Thẻ: nuclear

Nuclear energy: Where China is getting with small modular and fusion reactors

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

On Oct. 13 of this year, the PRC state media outlet CPNN, reported that China is pulling ahead in advanced nuclear power technology development with the launch of the large-scale production “Hualong One” (also known as HPR1000). As it develops, China not only aims to tackle the transmission bottleneck in the south, but also to export to countries like Pakistan as the PRC’s “business card” to the world.

China’s dual goals of localization and export orientation have long defined its nuclear strategy. Led by state-owned giants such as the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), Beijing has invested heavily in domestic innovation while aggressively expanding into overseas markets. Beijing has sought to expand its reactor sales to markets such as Argentina and the United Kingdom, while also securing control over upstream uranium resources. CNNC’s 2019 acquisition of Namibia’s Rössing Uranium Mine, one of the world’s largest open-pit uranium operations, underscored China’s growing dominance across the nuclear value.

Beijing’s policy support for state-owned enterprises has enabled it to build a vertically integrated nuclear industry, driving rapid advances in small modular reactors (SMRs), fourth-generation technologies, and nuclear fusion research (the Artificial Sun). Furthermore, intensifying US–China competition is reshaping global nuclear exports and deepening the geopolitical risks of dependence on Chinese nuclear systems.

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Japan Struggles to Find a Site for Its High-Level Radioactive Waste

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

nippon.com Jan 15, 2025 Matsumoto Sōichi [Profile]

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan recently backed the further survey of two potential disposal sites for high-level radioactive waste in Hokkaidō. The government has struggled to convince municipalities to participate in review procedures, with a growing list of stakeholders calling for a new approach to the selection process.

A Three-Step Process

The Japanese government and nuclear power plant operators have long grappled with how to dispose of spent fuel and other high-level radioactive waste. Authorities finally settled on the approach of burying waste deep underground at facilities 300 or more meters below the surface. In 2002, NUMO, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, began hunting for a storage location by inviting municipalities to put themselves forward as candidate sites. To date, this “volunteer” policy has netted only three participants, the towns of Suttsu and Kamoenai in Hokkaidō and Genkai in Saga.

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The US is on the cusp of a nuclear renaissance. One problem: Americans are terrified of the waste

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By Ella Nilsen and Bill Weir, CNN Published 6:00 AM EST, Mon November 25, 2024

An array of containers storing nuclear waste sit at the decommissioned Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, New York.

An array of containers storing nuclear waste sit at the decommissioned Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, New York. Brian Vangor/HoltecBUCHANAN, New YorkCNN — 

The Indian Point nuclear power plant was an energy juggernaut for 50 years, generating a quarter of the electricity that powered New York City’s iconic, glowing skyline.

It is well into its decommissioning process after shutting down in 2021: The remaining waste of the radioactive fuel that once generated all of that power has been sealed inside more than 120 hulking metal and concrete canisters.

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