An industrial gamma radiography exposure device (IGRED) with 1.85 TBq (50 Ci) 192Ir source belonging to a radiography agency was stolen from a fertilizer factory on 25 April 2007. The lock of the source storage pit where the device was stored had been broken and IGRED was taken away along with its cranking unit and guide tube. The cranking unit and the guide tube of the device were later found in the factory premises but the device could not be traced. Extensive radiation surveys were carried out in the plant and also at scrap yards situated nearby but the source could not be traced. Search operations by police are continuing. No radiation injury has been reported. It appears that the device has been stolen for monetary gains. The device has adequate shielding and proper built-in locking mechanism and therefore inadvertent removal of the radioactive source from the device is not considered likely. Hence, the event is considered to be not significant from radiological safety point of view.The event is provisionally rated at level-2 on INES.
A vast subsea nuclear graveyard planned to hold Britain’s burgeoning piles of radioactive waste is set to become the biggest, longest-lasting and most expensive infrastructure project ever undertaken in the UK. The project [UK's nuclear waste dump] is now predicted to take more than 150yrs to complete with lifetime costs of £66bn in today’s money...The […]
Last year, the Dutch Province of Limburg started an alliance in which, besides the local government, research institutes, small nuclear reactor (SMR) developers, utilities, industrial customers and funders cooperated. With this "Limburg SMR alliance" Limburg tried to lead the way towards an SMR in Limburg. The preferred site for a first SMR would be Chemelot, […]
From the IPFM: During a visit to the Civaux nuclear power plant on 18 March 2024, France's Minister of the Armed Forces unveiled a plan to use the plant to produce tritium for the French nuclear weapons program. Civaux is a civilian power plant that belongs to and is operated by Electricité de France. According […]
An analysis by the Norwegian NGO Bellona of transborder trade operations with the customs code 840130 (irradiated fuel assemblies or fuel elements) show a more than twofold increase of import to EU countries of fresh nuclear fuel in cash terms – from 280 million Euros in 2022 to 686 million Euros in 2023. In physical […]
The French government has said it is "seriously" studying the option of building a plant to convert and enrich reprocessed uranium to cut its reliance on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. The only plant in the world that currently converts reprocessed uranium for use in nuclear power plants is in Russia. "The option of […]
