Incorporating a circuit to produce by-product base metals has the potential to improve the "already strong" uranium economics of the Mulga Rock project in Western Australia, Vimy Resources CEO Mike Young says. Vimy plans to complete an assessment of the potential impact of the base metals plant during the first half of this year.

Lead assemblies of Framatome's GAIA Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel have completed their first 18-month fuel cycle at a US nuclear power plant. This is the first time a full-length EATF concept with both pellets and cladding has completed a fuel cycle in a reactor.

Kaztomprom has issued preliminary 2020 production figures of 19,477 tU (on a 100% basis), which is 15% down on its 2019 output of 22,808 tU. Production volumes for the fourth quarter and for 2020 were significantly lower, related to the expected impact of the pandemic and the company’s decreased wellfield development activity, as well as lower staff levels in April-July 2020. Guidance for 2021 is 22,500-22,800 tU (100% basis).

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review a topical report on Westinghouse Advanced Doped Pellet Technology Fuel, which the company has said is a major achievement for the advanced fuel portfolio it is developing as part of its EnCore fuel programme.

Processing operations at Energy Resources of Australia's Ranger mine ended today in accordance with legislative and regulatory requirements. The mine, which is in the Northern Territory, was Australia's longest continually operating uranium producer.

Sufficient uranium resources exist to support the long-term, sustainable use of nuclear energy, according to the latest edition of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency joint report on uranium resources, production and demand. However, the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and recent reductions in uranium production and exploration could affect available supplies.

"The US uranium mining industry has the personnel and yellowcake processing plants on standby, and is ready to expand into new areas with discoveries that will provide hundreds of years of available uranium resources from a variety of secure sources," says Michael D. Campbell, chairman of the Uranium (Nuclear & REE) Committee of the Energy Minerals Division of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). "So let the drilling and processing begin."

Production at the Cigar Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, will be temporarily suspended over the coming weeks due to the increasing risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Cameco announced today. The pandemic earlier prompted a five-month suspension of production from the Cigar Lake mine from March.

TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturer subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, has loaded a batch of fresh fuel, including 18 fuel bundles of its new modification, into unit 3 of the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary. The new fuel will be introduced at all four units operating at Paks, with the number of new-modification bundles in each refuelling to be increased gradually.

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.

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.

Ukraine's Ministry of Energy yesterday held a meeting with representatives from Energoatom, state uranium mining concerns, trade unions, people's deputies and others to resolve issues related to the production and supply of uranium from the country's uranium mines. According to the national Ukrinform news agency, all uranium mining by state enterprise VostokGOK was suspended on 7 December.