Experimental design work with laser welding of steel retaining rings carried out using a collaborative robot has begun at the Central Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering in St Petersburg.

The USD525 million acquisition of the Canadian nuclear services company Kinetrics "creates a comprehensive portfolio of end-to-end lifecycle services for customers in the small modular reactor and traditional large-scale nuclear reactor markets".

A keel-laying ceremony has been held at the Baltic Shipyard in Russia for the multipurpose Vladimir Vorobyov service ship for nuclear-powered icebreakers.

Unit 2 of the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in Cape Town was reconnected to the South African grid on 30 December after the completion of extensive maintenance to extend the unit's operational lifespan by an additional 20 years.

The ten-year, USD840 million contract to supply electricity to federal facilities is the first-ever long-term multi-agency purchase of electricity by the US General Services Administration, and will support licence extensions and capacity uprates at Constellation's nuclear plants.

Ontario Power Generation's Pickering Unit 4 was permanently shut down as planned at the end of 2024.

The company has signed a contract with Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant to conduct safety analysis for licensing a new nuclear fuel assembly design for Kozloduy unit 6.

Framatome has been contracted by Bruce Power to upgrade the instrumentation and control systems at units 5, 7 and 8 of the Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario.

The Kazakh national atomic company's Russian partner Uranium One Group JSC has sold its share in the Zarechnoye joint venture to a subsidiary of China's State Nuclear Uranium Resources Development Co. Kazatomprom also expects Chinese beneficiaries to assume interests from Uranium One in two other joint ventures.