Czech scientists have received a US patent for their discovery that a polycrystalline-diamond coating can significantly protect fuel rods against corrosion during both normal reactor operation and accidents. Researchers from the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics of the Czech Technical University and the Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic obtained an EU patent for the technology in April last year.

Partially used irradiated fuel from the Finnish Reactor 1 in Espoo, Finland, has been transported to the USA for use in a TRIGA Mark I research reactor operated by the US Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado. Dismantling of the Finnish reactor, which was shut down in 2015, is scheduled to begin at the end of 2022.

Honeywell has said it intends to re-open the USA's only domestic uranium conversion facility,
the Metropolis Works plant, in Metropolis, Illinois. Preparations for a 2023 restart will begin this year.

A VVER-1000 fuel licensing agreement between Westinghouse Electric Company and Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant has been described as a major step forward in Bulgaria's energy supply diversification. The agreement covers the development of safety analyses for the licensing and implementation of alternative nuclear fuel for Kozloduy unit 5.

Lead assemblies of Framatome's GAIA Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel have completed their first 18-month fuel cycle at a US nuclear power plant. This is the first time a full-length EATF concept with both pellets and cladding has completed a fuel cycle in a reactor.

Sweden's Studsvik has signed a contract worth SEK134 million (USD16 million) with Norway's Institute for Energy Technology for loading equipment, transport, handling equipment, examination and pre-treatment of nuclear fuel from the JEEP I research reactor at Kjeller. The fuel is currently held in an ageing storage facility at the site which does not meet current requirements.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories announced yesterday that it has completed all shipments of highly enriched uranium target residue material from Canada to the USA, bringing its TRM Repatriation Project to "a safe and successful conclusion". The culmination of nearly a decade of work and planning removes "a major nuclear liability" from the Chalk River Laboratories campus, CNL said.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review a topical report on Westinghouse Advanced Doped Pellet Technology Fuel, which the company has said is a major achievement for the advanced fuel portfolio it is developing as part of its EnCore fuel programme.

China General Nuclear is expected to acquire a 49% stake in Ortalyk LLP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kazakh uranium producer Kazatomprom, by mid-2021. The transfer of the stake was part of cooperation agreements signed between CGN and Kazatomprom in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Rusatom - Additive Technologies has opened its first Additive Technologies Centre as the only such facility in Russia using domestic equipment. Located at the site of the Moscow Polymetal Plant, the ATC will mainly test additive manufacturing technologies and demonstrate their capabilities for industrial enterprises.

Sufficient uranium resources exist to support the long-term, sustainable use of nuclear energy, according to the latest edition of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency joint report on uranium resources, production and demand. However, the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and recent reductions in uranium production and exploration could affect available supplies.

The US Congress voted to approve appropriations for fiscal year 2021 that includes USD1.5 billion for the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy. The appropriations also include USD150 million to initiate the uranium reserve programme to address challenges to the production of domestic uranium.