The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) completed a domestic preliminary task for Ghana’s uranium low-enrichment project in miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) on May 27.

It marked the entrance of the project’s construction phase at the local Ghana site. CNNC is scheduled to accomplish the uranium low-enrichment remodeling of the reactor core in the Ghana MNSR within the year.

The uranium low-enrichment of the MNSR is included in the China-US Joint Statement during the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington in 2016. The technology aims to substitute high-enriched uranium fuel with low-enriched fuel, without changing the size of the reactor core. 

The project follows China’s international policy on nuclear nonproliferation and plays an essential role in promoting MNSR technologies at home and abroad.

The China Institute of Atomic Energy, a subsidiary of CNNC, succeeded with the low-enrichment remodeling of China’s MNSR in March 2016. Four months later, the institute accomplished a critical experiment for the Ghana project and launched the nuclear fuel transporting work abroad. The transportation of MNSR fuel demands cross-country collaboration and coordination.