The European Commission announced yesterday it has signed the first-ever project for nuclear safety cooperation with Iran, under the framework of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed between Iran and the E3/EU+3 countries in July 2015. The project is the first of a €5.0 million ($5.4 million) action approved by the European Union in 2016 under the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation. A second project for the stress test at the Bushehr nuclear power plant is to be signed in the coming weeks.

China has signed an agreement under which it will ensure the safe and secure transit of low-enriched uranium (LEU) and equipment through its territory to and from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) LEU Bank, which is being established in neighbouring Kazakhstan.

Australia wishes to export uranium to India "as soon as possible", Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said today. Turnbull made his comments during an official visit to India.

Article 50 has been triggered and Brexit really does mean Brexit. Now begins the arduous task of negotiating the UK's divorce from the European Union, and there is one simple test the European Commission will be applying to every one of the UK government's demands, writes Tom Greatrex.

Kazakhstan's Institute of Nuclear Physics has implemented "significant" modifications and upgrades to improve the safety of its research reactor, an IAEA Integrated Nuclear Safety Assessment of Research Reactors mission has concluded. The IAEA team reviewed the comprehensive safety programs at the light water reactor called WWR-K, including improvements to reactor safety systems and to the training and qualification program for staff.

The International Atomic Energy Agency will look to strengthen its activities to bolster nuclear safety around the world, the agency's director-general Yukiya Amano told its board of governors yesterday. He also informed the board of progress in the IAEA's other work.

The UK's nuclear industry will need more than two years of Brexit negotiations to prepare for a departure from the European Atomic Energy Community, experts told members of parliament last week. The country's numerous arrangements with European Union member states would each need to be replicated and this could take a decade, they said.

An Australian parliamentary committee today recommended ratification of a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement that will permit the export of Australian uranium to Ukraine, subject to the development of a contingency plan for loss of regulatory control of the material.

Russia and Iran yesterday signed documents furthering their cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. They were signed in Moscow by Nikolay Spassky, deputy director general for international affairs at Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear corporation, and Behrouz Kamalvandi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran for International, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.

One year on from implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the US president said the agreement with Iran "must be measured against the alternatives". Meanwhile, Behrouz Kamalvandi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran for International, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, is on a two-day visit to Moscow to discuss progress with the JCPOA.

The USA must ensure continued implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, as well as taking an economy-wide approach to decarbonisation - including a reinvigoration of the nuclear energy option, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in his formal roundup of US Department of Energy (DOE) achievements during the administration of President Barack Obama.

The International Atomic Energy Agency today outlined its highlights for 2016, ahead of its 60th anniversary year. These included a report on verification and monitoring in Iran, the entry into force of the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, response to the outbreak of the Zika crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the promotion of safe nuclear solutions towards sustainable development worldwide.