February 2016 Volume 59, Number 2 18.00 p. 40 p. 46 16.00 14.00 PUREX $500/kgU 12.00 Advanced PUREX UO $2000, FR-MOX $3750 PUREX $1500/kgU 2 Fuel Cycle 1 10.00 Fuel Cycle 2 8.00 Fuel Cycle 3 Advanced PUREX UO2 $500/kgU, FR-MOX1650 6.00 Fuel Cycle Cost (mill/kWh) Fuel Cycle 4 4.00 Advanced PUREX $3750/kgU Advanced PUREX $1650/kgU 2.00 0.00 $104 $208 $312 $416 $520 Unit Cost Uranium Concentrates ($/kgU) DEPARTMENTS EDITORIAL Feature Article 42 ANS Technical Journals 14 The case for nuclear fuel recycling Backscatter 68 by Melvin R. Buckner and William E. Burchill Calendar 6 Calls for Papers 11 Power 20 Late News 17 Most plants now comply with NRC’s post-Fukushima spent fuel pool instrumenta- Nuclear Notes 4 tion order. NRC reduces oversight of seven reactors. ACRS endorses license issuance People 65 for Duke’s Lee project. NRC dockets petition to define “important to safety.” NRC Recently Published 12 staff advises commission not to revise regulatory framework. Renaissance Watch: An update on developments that may lead to new power reactors. NRC issues con- ADVERTISING firmatory order for violations of spent fuel canister weld-testing procedures at Mon- Direct Answer 54 ticello. Southern California Edison fined $16.7 million by CPUC for unreported talks regarding San Onofre. No new Fermi-2 license renewal hearing; draft second Index to Advertisers 53 supplemental EIS issued for Indian Point. Extra North Anna-3 seismic work com- Employment Ads Begin 58 pleted; other licensing actions. Security 27 NNSA to put Los Alamos National Laboratory contract up for bid after 2017; oth- Coming up . er NNSA news. Nuclear Threat Initiative says global nuclear security efforts have March—18th Annual Reference Issue slowed. United States and Jordan sign agreement to fight nuclear terrorism. License amendments allow weapons upgrades for security forces at California and New April—Special Section on Outage York nuclear plants. Management On the cover: The “heart” of nuclear fuel recycling is the separation of fissile uranium and plutonium from other materials (unfissile uranium, other actinides, fission products, and structural components) in used nuclear fuel. This is done remotely in an elaborate chemical processing system such as this one at the UP3 reprocessing plant operated by AREVA at La Hague (top photo) in Cherbourg, France. Pictured across the bottom: Used Members: View nuclear fuel arrives at a reprocessing plant in a robust, shielded transport cask such as the one shown (left photo) arriving at La Hague. The separated fissile uranium and plutonium Nuclear News online! are fabricated into new nuclear fuel pellets (middle photo) at a mixed-oxide fuel fabrica- At <www.ans.org>, click on Member tion plant, such as AREVA’s MELOX facility at the Marcoule nuclear site in the Gard region Center at the upper right of your of France. New MOX fuel assemblies, such as this one (right photo) from the MELOX fuel screen. Log in with your e-mail address fabrication plant in Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France, look exactly like traditional uranium oxide and password (if you haven’t already, fuel assemblies and provide power in 21 of the 58 nuclear power reactors operated by you can create a password at <account. Électricité de France. (All photos: AREVA. Top, Sidney Jezequel; left, Pascal Dolémieux ans.org>). Click on the heading for the [Metis]; right, Philippe Lesage.) To read more on the case for nuclear fuel recycling in the current issue of Nuclear News. United States, see the article that begins on page 42. 2 • Nuclear News • February 2016 www.ans.org/nn Editorial Staff EDITOR & PUBLISHER p. 30 Betsy Tompkins SENIOR EDITOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR E. Michael Blake Dick Kovan SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR PRODUCTION EDITOR Phyllis Ruzicka Patricia A. Matas ASSOCIATE EDITORS DESKTOP EDITOR Michael McQueen Chris Salvato Tim Gregoire CONTRIBUTING COLUMNISTS Susan Gallier Linda C. Byus Bill Minkler Advertising & Circulation Staff SALES MANAGER ADVERTISING/PRODUCTION Jeff Mosses ASSISTANT MANAGER Erica McGowan ADVERTISING SALES ASSISTANT Jessica Vazquez International 34 Editorial Advisory Committee India’s deal with Russia caps Prime Minister Modi’s nucle- Jess C. Gehin, John C. Gilligan, and Kevan D. Weaver ar year. Restart procedure begun at Japan’s Takahama-3. The last Magnox reactor, Wylfa-1, closed in United Kingdom. The ANS Officers first Gen III+ reactor, Shin-Kori-3, goes critical in South Ko- PRESIDENT TREASURER rea. Argentina’s Embalse begins two-year refurbishment. New Eugene S. Grecheck Steven A. Arndt Hualong One joint venture formed, projects begun in China. VICE PRESIDENT/ CHAIRMAN, ANS PUBLICATIONS Canada’s Darlington relicensed for another decade. Belgian PRESIDENT-ELECT STEERING COMMITTEE regulator authorizes restart of Doel-1 and -2. Fangchenggang-1, Andrew C. Klein Martin L. Grossbeck Yangjiang-3 in China begin commercial operation. South Afri- ca authorized to start new-reactor procurement process. Administrative EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Robert C. Fine Waste Management 49 ANS Headquarters Department of Energy begins consent-based siting initiative GENERAL NUMBER NUCLEAR NEWS EDITORIAL for high-level waste disposal. License for Prairie Island inde- 708/352-6611 708/579-8245 pendent spent fuel storage installation renewed. Fax 708/352-0499 Fax 708/579-8204 www.ans.org [email protected] NUCLEAR NEWS ADVERTISING INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Fuel 55 708/579-8226 (DICK KOVAN) Norway approves irradiation of Lightbridge fuel in Halden re- 800/NUC-NEWS 902/455-3575 actor. Mining production targets met, new targets set. 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Copyright © 2016 by the American Nuclear Society, ed; other business developments. Curtiss-Wright to supply Inc. Trademark registered in USA and Canada. AP1000 reactor coolant pumps to China; other contracts. Opinions expressed in this publication by the authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of MFFF gloveboxes to be rebuilt; other Part 21 reports. the editors, the American Nuclear Society, or the organizations with which the authors are affiliated, nor should publication of author viewpoints or identification of materials or products be construed as endorsement by this publication or by the Society. Texts of most Nuclear News articles are available on the LexisNexis database, from Mead Data Corporation. Standards & Documentation 64 ANSI/ANS standard published; other actions. Four proposed regulatory guides open to comment. February 2016 • Nuclear News • 3.