Ceramic and glass business news of the week for January 6, 2025

PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES

France’s most powerful nuclear reactor comes on stream after 12-year delay

The Flamanville 3 EPR nuclear reactor, France’s most powerful to date, finally began providing electricity to French homes in late December 2024 after a plethora of technical setbacks led to a 12-year delay and a four-fold increase in the project’s overall cost.

Construction begins on NSW’s first 3D-printed social housing project

Construction is now underway on the first 3D-printed social housing properties in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. Indigenous company Aboriginal Sustainable Homes is developing the site in partnership with Contour3D.

Europe’s first 3D-printed social housing project constructed in Ireland

Harcourt Technologies Ltd. achieved a groundbreaking milestone by constructing Europe’s first social housing project compliant with the ISO/ASTM 52939:2023 additive manufacturing standard, adopted by Ireland. The project in Grange Close, Ireland, features three 110 m² (1,184 ft²) apartments, totaling 330 m² (3,552 ft²).

American Rare Earths secures research institute to progress Halleck Creek project

American Rare Earths announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Wyoming Rare, secured a facility at the Western Research Institute to progress the Halleck Creek rare earths project and enhance its operational capabilities in the region.

Gulls ‘dancing’ on wet concrete complicate regeneration project in Norfolk

Herring gulls are causing havoc for construction workers by walking on wet concrete laid as part of a regeneration project in Norfolk, U.K. So far, the gulls have left footprints in each of the three concrete pours—with each needing to be reskimmed before it sets.

New center for ceramics in Rajasthan set to support ceramics industry with research

A new Center of Excellence for Ceramics being established in Rajasthan, India, is set to support the ceramics industry through exploration, mining, processing, and world-class research. Preparations for launching the center are in the final stage.

 

ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS

NANO Nuclear Energy to acquire technologies from Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation

NANO Nuclear Energy executed a definitive agreement to acquire select nuclear energy technology assets from Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation and certain of its subsidiaries.The acquired assets include USNC’s patented Micro Modular Reactor system as well as its Pylon reactor technology and related intellectual property.

Joint venture produces China’s first Gen8.6 OLED glass substrate

A Chinese joint venture between CNBM (Chengdu) Optoelectronic Materials and its subsidiary Bengbu Zhongguangdian Technology produced China’s first Gen8.6 OLED glass substrate at their facility in Bengbu, Anhui Province. This development is a strategic positioning of China’s entry into OLED glass substrate manufacturing.

YTL Cements provides update on research consortium

YTL Cement Bhd, in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, highlighted the continued progress of the University–Industry Research Consortium. Launched in October 2023, the initiative brings together leading universities and industry partners to enhance knowledge and stewardship of the country’s ecologically significant tropical limestone karst landscapes.

CNL and KIT partner to advance clean energy research

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories signed an agreement with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to pursue collaborative research related to fusion, materials characterization, and hydrogen science and technology.

GE Vernova supplies wind turbine to NREL in research collaboration

GE Vernova’s Advanced Research Center supplied a 3.4-MW, 140-m wind turbine to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for use in energy research and experimentation. The wind turbine will be installed in 2026 at the NREL Flatirons site, home of the National Wind Technology Center, in Colorado.

BTQ Technologies partners with Korean quantum organizations

BTQ Technologies Corp. entered into a memorandum of understanding with Korea’s Future Quantum Convergence Forum, Quantum Industrial Standard Association, and Future Quantum Convergence Institute to advance quantum technology innovation and global cooperation through industrial standards, joint events, and industry–academic programs.

 

OTHER STORIES

Department of the Navy releases inaugural advanced manufacturing strategy

The Department of the Navy released its inaugural advanced manufacturing strategy. The strategy involves harnessing cutting-edge commercial capabilities for strategic advancement, expanding organic capabilities, modernizing depots, and strengthening warfighter self-sufficiency.

Korea proposes new global standards for hydrogen tech at ISO/TC197 General Assembly

Two hydrogen technologies proposed by Korea as new international standards received the consent of experts at the recently held ISO/TC197 General Assembly. The two proposed technologies are the performance evaluation test method for water electrolysis technology and the high-pressure hose test method for hydrogen tube trailers.

GCL Energy Technology launches first blockchain-based RWA project in photovoltaic industry

GCL Energy Technology Co. Ltd. completed the first Real World Asset Tokenization issuance in China’s photovoltaic industry with Ant Digital Technologies, securing 200 million yuan (US$27.4 million) in cross-border financing. For this inaugural issuance, GCL Energy Technology tokenized two strategically significant solar power plants in Hunan and Hubei provinces.

ReElement Technologies produces critical materials with greater than 99.5% purity

American Resources Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiary ReElement Technologies Corporation successfully separated and refined terbium from dysprosium, as well as the light rare earth elements neodymium and praseodymium, achieving a purity greater than 99.5% on all isolated elements.

DOE funding notice: Solar with wildlife and ecosystem benefits

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the Solar with Wildlife and Ecosystem Benefits 2 funding opportunity, which will award up to $11 million for research and development, technical assistance, and stakeholder engagement activities that improve the compatibility of large-scale solar facilities with wildlife and facilitate the dual use of land for agricultural and solar energy production. Mandatory concept papers are due on Feb. 14, 2025.

 

MARKET TRENDS

Race for Arctic resources in a climate change era

The Arctic is home to around 13% (90 billion barrels) of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil resources and 30% of its undiscovered natural gas ones, according to an assessment conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. As Arctic ice melts, the cost of extracting its raw materials declines.

Report: Solar growth soared in 2024

The U.S. installed 8.6 GW of solar capacity between July and September 2024, according to a report released in December 2024 by the Solar Energy Industries Association. That figure represents a 21% increase compared to the same period the previous year.

Solar glass antidumping duty sparks project delay fears amid module price rise

The imposition of antidumping duty on solar glass in India in December 2024 has led to a rise in solar photovoltaic module prices by 10–12%, raising concerns over project cost escalations and potential delays.

Texas concrete plants remain controversial—lawmakers tackle how to regulate them

As concrete batch plants move into Fort Worth and Tarrant County in Texas, developers aim to be mindful of the effects of concrete mixing on communities.

 

NEW PRODUCTS

Russia unveils its 50-qubit rubidium neutral atom prototype quantum computer

Russia unveiled its first 50-qubit quantum computer prototype using neutral rubidium atoms in December 2024. The prototype, developed by Lomonosov Moscow State University and Russian Quantum Center, achieves a milestone in the country’s quantum roadmap by delivering a 50-qubit device before 2025.

ROSS FDA-600 dual-shaft mixer for robust industrial mixing

ROSS completed another heavy-duty dual-shaft mixer model FDA-600 designed for processing emulsions, dispersions, and suspensions.