A regulatory application was lodged today for a large used fuel storage facility in the US state of New Mexico. With a capacity of 10,000 canisters, Holtec's Hi-Store Consolidated Interim Storage facility could store used fuel from any US nuclear power plant.

Scana Corporation is considering whether to complete or abandon one or both of the Summer AP1000 units as it begins a 30-day evaluation of information provided by Westinghouse on its filing yesterday for Chapter 11 protection from creditors, Scana's CEO said. Westinghouse made the filing to enable strategic restructuring amid "financial and construction challenges" in its four US AP1000 power plant projects.

Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors today to enable strategic restructuring amid "financial and construction challenges" in its US AP1000 power plant projects. For its Japanese majority owner, Toshiba Corp, the move helps stem further liabilities from guarantees it provided its USA-based unit, which were $9.8 billion as of December.

A swathe of energy policies and regulations introduced by the Obama administration was deleted yesterday with the signing of an Energy Independence Policy Executive Order by US President Donald Trump. Among other things, the order repeals the Environmental Protection Agency's 2015 Clean Power Plan.

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry yesterday visited the site of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and discussed the status of the project with Nevada governor Brian Sandoval. Perry said the meeting was the first step in the process of talking to stakeholders following a presidential budget request to restart licensing proceedings for the repository. Sandoval, who opposes the project, said the meeting was not the start of negotiations.

Areva NP has recently been awarded three patents for innovations in the fuel operation as well as anticorrosion and maintenance tooling fields. The patents were for innovations developed by Areva employees in the USA.

Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions - the largest source of man-made greenhouse gas emissions - stayed flat for the third consecutive year in 2016, the International Energy Agency announced. This was despite an expansion in the global economy.

X-energy yesterday announced the start of work on the conceptual design of its Xe-100 high temperature gas-cooled pebble bed modular reactor, following a review of the company's readiness by an external panel of industry experts.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission will work continuously to optimise, adapt and evolve to meet its regulatory responsibilities, Kristine Svinicki said yesterday in her first address as NRC chairwoman to the agency's annual Regulatory Information Conference in Bethesda, Maryland.

An international arbitration panel has ordered Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to pay the owners of the San Onofre nuclear power plant $125 million for defective steam generators supplied to the plant in 2009 and 2010. The International Chamber of Commerce capped the award at the liability limit contained in the contract to supply the components.

A US business consortium has called for "decisive, swift and tangible" action on used nuclear fuel and high-level waste storage, including the re-establishment of the Office for Civilian Radioactive Waste Management and re-engagement with the Yucca Mountain review process. The US Nuclear Infrastructure Council says the current "impasse" is costing US taxpayers billions of dollars. 

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Advanced Reactor Concepts have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the development and licensing of a small modular reactor. Each company has so far been developing its own sodium-cooled fast reactor models.