Researchers have used acrylic fibres to extract uranium from seawater in a trial  at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The team say the technology,  could be competitive with the costs of land-based uranium mining.

Silex Systems Limited has abandoned its acquisition of a majority stake in GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment, saying there are too many risks associated with GLE's business case which includes the construction of a commercial enrichment plant in the USA. It also intends to terminate GLE's exclusive licence for the SILEX laser enrichment technology.

The US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has unveiled a new supercomputer with a peak performance of 200,000 trillion calculations (200 petaflops) per second. The Summit supercomputer's power will be put to work in research in areas including energy, advanced materials and artificial intelligence.

Routine transuranic waste handling processing and underground emplacement activities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, suspended following the discovery of a misaligned waste container, resumed on 2 June.

SNC-Lavalin subsidiary SNC-Lavalin Nuclear (USA) Inc has signed a letter of agreement with Nuclear Development LLC to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services to complete construction of Bellefonte 1. Nuclear Development's acquisition of the Alabama facility is due to close later this year.

NuScale Power announced today that its small modular reactor can generate 20% more power than originally planned, according to advanced testing and modelling tools that helped the Oregon, USA-headquartered company identify "optimisation opportunities".

Ten projects have been selected to receive a total of up to USD24 million in funding under a new programme from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy initiative. The projects selected include a transportable gas-cooled reactor, and technology to support load-following, improve safety and reduce costs in advanced reactors.

US President Donald Trump has directed Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to take immediate action to stop the loss of "fuel-secure power facilities" from the country's power grid, including nuclear power plants that are facing premature retirement.

Japan's Toshiba Corporation is to withdraw from the project to construct two of its advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs) as units 3 and 4 of the South Texas Project in the USA. The company said the project, which has failed to find investors, is no longer financially viable.

The US Department of Justice and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have submitted a statement to a court of appeal saying federal rules do not pre-empt Illinois' zero emission credit programme. The court is hearing an appeal against an earlier ruling that dismissed a lawsuit aimed at invalidating the programme, which provides financial support to Exelon's Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear power plants.

Governor Phil Murphy has signed legislation to establish a Zero Emissions Certificate programme that will enable New Jersey's nuclear power plants to continue operating by recognising and compensating them for their carbon-free attributes. The bill was one of several legislative initiatives signed by Murphy yesterday to advance the state's clean energy economy.

A new long-term contract between Global Nuclear Fuel and Entergy Nuclear will see Entergy become the first customer to take delivery of GNF3 advanced fuel in reload quantities.