The UK government has earmarked Wylfa in north Wales as the site of a large-scale nuclear power station as it pushes ahead with ambitious plans for the biggest expansion of nuclear power for 70 years. Wylfa on the island of Anglesey – Ynys Môn in Welsh – has been named as the preferred site for the UK’s third major nuclear power station in a generation, coming after EDF’s Hinkley Point C, which is under construction in Somerset, and its Sizewell C nuclear project planned for Suffolk. The government said that it is already in discussion with major energy companies interested in building a nucle ..read more

Uganda is reviewing its potential to produce uranium to support its plans for its first nuclear power plants as it moves to diversify its sources of electricity and accelerate its energy transition, a key part of its climate change response. Phiona Nyamutoro, the central African nation’s minister of state for energy and mineral development, said Uganda’s plans to develop nuclear power plants will require nuclear fuel. “To this effect, uranium exploration is ongoing in the country with the aim of discovering uranium deposits for sustainable nuclear fuel supply,” she said on social media ..read more

The UK has unveiled a roadmap for developing a skilled workforce for its nuclear energy sector which aims to increase the industry’s available workforce by almost 50%, including recruiting 40,000 new jobs by 2030. The National Nuclear Strategic Plan for Skills, which is backed by the UK government, aims at attracting new talent to the UK nuclear energy industry, and upskilling current industry professionals to boost retention in the sector. Addressing the nuclear skills gap will be pivotal as the UK strives to become a global leader in the nuclear sector, the government said in a statement ..read more

The Olkiluoto-3 nuclear power plant in Finland returned to electricity production on 16 May after a first annual service outage that lasted twice as long as originally planned. Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO), owner and operator of the 1,575-MW EPR unit, said the plant was synchronised to the national grid and was “technically ready for a power increase”. The outage was scheduled to take 37 days, but lasted for 74 days and 9 hours. TVO said delays were due to the shutdown process and preparations for refuelling taking longer than expected, and because of technical problems identified during maint ..read more

The Slovak government is set to approve the development of an additional 1,200 MW nuclear power unit, according to prime minister Robert Fico. Speaking at a recent news conference, Fico revealed that the government could make a decision on laying the groundwork for the project at a meeting scheduled for 15 May. “We have an agreement that Slovakia – the state – has an interest in building, under state ownership, one massive nuclear unit with an output of up to 1,200 MW,” he said. He did not say where then new unit would be built ..read more

France’s state utility EDF said it has signed “green bank loans” for €5.8bn ($6.3bn) which will be used to finance the life extension of its existing nuclear power plant fleet in France. EDF said the loans, which have maturities of between 3 and 5 years, have been arranged with banks, including BNP Paribas, Bank of America, Crédit Agricole CIB, ING, Natixis CIB, Société Générale and Wells Fargo. EDF noted that the investments in the extension of the operation of its reactors “are aligned with the European taxonomy”. In July 2022, the European Parliament voted to include certain nuclear activit ..read more

The first of eight 520-tonne steam generators for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, southwest England, has been delivered to the site after arriving by sea and road. The 25m long steam generators will take heat from the nuclear reactors to create steam to power the world’s largest turbines. The generator’s arrival is in time for the fit-out of the new power station, which will see the first nuclear reactor installed later this year, EDF Energy said in a statement on 13 May ..read more

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency are in negotiations on efforts to expand nuclear safeguards inspections on the country’s nuclear assets, but bilateral talks in Tehran on 6 and 7 May have not yet produced results. “Iran has to deliver on the joint [civil nuclear safeguards] statement from [March] last year, but the process slowed down after a long period of not talking directly to each other, which was negative”, IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi said at a press conference in the central Iranian city of Isfahan on 7 May. “Our aims are to engage and achieve concrete results fro ..read more

The UK nuclear regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), has granted a site licence for the planned 3,200-MW Sizewell C new nuclear power station in the county of Suffolk in eastern England, according to its statement on 7 May. “I am pleased to confirm that following extensive engagement and review by the ONR team, our assessment of the Sizewell C application is complete and a nuclear site has been licence granted,” said ONR’s chief nuclear inspector, Mark Foy. The “licensing process is fundamental in confirming that operators of a nuclear site are ready and able to meet their obliga ..read more

South Korea’s state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) said on Monday (6 May) it had signed an agreement with Canada’s Candu Energy to speed up the preparations to compete for a refurbishment project for Unit 1 at the Cernavodă nuclear power station in Romania. KHNP said it signed the infrastructure engineering services contract with Candu in line with their goal to participate in the retubing and refurbishment project at Cernavodă-1, a Canada-designed 650-MW Candu 6 unit that began commercial operation in 1996. The project centres on replacing key components and building infrastructur ..read more