Week 20 of 2023

Three nuclear energy innovation news!

💡 Three nuclear energy innovation news this week!

🌊 The CHINA NATIONAL NUCLEAR CORPORATION commissions a seawater uranium extraction test platform of 670 square meters in the South China Sea. Albeit the concentration of uranium in seawater is very low concentration, about 0.003 parts per million, it represents some 4 billion tons in total accross all oceans - the largest resource of uranium by far if it can be recovered economically.

🌞 The Fusion Industry Association (US) publishes a study estimating the fusion industry supply chain to be worth over $500m in 2022. They expect it to grow to over $7bn by the time companies build their first of a kind power plants, and potentially trillions at matury. However, suppliers still see the absence of committed orders as a risk when deciding whether or not to build capacity.

🤖 A new technique to remove sludge from nuclear fuel ponds is successfully trialled at the Deep Recovery Facility operated by Forth Engineering (Cumbria) Ltd (UK). This new technique involves a Bulk Sludge Retrieval Tool, essentially an industrial hoover with a double boom arm, attached to a 40-metre umbilical, controlled by remotely operated vehicles.

🎓 Paper of the week: "Alpha radiation from polymetallic nodules and potential health risks from deep-sea mining", Scientific Reports (2023). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-33971-w