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The Japan Atomic Energy Agency today received permission from the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) for changes to reactor installation of the country's high-temperature engineering test reactor, in conformity to the New Regulatory Requirements. This marks the first time restart permission has been granted for a gas-cooled reactor in Japan.

With a unanimous 4-0 vote, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on May 26 approved a streamlined and more predictable process for licensing advanced light water reactors.

A report from Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan's national newspapers, said that the Kyushu Electric Power Company is closing down operations of the Sendai Unit 2 nuclear power plant for failure to complete a remote-operations safety measure required by the country’s nuclear regulator.

Core barrel of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for Rooppur NPP (Bangladesh) has been produced at the Volgodonsk branch of JSC “AEM-technology” (a part of machine building subdivision of ROSATOM – Atomenergomash)

Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom said this week that the floating nuclear power plant in Pevek, in the Chukotka region of the Russian Far East had been fully commissioned following approval by the country's nuclear watchdog Rostechnadzor.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced a two-month delay on the start up of the Lennigrad II, Unit 2 reactor, pushing the expected start up to April 2010, according to Russian media outlet Kommersant.

The Volgodonsk branch of AEM Technologies had completed the closing weld that connected the two halves of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) being manufactured for unit 1 of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, state-owned Russian nuclear power concern Rosatom said.

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) said Tuesday that Cold Hydrostatic Testing (CHT) at Unit 4 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant had been completed.

The first batch of low-enriched uranium nuclear fuel has been delivered to the construction site of Belarusian NPP. The Russian-made fuel assemblies are currently being prepared for unloading and inspection, Russia's nuclear giant Rosatom said this week.

The National Grid ESO in Britain has requested that EDF Energy keep the 1198 MWe Sizewell B reactor on lower output to compensate for decreased demand during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the severe economic impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the start up and construction schedule for the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates is continuing unabated, the head of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation said.

On April 30, the Unit 1 nuclear reactor marked 624 consecutive days of steady operation, setting a new record for its post-2012 return to operation production life. It bested Unit 8 by one day.

New Orleans-based energy generator Entergy Corp. has closed down the Indian Point Two reactor, as of 30 April, bringing to an end the productive life of the reactor that began commercial operations in 1974 and served the New York City/Westchester County region for 45 years.

Students and professionals in the nuclear power field are taking on learning opportunities while being housebound during the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced this week.

SNC-Lavalin Group subsidiary Atkins Group said it had been appointed to independently assess the software for the reactor protection system which will monitor the two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point C (HPC).

Nuclear fuel technology company Lightbridge Corporation has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the primary goal of designing an experiment for irradiation of Lightbridge metallic fuel material samples at the Advanced Test Reactor at the Idaho International Laboratory.

Nuclear industry service giant Framatome, primarily owned by French utility EDF, has announced a multimillion-euro contract to modernize the crane instrumentation and control (I&C) systems at the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II), which is operated by the Technical University of Munich.

Relaxed work standards at U.S. nuclear power plants due to the coronavirus pandemic has provoked concern among some environmental groups, while plant owners say that maintaining the safety of personnel is the focus of the changes, a Bloomberg News report says.

Russia’s Ministry of Construction Glavgosexpertiza has favorably reviewed the coastal infrastructure designs related to the Akademik Lomonosov, the floating nuclear power plant that went into operation in December 2019 in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug mining region.

With the Vogtle Units 3 & 4 project 84 percent completed Georgia Power confirmed it is trimming its workforce back by 2,000 workers in part due to virus-related absenteeism at a worksite with more than 9,000 workers on site.

Dallas-based consultancy Jacobs Engineering said this week it had been awarded several fusion-related contracts, with an estimated combined value of more than $25 million, by Fusion for Energy (F4E), ITER Organization and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

With the coronavirus pandemic crippling economies around the globe, French utility EDF said this week it had lowered its forecast for the year concerning its expected output from the company’s nuclear plants.

British nuclear engineering consulting companhy Ansaldo Nuclear has unveiled its Machine Retrieval System, a remotely controlled robotic device that will retrieve, verify, seal and pack 860 metric tons of radioactive ion exchange resins and various sludges at the Caorso Nuclear Power Plant in Italy.

VTT Technical Research Center of Finland has awarded a contract to Finnish utility Fortum for decommissioning services for the Finnish Reactor 1 (FiR1), a 250 kW reactor that has not been operating since June 2015.

US-based nuclear industry ancillary support company UniTech said in a statement that it would continue to operate through the corona virus pandemic to ensure safety of personnel in the country’s nuclear power plants.