The Russian State Corporation Rosatom announced the beginning of decommissioning of the ADE-2 plutonium production reactor (original Russian report). The reactor, part of the Mining and Chemical Combine in Zheleznogorsk, was shut down in April 2010. Fuel from the reactor has been removed, and the reactor was transferred to 'permanent shutdown' mode.
The plutonium production facilities of the Mining and Chemical Combine in Zheleznogorsk are located underground. After the removal of the equipment, the halls of the ADE-2 reactor will be used for a research molten-salt reactor.
In November 2024 Rosatom completed the removal of all spent fuel of naval reactors from the Gremikha base at the Northern Fleet. According to the report, the final, eleventh, spent fuel assembly, belonged to the OK-550KM prototype reactor that was delivered to Gremikha in 2017 from the Scientific Research Technological Institute (NITI) in Sosnovy Bor, where it was deployed as part of the KM-1 facility. Reactors in question are liquid-metal cooled fast neutron reactors that used uranium-beryllium fuel with the enrichment of more than 90%. The removal of spent fuel assemblies began in 2014. The spent fuel was transferred to the Mayak Plant where it will be reprocessed.
The Mining and Chemical Combine in Zheleznogorsk opened the second pilot reprocessing line. Unlike the fist line, which was first tested in 2018 and was described as a "chain of hot cells," the second one appears to be an industrial-scale facility that will further test the reprocessing technologies.
According to the initial plan, the second line was supposed to begin operations in 2020. The construction of the reprocessing facilities is part of the program to build the Pilot Demonstration Center at Zheleznogorsk.
The industry report suggests that the Pilot Demonstration Center will have the capacity to reprocess 220 tonnes of VVER-1000 fuel annually. The plant is expected to reach this capacity in 2026. The technologies of the PDC will be used to build a larger reprocessing facility at Zheleznogorsk, RT-2. The image shows the plan of developing a closed nuclear cycle from this video account of the event.
UK Defence Secretary is quoted by UK Defence Journal as saying that "The UK is exploring options to re-establish a nuclear-fuel cycle for reactor fuel for defence purposes" as part of the modernization of the UK Defence Nuclear Enterprise. The Secretary clarified that the project would respect the voluntary moratorium on the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons that is currently in place.
The United Kingdom currently has no facilities that can produce HEU for naval reactors. The material for this purposes has been provided by the United States.
Rosatom plans regarding the construction of sodium-cooled fast neutron reactors remain uncertain. After the government postponed the work on BN-1200 reactor in 2018, the developers updated the design to make the reactor more competitive. The new design is known as BN-1200M. The first BN-1200M unit is expected to be deployed at the Beloyarsk NPP in the Urals, which operates BN-600 and BN-800 reactors. The developers, as well as the regional authorities hope that the construction will begin in 2027 and that the reactor will begin operations in 2034.
Rosatom's long-term plan, however, assumes that a new fast-neutron reactor of an unspecified type will not begin operations at Beloyarsk NPP until 2038 (with one more unit added in 2040). The plan includes new fast-neutron reactors (again, of an unspecified type) that are expected to begin operations in Seversk in 2037-2039 (two reactors) and at a new Sibirskaya NPP in a not-yet-selected site in the Irkutsk region in 2041-2042 (two reactors). All these reactors are expected to have a power of 1255 MWt, suggesting that they will be the BN-1200M or a similar design. It is possible, however, that these will be lead-cooled reactors, based on the Brest-OD-300 design. Some Rosatom materials mention a lead-cooled BR-1200 reactor. The construction of Brest-OD-300 is underway in Seversk and it is expected to begin operations in 2028.
The uncertainty with the reactor type seems to suggest that despite the modifications, Rosatom still has questions about the viability of the BN-1200M design. Another sign of this is the cancellation of the Krasnoyarskaya NPP project, which called for the construction of four BN-1200M units in 2037-2042.
TerraPower and ASP Isotopes signed a term sheet for the construction of a uranium enrichment facility in South Africa. The facility is expected to provide HALEU for TerraPower's Natrium reactor.
The announcement does not mention specific dates for the construction of the plant. Given that ASP Isotopes has no experience in producing HALEU in the quantities required for the Natrium reactor operations, the process could take considerable time. Natrium would require about 15-20 tonnes of HALEU for the startup core and 3.6 tonnes of HALEU annually (see Edwin Lyman's report, p. 67). It should also be noted that South Africa has no 123 nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States.
In July 2023, TerraPower signed an MOU with US-based Centrus to secure supply of HALEU.
The Department of Energy selected four companies to provide enrichment services to help establish a U.S. supply of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The selected companies are Louisiana Energy Services (which operates the Urenco USA enrichment plant in Eunice, NM), Orano Federal Services (a subsidiary of Orano USA), General Matter (appears to be a recently formed company), and Centrus (operator of the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, OH).
According to DoE, "the contracts will allow the companies to bid on work for enrichment services, a key piece of the high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) supply chain." These contracts are part of the program to establish domestic enrichment capacity in the United States.
UPDATE: World Nuclear News reports that
According to publicly available information, General Matter Inc is a company that was registered in California earlier this year, with Scott Nolan named as its CEO. Nolan, a former SpaceX employee, is a partner at venture capital firm Founders Fund which was co-founded by billionaire investor Peter Thiel.
Urenco USA installed first centrifuges as part of the project to expand the capacity of the enrichment plant in Eunice, NM. The company confirmed that the the current phase of expansion will increase the capacity of the plant by 700 tonnes of SWU per year and that the cascades will become operational in 2025. The Eunice site "has the physical space and license to further expand its annual production up to 10 million SWU." The facility began operations in 2010.
The expansion is intended to take advantage of the Department of Energy program aimed at boosting the production of enriched uranium in the United States.
US National Nuclear Security Administration reported the completion of the production of the first plutonium pit for the W87-1 Modification Program. The NNSA reported that
Plutonium pit manufacturing was completed at LANL, with Livermore Laboratory responsible for the pit design and KCNSC [Kansas City National Security Campus] responsible for production of non-nuclear components.
This process is part of the effort to rebuild the capability to manufacture plutonium pits. The production was stopped in 1989. The goal of the current program is to reach the capacity of 30 pits per year at LANL and "no fewer than 80 pits a year" across the nuclear enterprise.
The W87-1 warhead will be deployed on the Sentinel ICBM, which is currently under development.
France's state-owned company Orano announced a plan to build a large enrichment facility in the United States. The facility will be located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The company apparently plans to use the funds allocated by the US Department of Energy to boost domestic enrichment capacity.
In 2008, Orano's predecessor, Areva, had a plan to build an enrichment facility, known as Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility, EREF, in Idaho. The project, however, was abandoned in 2011 and Orano USA withdrew the license in 2018.
