IRRUR – Integrated Research Reactor Utilization Review Mission What does IRRUR mean? The Integrated Research Reactor Utilization Review (IRRUR) is a holistic IAEA peer review mission conducted by a team of international experts who have direct managerial, operational and scientific experience related to research reactor utilization and related applications. IRRUR missions are designed to assist IAEA Member States…
Modernizing a neutron research reactor Framatome has been awarded a multimillion-euro contract to modernize the crane instrumentation and control (I&C) systems at the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II), operated by the Technical University of Munich. This modernization project involves dismantling existing components, commissioning four new cranes and implementing an automated control system. These…
SCK CEN helped increasing COVID-19 testing capacity in Belgium On 30 March 2020, the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK CEN) handed over a qPCR equipment to the Belgian Task Force. In that way, SCK CEN contributed to the national effort to increase testing capacity in Belgium from 2,000 to 10,000 tests per day. At the…
Framatome technology for Holtec SMR-160 Holtec International has selected Framatome to supply nuclear fuel for the SMR-160 small modular reactor. Holtec and Framatome have entered into an agreement to enable completion of all necessary engineering to fuel the SMR-160 with Framatome’s commercially available and well-proven 17 x 17 GAIA fuel assembly. By adapting the SMR-160…
Producing LEU-based Mo-99 to reduce the use of HEU Belgium’s Institute for Radioelements (IRE) announced that the company produced its first commercial Molybdenum-99 Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) batch for the US market. This conversion to LEU represents a key milestone for IRE in the global efforts to end the civil use of High Enriched Uranium…
TUM and Framatome to develop UMo fuel for nuclear research reactor Framatome and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) recently started the commercial development of uranium-molybdenum fuel (UMo) for nuclear research reactors. Framatome and TUM will design and install a fuel manufacturing production line, developing, producing and irradiating new fuel prototypes. The project will take…
IAEA Members to fund the fight against COVID-19 An initiative by the International Atomic Energy Agency to help some 120 countries contain the coronavirus pandemic has received extrabudgetary support from member states. The voluntary pledge is totalling around €22m. Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA’s director-general, said on 11 May the funds will enable the IAEA to…
Rosatom – Technologies and Solutions for SMRs Artem Larionov of Rosatom Overseas told the last webinar organised by European Nuclear Society that R&D work on fuel for the first-of-a-kind (FOAK) plant has begun. The reactor technology will be based on Russia’s RITM-200 plant, an advanced pressurised water reactor (PWR) unit which is already operational on three…
SFEN – New Nuclear to Help the National Economy The French Nuclear Energy Society SFEN underlined in its last position paper the opportunity offered by new investments in the nuclear sector to stimulate the national economy. SFEN stressed a stronger commitment by the government to build a series of new EPR nuclear power reactors in…
PSI recorded a sodium pump in action for the first time using a new radiation technology Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have recorded for the first time, in action, a light-driven sodium pump from bacterial cells. It has been possible thanks to the new X-ray free-electron laser SwissFEL, used by PSI researchers for…