Uranium production

Global Laser Enrichment has completed its application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to build the world's first commercial laser-based uranium enrichment facility.

The proposed facility, which would produce a new supply of low-enriched uranium for nuclear power plants, would be built in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In the new process, uranium hexafluoride would be vaporised into a gaseous form and exposed to a laser beam that would then preferentially excite the 235UF6 isotope, which would enable a separation of natural uranium into enriched and depleted uranium.

The process, while technically complex, is potentially more efficient than existing second-generation centrifuge enrichment technology.

GLE is implementing a three-phase approach to commercialising the laser enrichment technology: first it will complete a test loop, then construct the initial commercial cascade and finally build a full-scale commercial production facility.

The company will use the information from the test loop in its evaluations of whether or not to proceed with the full-scale commercial facility.

The proposed plant would be co-located with the existing nuclear fuel manufacturing facilities of Global Nuclear Fuel and the new plants and services business of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

In 2006, GLE acquired the exclusive rights to develop and commercialise the third-generation uranium enrichment technology globally through a license from Silex Systems of Australia. In 2008, Cameco, one of the world's largest uranium producers, acquired a 24 per cent ownership stake in GLE.
source: www.theengineer.co.uk

Uranium project may go on hold

By Jonathan Riskind

WASHINGTON -- The planned uranium-enrichment plant project in Piketon, Ohio, faces "demobilization" beginning in August unless the federal government grants a $2 billion loan guarantee, says USEC Inc.

USEC, the suburban Washington company trying to build the $3.5 billion advanced-technology plant on the same site where it ran the enrichment facility closed in 2001, has indicated for months that without the loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, the Piketon project would fail to get needed financing.

USEC has spent about $1.4 billion to build a test plant and begin work on the full-scale commercial facility, which would make fuel for nuclear power plants. The company says the enrichment plant could be operating by early 2011.

An Energy Department spokesman declined on Tuesday to discuss the status of the USEC request. However, Energy Secretary Steven Chu has made it a priority to speed up the loan guarantee process.

USEC made its application more than 10 months ago. Announcements are expected "fairly soon" for several projects, said Ebony Meeks, an Energy Department spokeswoman. But she could not say whether USEC would be the subject of one of those announcements.

Overall, the project employs 5,700 directly or indirectly; jobs range from construction of the plant in Piketon to work on the enrichment-facility components and supplies in eight states, the company says. In Piketon, more than 600 are working, and a fully operating plant would employ about 400 for years to come.

The enrichment facility is separate from the planned nuclear-power plant that a consortium of companies recently announced. The nuclear power plant could take a decade to go online even if it gains all the necessary approvals.

USEC said this week that it expects the Energy Department to make a decision by early August on whether to grant a "conditional commitment" for the loan guarantee. But if the decision is no, or there is no decision, a demobilization plan for significantly slowing down the project will be put into effect that would "involve the partial or full halt of certain American Centrifuge project activities and plant construction," the company said.

"Even if a conditional commitment is provided by early August, demobilization may be initiated if the terms of such conditional commitment are not acceptable or if subsequent progress toward achieving actual funding later this year under the loan guarantee is not maintained," the company said.
source: www.dispatchpolitics.com

A successful 2008 for Atomenergoprom

JSC Atomenergoprom performed better than expected in 2008 – its first year of full operations – according to the company’s latest annual report.

Atomenergoprom’s total revenue amounted to RUR305.5 billion ($9.4 billion) in 2008, exceeding the target by over 7%. The targeted net profit of RUR27 billion ($0.8 billion) was also achieved. The holding’s export earnings totalled $4.5 billion (including HEU-LEU agreement implemented by JSC TENEX).

Rosatom, the sole shareholder of JSC Atomenergoprom, has approved the firm’s 2008 annual report and accounting statements. Below is a summary of the report.

The last year turned out to be the record one for Russia in terms of NPP output – 162.3 billion kWh (2% more than in 2007) was achieved without commissioning of the new units. The capacity factor rose to 79.5%. As result of such improvements, Atomenergoprom ranked first among Russian generation companies in terms of power generation output.

Russian uranium production increased by 3% in 2008, up to 3521t, or by 4.5% and 3687t if JV Zarechnoye (Kazakhstan) output is taken into account. The company formed a number of joint ventures for uranium exploration and production in Armenia, Namibia, Canada and Russia, and assessed potential Russian involvement in uranium production projects in Ukraine, Mongolia and other countries.

Atomenergoprom also increased international cooperation in 2008. The company entered into contracts for comprehensive supplies of nuclear fuel after 2010 to nuclear power plants in Slovakia, and the Option Agreement involving provision by JSC TVEL of fuel fabrication services for the operating and near-finished NPP units throughout their operation period. The company also entered into contracts with the Chinese Nuclear Energy Company for construction of the gas centrifuge plant, and a long-term contract for supply of Russian EUP/SWU. On 20 March 2008, in Moscow, Atomenergoprom and Toshiba Corporation entered into a framework agreement on business cooperation in various spheres. JSC Atomenergomash acquired the controlling block of shares in Guns Energetika in Hungary and formed on the basis thereof a Russia-Hungary joint venture for production of NPP refuelling equipment.

