New additive manufacturing technologies for the design and manufacture of reactor components made from high-temperature alloys and refractory metals have been developed by BWX Technologies in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Such components could find applications in current and advanced reactors, as well as in accident-tolerant fuels.

Russia’s Siberian Chemical Combine has produced more than 1000 experimental fuel elements based on mixed uranium-plutonium nitride fuel during its eight years of participation in the Proryv (Breakthrough) project. Fuel elements of various standard sizes and structural materials were manufactured in order to find and justify the optimal configuration, SCC said in a 13 November statement.

Terrestrial Energy and Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group have started a graphite irradiation testing programme at the High Flux Reactor in the Netherlands. This work is part of broader programme underway for confirmatory testing of components and systems in the Integral Molten Salt Reactor.

The US Department of Energy yesterday released its Hydrogen Program Plan to provide a strategic framework for its hydrogen research, development, and demonstration activities. The plan, which reinforces DOE's commitment to develop the technologies that can enable hydrogen expansion in the USA, incorporates the RD&D efforts of multiple DOE offices to advance the production, transport, storage, and use of hydrogen across different sectors of the economy.

Terrestrial Energy and the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have begun detailed testing of the fuel salt for Terrestrial's Integral Molten Salt Reactor. The IMSR uses two molten salt streams - a fuel salt that contains the uranium and another salt to transfer heat from the reactor to the electricity generation system.

A new EU-funded project aims to improve confidence in nuclear safety by advancing the approach to seismic safety assessments for nuclear power plants. The 'methods and tools innovations for seismic risk assessment' (METIS) Horizon 2020 project is being led by France's EDF Group.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority's fusion energy experiment - the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) Upgrade tokamak at Culham Science Centre - has achieved first plasma for the first time. MAST Upgrade will be the forerunner of the UK's prototype fusion power plant - Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) - due for completion by 2040. It will also aid preparations for Iter - the world's largest science megaproject, under construction in the South of France, which intends to demonstrate fusion power on an industrial scale.

Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies (USNC-Tech) - a subsidiary of Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) - has developed a design concept as part of NASA-funded research into nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) systems for potential use in deep space travel. The concept uses a specialised variation of USNC's proprietary fully ceramic microencapsulated, tristructural isotropic fuel, developed for use in power reactors.

After leaving the Iter project in 2003, Canada has now signed a cooperation agreement with the ITER Organisation for the transfer of Canadian-supplied tritium, and tritium-related equipment and technology. The agreement follows the signing in April 2018 of a Memorandum of Understanding to explore how Canada could participate in the project to construct the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

The US Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have agreed to extend their existing cooperation by a further 10 years. One area for continued cooperation is space nuclear power and propulsion.

Framatome and General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems are to collaborate on the development of a new helium-cooled, 50 MWe fast modular reactor. A demonstration of the reactor could be constructed by 2030, with commercialisation of the design by the mid-2030s.

The development and validation of modified fuel for use in the four VVER-440 reactors at the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary has now been completed, Rosatom's nuclear fuel manufacturer subsidiary TVEL announced today. The first consignment of the modified fuel is scheduled to be delivered to the Paks plant later this year.