The agreement with France's Framatome follows a deal with US firm Westinghouse and is part of the Bulgarian nuclear power plant's diversification of nuclear fuel supply.

The loading of fuel into the Flamanville 3 EPR reactor in France has been put back again by at least six more months, with the estimated cost at completion increasing by a further EUR500 million (USD530 million), EDF has announced.

The UK is to invest GBP679 million (USD815 million) and become a 50% partner with EDF in the Sizewell C nuclear project. The money "allows for China General Nuclear's exit from the project, including buy-out costs, any tax due and commercial arrangements".

China National Nuclear Corp's Southwestern Institute of Physics says that the first piece of the enhanced heat flux first wall for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor has been produced, with its core indicators better than design requirements.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project has announced defects have been discovered in the thermal shields and vacuum vessel sectors and warned that the consequences on schedule and cost "will not be insignificant".

The French Council of Ministers has approved draft legislation intended to streamline the administrative and bureaucratic processes needed to build new nuclear power plants near, or within, existing sites.

The French government has launched a public consultation on the future of the country's energy mix. In February, President Emmanuel Macron announced France would develop a new policy aimed at reducing the country's energy consumption while completely decarbonising its energy mix through the use of renewables and nuclear.

The French National Commission for Public Debate has announced it is relaunching a consultation on the Georges Besse II uranium enrichment plant to consider increasing the plant's capacity from 7.5 to 11 million SWU per year.

The UK's Prime Minister Liz Truss and France's President Emmanuel Macron have both expressed their support for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, England, saying they "expect the relevant bodies to finalise arrangements in the coming month".

The state-controlled nuclear giant EDF has launched a legal claim against the French government for more than EUR8.0 billion (USD8.2 billion) in lost earnings resulting from the order to sell more nuclear electricity at below market-level prices this year.

The French nuclear regulator Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire has extended temporary modifications to the strict rules regulating the maximum temperature of cooling water released from five nuclear power plants as the country experiences an ongoing heatwave.

The Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire says it follows the discovery of damage to seals fitted at the nuclear power plant following the implementation in the past year of measures it ordered to limit the risks in the event of a serious accident.