Russia continued to upgrade its nuclear technologies over the past year. In 2008 the development and production of new generation gas centrifuges continued. JSC ChMZ completed construction of the superconductors production facility, furthering Russia’s international obligations under ITER programme. The company developed technical and feasibility documents for TVSA-PLUS and TVS-2M with higher active zone for operations at Balakovo, Volgodonsk and Kalinin nuclear power stations for 1.5 years under at the increased power levels. The company worked out the five-year fuel cycle programmes, design and feasibility documents enabling the use of 2nd generation fuel at Bohunice, Mohovce, Dukovany, Paks and Loviisa nuclear power plants at the increased capacity levels.

In 2008 Atomenergoprom also established the Russian Gas Centrifuge Engineering Center to act as the HQ to be responsible for design and production of primary and auxiliary equipment for separation enterprises within the nuclear fuel cycle and consolidation of R&D and production assets.

TVEL

2008 was also a successful year for Russia’s nuclear fuel company, JSC TVEL. Total sales in 2008 amounted to RUR52 billion, compared with RUR37 billion in 2007. The company net profit was RUR29.93 billion, six times higher than in 2007 when it was RUR5.83 billion.

TVEL fully fulfilled its contractual obligations on nuclear fuel delivery to Russian and foreign energy and research reactors.

Also in 2008, JSC TVEL completed a number of important tasks that enabled to keep its positions among the four biggest nuclear fuel suppliers in the world and also created a basis for further development. As a result of a successful tender, a strategic contact with the Slovenské elektrárne company (Slovakia) was signed, arrangements of commercial based pricing mechanisms with the Eastern and Central European partners were reached, preparation for conversion to fuel of the second generation for reactors VVER-440 started in Ukraine and Hungary.

In 2008, in the area of "sales of products in USA" contacts with 11 from 31 nuclear power plants operators were established and arrangements with legal and technical consultants were reached and also a project presentation was made in JSC MBP.

The last year was very important for JSC TVEL also in putting the zirconium components and regenerated uranium on the market. One of the important results was preparation of contract documents for semi-processed materials for nuclear fuel delivery to India. After de-restriction of nuclear materials trading for this country, TVEL was the first company that offered mutually profitable conditions for nuclear materials supply.

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Cutting Costs In Tough Economic Times…It Is Time To Change The Way You Look At Engine Oil Changes

New technology…an engine oil centrifuge that works in conjunction with your existing engine oil filter can extend oil drain intervals 2-5 times and cut operation cost significantly. Extends oil changes 7,500 miles and decreases dependence on foreign oil, reduces the generation of waste oil and reduces oil-related environmental issues by 50%. Extend the oil changes 15,000 miles and you cut cost by 75%.

Auburn, CA (Advertiser Talk) 16-Jul-2009 — Most major automakers agree: that the old adage that you should change your car’s/truck’s oil every 3,000 miles is outdated, and even 5,000 miles may be too often. Sadly some are not paying attention and are wasting resources and money by changing oil too soon.

Oil life guidelines due to higher oil quality standards from many manufactures now recommended oil change interval from 5,000 miles to 7,500 but what if you could go to 15,000 with no engine damage?

Today’s engines have has what is called a full-flow oil filter. These filters generally filter to 25 microns. A micron, short for micrometer, is a unit of measurement equal to one millionth of a meter. A micron is actually 0.000039 of an inch…the period at the end of this sentence is about 397 microns.

The average oil film thickness between loaded components in your engine is between 5 and 20 microns. According to the SAE, particles as small as four microns can cause up to 77% of engine wear.

The challenge has been to extend engine life beyond the last payment…what if you could double your engine life?

If you expected old technology to achieve this goal your plan is flawed from the start. New technology must be looked at.

Dieselcraft Division of Magnum Group LLC of Auburn California has developed the OC-25 Cyclone Series Centrifuge for all internal combustion gas and diesel engines. The OC-25 Centrifuge cleans engine oil by generating a centrifugal force which is 2,000 times greater than gravity. Engine oil pressure spins the centrifuge rotor at a rate up to 6,000 rpm’s. That force separates the solid contaminates from the main oil supply. The solids are stuck to the inside of the rotor cover, which is easily cleaned with a paper towel…no filter to dispose of.

The OC-25 has over 5 times the debris-holding capacity plus is 100 times more efficient than any filters on the market. This is because the OC-25 Centrifuge removes dirt and wear particles from the oil flow all together. Contaminant particles as low as 1/10th of 1 micron are removed, eliminating the wear and tear on close tolerance metal parts by at least 50%.

Filters take out solids and hold them from circulating further but plug, reduce oil flow and eventually reach the point of not working. The cleaning efficiency remains constant in an OC-25 Centrifuge where in any standard filter efficiency starts to drop off the minute you install it.

Motor oil does not wear out in 7,500 or even 15,000 miles if it is just dirty. If you are removing wear particles, oil change intervals can be at least doubled if not more.

Look at the economics of this on the level of corporate and government fleets, change the oil at 15,000 mile not at 7,500. You have cut oil consumption by 50%. The state of California at last count has 70,000 vehicles with 70,000 filters that have to be changed and recycled and uses over 200,000 gallons of oil per year. Extend oil life and cut the annual expenditures by 50%…no small amount.
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