Jamaica Inks MOU with AECL and Canadian Nuclear Lab

Jamaica has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Canadian firms Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Ltd and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd for the purpose of diversifying its energy sources to include nuclear energy.

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the Jamaican Gleaner newspaper that, while Jamaicans won’t see the real benefits for another decade, there would still be an immediate benefit, as the country will be able to have Jamaicans study with the experts in Canada.

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“The purpose of this memorandum of understanding is not just to explore possibilities but to bring possibilities to life. This is not a symbolic signing, this is not public relations. This is about Jamaica exploring technology, embracing technology for its economic development. The MOU will provide knowledge and skills for Jamaicans.”

Describing the signing as a pivotal moment in Jamaica’s energy transformation, Holness said, “It’s about putting us in a position to take advantage of the future. The future may not materialize, but you will have skills that you could use for other things.”

Holness pointed out that, with Jamaica depending on fossil fuels to supply 85% cent of its energy needs, it leaves the country vulnerable to external shocks and global oil and natural gas price fluctuations.

“Of course, there are those who are going to say, why not wait until this technology is mature,” Holness told World Nuclear News.

“The problem is that anything that has to do with nuclear requires a long period of time and it requires the development of local capabilities. If you don’t do it now, then not only will you have to import the capital and the actual small modular nuclear reactor, you’re going to have to import the technological skills and expertise as well, which will increase the cost of deployment.”

Jamaica’s electricity source is mainly from fossil fuels, with a small percentage coming from solar power, wind and natural gas.

Holness said Jamaica’s interest lies in small modular reactors. The smaller size enables an SMR to be transported more easily to a location for installation.

The MOU strengthens what has been a growing relationship between the two nations, which has included a visit to the AECL Chalk River Laboratories last October from Andrew Holness, Jamaica’s Prime Minister, members of his cabinet and leading government officials responsible for the country’s clean energy portfolio.

As part of the MOU, the organizations have identified a list of focus areas that interests both parties and leverages their unique strengths, including Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), hydrogen sciences, medical isotopes, radioactive waste management, and environmental monitoring, among others.

The agreement also establishes opportunities for cooperation that will be considered as the relationship moves forward, such as the delivery of joint research projects and programs, the sharing of scientists, engineers and other professionals, and the exchange of scientific and technical information.

Nuclear energy is not new to Jamaica. The country’s first nuclear research reactor, SLOWPOKE-2, a pool type reactor designed by Atomic Energy of Canada, was installed at The University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus back in 1984 and has been used in research in several areas. It is the Caribbean’s first and only nuclear reactor.

Daryl Vaz, minister of science, energy, telecommunication and transport, who has portfolio responsibility for the project, hailed it as “a significant milestone in Jamaica’s journey towards sustainable energy development.”

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Vietnam To Include Nuclear In Energy Plans

Hanoi abandoned earlier Moscow-backed plans in 2016

(NucNet) Vietnam plans to amend its national power development program to include options to develop nuclear power and hydrogen, according to the country’s minister of industry and trade. Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Industry & Trade, told a parliament session that plans will also boost the integration of renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

Reuters reported that Vietnam’s energy plans, which were approved in May 2023, aim to raise the country’s total installed power generation capacity to over 150 GW by 2030 from more than 80 GW at the end of 2023. The amendment to the power plan is intended to “fully tap the country’s energy potential and remain proactive in energy supplies.”

In 2009 Vietnam had planned to build two nuclear power stations with a combined capacity of about 4,000 MW in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan, but the National Assembly rejected the proposal in 2016 on cost grounds. Another key limiting factor was that the country did not have the technical expertise nor the skilled workforce to build new full size nuclear reactors.

The reactors were intended to supply power for planned aluminum smelters to allow Vietnam to develop a finished (manufactured) aluminum products export program instead of shipping lower value raw bauxite.

At the time, Hanoi chose Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and Japan Atomic Power Company to build the stations, and signed a deal to borrow $8 billion (€7.4bn) from Russia for building the first facility. Construction was initially scheduled to begin in 2014. Both deals collapsed due to concerns about costs.

Reuters also reported that Vietnam officials have discussed “small, modern nuclear reactors” with countries including South Korea, Canada, and Russia.

Vietnam Signs 1-2-3 Agreement with U.S.

In October 2014 a civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the US and Vietnam went into effect.. It opens the door for US nuclear vendors to export nuclear equipment to that country which plans to build eight nuclear reactors to provide electricity for its growing manufacturing and also to power up exploitation of its aluminum deposits.

Significantly, the agreement does not ban uranium enrichment. The Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment’s Department of Geology & Minerals has previously undertaken evaluation of a uranium deposit in Quang Nam province which is believed to have about 7000 tU in 0.05% ore. Canadian company NWT Uranium Corp was asked in 2010 to help assess prospects.

In 2017 Vietnam has identified three areas in the northern and central highlands regions which are most likely to house uranium ores. The areas include Pia Oach in northern Cao Bang province, Tuyen Lam Lake in central highlands Da Lat city, and Dinh Van in central highlands Lam Dong province. The Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment reported the prospecting results to Chinese news media.

