Nuclear reprocessing on Notably News

Nuclear reprocessing

Chemical operations that separate fissile material from spent fuel to be recycled as new fuel

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2025	Sellafield The videogame 'Atomfall' was released, set in an alternate history featuring Sellafield's nuclear disasters.
January 2025	Sellafield UK government announces plans to immobilize and dispose of the 140-tonne civil plutonium stockpile in a geological disposal facility, abandoning previous plans to produce MOX fuel.
April 2024	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant JNFL claims an operational date between April and October 2024, with the MOX fuel manufacturing plant expected to be operational in the same year.
2023	Tokaimura nuclear accidents The 1999 Tokaimura nuclear accident was dramatized in the Japanese miniseries 'The Days', which included a flashback scene depicting a hospital visit to Hisashi Ouchi.
December 2023	Sellafield A significant radioactive leak was discovered in the Magnox swarf storage silo at Sellafield, with scientists predicting the leak will continue until 2050. Researchers are currently using statistical modeling to assess potential public risk.
December 2023	Sellafield Sellafield experienced a cyber attack suspected to be linked to Russian and Chinese hacking groups, with the breach first reported by The Guardian. The full extent and long-term implications of the attack remain unknown.
August 2023	Sellafield Work begins to retrieve waste from the Pile Fuel Cladding Silo (PFCS), described as a 'momentous milestone' in Sellafield's decommissioning process, involving the first batch of waste retrieval from the site's oldest waste store created in the 1950s.
May 2023	Sellafield Sellafield Ltd removes a set of large, redundant steel tanks at the Fellside power station that were no longer in use.
2022	Sellafield Stopped nuclear fuel reprocessing activities.
July 17 2022	Sellafield Magnox Reprocessing Plant completes its last batch of fuel after 58 years of operation, marking the end of reprocessing activities at Sellafield.
June 10 2022	Sellafield Sellafield Ltd announces the commencement of waste retrievals from the Magnox Swarf Storage Silo, with the process expected to take approximately 20 years.
2021	Sellafield The Irish Department of Health advised that the previously distributed potassium iodate tablets could be disposed of with municipal waste.
August 2021	Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center The International Atomic Energy Agency reported that North Korea appeared to have restarted the 5 MW reactor at the Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, suggesting renewed nuclear activities after a period of apparent inactivity.
2020	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Completion date was further postponed to 2022, with plans to construct an additional cooling tower as part of safety measures.
June 2020	Sellafield UK government announced Sellafield as a site to house various clean nuclear technologies, including EDF's EPR reactor and Rolls-Royce SMR reactors, with plans to produce electricity and clean hydrogen.
2019	Nuclear fuel cycle Degueldre et al. reported on exploring processes for a nuclear renewable energy concept, focusing on uranium extraction from diluted fluid ore such as seawater and innovative fuel production methods.
January 2019	Nuclear fuel cycle Public demonstration of horizontal drillhole disposal technology, including test-canister emplacement and retrieval in a horizontal drillhole.
2018	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant The Tōkai reprocessing plant was approved for decommissioning.
2018	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Japanese Atomic Energy Commission updated plutonium guidelines to limit plutonium production to requirements for mixed oxide fuel for Japan's nuclear plants.
2018	Sellafield The First Generation Magnox Storage Pond is officially renamed from its original designation B30.
2018	Sellafield Moorside nuclear power plant project was terminated when Toshiba decided to close NuGen and withdraw from nuclear power plant construction in the UK.
2018	Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center Preliminary testing of the reactor was believed to have started, with expectations of reactor operation in 2018 or 2019. The reactor was linked to the power grid, with an expected output of 25 to 30 megawatts, capable of supplying electricity to approximately 50,000 inhabitants.
November 2018	Nuclear fuel cycle A series of tests for horizontal drillhole disposal technology were carried out by a U.S. based private company.
November 14 2018	Sellafield Operations at THORP officially ended. The facility will be used to store spent nuclear fuel until the 2070s.
September 2018	Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center During the inter-Korean summit, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and South Korean leader Moon Jae-In signed the 'Pyongyang Joint Declaration', agreeing that North Korea would dismantle the Nyongbyon nuclear facilities only if the US takes correlative actions.
August 2018	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Additional corroded pipes were discovered at the plant, further complicating its operational readiness.
