Actions to mitigate risks to the USA's domestic uranium supply chain could be better planned and coordinated, according to a report published yesterday by the US Government Accountability Office. Improving cost estimates to support future funding requests for the proposed uranium reserve is one of several recommendations by the GAO to improve the strategy to address concerns expressed by domestic uranium industry and support new uranium production.

China's first ship for the transport of used nuclear fuel has been delivered to China National Nuclear Corporation. The independently produced double-hulled vessel meets the INF-3 (Irradiated Nuclear Fuel class 3) standards set by the International Maritime Organisation.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturer subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, have signed a supplementary agreement to the fuel supply contract for the VVER-1000 reactors in operation at Kudankulam. The agreement includes the introduction of TVS-2M nuclear fuel and an extension of the fuel cycle from 12 to 18 months.

Framatome has announced that 3D-printed fuel assembly channel fasteners manufactured at the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a joint project with Tennessee Valley Authority are to be loaded into a US commercial reactor for the first time. The project is part of the laboratory's Transformational Challenge Reactor programme. The four components will be loaded into TVA's Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in early 2021.

The process of loading a total of 177 fuel assemblies into the core of the Karachi 2 reactor in Pakistan began on 28 November, China National Nuclear Corporation announced today. The Chinese-designed Hualong One reactor is scheduled for commercial operation next year.

Russia’s Siberian Chemical Combine has produced more than 1000 experimental fuel elements based on mixed uranium-plutonium nitride fuel during its eight years of participation in the Proryv (Breakthrough) project. Fuel elements of various standard sizes and structural materials were manufactured in order to find and justify the optimal configuration, SCC said in a 13 November statement.

The first canister of used nuclear fuel was yesterday loaded into the Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility (ISF-2) at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine. ISF-2 is the largest dry-type used fuel storage facility in the world and has an operating life of at least 100 years.

Fiscal 2021 allocations released yesterday by the US Senate Committee on Appropriations include USD150 million to initiate the uranium reserve programme to address challenges to the production of domestic uranium. The bills provide appropriations for the fiscal year running from 1 October, 2020 to 30 September, 2021 and also include continued funding for the Advanced Reactors Demonstration Program.

Terrestrial Energy and the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have begun detailed testing of the fuel salt for Terrestrial's Integral Molten Salt Reactor. The IMSR uses two molten salt streams - a fuel salt that contains the uranium and another salt to transfer heat from the reactor to the electricity generation system.

BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Inc has completed its TRISO nuclear fuel line restart project and is actively producing fuel at its facility in Lynchburg, Virginia, BWX Technologies, Inc has announced. TRISO - standing for TRIstructural-ISOtropic - particles contain a spherical kernel of enriched uranium oxycarbide surrounded by layers of carbon and silicon carbide, which contains fission products.

Fuel elements produced by Framatome using 3D printing technology have completed the first cycle of irradiation at the Gösgen nuclear power plant in Switzerland. These experimental stainless steel and nickel-based alloy components were installed in the 1010 MWe pressurised water reactor in 2019 for a five-cycle programme as part of a qualification project. Framatome said the fuel elements irradiated in the Gösgen plant will be further examined to confirm behaviour in real operating conditions.

Holtec International's canister-based dry used fuel storage technology is set to be deployed in Japan following its signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy. Holtec said its technology provides an alternative option to the technologies currently used in Japan.