The nuclear industry, both in the UK and internationally, is "changing rapidly and is facing significant challenges", the UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation says in its Strategic Framework for International Engagement to 2025.

CORRECTED - The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has said it will issue a direct final rule certifying the Korean-designed Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR-1400). The certification, valid for 15 years, will state that the NRC finds the design fully acceptable for deployment in the USA.

Germany's nuclear safety regime is strong and can be improved further, a team of international inspectors has concluded following a two-week mission to review the country's regulatory framework.

Finnish power companies are looking for ways to streamline licensing and qualification processes through a new project started last year called KELPO. The first part of the project has been completed and it is moving ahead to the pilot phase, writes Tuomo Huttunen, senior advisor on nuclear power at industry group Finnish Energy.

The head of the United Arab Emirates Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation, which this week inaugurated a new Emergency Operations Centre, has said it is in the final stages of preparations but not yet ready to issue the operating licence for the Barakah nuclear power plant.

Mexican state utility CFE has a good basis to manage the long-term operation of the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant, an International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts has found.

France's Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission have signed an agreement to cooperate in emergency preparedness.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday that the operator of Romania’s Cernavoda nuclear power plant had demonstrated "strengthened operational safety" by addressing the findings of an initial IAEA review in 2016.

The US Administration's budget request for fiscal 2020, which begins on 1 October, seeks to restart the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing procedure for the Yucca Mountain geologic repository and also provides for the regulator to prepare for licensing advanced reactors.
 

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts said today that Estonia has strengthened its regulatory framework for nuclear and radiation safety in the last two years.

All of the USA's 98 operating commercial reactors were in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's two highest performance categories for 2018. Entergy's Pilgrim plant has returned to the highest operating level.

The Finnish government today granted utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj an operating licence for the first-of-a-kind EPR at Olkiluoto. Once it enters commercial operation early next year, the 1600 MWe pressurised water reactor will supply some 15% of the country's electricity demand.