Week 38 of 2023

Three nuclear energy innovation news!

⚕ The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport confirms the full financing of the Pallas research reactor, a critical facility for the production of medical radioisotopes. The 55 MWth tank-in-pool reactor is meant to replace the existing 45 MWth High-Flux Reactor, operated by NRG on behalf of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. Around 200,000 patient treatments with therapeutic isotopes take place each year in Europe and this number is expected to increase by 8% a year.

🥨 The Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing Laboratory (NEXT Lab) is inaugurated at the Abilene Christian University in Texas. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing an application to construct a 1 MWt low-power molten salt research reactor that would be deployed in the facility by 2026. A larger, factory-built, modular reactor should follow for commercial operations in the early 2030s.

🌊 newcleo and the National Nuclear Laboratory (UK) sign a Memorandum of Understanding on advanced nuclear research and development. It covers activities such as materials testing, mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, and reprocessing techniques. The roadmap of newcleo foresees a first-of-a-kind 30 MWe lead-cooled fast reactor to be deployed in France by 2030.

👨‍🎓 Paper of the week: "Radiation Workers and Risk Perceptions: Low Dose Radiation, Nuclear Power Production, and Small Modular Nuclear Reactors", Journal of Nuclear Engineering (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/jne4010020

👉 The more you know about radiation, the less you're afraid of it.

👇 Did you spot anything else? Let me know!