The UK can only be a competitive player in the global nuclear market if the government commits to a program of research and development (R&D) aimed at advanced reactor and fuel cycle technologies, as well as developing a skilled workforce, the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board suggests.

A joint venture between France's Areva and China's Central Nuclear Control System Engineering Co has officially opened in Beijing. The new company - Areva Nuclear Safety Instrument Control Engineering Co (CASI) - will supply digital control systems for nuclear power plants.

Canada's NRU reactor will be able to continue to play a key role in providing medical isotopes until March 2018 after the Canadian government announced its decision to support an extension of the reactor's operations. The extension will be subject to regulatory approval.

Nuclear power is one of the most important technologies that can help the world to limit global warming to 2ºC, said OECD agencies in a Technology Roadmap for nuclear that spells out some steps to ensure this happens.

Investments totalling some $1.2 trillion could be made in new nuclear power projects around the world, according to the latest forecast by the World Nuclear Association. More than half of this total will be made in Asia.

The first steam generator for the second AP1000 unit under construction at Sanmen in China's Zhejiang province has been dispatched from the manufacturing plant in Shanghai.

Russian heavy equipment manufacturer ZiO-Podolsk has shipped the third of four steam generators intended for unit 3 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China.

The continued shutdown of Japan's nuclear power plants will contribute to a continuation of a "severe business environment," a survey of the country's nuclear industry by the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum shows.

The reactor pressure vessel head assembly has been delivered for the second AP1000 unit under construction at the Sanmen plant in China's Zhejiang province.

A Chinese-developed nuclear classified digital control system for use in nuclear power plant instrumentation and control (I&C) systems has been verified to meet international standards.

No uranium processing campaigns are likely to take place in 2015 at the USA's only conventional uranium mill, White Mesa, after the current campaign finishes in March, according to operator Energy Fuels.

The US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is to award over $8 million of funding to push forward two projects aimed at securing a domestic supply of the molybdenum-99 without using highly enriched uranium.