A major renovation project has been completed at TRIGA International's fuel fabrication facility in Romans-sur-Isère, southeastern France. The facility is the only supplier of uranium-zirconium hydride fuel for use in TRIGA-type research reactors. The upgrades will ensure the continued operation of 36 such reactors around the world.

The Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group has ended its use of high-enriched uranium targets in the production of radioisotopes at the High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands. The reactor itself was converted from HEU fuel, which can pose a proliferation risk, to low-enriched uranium fuel in 2006.

The US Department of Energy has awarded BWXT Nuclear Operations Group two contracts worth a total of USD35 million. The first is for the recovery and conversion of uranium, while the second is for the completion of a new research reactor fuel line at its Lynchburg, Virginia facility.

Partially used irradiated fuel from the Finnish Reactor 1 in Espoo, Finland, has been transported to the USA for use in a TRIGA Mark I research reactor operated by the US Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado. Dismantling of the Finnish reactor, which was shut down in 2015, is scheduled to begin at the end of 2022.

Sweden's Studsvik has signed a contract worth SEK134 million (USD16 million) with Norway's Institute for Energy Technology for loading equipment, transport, handling equipment, examination and pre-treatment of nuclear fuel from the JEEP I research reactor at Kjeller. The fuel is currently held in an ageing storage facility at the site which does not meet current requirements.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC's process to produce molybdenum-99 from concentrated Mo-98 and related software upgrades for its RadioGenix System technetium-99m generator. This will significantly increase US production and capacity for non-uranium based Mo-99, the company says.

Workers have begun activities to prepare for the demolition of a nuclear reactor at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California, the Office of Environmental Management at the US Department of Energy announced on 22 December. A team from EM, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the US Army Corp Engineers performed core drilling, surveying, sampling, and a study of potential demolition impacts last month.

The US Department of Energy has released the draft Environmental Impact Statement for construction of the Versatile Test Reactor, a sodium-cooled reactor that will provide a source of fast neutrons needed to test advanced reactor technology, fuels and related materials. The draft EIS will be open for a 45-day public comment period.

Of the 220 research reactors in operation today, only seven are on the African continent. In other words, with 17.2% of the world population and the strongest expected growth in the coming years, Africans have access to only 3% of the world's nuclear research reactor capacity. Marguerite Leonardi, senior advisor at NPC Consulting & Engineering, and Professor Vincent Lukanda Mwamba, Commissaire Général of the Commissariat Général à l’Energie Atomique, explain why that is a concern and why the research reactor in Kinshasa should be restarted urgently.

The installation of the pumps for the primary cooling circuit of Argentina's RA-10 multipurpose reactor has been completed, the country's National Atomic Energy Commission has announced. This marks completion of the assembly of the reactor's large components.

A project to remove the last remaining batch of unirradiated highly enriched uranium fuel from Kazakhstan has been completed in a joint effort by Kazakhstan and the USA, the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration has announced. The two nations have also signed a new joint statement reaffirming their intention to continue to work together to support the common goal of minimising nuclear proliferation, ensuring nuclear security and strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
 

The US Department of Energy has approved Critical Decision 1 for the Versatile Test Reactor, meaning the project can now move to the engineering design phase. DOE has requested USD295 million for FY 2021 for the one-of-a-kind facility that would support research and development of innovative nuclear energy and other technologies.