Westinghouse can start building six AP1000s in India following an agreement signed yesterday during talks at the White House between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama. It is the first such opportunity for a US company since the countries signed a civil nuclear deal in 2008.

Global climate goals are "more achievable than previously thought" because of progress in nuclear power plant construction, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which also called for electricity markets to favour all low-carbon technologies.

Exelon announced today it will move forward with the early retirements of two nuclear power plants in Illinois - Clinton and Quad Cities - due to a lack of progress on the US state's energy policy.

Rosatom estimates that the "economic potential" of agreements and memoranda signed at AtomExpo 2016 is as much as $10 billion. Its director general, Sergey Kirienko, said yesterday that about 30 documents had been signed during the three-day annual conference and exhibition the Russian state nuclear corporation is hosting in Moscow this week.

Nigeria wants to develop nuclear power to diversify its energy mix beyond the current mix dominated by fossil and hydro, Franklin Osaisai, head of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, told the AtomExpo conference in Moscow today. He wants Nigerian people to share ownership and management responsibility in a future program based on 'safety, security and respect'.

Exelon's Quad Cities and Three Mile Island nuclear power plants failed to clear in the PJM regional capacity auction for the 2019-2020 planning year, meaning those units will not be able to receive capacity revenue for that period. Meanwhile, over 1500 people rallied in Illinois to support the passage of legislation that would protect nuclear plants from early closure.

Vincent de Rivaz, the CEO of EDF Energy, said today he does not want to "prejudge" the outcome of the French-owned company's consultation with the Central Works Council, which needs to be completed before a final investment decision on Hinkley Point C can be made. Giving evidence to the UK parliament's Energy and Climate Change Committee, de Rivaz said the consultation, which began on 2 May, would take at least 60 days.

China and Sudan have signed a framework agreement for the construction of the east African country's first nuclear power plant.

Belgium should reconsider its nuclear energy phase-out policy, the International Energy Agency has suggested following a review of the country's overall energy policy. Belgium should adopt a national long-term energy strategy "without delay" in order to decarbonize the economy while ensuring security of supply and affordability of energy, it said.

The design of European wholesale electricity markets and the emissions trading system will be improved to help - and no longer hinder - nuclear energy as a low-carbon source of electricity, a European Commission official assured delegates at a nuclear financing conference held in Paris last week. The conference, titled Nuclear energy's role in the 21st century: addressing the challenge of financing, was jointly organised by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation.

The pattern of future carbon dioxide emissions from the USA's power sector will depend significantly on whether the US Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Clean Power Plan is implemented, according to the two new scenarios issued by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The UK government is confident "there is a deal to be done" with EDF Energy on Hinkley Point C, but notes that it would not and could not influence the speed at which the utility makes a final investment decision on the project. "We recognise that the matter now rests with the equity. That's a commercial matter and we have to allow that to play out," said Jeremy Allen, head of procurement and investor relations at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.