The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a confirmatory order to Westinghouse following the May 2016 discovery of an accumulation of uranium-bearing material at a fuel fabrication facility. The regulator has said it will not issue a civil penalty or cite the company for violations because of the commitments Westinghouse has made under the order.

The US government should hold "a structured conversation" with the country's nuclear industry on ways to restore and develop the sector, according to an essay from Mark Hibbs, senior fellow of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's nuclear policy program.

The US Department of Energy's Transuranic Waste Processing Center, at Oak Ridge in Tennessee, has sent its first shipment of processed and treated transuranic waste since 2012 for permanent disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, in New Mexico. 

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission are to expand their existing cooperation. Under a recently-signed memorandum of understanding, they will enhance their exchange of technical information and cooperation in nuclear safety matters.

The USA's Holtec International has announced the early completion of all major civil construction work associated with the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) expansion project at Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The facility is undergoing complete defueling of its pool as a prelude to decommissioning.

Toshiba Corp, which reported its long-awaited earnings results today, says it has "dedicated itself" to eliminating risk related to the overseas nuclear power business, swiftly recovering and strengthening its financial base and strengthening its organisational management. The industrial and electronics conglomerate posted a net loss of ¥‎965.7 billion ($8.8 billion) for the financial year ended 31 March, an improvement of ¥‎30 billion from a revised outlook provided in June, but still more than double the loss of the previous year.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved further actions related to its review of the Department of Energy's application for authorisation to construct a high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Yucca Mountain has since 1987 been named in the US Nuclear Waste Policy Act as the sole initial repository for disposal of the country's used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive wastes.

A unique piece of equipment that can compress a 55-gallon (200-litre) waste drum to a fifth of its original size has achieved 100,000 hours of operation at the US Department of Energy's Idaho site. Compacting has reduced the number of shipments of transuranic waste from the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project for disposal in New Mexico.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded BWXT Nuclear Energy a $18.8 million contract to initiate conceptual designs for a nuclear thermal propulsion reactor in support of a possible future manned mission to Mars. BWXT Nuclear Energy is a subsidiary of nuclear components, fuel and services provider BWX Technologies, which is based in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Radioisotope producers around the world are working to meet the capacity lost with the end of production by Canada's National Research Universal reactor in 2016. Construction of a new production facility in the USA will help to meet the growing global demand for medical radioisotopes.

The US Nuclear Energy Institute has called for the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to reject a state of Texas request for payments from a fund intended for the disposal of used nuclear fuel. The request was made in a lawsuit filed in March by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against federal agencies, including the Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Georgia Power estimates net additional capital costs of $1.0-1.7 billion to complete the two AP1000s under construction at Vogtle, it said yesterday. It expects to make its recommendations on whether or not to proceed with the project to the Georgia Public Service Commission later this month.