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3-meter-wide hole found at bottom of Unit 3 reactor pressure vessel at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: molten nuclear fuel burned through the base plate, TEPCO advances evaluation of debris removal project

The latest investigation data released by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) shows that an irregular circular hole with a maximum diameter of 3 meters exists at the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of Unit 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Fukushima No. 1 NPP). This is the first time since the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake triggered a tsunami and caused core meltdown that TEPCO has determined the specific shape and dimensions of the damaged bottom of the pressure vessel among the three reactors that experienced meltdown. The conclusion is based on image data obtained by a technical team in March this year using palm-sized micro-drones to conduct 21 flight surveys inside the containment vessel of Unit 3. Based on the multi-angle...

2026-10-11

Russia Completes Qualification Tests of ITER First Wall Tungsten Lining, Advancing Development of Key Components for International Thermonuclear Fusion

The Efremov Institute of Electrophysical Apparatus (NIIEFA), a subsidiary of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, recently successfully completed the qualification testing phase of tungsten materials for the first wall lining of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). This testing aimed to verify the feasibility of the selected technical solution. The expert team completed vacuum rapid brazing of the tungsten lining, robotic ultrasonic inspection, and rigorous thermal cycling tests, laying a solid foundation for subsequent mass production of key components. As the physical boundary between the scorching plasma and the main reactor equipment in a tokamak device, the first wall lining must protect the equipment from high-energy particle bombardment while...

2026-10-10

Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Developing New Quality Productive Forces

Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Developing New Quality Productive Forces. Developing new quality productive forces is an intrinsic requirement and an important focus for promoting high-quality development. To accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, the following opinions are hereby put forward. I. General Requirements. We must adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guide, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Party and all its plenary sessions, earnestly implement the arrangements of the Fourth Plenary Session, fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, uphold innovation as the lead, reform as the key, adaptation to local conditions, and establishing the new before abolishing the old, uphold high technology, high efficiency and high quality, and properly handle the relationships between the government and the market, between qualitative state and business forms, between reform and development, and between self-reliance and opening up,...

2026-10-10

Framatome and EDF Renew Long-Term Operations and Maintenance Service Agreement for Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station, Safeguarding the UK's Only PWR Unit's Life Extension into the 2040s

Framatome of France and Électricité de France (EDF) have recently formally renewed a 15-year Long-Term Service Agreement (LTSA). The agreement will comprehensively cover integrated routine operations and maintenance as well as refueling outage services for Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station (Sizewell B NPP) in Suffolk, UK, to support the unit's ongoing long-term operation and life extension development strategy. Framatome has been continuously responsible for core overhaul and technical maintenance work at Sizewell B since 2008. The renewed long-term service contract extends directly to 2040, and Framatome will mobilize its global technical expertise in the pressurized water reactor (PWR) field and its UK-dedicated...

2026-10-10

North China Regional Office of Nuclear and Radiation Safety Supervision of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment Conducts Inspections of Key Nuclear Technology Utilization Units

In order to firmly safeguard the nuclear and radiation safety barrier in the capital region, the North China Regional Office of Nuclear and Radiation Safety Supervision of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (hereinafter referred to as the North China Supervision Office) recently carried out safety inspections of 4 key nuclear technology utilization units in the capital, including source-related units and radioisotope production units. The inspection team went deep into frontline workplaces such as radioisotope production lines and radioactive source storage warehouses, conducted on-site inspections of the operation of radiation safety protection facilities, and carried out key verification of the emergency supplies equipped by each unit and holiday duty arrangements, strictly and practically investigating various types of safety hazards. The North China Supervision Office required all units to further raise their political stance, always keep the string of safety taut, strengthen...

2026-10-10

Unit 1 of Turkey's Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant Completes Primary Circuit Hydrostatic Test: Fully Advancing Toward the Hot Functional Test Stage

Unit 1 of the Akkuyu NPP, Turkey's first nuclear power plant, has successfully completed the hydrostatic test of the primary circuit system and core equipment. The successful completion of this hydrostatic test verified the pressure-bearing integrity and sealing performance of the primary circuit system, clearing engineering obstacles for the unit's subsequent launch of the critical hot functional test. During the test, the pressure-bearing value of the primary circuit system (covering the reactor pressure vessel, main coolant pumps, steam generators, pressurizer, and the main coolant piping connecting all components) was raised to 24.5 MPa, equivalent to approximately 1.5 times the unit's normal operating pressure; the initial temperature of the primary circuit demineralized water reached 135°C. Eng...

2026-10-10

India's NTPC Finalizes Three New Nuclear Power Plant Sites: Accelerating Toward the 30 GW Nuclear Power Strategic Goal for 2047

India's largest state-owned power generation company, NTPC, has officially finalized three strategic nuclear power plant sites in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Odisha. This move is a key initiative for the company to achieve its long-term plan of putting a cumulative 30 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear power capacity into operation across 14 states nationwide by 2047, and the detailed feasibility study reports for the relevant sites have been submitted to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) of India for approval. According to preliminary plans, if the above three candidate sites receive regulatory approval, the planned installed capacity of each base will be between 2 and 4 GW. For the pressurized water reactor (PWR) projects planned for these sites, NTPC is actively engaging with international nuclear power giants to assess the feasibility of technical cooperation with Holtec International of the United States, Westinghouse, Rosatom of Russia, and Electricite de France (EDF). Earlier this year, NTPC signed separate confidentiality agreements with Rosatom and EDF to carry out preliminary technical discussions on the engineering implementation of large pressurized water reactors.

