The first of two Russia-built reactors at the Belarusian nuclear power plant has reached criticality. Its Baltic neighbors pledged to stop electricity trade when the plant launched. The Astravets nuclear power plant (known in Belarus as BelAes) is a joint project with Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, Rosatom. On Sunday, the first chain reaction was launched at one of the VVER-1200 type reactors and sustained at the minimum controlled power level, Belarus’ energy ministry reported. The reactor is expected to pass through several tests before becoming fully operational and start supplying electricity to the power grid sometime next year. Also on […]
Reactor
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26 September is commemorated as international day for the total elimination of nuclear weapons, reminding the global community that 75 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, atomic bombs still pose a threat to global stability. Over the years, the realisation of how risky nuclear energy can be has prompted some governments to shut down their reactors. Such was the case in Germany, which decided to phase out all its reactors following the Fukushima disaster of 2011; and such was the case in Italy, which has rejected any plans to resume the construction of nuclear plants on its soil. But there were also […]
Scientists from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI conducted a series of experiments that will help improve the accuracy of the remote control of nuclear reactors by almost a thousand times. The principle of the device operation, which can take world nuclear security to a new level, is based on the recently discovered phenomenon of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. The results of the study, supported by the Rosatom State Atomiс Energy Corporation, were reported by the press service of the university. One of the methods for the supervision of nuclear reactors is neutrino radiation analysis. It helps prevent the unauthorised removal […]
NuScale’s application for certification of its small modular reactor (SMR) design for use in the USA was submitted on 31 December 2016, with the power company saying it had spent over $500 million, with the backing of its majority investor Fluor, to develop the project. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given the go-ahead for the first time to a small commercial nuclear reactor, after a final safety evaluation report (FSER) was issued for Portland-based NuScale Power’s design. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems is looking to use the design to construct small modular reactors (SMR) at a 890-square-mile (2,300-square-kilometre) US […]
