In other news - 10/15/2025

In other news The final simulated fuel assembly was successfully loaded into the reactor core of unit 3 at the Xudabao nuclear power plant in China's Liaoning Province on 13 October, China National Nuclear Corporation announced. “This loading process not only comprehensively verified the commissioning results of the unit 3 refueling machine prior to the cold test, but also laid a solid foundation for subsequent cold functional testing and the first fuel loading,” CNNC said. Construction of two Russian-supplied VVER-1200 reactors as Xudabao units 3 and 4 began in July 2021 and May 2022, respectively. EnCore Energy of the USA has announced new uranium discoveries made in areas in or near existing wellfields. These discoveries have been made as a result of a major ongoing re-analysis of thousands of historic drill holes from across the Alta Mesa in-situ recovery - also known as in-situ leach - uranium project in South Texas that began in April. "This more granular and detailed evaluation has identified uranium mineralised roll fronts in at least three areas to date," enCore said. "Follow up drilling by enCore has delineated these new roll fronts with drilling continuing to determine the extents of each." One of these new roll fronts has progressed such that it has now advanced to permitting as Wellfield 3 Extension. Mineralised roll fronts have also been found overlying the past productive mineralisation in Wellfield 4 with at least two new roll fronts discovered to date. The shielded area retrievals project at the Berkeley nuclear power plant in south-west England has reached a major milestone in its mission to safely manage intermediate level waste, Nuclear Restoration Services, a subsidiary of the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced. The team has successfully disposed of the first half of the isocans - aluminium containers holding legacy waste from post irradiation experimentation - using bespoke components designed by mechanical systems engineer, James Lamb. His innovation saved time and money while keeping the solution compatible with legacy equipment, NRS said. With six Type VI ductile cast iron container's and three MOSAIK boxes filled, the team is now preparing to tackle the next phase of waste retrieval.