Construction of Bangladesh's first nuclear power reactor, Rooppur 1,has officially begun with the pouring of the first concrete for the VVER-1200 reactor's basemat. Work on the Russian-designed and supplied plant was ceremonially started by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The South African Department of Energy has reiterated it will comply with all legal requirements relating to its nuclear procurement programme. It said an urgent court application launched this week seeking to stop the minister or utility Eskom from pursuing the procurement had been based on speculative media reports.

GE Steam Power Systems has announced the signing of a contract to deliver the main equipment of the conventional island for the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Büyükeceli, Turkey. The contract has been awarded to AAEM Turbine technology LLC, the Saint Petersburg, Russia-headquartered joint venture between Atomenergomash JSC and General Electric.

The Jordan Atomic Energy Commission has signed a memorandum of understanding with X-energy to assess the US company's small modular reactor (SMR). They will look at the potential deployment of X-energy's Xe-100 high temperature gas-cooled pebble bed modular reactor in Jordan.

A memorandum of understanding on cooperation in nuclear energy was signed yesterday between the UK and South Korea. The agreement calls for greater collaboration in the construction of new nuclear power plants and the decommissioning of old ones.

Russia's Rosatom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazilian companies Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras (Eletrobras) and Eletrobras Termonuclear SA (Eletronuclear) to promote cooperation in nuclear power. It includes the possible construction of a new nuclear power plant in Brazil, Rosatom said.

South Africa's energy policy has not and will not change, Energy Minister David Mahlobo told the country's Portfolio Committee on Energy earlier this week. He said energy was an important catalyst and enabler for economic development, and country must ensure it used a diversity of energy resources.

The House of Commons public accounts committee has concluded that UK households have been dealt a "bad hand" by the cost of the so-called strike price - the fixed cost for electricity generated - for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project in Somerset, England. The committee of British members of parliament scrutinised the terms of the contract-for-difference agreed between the government and the planned plant's operator EDF.

China National Nuclear Corporation and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission have signed a cooperation agreement on the construction of a HPR1000 Hualong One reactor at the Chashma nuclear power plant.

Toshiba Corporation has decided to "explore alternatives" to selling to a third party its claims against Westinghouse Electric Company. This would allow the Japanese electronics company to "significantly reduce the internal resources that it is required to allocate to WEC’s rehabilitation proceedings, and to focus them on cultivating its new businesses".

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company has unveiled a proposal that would see some of the capacity that should have been provided by the VC Summer nuclear power plant project replaced with gas and solar generation. The company's shareholders would absorb the net construction costs of the abandoned nuclear project.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency announced today they are progressing to the next phase of their Generic Design Assessment of the UK HPR1000 reactor. This is the Hualong One design that General Nuclear Services - a subsidiary of EDF and China General Nuclear - proposes to use at a prospective new nuclear power plant in England.