RW Monitor
11/6/2015
AREVA Enters Into Potential Partnership with China National Nuclear Corporation
AREVA this week signed a memorandum of understanding with partner China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) that could give the Chinese company a minority stake in the French nuclear group.
The partnership would cover all nuclear fuel cycle activities, encompassing uranium mining, front end, recycling, logistics, decommissioning, and dismantling, according to an AREVA press release. This move does not involve the reactor business that French energy provider EDF is purchasing from AREVA, according to the statement. The proposed partnership would follow the framework set by the French-Chinese joint declaration on June 30.
“This project offers numerous opportunities for both AREVA and CNNC. Strengthening the cooperation with our Chinese partners is an integral factor for AREVA’s future success,” AREVA Board Chairman Philippe Varin said during the ceremony.
Holtec, Ukrainian Company Sign MOU for Nuclear Fuel Storage Casks
Holtec International on Monday announced that it had signed a deal for a Ukrainian company to build storage casks for a facility being built by the U.S. energy technology specialist in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
The memorandum of understanding between Holtec and Turboatom was signed last week, according to a Holtec press release. The deal calls for Turboatom to initially supply 94 Holtec-engineered HI-STORM 190 vertical ventilated casks. “Expansion of the cooperation agreement to supply casks to the countries in the region over time is also contemplated,” the release says.
Holtec in 2005 obtained the contract to build the Central Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility, which, after some delays, is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018. The site will store VVER fuel from Ukraine’s nine reactors in Holtec-provided vertical ventilated systems, the press release says.
Canadian Companies Sign Medical Isotope MOU
Two Canadian companies announced last week that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to ensure a fresh, ongoing supply of medical-grade cobalt 60.
Ontario atomic energy provider Bruce Power already partners with medical isotope specialist Nordion for production of cobalt 60 used for sterilizing medical equipment. The new MOU will expand that collaboration to encompass high specific activity cobalt 60, which is currently produced in limited amounts worldwide for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, according to a Bruce Power press release.
Nordion for more than 60 years has largely obtained its medical-grade cobalt from the National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River, Ontario, which is also a key provider of the isotopes molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m. The Canadian government is scheduled next year to halt funding for the reactor, which Bruce Power said has only a few years remaining in its operational life.
Terms of the agreement were not made public.
U.K. LLW Site Aims to Expand Disposal Capacity
The operator of the United Kingdom’s national low-level radioactive waste disposal site said this week it has filed an application for construction of three additional disposal vaults.
LLW Repository Ltd. said vaults would be used to dispose of waste in "specially grouted containers." The company noted that it has also recently received authorization from the U.K. Environment Agency to continue waste disposal at the site near the village of Drigg in West Cumbria.
If approved, construction of the first vault could begin in 2016 and be completed in four years, according to a LLWR press release. The application also seeks approval for stacking waste containers higher in an existing vault and for disposal of containers in a vault currently only approved for storage.
LLWR Managing Director Dennis Thompson expressed hope in the release that the planning application would be approved in early 2016, "and we will then be in a position to press ahead."
The company ultimately aims to build 14 vaults at the site. "We plan to develop the site to its full capacity, which will allow us to accommodate all the forecasted low level waste arisings well in to the next century," Thompson said.
