China Develops Own Tech To Enrich Uranium

Published on Tuesday June 25 2013 (AEST) http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/791301.shtml#.UcjKGtg2Dew  

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has announced that it has finally been able to successfully produce enriched uranium for industrial purposes using domestically made technology. The first batch of the independently produced fuel, made in a facility in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, on Friday, can be used in nuclear power stations nationwide after further processing. 


The move, widely seen as a great step in the country's nuclear industry, helps industrialize the process of enriching uranium. "After years of research, China has finally achieved this goal. China has become one of the few countries that own independent uranium enrichment technology and use it for industry. It is a milestone," said Lei Zengguang, chief engineer of CNNC on Monday. 


Uranium enrichment technology is critical to a country's nuclear industry, as raw natural uranium contains only 0.7 percent of uranium-235, with the remaining 99.3 percent being uranium-238. Most of China's nuclear power stations need enriched uranium, containing 2 to 5 percent of uranium-235, reported China Central Television (CCTV) Saturday. "The Lanzhou plant uses self-designed gas centrifuge machines to separate uranium-235 and -238," Lei said, adding that gas centrifuges consume less power compared with other enrichment means, halving the general costs. 


 "Among all the means of uranium enrichment, gas centrifuges are the most mature. They have already been used in countries such as Russia and the UK," an unnamed nuclear professor with Tsinghua University told the Global Times Monday. "It's a key technology for any country to produce nuclear fuel. That symbolizes the nuclear industrialization level of a country," he said. "These gas centrifuge machines will be responsible for supplying fuel to all 17 nuclear power stations under operation in China. It can even meet the entire demand by 2020, when the requirement will be five times more than it is now," Zhu Ji, manager of the Lanzhou uranium enrichment plant, was quoted by CNNC's website as saying. 


"Independent uranium enrichment is essential for China's nuclear industry. It will definitely help China to complete its nuclear production chain with low costs," the professor told the Global Times Monday. The Lanzhou plant welcomed its first ever visit by reporters on Friday. "Citing confidentiality, I cannot provide you with more details on those gas centrifuges," an unnamed employee with CNNC told the Global Times on Monday, adding that the Lanzhou facility was founded in 1958 and had never been open to the public.

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Germany's Nuclear Power Dilemma: Merkel's Plans Off Track

Published on Saturday June 08 2013 (AEST)

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Nuclear Regulator's New Review Process

Published on Tuesday May 28 2013 (AEST)

The Nuclear Regulation Authority will conduct new reviews to see whether each of Japan's nuclear power plants is meeting revised safety regulations.

The secretariat of the Nuclear Regulation Authority is to conduct the assessments. It will create 3 teams to examine the applications submitted by individual plant operators to restart nuclear reactors.

The secretariat says each team will consist of 20 officials, including experts in nuclear plant facilities, and earthquake and tsunami disaster management. The secretariat says the reviews may take 6 months to a year. But the total time is not certain because the process will cover elements that have never been assessed before.

Professor Yoshihiro Nishiwaki of the Tokyo Institute of Technology said the new regulations include criteria covering serious accidents. He expressed concern over whether the examiners have adequate expertise in that area. In addition to the review by the regulator, plant operators have to obtain consent from host municipalities before restarting their reactors.

They also need to come up with evacuation and other emergency preparedness plans for residents in surrounding areas.

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KEPCO To Apply For Resumption Of 2 Nuclear Power Reactors

Published on Tuesday May 28 2013 (AEST)

A Japanese nuclear power plant operator says it will ask for permission to restart 2 of its reactors once the government introduces new safety guidelines in July.

The president of Kansai Electric Power Company, Makoto Yagi, on Monday said his firm intends to apply for permission to restart the Number 3 and 4 reactors at the Takahama plant in Fukui Prefecture.

KEPCO is seeking the resumption as soon as possible as it has already implemented an electricity price hike on the basis of future earnings from the nuclear reactors.

Yagi said the operator is also preparing to apply for permission to restart other plants. But the Nuclear Regulation Authority says that some of KEPCO's nuclear power stations still have to be checked to see if they have active faults beneath their sites before it can start screening them for the new guidelines. 

The majority of Japan's nuclear reactors have been shut down in the wake of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

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