The US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy has selected five teams to receive USD30 million in initial funding for risk reduction projects under its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. All five of the selected designs have the potential to compete globally once deployed, DOE said.

Belgian engineering firm Tractebel today unveiled its vision for small modular reactors, in which it notes that Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Poland, the UK and the USA, among other countries, have "expressed a clear willingness to shape the future". Its White Paper, The rise of nuclear technology 2.0, is the result of three years of "deep-diving the promises" of this advanced nuclear technology, and investing thousands of engineering hours in technical due diligence and market studies.

Unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province was today connected to the grid for the first time, at 00:41 local time, China National Nuclear Corporation has announced. The unit - the first of two demonstration Hualong One reactors at the site - had attained a sustained chain reaction for the first time on 21 October.

New additive manufacturing technologies for the design and manufacture of reactor components made from high-temperature alloys and refractory metals have been developed by BWX Technologies in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Such components could find applications in current and advanced reactors, as well as in accident-tolerant fuels.

China General Nuclear's Hualong One (HPR1000) reactor design has been formally certified as compliant by the European Utility Requirements organisation - a technical advisory group for European utilities on nuclear power plants. CGN said EUR's assessment shows the design has a high degree of compliance with its criteria and meets the latest European nuclear power requirements.

Terrestrial Energy and the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have begun detailed testing of the fuel salt for Terrestrial's Integral Molten Salt Reactor. The IMSR uses two molten salt streams - a fuel salt that contains the uranium and another salt to transfer heat from the reactor to the electricity generation system.

A US consortium of Bechtel, Southern Company and Westinghouse is in talks with the British government about reviving the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant project in north Wales by building AP1000 reactors at the site on Anglesey. Citing an unnamed source, the Financial Times said today that discussions about Wylfa began after the US consortium contacted the British government in September, expressing its wish to take over the project.

Teams led by TerraPower and X-energy have been announced as the recipients of USD160 million in initial funding under the US Department of Energy's Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program. The companies get USD80 million each to build a demonstration plant that can be operational within seven years.

The Energy Impact Center has announced the first major update to OPEN100 - the world's first open-source design and implementation platform for a small, standard nuclear power plant. Launched in February 2020, the project aims to offer developers everything from a web interface to visualise plant and component design, costs studies and construction plans.

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the CANDU Owners Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate in research and activities related to pressurised heavy water reactors. The purpose of the MoU is to advance the scientific and technical knowledge base for PHWRs and foster cooperation amongst research organisations that support PHWRs.

L3Harris Technologies is to develop an engineering and operator training simulator for Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor under a newly announced contract. The simulator will support engineering activities and, subsequently, operator training as development of IMSR moves to licensing and construction prior to plant commissioning, Terrestrial said.

China's State Power Investment Corp has officially launched the CAP1400 reactor design following 12 years of research and development work. Also referred to as Guohe One, the 1400 MWe design is intended to be deployed in large numbers across the country, as well as for export.