World Nuclear News

The Dutch government has confirmed its intention to sell its one-third stake in Urenco, clearing the way for its possible full privatization of the world's second-largest uranium enrichment company. ...read more

Two consortia will now compete for contracts worth BRL3 billion ($1.5 billion) to assemble the nuclear and conventional island of Brazil's Angra 3 after owner Electronuclear re-opened bidding. ...read more

Finland's energy policy framework - including the expanded use of nuclear energy - paves the way for a more sustainable energy system in the longer term, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). ...read more

Vattenfall has announced it is planning to operate its newest nuclear units at Forsmark and Ringhals for up to 60 years thanks to an extensive upgrade program. ...read more

Areva has confirmed that thirteen people have been injured in a terrorist attack at its Somair uranium mine in Niger. The site was the target of one of two simultaneous attacks in the north-west of the country. ...read more

Ernest Moniz was sworn in yesterday as the 13th US Secretary of Energy at a ceremony in Washington, DC. ...read more

The first Chinese-made steam generator for an EPR has been completed and is being transported to unit 2 of the Taishan plant in the country's Guangdong province. ...read more

Two South Korean nuclear power plants - Yonggwang and Ulchin - have been renamed in response to pressure from local fishermen who claimed that problems at the plants had damaged the image of their traditional catches. ...read more

Russia's AKME-Engineering is now licensed to provide construction services for nuclear power plants, in preparation for the construction of a pilot heavy metal-cooled reactor. ...read more

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) president Atsuyuki Suzuki has resigned after the country's nuclear regulator blocked the restart of the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor due to inspection deficiencies. ...read more

A Czech nuclear research institute has received a shipment of fluoride salt from the US Department of Energy. The Řež research institute is conducting studies into the use of the salt as a coolant in high-temperature nuclear reactors. ...read more

UK-based engineering company James Fisher Nuclear has won a £5 million ($7.6 million) contract for the retrieval and processing of radioactive waste from a 65-metre deep shaft and a wet silo at the Dounreay site. ...read more

Belgian reactor operator Electrabel is preparing to restart units at Tihange and Doel after national nuclear regulators confirmed that defects discovered in the reactor's pressure vessels are of no safety significance. ...read more

Spanish utility Nuclenor has requested a partial revocation of a ministerial order which would enable it to request an operating licence extension for the shut Garoña nuclear power plant. ...read more

Westinghouse and China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) are to work together to develop a small modular reactor (SMR) design licensable in both the USA and China. ...read more

Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy has been awarded a contract to develop the design of Horizon Nuclear Power's proposed new nuclear power plant at Wylfa in the UK. ...read more

Plans for the Cigéo facility to dispose of radioactive waste at Bure in France have reached the stage of final public consultation. ...read more

Europe faces a "lost decade" in low carbon development, the continent's electricity industry association Eurelectric has warned, due to signals that detract from the ultimate goals of energy policy. ...read more

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPC) has changed its name to China General Nuclear Power Group to reflect the group's ambitions to grow outside of Guangdong and China itself. ...read more

Westinghouse and China's State Nuclear Power Technology Corp have formed a joint venture to develop the global AP1000 supply chain. ...read more

A four-year process is planned to rebuild the cover over Fukushima Daiichi 1, equipping it to remove used reactor fuel still stored there. ...read more

Uranium production has begun at North Butte, a satellite facility to Cameco's Smith Ranch-Highland in situ leach uranium project in Wyoming, in a step described as a significant milestone for the company's US operations. ...read more

Residents will be able to repair tsunami damage in the town of Futaba after the Japanese government decided to prepare for the removal of parts of the town from the Fukushima evacuation zone. ...read more

EnBW Kernkraft has formally applied to the state of Baden-Wurttemberg for permission to decommission and demolish two nuclear units forced to close by German politicians in response to the Fukushima nuclear accident. ...read more

Most of the highly active liquid waste produced from the reprocessing of Material Test Reactor fuel at the UK's Dounreay site has now been cemented into drums ready for disposal. ...read more