The regulatory authorities of Sweden, Norway and Ukraine have agreed to cooperate in making improvements to the regulatory guidelines of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine as well as establishing more robust safety systems at nuclear power plants in the country.

Russia's foreign ministry said yesterday that the circumstances surrounding the arrest in the USA of Russian citizen Vadim Mikerin and the actions of US intelligence and law enforcement agencies "raise serious questions."

Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear power plant operator, has opened an office in Brussels in order to work closely with the European Commission and other European institutions.

Energoatom has signed a memorandum on the creation of a "transparent and efficient public procurement system" in Ukraine by turning its existing approach into an electronic trading format, the state-owned nuclear power plant operator said yesterday.

The first package of measures of Switzerland's proposed new energy policy - including the phase out of the use of nuclear energy - is ready to be debated by the parliament, a committee of its lower house has announced.

Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom and Czech engineering company Škoda JS have signed a memorandum of cooperation and an agreement on confidentiality.

More than a century has passed since radiation and nuclear energy were discovered and the image of those energy sources has undergone much evolution with the passing of several cultural waves, each of which left its mark on the public's perception and attitude to nuclear power, writes Jeremy Gordon.

Ukraine dismissed 39 high-ranking officials yesterday as a new law "On power purification" came into effect.

Swedish utility Vattenfall is suing Germany at the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes over the closure of the Brunsbüttel and Krümmel nuclear power plants.

The lower house of France's parliament has voted in favour of cutting the country's reliance on nuclear energy to 50% of power generation by 2025 as part of the a long-awaited energy policy.

A round of safety improvements to ensure core cooling in scenarios similar to those of the accident at Fukushima Daiichi have been announced by the Swedish regulator, which unusually made its statement in a newspaper article.

South Africa intends to sign agreements with French and Chinese reactor vendors, following on from its recent intergovernmental nuclear partnership agreement with Russia. Meanwhile President Jacob Zuma has publicly refuted media allegations over his involvement the Russian agreement.