Quality deviations have been detected on certain welds of the main secondary system in the EPR reactor under construction at Flamanville, northern France, EDF announced today. The utility has informed the French regulator of the discovery, but has yet to determine whether the unit's start-up, expected at the end of this year, will be delayed.

The use of small modular reactors (SMRs) for remote communities and mines in northern Ontario will be studied following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Bruce Power, Laurentian University and Mirarco Mining Innovation. The five-year, CAD1 million (USD786,000)  research agreement will create an Industrial Chair position at Mirarco.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the issuance of combined construction and operating licences for the two proposed AP1000 reactors at Florida Power and Light's Turkey Point plant in Florida. The utility has yet to make a final decision on whether to proceed with building the units.

Russia's Rosatom has completed concreting the foundation of unit 1 of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh. ASE Group, a subsidiary of the Russian state nuclear corporation, said today the project to build the Asian country's first nuclear power unit was on schedule.

The same construction milestone - installation of the reactor pressure vessel - has been reached at unit 4 of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in the US state of Georgia and at unit 5 of the Hongyanhe plant in China's Liaoning province.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan today attended via videolink from Ankara a ceremony to mark the pouring of first safety-related concrete for unit 1 of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant. Putin arrived today for a two-day working visit to the Turkish capital.

Terrestrial Energy USA and Energy Northwest have agreed a memorandum of understanding on the terms of the possible siting, construction and operation of an Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) at a site at the Idaho National Laboratory in southeastern Idaho.

The Czech government is expected to reach a decision on the best way to finance new nuclear projects by the middle of the year, after a Ministry of Industry and Trade committee agreed yesterday to finalise its recommendations to government.

Unit 1 of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant in northwest Russia has today entered "experimental industrial operation", the final stage of its commissioning. The VVER 1200 reactor is scheduled to enter commercial operation before the end of this year.

President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan today attended a ceremony to celebrate the completion of construction at the United Arab Emirates' first nuclear power reactor.

The dome has been installed on the containment building of unit 6 at the Fuqing nuclear power plant. The unit is the second demonstration HPR1000 Hualong One reactor being built at the site in China's Fujian province.

The reactor pressure vessel for unit 5 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant has been delivered to the construction site in China's Liaoning province. Installation of the component began immediately.