's (UEC) board of directors approved restarting the fully permitted and past-producing in-situ leach (ISL) operation - the output will be sold at prevailing spot market prices.

Image
Inside the Christensen Ranch satellite plant (Image: UEC)

Uranium recovered from Christensen Ranch will be processed at the fully operational Irigaray Central Processing Plant. Irigaray, with a licensed capacity of 2.5 million pounds U3O8 (962 tU) per year, is the hub at the centre of the company's Wyoming hub-and-spoke project which includes eleven satellite ISL projects, four of which are fully permitted.

First production will be funded with existing cash on the company's balance sheet and, in line with UEC's strategy to remain 100% unhedged, will be sold at prevailing spot market prices, the company said.

"This is the moment we have been working towards for over a decade," UEC President and CEO Amir Adnani said. "Uranium market fundamentals are the best the industry has witnessed, and various supply shocks have accelerated the bull market with recent prices eclipsing the USD100 per pound level. With this exciting backdrop, we are pleased to announce our production restart in Wyoming."

Initiatives to resume production are also being advanced at the company's South Texas hub-and-spoke platform, he added.

Extensive preparations, including the re-installation of equipment, re-attachment of piping and a variety of electrical testing, repairs and upgrades to the existing facilities, were completed at the Christensen Ranch wellfields and satellite processing plant last year. Work has also progressed on a detailed wellfield startup plan, drilling to identify additional resources, and submittal of an application to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality to expand the Irigaray processing plant's licensed capacity to 4 million pounds U3O8 per year.

UEC took ownership of Irigaray and the orebodies in the Wyoming hub-and-spoke operation, including Christensen Ranch, through its 2021 acquisition of Uranium One Americas Inc from Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom. According to information from the US Energy Information Administration, Christensen Ranch and the Irigaray plant - together known as the Willow Creek project - have been on standby since last operating in 2018.

Operations will initially resume at mine units 7, 8 and 10, UEC said. The company will "in the coming months" provide further information on expected volumes for the first year of production, but is currently focused on the hiring and training of additional operations personnel to augment the company's existing team. It anticipates that new hires will be from local communities.

UEC's Wyoming projects contain total measured and indicated uranium resources of 66.198 million pounds U3O8, with total inferred resources of 15.54 million pounds.
https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Arti ... -operation

Re: [Nucléaire] Relance du nucléaire aux USA.... ou pas ?

par energy_isere » 14 janv. 2024, 12:16

Laramide Resources Ltd. annonce les résultats positifs d'une évaluation économique préliminaire indépendante pour le projet d'uranium in situ Churchrock, qu'elle détient à 100 %, au Nouveau-Mexique (É.-U.)

Le 11 janvier 2024

Laramide Resources Ltd. a annoncé les résultats positifs d'une évaluation économique préliminaire indépendante pour le projet d'uranium in situ Churchrock, qu'elle détient à 100 % et qui est situé au Nouveau-Mexique (États-Unis). L'évaluation économique préliminaire a été préparée par SLR International Corporation, conformément aux exigences de l'instrument national 43-101. Le projet Churchrock se compose de deux groupes de parcelles de propriété, Churchrock et Crownpoint, séparées par une distance d'environ 22 miles. Une seule licence de la Commission américaine de réglementation nucléaire (US NRC) (SUA-1580) couvre certaines parties de Churchrock et de Crownpoint et est en cours de renouvellement.

D'autres renouvellements de la licence de la NRC et d'autres permis, notamment un permis d'injection dans l'aquifère de l'État du Nouveau-Mexique, seront nécessaires avant que les activités de production puissent commencer. Cette EEP évalue la récupération du minerai d'uranium par des méthodes ISR sur le site de Churchrock et le traitement dans une nouvelle installation proposée sur le site voisin de Crownpoint, où une infrastructure de projet importante existe déjà. L'objectif de cette EEP est d'évaluer les critères d'ingénierie, de développement et de conception opérationnelle, ainsi que les mérites économiques et techniques globaux des opérations de récupération minérale ISR proposées à Churchrock.

Le tableau 1 résume l'estimation des ressources minérales du projet (par section) préparée par SLR, sur la base des données des trous de forage disponibles au 30 septembre 2017, avec une date d'entrée en vigueur au 16 mai 2023. Des ressources minérales totalisant 33,9 millions de tonnes à une teneur moyenne de 0,075 % eU3O8 contenant 50,8 millions de livres U3O8 (présumées) ont été déclarées en 2017. L'estimation des ressources minérales de Churchrock a été basée sur les résultats de plusieurs campagnes historiques de forage rotatif de surface entre 1957 et 1991 et réalisée en utilisant la méthode des contours GT, une norme industrielle pour l'estimation des gisements d'uranium de type roll-front hébergés dans des grès saturés d'eau souterraine.

Il a été démontré précédemment que la minéralisation du projet se prêtait aux techniques ISR. Aucune réserve minérale n'a été estimée pour le projet.
https://www.zonebourse.com/cours/action ... -45723644/

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