Westinghouse Electric Company has announced the launch of front-end engineering and design work under a grant from the United States Trade and Development Agency "to progress" the nuclear energy programme in Poland. Westinghouse said the FEED is one of the key elements in the implementation of the Intergovernmental Agreement between Poland and the USA regarding cooperation to develop a civil nuclear power programme. The preparation of the FEED will be mostly funded by the US government.

Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom and the Organisation of Canadian Nuclear Industries yesterday signed a Letter of Intent for further cooperation, which formalises previous agreements on the implementation of joint projects with Canadian companies in the nuclear energy sector. It followed the first meeting of Energoatom and OCNI representatives that took place on 4 February.
 

The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation and EDF have announced their plans to cooperate on nuclear energy R&D under a new Memorandum of Understanding, which includes exploring the production of 'green hydrogen' powered by nuclear energy.
 

Polish chemicals group Synthos and petrochemical firm PKN Orlen have agreed to cooperate on micro modular reactors and small modular reactors. Under an agreement announced today, both companies will jointly carry out research and explore the feasibility of deploying such reactors at Orlen's production plants in Poland.

The one-month extension to the 'temporary technical understanding' between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency expired on 24 June and Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in Tehran today that no decision had yet been made on whether or not to continue with the arrangement.

The Canadian Nuclear Association and the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen their collaboration in advancing nuclear energy's development, application and deployment to meet climate change goals. The MoU was signed yesterday by CNA President and CEO John Gorman and JAIF President Shiro Arai.

The Romanian Senate, the upper house of the country's parliament, has ratified an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation to expand and modernise Romania's nuclear power programme that was signed between Romania and the USA in October 2020. Areas for cooperation could include the completion of units 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant and the refurbishment of unit 1 at the plant.

The lack of progress in clarifying the International Atomic Energy Agency's questions concerning the correctness and completeness of Iran's safeguards declarations seriously affects the ability of the IAEA to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of the country's nuclear programme, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today in his opening statement to the quarterly session of the IAEA Board of Governors.

Swedish state-owned energy company Vattenfall has signed an agreement with the Estonian nuclear energy start-up company Fermi Energia in order to become a minority shareholder of the company with a seed investment of EUR1 million (USD1.2 million). Fermi Energia is studying the deployment of small modular reactors in Estonia.

France and the USA are united in the ambition to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and will work together on new technologies, including innovative and advanced nuclear, to contribute significantly to zero-carbon generation solutions, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and French Minister for Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili said in a joint statement on 28 May.

Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency have agreed to extend their 'temporary technical understanding' by one month, until 24 June. At a press briefing held today to announce the extension, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the understanding announced in February had "left the door ajar" and the extension meant it "stayed ajar, for now".

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj announced yesterday it has reached a consensus with the Areva−Siemens consortium regarding the terms of the Olkiluoto 3 EPR project completion. The OL3 plant, construction of which began in 2005, is scheduled to be connected to the grid in October this year and to begin regular electricity production in February 2022.