So far no American nuclear firms have indicated interest in building nuclear power plants, large or small, in Vietnam. Lightbridge and GE Hitachi previously have provided training for future nuclear workers in Vietnam. Japan and Russia have offered generous financial terms to build reactors in Vietnam, but there is no indication at this time that a tender, much less contract awards, are likely soon.

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India Plans Fleet of 40-50 220MW PHWRs

The Department of Atomic Energy and Tata Consulting Engineers are redesigning the PHWRs to develop the Bharat Small Modular Reactor.
The smaller reactors will provide electricity for private sector firms and in areas that have limited grid capacity or to support microgrids in remote areas.

India aims to deploy 40-50 small modular nuclear reactors, mostly to replace captive thermal power plants, as it aims to achieve the goal of net-zero emissions by 2070. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), a public sector enterprise under the Department of Atomic Energy, will construct, manage and operate the 220 MW PHWRs for private sector customers.

Firms in the private sector will provide the funding and land for the project. This marks the first time nuclear power—previously under exclusive government control—will be accessible to private companies for commercial use.

A top industry official told the Hindu newspaper last August that the 220-MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) was being redesigned using 3D design platforms with an aim to achieve a high degree of standardization that would allow easy deployment, even in old thermal power plants used by the steel, aluminum, copper and the cement industries.

India will source all of the materials, components, and systems for the PHWRs from domestic firms along with domestic skill trades to build the plants.

Amit Sharma, the managing director and CEO of Tata Consulting Engineers, told the Indian news media, “We are going to take the old design of the PHWR and then reconfigure and redesign it to be modular, scalable and safety-aligned to post-Fukushima standards,”

Sharma said in the case of small modular reactors (SMRs), the plan was to make 40-50 reactors in less than seven to eight years but added that it required a high degree of standardization, safety and modularity.

Presenting the Union budget last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government would partner with the private sector to set up Bharat Small Reactors and in the research and development of SMRs. She had said the government would also partner with the private sector for research and development of newer technologies for nuclear energy.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited has a plan to build 16 220-MWe PHWRs, two 540-MWe PHWRs and 12 700-MWe PHWRs. Fourteen more PHWRs of 700 MWe capacity each are under various stages of implementation and are expected to be commissioned progressively by 2031-32. In its profile of India’s nuclear program, WNA notes that not all planned reactors are likely to be built.

Tata Consulting Engineers has been associated with the Department of Atomic Energy for several decades and has an 85% market share in engineering services in the nuclear sector and is implementing several power projects.

Sharma said the mention of SMRs by the finance minister in her budget speech clearly showed the strong commitment to energy transition.

“To be honest, the only viable long-term solution for net zero is nuclear. I think nuclear is the bet; globally, everybody recognizes it.”

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Larsen & Toubro Partners with Clean Core Thorium Energy for Nuclear Power

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE), a US-based advanced nuclear fuel company, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on providing efficient solutions globally in clean energy through the CCTE’s patented ANEEL fuel (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life). The ANEEL fuel will promote clean energy, non-proliferation, enhanced safety, decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries and circular economy.

At a signing ceremony held in Mumbai, L&T and CCTE jointly stated that the mission of this partnership is to accelerate nuclear power deployment globally, particularly in developing countries which require large amount of carbon-free electricity for their growth.

Anil Parab, L&T Senior Executive Vice President, said, “In view of increasing demand for nuclear energy across the globe, we are in the process of identifying new opportunities to offer ‘One Stop Solutions’ to our customers. Establishing a world-class supply chain for ANEEL fuel, by leveraging L&T’s manufacturing prowess, is a step in that direction. L&T will support CCTE within the purview of the Indian legal framework.”

Mr. Mehul Shah, Founder and CEO of CCTE, said: “In partnering with a market leader like L&T with specialized expertise in engineering and manufacturing, we can realize our vision of sustainable clean and safe energy through the deployment of ANEEL™ fuel globally. This partnership will activate Indo-US civil nuclear co-operation signed back in 2008.”

Clean Core has also been actively partnering and engaging with key industry players including regulators, utilities and suppliers to achieve the successful commercialization of the ANEEL fuel by 2026.

Fuel Testing and Qualification

Under a Strategic Partnership Project Agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE), CCTE’s ANEEL fuel is currently undergoing accelerated irradiation testing and qualification in the Advanced Test Reactor at Idaho National Lab, and is on its way to achieving planned burn-up targets of up to 60 GWd/T.

The ANS News Wire and INL jointly reported last April that that in 2022, Clean Core announced a strategic partnership project agreement with INL to design and execute an irradiation experiment to assess the performance of Clean Core’s fuel, named ANEEL for “advanced nuclear energy for enriched life.”

After receiving more than 300 ANEEL fuel pellets fabricated by Texas A&M University’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, INL developed an irradiation test plan, performed pre-irradiation characterization of the fuel pellets, designed and fabricated the experiment hardware and test trains, assembled the test trains, and inserted the experiment into the ATR.

