Regulators must explore the possibility of harmonising international requirements for advanced and small modular reactor design evaluation and licensing, says Rumina Velshi, CNSC president and CEO.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Czech utility ČEZ have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on examining the economic and technical feasibility of potentially constructing a BWRX-300 in the Czech Republic. ČEZ operates two nuclear power plants which generate about one-third of the country’s electricity. The Czech government plans substituting aging coal plants with new nuclear build and renewables in the near future.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has officially started the regulatory licensing process for its BWRX-300 reactor design. On 30 December, the company submitted the first licensing topical report for the small modular reactor to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The company expects such reports to serve as a foundation for the development of a Preliminary Safety Analysis Report that could potentially be submitted to the NRC by a utility customer.

South African utility Eskom yesterday published a request for an Expression of Interest in reviving all or parts of the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor project. It is seeking investors to take stakes in PBMR Ltd, the development and deployment of the reactor design, and in TRISO fuel manufacturing.

Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority has published a report discussing the safety assessment and licensing of small modular reactors (SMRs). The regulator says it is preparing for the licensing of such reactors "due to the national and international interest in them."

Estonia's Fermi Energia has signed Memoranda of Understanding with Finnish power company Fortum and Belgian engineering firm Tractebel to cooperate on studying the deployment of small modular reactors in the Baltic country.

Paul Stein, chief technology officer for Rolls-Royce, told the BBC today the British engineering firm has a target of 2029 for commissioning small modular reactors in the UK. The ambition is part of the country's aim to achieve net zero by 2050, initially using former nuclear power sites in Cumbria and Wales.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and TerraPower are to collaborate on pursuing a public private partnership to design and construct the Versatile Test Reactor for the US Department of Energy. Utility Energy Northwest will support the joint GEH-TerraPower effort, with other parties said to be interested in joining.

A revised pre-project engineering contract has been signed by South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy to establish a joint entity for the commercialisation and construction of the Korean-designed SMART small modular reactor in Saudi Arabia.

NuScale Power has made its first submittals to Canada's nuclear regulator for a pre-licensing vendor design review for its small modular reactor design. The reactor is also undergoing a design certification review in the USA where the company plans to bring a plant into production and operation by 2026.
 

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on proposals to apply risk-based emergency preparedness requirements to small modular reactors and other new technologies. The proposed rule would include a scalable approach for determining the size of the emergency planning zone around such facilities.

The floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov was today connected to the grid, generating electricity for the first time in the remote Chaun-Bilibino network in Pevek, in Russia’s Far East. The achievement followed Russian regulator Rostekhnadzor's provision of an operating licence, as well as permission to connect to the northern electricity grid maintained by Chukotenergo JSC. Connecting the plant to Pevek's heat networks will be completed next year.