EDF Energy, NuGeneration and Horizon Nuclear Power have all stressed their commitment to the UK's nuclear new build program, despite the country's decision to leave the European Union. Nevertheless, the majority vote in favour of 'Brexit' - decided in a national referendum held yesterday - may have implications for investment in new reactors and nuclear research, as well as for the UK's future role in meeting climate change targets, industry participants said.

Nigeria wants to develop nuclear power to diversify its energy mix beyond the current mix dominated by fossil and hydro, Franklin Osaisai, head of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, told the AtomExpo conference in Moscow today. He wants Nigerian people to share ownership and management responsibility in a future program based on 'safety, security and respect'.

The design of European wholesale electricity markets and the emissions trading system will be improved to help - and no longer hinder - nuclear energy as a low-carbon source of electricity, a European Commission official assured delegates at a nuclear financing conference held in Paris last week. The conference, titled Nuclear energy's role in the 21st century: addressing the challenge of financing, was jointly organised by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation.

NuGeneration's project to build a nuclear power plant of up to 3.8 GWe gross capacity at Moorside in West Cumbria will be the first opportunity for lenders to enter the UK's nuclear power program, CEO Tom Samson told World Nuclear News in an interview.

The UK government has announced details of almost £80 million ($115 million) in funding to support the creation of five new National Colleges that it says will support the delivery of major infrastructure projects, including new nuclear. The centres of high-tech training will "ensure the UK has skilled people in industries crucial to economic growth - high speed rail, nuclear, onshore oil and gas, digital skills and the creative industries", the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said yesterday.

Safety and security are the "overriding and enduring priorities" of the nuclear power industry and plant operators "need to anticipate new safety concerns", such as terrorism and cyber security, EDF Energy CEO Vincent de Rivaz said at a conference in London today.

Sellafield Limited and Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) have drawn up plans to assist each other with communications related to their respective decommissioning activities. These plans follow the signing of a cooperation agreement in 2014.

The UK's Nuclear Industry Association has welcomed new official data from the Office for National Statistics which it said shows the "vital contribution nuclear power generation makes to the economy". The statistics, released for the first time and part of the low-carbon and renewable energy data series, show nuclear generation and new build activities contributed £3.5 billion to the economy in 2014, with 15,500 people employed full time.

Vincent de Rivaz, the CEO of EDF Energy, said today that the Hinkley Point C (HPC) project will "clearly and categorically" go ahead. Giving evidence to the UK parliament's Energy and Climate Change Committee, de Rivaz confirmed that, according to the French economy minister, the repeatedly postponed final investment decision on the project to build two EPR units at the site in Somerset, England would finally be made "by early May". He would not himself give a specific date and said the decision would be made "very soon".

Five years after the nuclear accident at Fukushima Daiichi, the scientific community is ready to assess what the real health consequences have been and put them into perspective with other risks in our lives, Gerry Thomas told the BBC in an interview.

The nuclear industry today stands at a critical juncture and it is time to reassess our approach to each other and the wider world if we are to make the most of our opportunities, writes Preston Swafford.

Hungary has so far failed to explain how the Paks nuclear power plant expansion project does not conflict with state aid rules, the European Commission said yesterday. In response, the Hungarian government said the EC's investigation of the matter contains "a number of inaccuracies and misunderstandings" as well as "unfounded and misleading assertions".