2026-10-09

Radiology Institute Joins Hands with Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Tianyi Keyuan to Win Gold at National Invention Exhibition: Novel Medical Radiation Protection Materials Achieve Scaled Translational Application

At the recently held 30th National Invention Exhibition · Belt and Road & BRICS Skills Development and Technology Innovation Competition, the project "Key Technologies for Brachytherapy Radiation Protection Materials and Series of Radiation Protection Products," jointly applied for by the Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (Radiology Institute), Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (Peking Union Medical College Hospital), and Tianjin Tianyi Keyuan Technology Co., Ltd. (Tianyi Keyuan), stood out from numerous competing projects and won the Gold Award by virtue of key technological breakthroughs in the field of medical radiation protection. The award-winning project focuses on the long-standing radiation protection pain points in the clinical frontline of interventional therapy and brachytherapy. Through cross-disciplinary collaborative research by the three parties of medicine, research, and enterprise, it has systematically developed a series of innovative product matrices covering scenarios such as occupational health protection for medical staff, protection of normal tissues during radiotherapy for tumor patients, and specialized protection for scar radiotherapy.

2026-10-09

Final Design Review Completed for ITER Neutron Flux Monitor System #7

Recently, the Final Design Review (FDR-2) for the ITER Neutron Flux Monitor System #7 (NFM#7), led by the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP), was successfully held, and the system design scheme was fully affirmed by the review expert panel. The successful passage of this review marks an important milestone achievement in China's development of key ITER diagnostic systems, laying a solid foundation for subsequent system manufacturing and overall delivery. At the review meeting, the project team comprehensively reported the overall and component-level design schemes of the NFM#7 system, and responded item by item to the inquiries raised by ITER international review experts. The expert panel unanimously agreed that the final design of the NFM#7 system...

2026-10-09

Startorus Fusion Completes 20 K Cryogenic Rapid Discharge Test of Central Solenoid Model Magnet (CSMC) for Spherical Tokamak Device

Startorus Fusion (HTS) recently announced that its independently developed central solenoid (CS) model magnet for a spherical tokamak device (tokamak) successfully completed a 6350 A cryogenic current-carrying and rapid discharge test under harsh cryogenic conditions. Test results showed that the magnet achieved a maximum magnetic field of 10 T and a magnetic field change rate of up to 63 T/s, setting a new record for the magnetic field change rate of known fusion superconducting magnets. This test was conducted at 20 K (-253 °C). The magnet not only successfully reached a maximum magnetic field strength of 10 T, with a central magnetic field of 7.6 T, but also smoothly completed the rapid discharge test required for tokamak ohmic discharge. As a...

2026-10-09

Romania's Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant Reactors to Remain Shut Down Until at Least October 15

Cristian Bușoi, State Secretary of Romania's Ministry of Energy, stated to the media through public channels that Romania is experiencing its most difficult energy situation in recent decades. The low flow of the Danube River and low water levels near Cernavoda have severely affected the nuclear power plant. Currently, both reactors remain shut down, and the Danube's flow is expected to reach a historic low within the next ten days. At least until October 15, Units 1 and 2 of Cernavoda cannot be restarted. The extreme low water level of the Danube has not only caused an interruption in nuclear baseload power supply but has also simultaneously impacted the hydroelectric power output of the country's hydropower stations. Romani...

2026-10-08

Trillion-Dollar "Suns" Race: Who Is Shortening the Distance from Lab to Grid for Nuclear Fusion?

In July 2026, the Fusion Industry Association (FIA, the global industry association for the nuclear fusion sector) released the "2026 Global Fusion Industry Report." Fifty-six fusion companies raised a combined $4.48 billion over the past 12 months, setting the highest record since the survey began in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 69%. Cumulative global fusion funding has reached $14.242 billion, approximately RMB 96.388 billion, seven times that of 2021. Just half a month later, on July 30, leading U.S. fusion company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) announced the completion of $1 billion in new equity funding, bringing its cumulative funding...

2026-10-08

When the Water Runs Dry, the Reactors Stop: Behind Romania Losing One-Fifth of Its Electricity, Heavy-Industry Reactor Designs Are Suffering a Fatal "Cold Source Asphyxiation" — Examining the Physical Interrogation of High-Water-Consumption Baseload Plants by Extreme Drought Through the Prolonged Paralysis of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant

For a long time, nuclear power has been regarded as the unwavering backbone of round-the-clock baseload electricity, immune to weather conditions, cloud cover, or lulls in wind. However, the nearly two-month total shutdown of Romania's Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant is breaking this industry paradigm in an extreme and brutal manner. Because the Danube River has experienced a historically rare drought exceeding warning thresholds and a cliff-edge collapse in water levels, the country's only nuclear power plant—which safeguards one-fifth of its electricity supply—has been paralyzed by the loss of cooling water assurance, with no prospect of near-term restart. This extreme case not only tears open a massive gap in winter energy security for Romania and even Southeastern Europe, but also sounds an alarm for the global energy community: in the face of increasingly...

2026-10-08

Unit 1 of Bangladesh's Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Approved to Initiate Nuclear Fission Reaction

Recently, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) issued a final license to Unit 1 of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (Rooppur NPP) located in Ishwardi, Pabna, allowing it to initiate a controlled nuclear fission reaction. This is a key step for the 1,200-megawatt reactor toward commissioning. Saikat Ahmed, project focal point of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, told New Age that the license will allow the reactor to reach the B2 stage and achieve first criticality. First criticality refers to the initiation of a controlled, self-sustaining...

2026-10-09

NASA and U.S. Department of Energy Sign Memorandum of Understanding: Opening a New Era in Space Nuclear Energy Exploration

According to reports, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 8, 2026, at the Golden Age Summit held at the Donald J. Trump Institute for Peace in Washington, D.C., to advance new nuclear technologies for space exploration. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended the signing ceremony. It is understood that the memorandum aims to strengthen the two agencies' cooperation in nuclear technology development...

2026-10-09