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18 March 2010
| India and Russia firm up nuclear agreements. The Russian prime minister's visit to India provided the occasion to sign a number of agreements taking forward plans to build further Russian nuclear power capacity in India. As well as a nuclear power cooperation agreement, a 'roadmap' for building six more reactors at Kudankulam by 2017 (where two are almost complete) and four more at Haripur after 2017 was agreed, bringing the total to 12. The number may be increased after 2017, in India's 13th 5-year plan. A Russian fuel fabrication plant is also under consideration. Nuclear.Ru 12/3/10. Sheffield Forgemasters funds new plant. After nearly two years trying to line up £170 million, Sheffield Forgemasters International now has the means to build a new 15,000 tonne forging press capable of using 600 tonne ingots. This will enable the company to produce the largest single forgings required for reactor pressure vessels and steam generators in large new reactors such as EPR and AP1000, both likely to be built in UK. The UK government has agreed to lend £80 million, and Westinghouse has agreed to provide some £50 million in advances for products. Further funds have come from banks. The government is keen to make the UK a significant producer in the nuclear hardware supply chain. Sheffield Forgemasters, founded in the 1750s and subject to a management buyout in 2005, is the only UK company with international N-stamp accreditation. In 2013 it will become one of only a few companies with this forging capability - with Japan Steelworks, Doosan Heavy Industries, China First Heavy Industries, Bharat Forge, OMZ Izhora and possibly Larsen & Toubro. It already supplies reactor coolant pump casings for all the Chinese AP1000 units under construction, and is contracted for more there and in USA. Last year it entered a ten-year £30 million technology transfer agreement with Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) in India for large power plant components. SFIL, FT, WNN 17/3/10. US regulator challenges political edict. Dale Klein of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) challenged the US government's political decision to revoke the license application for the Yucca Mountain waste repository project in Nevada. "The administration's stated rationale for changing course does not seem to rest on factual findings, and thus does not bolster the credibility of our government to handle this matter competently," he said. "Those who would distort the science of Yucca Mountain for political purposes should be reminded that it was a year ago today that the president issued his memorandum on scientific integrity, in which he stated that 'The public must be able to trust the science and scientific process informing public policy decisions'. Under the law, that licensing determination - and the technical evaluation of the science - is the NRC's responsibility." The Foundry blog 1/3/10. |