The CCTE-ANEEL-1A irradiation experiment, announced by Clean Core last April, will target levels of high-burnup currently unreachable by traditional CANDU and PHWR fuels. Irradiation is planned to reach burnup targets of up to 60 gigawatt-days per metric ton. As each successive burnup target is achieved, test capsules containing irradiated ANEEL pellets will be sent to INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex for destructive and nondestructive post-irradiation examination.

According to Clean Core, the thorium in ANEEL fuel could help PHWRs realize improved performance, including decreased life-cycle operating costs, reduced high-level waste volumes, increased safety margins, and proliferation resistance.

About ANEEL Fuel

ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life) was developed and patented by Mehul Shah, Founder and CEO of Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE). This fuel combines Thorium and High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU).

According the the CCTE collaborating research team at Texas A&M University, in the Nuclear Engineering and Science Center (NESC), the ANEEL fuel is made of thorium and enriched uranium developed for use in Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR), Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) Reactors and Advanced Nuclear Reactors.

Using thorium as the main ingredient also has many advantages in these existing reactors. With its higher melting point and lower internal operating temperature, thorium is inherently safer than uranium, making a core meltdown less likely.

Due to the higher fuel burn-up possible with ANEEL, waste is decreased substantially. Higher fuel burn-up also means more uranium and plutonium are burned to make energy while the end product is significantly denatured, reducing the possible proliferation of the used fuel. Thorium is also found more abundantly than uranium on Earth and can be extracted readily from seawater, making it a renewable energy source.

Proliferation-resistant ANEEL fuel is expected to significantly reduce life-cycle operating costs and the waste produced (by over 85% while improving safety due to its Accident- Tolerant Fuel characteristics). Also, the ANEEL fuel will offer added advantage of energy security by large scale deployment of thorium and reduce uranium consumption.

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Westinghouse Extends Key Contract to Build AP1000® Reactors in Bulgaria

Westinghouse Electric Company announced it signed an extension to the current Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) contract with Bulgaria’s Kozloduy NPP-Newbuild for two 1150 MW AP1000 reactors. This extension builds on the progress being made on the Kozloduy expansion project, as well as the support Westinghouse is providing for nuclear fuel diversification and operations at Kozloduy.

Westinghouse was awarded the FEED contract in June 2023 to assess the initial readiness of Bulgarian industry and the existing infrastructure at the Kozloduy site to support the construction of two AP1000 units. Once completed, the next step in the Kozloduy project is the Engineering Services Contract, which will kick off the design, licensing, training, project management, and site planning process ahead of the subsequent construction contract.

Earlier this year, Westinghouse supported the diversification of Bulgaria’s nuclear fuel supply by delivering and reloading the first VVER-1000 fuel assemblies at Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) under a 10-year supply contract. The VVER-1000 fuel was successfully loaded into KNPP Unit 5.

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Deep Atomic Launches SMR for Data Centers

(WNN) The MK60 small modular reactor design, developed specifically to provide power and cooling to data centers, has been unveiled by Deep Atomic.

The MK60 is a light water small modular reactor (SMR) incorporating multiple passive safety systems. Deep Atomic says it is “compact, scalable, and built on a foundation of proven technology.”

Each unit generates up to 60 MWe and provides an additional 60 MW of cooling capacity through its “integrated data center-centric design approach”.

The company – headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland with offices in the UK and South Africa – says the reactor is well-suited to various types of data centers, including those supporting traditional cloud services, cryptocurrency operations, and AI applications.

“Data centers are the backbone of digital innovation, but their massive energy needs have become the critical bottleneck blocking growth,” said Deep Atomic founder and CEO William Theron.

The MK60 is said to offer data center operators a scalable power solution that can be deployed in various locations, including areas with limited grid access, and can be sited closer to urban areas due to its advanced safety features.

“It’s designed to be installed on-site at data centers, delivering reliable zero-carbon electricity and energy-efficient cooling, thereby significantly reducing carbon footprints, and helping data centers meet their increasingly stringent sustainability goals,” Theron said.

Deep Atomic’s Head of Engineering Freddy Mondale noted that many regions were struggling to provide the amounts of power that new data centers require. “Our on-site reactors bypass these grid limitations, allowing DCs (data centers) to be built in optimal locations without straining existing infrastructure.”

Mondale says that a 60 MWe reactor with additional 60 MW of cooling capacity “hits a sweet spot for data centers. It’s large enough to power significant compute infrastructure, yet small enough to allow for modular deployment and scaling.”

He added the MK60 can be deployed in multiples, allowing scalability from 60 MW up to over 1 GW to meet growing energy demands.

Deep Atomic says it has already begun to engage with regulators and potential customers as it moves forward with development. The company is seeking partnerships with data center operators and other investors “looking towards the future of sustainable digital infrastructure”.

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Jamaica Inks MOU with AECL and Canadian Nuclear Lab