The UK government has published in parliament its Nuclear Safeguards Bill to establish a domestic nuclear safeguards regime in preparation for the country's departure from the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The bill was introduced to the House of Commons and given its first reading yesterday. This stage is formal and takes place without any debate. MPs will next consider the bill at second reading on 16 October.

Corporate restructuring of the French nuclear sector is "on track and major milestones have been successfully achieved", Bernard Fontana, CEO of French engineering company Areva NP, said yesterday. These milestones include re-focusing Areva NP on its core business since July 2016 and the ongoing transfer of the company's assets to a "financially sound and cash-generating" subsidiary, namely New NP.

As part of preparations for its exit from the European Union, the UK is establishing a domestic nuclear safeguards regime to ensure that it "continues to maintain its position as a responsible nuclear state and that withdrawal from Euratom will not result in the weakening of its future safeguards standards and oversight in the UK", Greg Clark, the UK secretary of state for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, announced yesterday.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) announced today it has filed an appeal against the European Commission's approval for the French government to inject €4.5 billion ($5.4 billion) into Areva. TVO claims the plan does not provide sufficient guarantees that the Olkiluoto 3 EPR project will be completed.

Rosatom Director-General Alexey Likhachov yesterday visited the construction site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, which the Russian state nuclear corporation said has now entered the "full-scale practical implementation phase". Rosatom also announced that it has sent the latest batch of six trailers with high-current busbars for the power supply systems of Iter's superconducting magnet.

The European Commission-funded Shamisen project has published 28 recommendations to improve the preparedness and response to a nuclear accident. The recommendations follow an 18-month review of the response to previous accidents, particularly Chernobyl and Fukushima.

The planned Belgian state guarantee for nuclear operators that do not find sufficient civil liability coverage on private insurance markets does not involve state aid, the European Commission has concluded. The commission said the guarantee would improve compensation for potential victims without granting any advantage to operators.

The UK government's Department for Exiting the European Union has today published a position paper on nuclear materials and safeguards issues, which the head of the country's Nuclear Industry Association says "demonstrates the complexity" of replicating arrangements with the European Atomic Energy Community.

The British government and media are discussing with renewed concern the prospect of the UK's departure from the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Current plans would see the UK leave both the European Union and Euratom by April 2019.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation has presented four key targets in its corporate plan for 2017/2018 published yesterday. It has also published its annual report and accounts for 2016/2017, in which its chairman describes the "significant change" the organisation has been through, both at board and management level, "to ensure we remain fit for the future".

Bulgaria's nuclear regulatory agency plans to use €3 million ($3.42 million) in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for its role in the decommissioning of units 1-4 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant. The money will come from the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund that is administered by the London-based bank.

Nuclear firmly remains an important part of the UK's energy mix and the government will ensure Britain's exit from the European Union will not have a negative impact on the country's nuclear industry, Energy Minister Richard Harrington has confirmed. Harrington has been undersecretary of state at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) for less than two weeks following a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Theresa May.