A scientific study has for the first time demonstrated that, regardless of potential radiation effects on individual animals, the Chernobyl exclusion zone supports an abundant mammal community after nearly three decades of chronic radiation exposures. The study, conducted by scientists from Belarus, Japan, the UK and the USA was published yesterday in the journal Current Biology.

Holtec International is in talks with Turboatom on the manufacture of equipment for a central used fuel storage facility the US company is contracted to build in Ukraine.

Work is under way at the Rovno nuclear power plant in Ukraine to apply to extend the operating life of unit 3. Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate issued 20-year operating life extensions for units 1 and 2 nearly five years ago.

Ukraine's ability to manage the 2015-2016 heating season will depend on the ability of its nuclear power plants to cover winter peak load, Energoatom President Yuri Nedashkovsky said during a presentation of the state-run company's first-half financial results yesterday.

Energoatom has postponed the completion target date for its program to improve the safety of its nuclear power plants from 2017 to the end of 2020.

The 'western' and 'eastern' halves of the arch of the New Safe Confinement at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have been joined together, SSE ChNPP, the state company tasked with managing the plant, said on 24 July.

Rosatom has rejected Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's claim that the Russian company failed to honour agreements on construction of a nuclear fuel fabrication facility and completion of units 3 and 4 at Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant.

The Ukrainian government's approval last month of a pilot project to transfer electricity from unit 2 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant to the European Union will not only fund the addition of two reactors, but will also "open up new prospects" for the country to export power to European markets, the head of Energoatom said yesterday.

Ukraine is preparing the legal document required to cancel its contract with Russia concerning the completion of two units at the Khmelnitski nuclear power plant. The move was announced yesterday by Svetlana Kulchitskaya, deputy head of the atomic energy and nuclear industry department of the Ministry of Energy and Coal.

Atomstroyexport, part of the ASE-NIAEP-AEP engineering subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, has closed down its office in Ukraine. The closure was announced yesterday in the Ukrainian parliamentary newspaper Golos Ukraini.

The deputy assistant secretary of the US Department of Energy last week met with the president of Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom as part of preparations for an emergency response plan for Ukraine's energy sector during the winter season.

Russia has rejected the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA's) stance towards Crimea and, specifically, Sevastopol in a draft of the Vienna-based organization's 2014 Annual Report.