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.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has designated Ontario Tech University as a Collaborating Centre to support IAEA activities on advanced nuclear power technology, including small modular reactors, as well as the non‑electric applications of nuclear energy. The institution is the first in Canada to receive such a designation.

A joint agreement has been reached between the State of New York, Entergy, Holtec and other stakeholders to provide for the transfer of the Indian Point nuclear power plant to Holtec for decommissioning and site remediation. It also resolves pending litigation concerning the post-shutdown transfer of plant licences when the final unit at the site shuts down later this month.

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by Energy Northwest, Grant County Public Utility District and X-energy to form a partnership to support the development and commercial demonstration of the USA's first advanced nuclear reactor. The TRi Energy Partnership aims to construct a plant based on X-energy's Xe-100 reactor design at Energy Northwest's existing Columbia site in Washington.

Japanese engineering, procurement, and construction firm JGC Holdings Corporation has agreed to invest USD40 million in small modular reactor developer NuScale Power. It will also partner with Fluor Corporation - NuScale's majority investor - on the deployment of NuScale power plants.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on research & development and technology exchange related to the operation of Korean-designed APR1400 reactors. South Korea's first APR1400 unit entered commercial operation in December 2015, while four such reactors are due to start up in the UAE by 2023.

Petrojet - an Egyptian petroleum sector company - is boosting cooperation with South Korean companies including Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Kepco E&C, Hyundai E&C and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction to participate in Egypt's first nuclear power plant project. The El Dabaa plant is to be built by Russia's JSC Atomstroyexport as the general contractor for the project. Petrojet Chairman Waleed Lotfy signed a teaming agreement with representatives of the South Korean companies, who visited Petrojet's headquarters in Cairo on 16 March.