Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has launched the SRZ-1200 advanced pressurised water reactor design. Developed in collaboration with four Japanese utilities, the 1200 MWe reactor is designed to meet the country's enhanced regulatory safety standards.

Revolutionary laser-driven technology unveiled by TAU Systems aims to place the capabilities of high-energy particle accelerators within reach of engineers and scientists the world over, with potential applications in a wide range of fields including nuclear. The Texas-based company is aiming to offer its first commercial service centres in 2027, after starting prototype applications as early as 2024.

The UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the National Decommissioning Centre have signed a three-year collaborative research agreement - the first of its kind between the nuclear and oil and gas decommissioning sectors.

Engineering group Jacobs has been selected as full lifecycle delivery partner to support infrastructure renewal projects at various facilities run by the UK's government-owned, but operationally-independent, National Nuclear Laboratory.

Nuclear energy plays a significant role in scenarios which achieve carbon neutrality in North America, Europe and Central Asia, according to a new report from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. If advanced reactors are successfully deployed to complement large scale nuclear reactors and there is progress in introducing low-carbon hydrogen infrastructure, then the role for nuclear energy is even greater.

Following a 14-year site selection process, Switzerland's national radioactive waste disposal cooperative Nagra has proposed Nördlich Lägern in northern Switzerland as the site of a deep geological repository. A used fuel encapsulation plant is to be built at the existing Zwilag interim storage facility.

Researchers at the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratory have successfully tested a new power system based on a closed-loop Brayton cycle to deliver electricity to the grid. The system could dramatically increase the efficiency of power plants including current and new advanced reactor systems as well as gas-fired and concentrated solar plants.

Governments must invest and break down roadblocks to the deployment of emerging and existing technologies if the world is to move to net-zero by mid-century - including legislative change to allow countries that currently prohibit the use of nuclear energy to consider using it as part of their energy mix, according to a new report by Princeton University and Worley.

The UK government has announced GBP3.3 million (USD3.8 million) in funding to support the development of advanced nuclear technology. Six projects aimed at developing Advanced Modular Reactors in the UK have been selected to receive funding totalling GBP2.5 million.

Core Power, MIT Energy Initiative and the Idaho National Laboratory have been granted research funds by the US Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy University Program for a three-year study into the development of offshore floating nuclear power generation in the USA.

Thorizon of the Netherlands has raised EUR12.5 million (USD12.4 million) for the development of a thorium molten salt reactor. Thorizon is a spin-off from the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group, the organisation that operates the High Flux Reactor in Petten.

The American Bureau of Shipping has announced it is to research barriers to the adoption of advanced nuclear propulsion on commercial vessels under a research contract awarded by the US Department of Energy. The organisation is also supporting separate research into molten salt reactors.