MB Century sells Rig 32 to Webster Energy Services: what the move means for New Zealand geothermal drilling MB Century and Webster Energy Services have agreed the sale of MB Century’s Drillmec HH350 drilling rig, Rig 32, with completion slated for December 2026 after the rig finishes its current campaign for Tūaropaki Power Company. The transaction signals a strategic shift for MB Century,moving away from direct drilling ownership toward concentrating on engineering, reservoir and technical services,while Webster Energy uses the acquisition to deepen its footprint in the New Zealand geothermal market. This article summarises the deal, then drills into the operational, market and workforce implications for New Zealand’s geothermal sector, the strategic logic for both companies, and what the transaction suggests about capacity, competition and future drilling trends. Deal overview and timeline Parties: MB Century (seller) and Webster Energy Services (buyer). - Asset: Drillmec HH350 rig k...
"Unlocking the Secrets of Fast Reactor Fuel Safety: US and Japan Join Forces in a Groundbreaking Experiment"
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An experiment in the experiment in Broad Use Specimen Transient Experiment Rig (BUSTER) is loaded into TREAT (Image: INL)
As the world searches for sustainable energy solutions, a groundbreaking research program into the safety of fast reactor fuel is set to resume at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) next month. After being suspended since the 1990s, the program will use INL's Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility to mimic postulated accident conditions in fast reactors and test the safety of high-burnup materials.
INL researchers have crafted a special capsule to house the experiments and repurposed fresh legacy fuel pins from the lab's former EBR-II reactor, which ceased operations in 1994, for experimental commissioning tests. The team will now move on to transient experiments on high-burnup materials archived from historic irradiation testing in EBR-II, including tests on mixed oxide fuel used by Japanese and French fast reactor designs and metallic alloy fuel used by the USA.
This ambitious program is part of a four-year cost-shared initiative between the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) under the bilateral Civil Nuclear Energy Research and Development Working Group, established in 2014. However, it also marks the completion of work that began in the late 1980s to test high-burnup fast reactor fuels before it was suspended in 1994, when EBR-II was closed.
Work has begun to load the first of four irradiated fuel experiments into TREAT, with the first transient test expected to start in February. The first three DOE/JAEA fuel experiments are expected to be completed "by early spring" with the US testing completed before the end of 2024.
TREAT is one of the few facilities in the world that can produce bursts of energy several times more powerful than conditions found in a commercial reactor, known as transients, which can be used to study fuel performance under extreme conditions. TREAT was placed on standby the same year that EBR-II closed but was brought back into operation in 2017.
Daniel Wachs, national technical director for the US Advanced Fuels Campaign, said the unique experiments represent an important step towards developing global confidence in the enhanced performance and safety of advanced nuclear reactor technologies. "It's also a remarkable example of how critical international collaborations will enable the next generation of energy technology development," he added.
Source: World Nuclear News
#Japan #Nuclear Fuel #Research to Develop #US #Reactors
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