Bruce Power yesterday launched an initiative to leverage the supply chain developed for the Bruce Life Extension Programme to assist in the province's fight against the coronavirus and to help the economic recovery. The Bruce Power Retooling and Economic Recovery Council will include all of Bruce Power’s Ontario-based suppliers and will focus on the continued retooling of the supply chain to meet frontline COVID-19 needs.
 

Support for the development of next-generation technologies and advanced fuels outlined in the report of the US Nuclear Fuel Working Group, published last week, will enable the country to remain competitive in this area, the Nuclear Energy Institute has said. Meanwhile, fuel cycle company Centrus said immediate action to restore the viability of the front-end of the US nuclear fuel cycle supports work to demonstrate the production of high-assay low-enriched uranium nuclear fuels and to establish an assured US supply base.

The production of medical radioisotopes has continued during the COVID-19 pandemic but bottlenecks in transport and distribution could lead to shortages at hospitals, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency survey of the research reactors where the isotopes are produced.

Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant has signed a 10-year contract with the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority for the supply of low-enriched nuclear fuel components, such as uranium and aluminium items, for the ETRR-2 research reactor. NCCP is a subsidiary of Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer TVEL.
 

Three recent announcements will help secure future supplies of vital medical radioisotopes. Westinghouse Electric Company and Nordion (Canada) Inc are to work together on technology to produce cobalt-60 in pressurised water reactors; Framatome and Kinectrics have launched a new joint venture to produce lutetium-177 in partnership with Bruce Power; and BWXT Technologies' proprietary technetium-99m generators have passed a testing milestone.

Romania must recover around EUR13 million (USD14 million) of rescue funding from uranium company Compania Națională a Uraniului SA after the European Commission found a restructuring plan for the company did not meet European Union rules on state aid.

Industrial engineering firm Bilfinger has been awarded a balance of plant contract - worth about GBP58 million (USD76 million) - by EDF Energy. The contract involves the design, pre-fabrication and supply of around 56km of specialised piping systems that support the operation of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, under construction in Somerset, UK.

AEM Technology, part of Russia's Atomenergomash, has completed the welding together of the two halves of the reactor vessel for the first unit of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant which is under construction in Mersin province, in southern Turkey.

Spanish manufacturer Equipos Nucleares SA (ENSA) has shipped two replacement steam generators to France, completing an order received at the end of 2012 from Framatome for three such components for use in 900 MWe-class pressurised water reactors. It was not disclosed at which plant the steam generators are to be installed.

A foundation stone laying ceremony at the Baroda heavy water plant in India has marked the inauguration of a new facility that will allow the country to produce high purity sodium metal on an industrial scale. India up to now has imported the material, which is used in fast breeder reactors.
 

Canada and the USA have finalised an agreement to collaborate on improving the security of supply chains and ensure the future competitiveness of their critical minerals industries. The announcement follows a June 2019 commitment by the countries' leaders.

The structure of the medical radioisotope supply chain is impeding the provision of technetium-99m, a new report by an OECD Nuclear Energy Agency high-level group has found. Supplies of the world's most widely used medical radioisotope remain fragile.