The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's proposed budget for fiscal 2019 includes nearly $50 million for work related to the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. President Donald Trump's FY2019 budget request for the Department of Energy includes $120 million for Yucca Mountain and an interim storage programme for used nuclear fuel.

CORRECTED: The USA has extended production tax credits for advanced nuclear power plants under a budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump. The nuclear production tax credit is seen as an essential component for the completion of US plants already under construction and for first-of-a-kind small modular reactor construction.

TAE Technologies, the California, USA-based fusion energy technology company, has announced that its proprietary beam-driven field-reversed configuration plasma generator has set a new company record for plasma temperature. After more than 4000 experiments to date, the generator 'Norman' has now exceeded the capabilities and performance of the company's previous FRC plasma generator, C-2U.

Lead test assemblies of accident-tolerant boiling water reactor fuel have been shipped to Southern Nuclear Operating Company and will be installed in an operating reactor, Global Nuclear Fuels announced yesterday. The IronClad and ARMOR assemblies will be loaded into the Edwin I Hatch plant.

Exelon's nuclear fleet generated the most power on record in 2017, the company's CEO Christopher Crane said yesterday. The company will start to recognise revenue from Illinois' zero emission credit (ZEC) programme during the first quarter of this year after its Quad Cities and Clinton plants were winning bidders in the state's ZEC procurement.

The James A Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant, which had been scheduled to close a year ago, is today driving significant investment in local businesses in New York State, Exelon said yesterday. More than $15 million was invested in 2017 in capital projects to support the plant for long-term operations.

Framatome is the best partner for Lightbridge for developing, licensing and commercialising nuclear fuel assemblies based on its technology, the company's president and CEO Seth Grae told World Nuclear News. Speaking shortly after the companies announced their Enfission joint venture, he said they intend Enfission to become a major player in the international nuclear industry.

Dominion's Millstone nuclear power plant is critical to the state of Connecticut and the region of New England for fuel security and meeting emissions targets, state regulatory authorities have found. The commissioners found the plant's continued financial viability could be at risk, but also said Dominion has not yet presented them with verifiable evidence to prove it.

Exelon Generation announced today that it has decided to retire its Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey this October. The company had previously agreed with the state to shut the single-reactor plant by the end of 2019.

Small modular reactors could provide valuable energy resilience for US federal sites as a secure, reliable, and flexible source of primary and backup power, a new report funded by the US Department of Energy has found.

Twenty years after the passing of the deadline for the US federal government to start accepting nuclear waste for disposal, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has called on lawmakers to support funding for the review process for the Yucca Mountain repository licence application.

Westinghouse Electric Company announced yesterday it has signed a contract with Energoatom that extends its supply of nuclear fuel to VVER nuclear power plants in Ukraine from 2020 to 2025. The contract was signed by Aziz Dag, Westinghouse vice president and managing director for Northern Europe, and Yury Nedashkovsky, Energoatom president and CEO.