Civil engineering works have been completed on the building that will house the fusion machine of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor at Cadarache in south-eastern France. The final concrete was poured yesterday for the upper part of the Tokamak Complex, meaning the metal frame of its roof can now be installed.

China and France today reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris Agreement and called for worldwide action on combating climate change and halting the loss of biodiversity.

French utility EDF must present within one month an action plan to the French government that sets out how it will resolve issues, such as skills shortages, that have caused delays and cost increases at new nuclear power plant projects. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said these have damaged the reputation of the nuclear industry.

Rusatom Automated Control Systems, a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, and the Franco-German consortium Framatome-Siemens have signed an agreement to manufacture, deliver and commission automated process control systems for units 5 and 6 of the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary. The contract was awarded by competitive tender, Rosatom said.

French utility EDF has awarded a contract worth almost EUR100 million (USD111 million) to Orano to provide services to its Paluel, Civaux and Gravelines nuclear power plants. The contract runs until 2024, with an option for two additional years.

Assystem and the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan have formalised the creation of a joint venture to oversee their cooperation in the implementation of the Central Asian country's energy transition. The development, which the French engineering group announced on 11 October, follows an agreement they signed on 16 May.

French utility EDF said its preferred option for repairing the main secondary system penetration welds, using robots, will increase the cost of constructing the Flamanville EPR by EUR1.5 billion (USD1.6 billion). The loading of fuel into the reactor would also be further delayed until the end of 2022.

EDF, the operator of the Bugey nuclear power plant in France, has strengthened operational safety by addressing the findings of an initial International Atomic Energy Agency review in 2017, a follow-up mission has concluded. The team also encouraged EDF to continuously improve safety performance.

France's Orano Group recently signed a cooperation agreement with Japanese utility Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) to strengthen their cooperation on the decommissioning of nuclear facilities at the Fukushima Daiichi site.

French utility EDF has applied to shut down Fessenheim unit 1 on 22 February and unit 2 on 30 June next year. The announcement confirms last week's statement from Secretary of State for Ecological and Solidarity Transition Emmanuelle Wargon that France's oldest nuclear power plant would close by mid-2020.

The dismantling and decommissioning business has a promising part to play in the future of the nuclear power industry as it now demonstrates to the public that a nuclear asset can be permanently withdrawn from service in a safe, sustainable, timely and cost-effective manner, writes Philippe Knoche, CEO of Orano.

Units 1 and 2 of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant in eastern France will permanently shut down in February and June 2020, respectively, Secretary of State for Ecological and Solidarity Transition Emmanuelle Wargon said yesterday. Their closure had previously been set to coincide with the start-up of the Flamanville EPR, which has now been delayed until possibly the end of 2022.