2017	Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center Multiple construction activities were noted, including building a dam for cooling system water supply, constructing a switchyard, connecting transmission lines, and creating maintenance and repair facilities. Evidence suggested components were being transferred to the reactor building.
2017	Nuclear fuel cycle Degueldre suggested a parsimonious approach to uranium extraction from seawater, highlighting that extraction of kilotons of uranium per year over centuries would not significantly modify the ocean's uranium equilibrium concentration.
December 2017	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Completion date was extended three years to 2021 to implement additional safety measures following the Fukushima incident.
2016	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Closure of the fast breeder reactor at Monju, which reduced the need for nuclear fuel reprocessing.
2016	Sellafield BBC Panorama produced a 30-minute documentary about dangerous accidents and incidents at Sellafield.
2016	Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center The light water reactor was externally completed, later than the initial 2013 estimated completion date.
2016	Nuclear fuel cycle Russia begins testing Remix Fuel, a process that separates reactor-grade plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear fuel, and creates a new combined metal oxide fuel suitable for PWR reactors.
April 1 2016	Sellafield Sellafield Ltd becomes a direct subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority under a new management structure.
2015	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant Start of the reprocessing plant was postponed to as late as September 2018.
2015	Sellafield BBC Four aired 'Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield', examining radiation leaks and incidents at the site.
2015	International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation The Nuclear Energy Agency begins providing Technical Secretariat support to IFNEC.
January 13 2015	Sellafield NDA announces that Nuclear Management Partners will lose the management contract for Sellafield due to the site's complexity and technical challenges.
2014	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant The smaller nuclear reprocessing plant in Tōkai, Ibaraki was shut down.
2014	Tokaimura nuclear accidents Japan's government established the 'Strategic Energy Plan', designating nuclear as an important power source, which sparked significant antinuclear activist movements.
2013	West Valley Demonstration Project The West Valley Demonstration Project site is described as 'arguably Western New York's most toxic location', highlighting the ongoing challenges of nuclear waste cleanup after over 30 years of remediation efforts.
December 2013	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant JNFL announced the plant would be ready for operation in October 2014.
October 2013	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant JNFL initially planned to begin plant operations in October 2013, but was delayed by new safety regulations.
2011	Tokaimura nuclear accidents Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, nuclear electricity production in Japan declined sharply, dramatically reducing the country's nuclear power generation from previously providing about 30% of its electricity.
December 2011	Nuclear reprocessing It was discovered that Masaya Yasui, who was director of the Nuclear Power Policy Planning Division in 2004, had instructed a subordinate in April 2004 to conceal data about nuclear waste disposal costs. This revelation necessitated a re-investigation and potential punishment of involved officials.
November 2011	Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center Satellite imagery revealed rapid progress in the light water reactor construction, with concrete structures largely completed. The reactor was being built on the site of the demolished cooling tower of the experimental Magnox reactor.
October 25 2011	Nuclear reprocessing A commission of the Japanese Atomic Energy Commission revealed calculations about nuclear fuel recycling costs during a meeting. They estimated the cost of extracting plutonium and handling spent fuel at 1.98 to 2.14 yen per kilowatt-hour, which is approximately twice the cost of direct geological disposal of spent fuel (1 to 1.35 yen per kilowatt-hour).
June 2011	Sellafield UK government confirmed the suitability of the Sellafield site for a nuclear power station, hoping an electricity generating company would build a power station at Moorside by 2025.
April 2011	Nuclear reprocessing TVA delayed its decision on using MOX fuel, citing the need to observe performance after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The MOX facility project costs had by then escalated to nearly $5 billion with no customers.
2010	Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant The Rokkasho facilities complex expanded to 38 buildings covering an area of 3,800,000 m2.
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation, Nuclear fuel cycle, Sellafield, Nuclear reprocessing, Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, Nyongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, West Valley Demonstration Project & Tokaimura nuclear accidents, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Nuclear reprocessing

See Also

Sellafield

World Nuclear Association

Oak Ridge National Laboratory