Areva TN has opened a new facility for casting concrete components for its NUHOMS horizontal storage modules for used nuclear fuel.

Eight years after requesting information on flood protection at the Oconee nuclear power plant, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has concluded that modifications carried out by Duke Energy would adequately protect the plant from a potential failure of a nearby dam.

Omaha Public Power District's board of directors has confirmed the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in Nebraska will close by the end of this year. The board said retirement of the single-unit pressurized water reactor is in the best financial interest of the district.

Over $82 million in nuclear energy research, facility access, crosscutting technology development and infrastructure awards were announced yesterday by the US Department of Energy.

Eight small businesses have been chosen to receive a share of a $2 million pilot project to help them access the US Department of Energy's nuclear energy-related knowledge and capabilities under the department's Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear initiative.

US uranium producer Ur-Energy has announced cost-saving measures with workforce reductions across all of its locations including the Lost Creek site in Wyoming, citing uranium spot market conditions. The company currently has no plans for further exploration at its Wyoming sites.

US utility Exelon said it intends to apply for an additional 20-year extension to the operating licence for the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. If granted, the extension would see the two-unit plant complete 80 years of operating service.

Westinghouse can start building six AP1000s in India following an agreement signed yesterday during talks at the White House between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama. It is the first such opportunity for a US company since the countries signed a civil nuclear deal in 2008.

A shipment of plutonium and highly enriched uranium from Japan Atomic Energy Agency's (JAEA) Fast Critical Assembly reactor has arrived at two US Department of Energy sites. Japan and the USA announced their commitment to remove the material at 2014 and 2016 nuclear summits.

Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar unit 2 has supplied its first electricity to the power grid. The 1165 MWe (net) pressurized water reactor was synchronized to the grid on 3 June.

Regular deliveries of drummed uranium from Peninsula Energy's Lance projects have commenced as the company continues to ramp up production at the Wyoming in-situ leach operation.

Exelon announced today it will move forward with the early retirements of two nuclear power plants in Illinois - Clinton and Quad Cities - due to a lack of progress on the US state's energy policy.