Unit 6 at the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province was connected to the grid for the first time yesterday, according to the China Nuclear Energy Association. The milestone - at 8.27pm local time - marked the unit's entry into the grid-connected commissioning phase.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation has today provided EDF with permission for Reactors 3 and 4 at the Hunterston nuclear power plant in North Ayrshire, Scotland to return to service for a limited period of operation. This will be the power station’s final period of operation before moving into the defueling phase.

The Volgodonsk branch of Russia's AEM-Technology JSC has dispatched the first-ever reactor pressure vessel for the VVER-TOI (typical optimised, with enhanced information) reactor design. The RPV is being transported to the construction site of the Kursk II nuclear power plant, which will be the first to use the new design. Hydraulic testing of the RPV for the first Kursk II unit was completed in December last year.

EDF notified France's nuclear safety regulator, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, on 3 March of a significant event concerning a design anomaly on three nozzles of the main primary system of the EPR reactor under construction at Flamanville. The concerned nozzles were produced in 2011 based on a 2006 design file. The regulator has asked EDF how it plans to deal with this anomaly.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation has today provided EDF with permission for Reactors 3 and 4 at the Hinkley Point B power station in Somerset, England, to return to service for a limited period of operation. This follows ONR's assessment of whether cracking observed in the graphite bricks that form the reactor core could compromise the key nuclear safety requirements.

The loading of 'dummy' fuel assemblies began yesterday at unit 2 of the new nuclear power plant in Ostrovets, Belarus. "This process is a prerequisite and, in a way, a dress rehearsal for the loading of nuclear fuel into the reactor," Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said.

The China Experimental Fast Reactor has been restarted and reconnected to the grid, marking its entry into its high-power operation phase. The sodium-cooled, pool-type fast reactor began a refuelling and maintenance outage at the end of July last year, having completed commissioning tests for the power test phase of the reactor, which verified that its performance had met the design requirements under stable conditions and expected transient operating conditions.

The Nuclear Innovation Alliance and Partnership for Global Security, two US think tanks, today released a joint report defining a comprehensive strategy for the USA to become the global leader in advanced nuclear power. They said the strategy outlines the domestic and international activities that will be required to ensure the USA can lead in the development and deployment of next generation nuclear technologies through collaboration between government, industry, civil society, and other nations.

Unit 1 of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant has successfully completed tests on the strength of the internal protective shell of the reactor building, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said today. When it was connected to the grid on 9 March 2018, the unit became the second VVER-1200 reactor to start up, following the launch in 2016 of Novovoronezh unit 6.

Construction work has started on the second CFR-600 sodium-cooled pool-type fast-neutron nuclear reactor in Xiapu County, in China's Fujian province. Also known as the Xiapu fast reactor demonstration project, the CFR-600 is part of China's plan to achieve a closed nuclear fuel cycle.

The nuclear plant licensing system should be rationalised to promote the extensive deployment at competitive cost of new reactors, according to a report issued this month by the Cooperation in Reactor Design Evaluation and Licensing Working Group of World Nuclear Association.

The US Department of Energy has announced USD20 million in awards for the third of three programmes under its new Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy has selected three teams to receive FY2020 funding for the ARDP's Advanced Reactor Concepts-20 programme.