A $200 million contract awarded to a partnership led by EnergySolutions will see the removal of all above-ground transuranic wastes from the US Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico by June 2014.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is reducing the number of contractors working on its Bellefonte project as it resets its priorities following recent rescheduling at Watts Bar 2.

The latest pictures from the Vogtle 3 and 4 nuclear build project show workers preparing the simulator and installing rebar ahead of first concrete.

A small number of steam generator tubes have failed pressure tests at unit 3 of Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California as the company investigates the cause of a leak in the recently installed components.

A new major player has joined the US energy market after the merger of Exelon and Constellation received its final regulatory go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

DTE Energy has signed a contract with L-3 MAPPS for an upgrade of the simulator at unit 2 of its Fermi nuclear power plant in Michigan. In addition, a new simulator for emergency diesel generator operations will be installed at the plant.

The US Department of Energy (DoE) has announced three public-private partnerships to develop deployment plans for small modular reactor (SMR) technologies at its Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

There are no major environmental reasons why a uranium enrichment facility based on laser technology should not be constructed by Global Laser Enrichment in Wilmington, North Carolina, the US nuclear regulator has concluded. A decision on whether to issue a licence for the plant is expected later this year.

A severe blizzard some 34 years ago was said to be the cause of cracks discovered last year in the shield building of the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant. Safety regulators are reviewing the analysis while normal operation continues.

The withdrawal of lands in northern Arizona from mining activities is unconstitutional, unlawful and violates the National Environmental Policy Act, said organisations representing the US mining and nuclear industries in a lawsuit against US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Support for nuclear energy in the USA has increased slightly in the past five months, but still remains lower than pre-Fukushima levels, a new public opinion poll shows. Meanwhile, a survey in Belgium has found that while most people are in favour of nuclear energy, they want less of it.

The US nuclear industry has adopted an initiative to procure additional on-site portable equipment so that every commercial nuclear facility in the country can respond safely to extreme events.