Two Swiss expert groups have today released reports supporting the repository siting proposals put forward by the country's national radioactive waste disposal cooperative Nagra. However, they call for further investigations to be carried out in the Nördlich Lägern region.

An EU Council of Ministers working group has recommended the European Atomic Energy Community's (Euratom's) participation in the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) be extended for a further ten years. The final adoption of this decision by the Council of Ministers is expected soon.

Russia is making progress with its plan to build the BREST-OD-300 reactor - part of its 'Proryv', or Breakthrough, project that aims to develop fast reactors with a closed fuel cycle. BREST is the Russian acronym for 'fast reactor with lead coolant'.

Swedish utility Vattenfall has announced a loss of SEK19.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2015, its third consecutive annual loss. It attributed this partly to continued low electricity prices and unprofitable Swedish nuclear power reactors.

King Abdullah II of Jordan has stressed the importance of moving ahead with the country's plans for nuclear energy, calling for Jordan to become a role model for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

French diplomats met with Ukrainian parliamentarians last week to discuss increased cooperation between the two countries in nuclear energy. Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom announced on 29 January that a meeting with the parliamentary Committee on the Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety had been held the previous day on the initiative of the French embassy in Kiev.

China's State Council has today issued its first white paper on nuclear energy, detailing policies and measures to boost nuclear emergency preparedness and promoting nuclear security. Nuclear safety, it says, has been strengthened in parallel with development of its nuclear industry.

The UK government's policy to close all coal-fired power plants by 2025, combined with the retirement of the majority of the country's ageing nuclear fleet and growing electricity demand will leave the UK facing a 40-55% electricity supply gap, according to a new report published today by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

The Romanian government has written to China General Nuclear Power expressing its support for the Cernavoda nuclear power plant project. CGN announced its receipt of the letter - which was presented by energy minister Victor Vlad Grigorescu and signed by prime minister Dacian Julien Cioloș - on its website last week.

The UK's Sellafield Ltd plans to make efficiency savings to be able to work within its £2 billion ($2.85 billion) budget for the next financial year as the site "enters the most crucial period in its modern history". The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority secured the sum for Sellafield Ltd as part of the government's Spending Review, announced in November last year.

The State of New York Public Service Commission yesterday ruled that non-carbon-emitting generation resources including nuclear power plants must be included in the state's Clean Energy Standard portfolio. The CES is to include a support mechanism for upstate nuclear power plants at risk of closure for economic reasons.

The Russian energy ministry has approved Rosenergoatom's 2016-2018 investment program, allocating almost RUB570 billion ($7 billion) to the civil nuclear power plant operator. The program was approved by a government order dated 14 January and published on the ministry's website yesterday.