The UK's finance minister, Philip Hammond, has described the terms of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project as a "well-designed transfer of risk". Meanwhile British company Rolls-Royce has for the second time become a 'preferred bidder' for the project in Somerset, and members of EDF Energy's advisory panel have argued it is "strongly in the national interest to press ahead with the plant".

Following the Paris climate conference at the end of last year, the energy sector is facing its biggest challenge ever. Countries around the world are searching for pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are looking for the right balance to the trilemma of security of supply, sustainability and competitiveness. Nordic countries can offer some useful lessons, writes Lauri Virkkunen.

A feasibility study on the construction of nuclear power plants in Jordan is to be prepared in the first half of next year, Sergey Kirienko, director general of the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said today. Kirienko spoke to reporters at the second Eastern Economic Forum that opened today in the Russian city Vladivostock.

Asia is one of the regions where nuclear energy is "high on the agenda" and could be one of the drivers for global nuclear power deployment, according to the deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Russia has reached two more milestones in its endeavour to close the nuclear fuel cycle. Mashinostroitelny Zavod (MSZ) - part of Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer TVEL - has completed acceptance tests of components for its ETVS-14 and ETVS-15 experimental fuel assemblies with mixed nitride fuel for the BREST and BN fast neutron reactors. MSZ has also announced the start of research and development work on the technical design of the "absorbent element" of the core of the BREST-OD-300 reactor.

Shikoku Electric Power Company announced today that it had initiated the process to restart unit 3 of its Ikata nuclear power plant in Japan's Ehime prefecture. It becomes the fifth Japanese reactor to resume operation under new safety standards introduced following the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

A Russian government decree published yesterday indicates the country plans to construct 11 new nuclear power reactors by 2030 - including two BN-1200 sodium-cooled fast neutron reactors. The document, which covers "territorial planning for energy" for the period, also identifies six points for radioactive waste disposal.

The High Court of Paris on 5 August rejected a request by EDF's Central Works Council to suspend the final investment decision for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project in the UK. Meanwhile, China's ambassador to the UK has called for the UK government to make a prompt decision on the project.

Nuclear engineering and climate change experts from Imperial College London have outlined the benefits of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project in Somerset, England. They have joined the public debate on EDF Energy's project, after new British Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet announced last week that it wants to review the deal and decide in early autumn whether to commit its support.

Nuclear power and climate change were key topics in a discussion on the potential impacts of the UK's decision to leave the European Union held last month by the Energy and Environment Sub-Committee. The Committee, part of the Parliamentary Select Committee on the European Union, has since published transcripts of the meetings.

Imagining a future energy policy in the event of "blackouts that occurred across Europe in 2018", Jonathan Hart and Brett Longstaffe propose a pan-European nuclear fuel cycle that emerged "out of the necessity for secure, low carbon electricity supplies". In their Spark! Contest winning essay*, the two young engineers write that this new system "stood on three pillars" - a coordinated European strategy , technological developments and a new nuclear message.