Large infrastructure projects require a range of key features and sufficient risk management to attract financing, but a new nuclear project has to go further still to draw in potential backers, delegates at a recent conference in London heard.

Environmental impacts would not prevent the issuance of a licence to build and operate the proposed Bell Bend nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers have concluded. However, other reviews in the licensing process for the project have been suspended.

Construction of the containment building dome of unit 2 at the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates has been completed, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation announced yesterday.

The first reactor coolant pump to be delivered for an AP1000 plant in the USA has arrived at Georgia Power's Vogtle project.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has today submitted its operating licence application for unit 3 of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant. The first-of-a-kind EPR plant is scheduled to start up in late 2018.

Areva and EDF's program for testing the mechanical properties of Flamanville 3's reactor pressure vessel has been extended. Previously the tests were to be carried out on samples from two forged parts but will now be conducted on three.

Turkey's Council of Ministers has ordered the acquisition of land enabling construction of a 380 kV transmission line for the planned Akkuyu nuclear power plant. The order is contained in three announcements published in the official state gazette on 10 April.

European electricity association Eurelectric has welcomed the European Commission's recently published Nuclear Illustrative Program (PINC), but expressed regrets at its failure to address the issue of premature reactor closures due to market conditions. European nuclear industry association Foratom also called on the PINC to address the impact of market conditions on nuclear investments.

The UK's nuclear supply chain needs to speak to a wider audience about its achievements and be ready to welcome professionals from other sectors into the new build fold, writes Tom Greatrex.

Investment of between €350 billion ($399 billion) and €450 billion will be required over the next 35 years to maintain the European Union's nuclear generating capacity at between 95 and 105 GWe, according to the European Commission's latest Nuclear Illustrative Program.

The state of Wisconsin has lifted a moratorium that had prevented it from considering applications to build new nuclear power plants. Governor Scott Walker signed Assembly Bill 384 into law at a ceremony held at the Wisconsin Energy Institute on 1 April, lifting the moratorium imposed in 1983.

ASE Group has announced plans for Russia to connect its first Generation-III+ nuclear power unit to the grid this summer. The first fuel assembly was loaded at unit 1 of the Novovoronezh II nuclear power plant in western Russia on 24 March at 3.28am, while the "active phase" of the loading process began the following day.