SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a pre-project contract from Argentina's Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA for the Candu nuclear new build project at the Atucha site in the district of Zàrate. The Canadian engineering group said yesterday that, "if this project materialises, it would be the first Candu new build since Cernavoda Unit 2 came on line in 2007".

Areva and EDF yesterday signed a contract for the sale of Areva NP's reactor business. EDF will take exclusive control of the new entity, referred to as 'New NP' and valued at €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion).

The US Department of Energy has agreed to sell around 300,000 tonnes of depleted uranium hexafluoride to GE Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment for re-enrichment at a proposed plant to be built near DOE's Paducah site in Kentucky. The agreement paves the way for commercialisation of Silex laser enrichment technology.

Construction of China's first floating nuclear power plant has officially begun, China General Nuclear announced. The demonstration unit is expected to be completed by 2020.

Western Uranium Corporation has signed a letter of intent with Pinon Ridge Corporation to use its ablation mining technology at uranium recovery facilities at the Pinon Ridge mill site in Colorado. The technology is currently being assessed by state regulators.

The Abu Dhabi Water and Electric Company has signed the first agreement to purchase electricity generated from the United Arab Emirates' Barakah nuclear power plant, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company announced today.

A new online Nuclear Contracting Toolkit has been launched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to help member states plan and implement procurement and contracting processes for their nuclear power projects.

US uranium producer Energy Fuels Inc has entered into a contract to secure additional quantities of a uranium-bearing alternate feed material for its White Mesa mill in Utah, the company announced today.

A consortium of Airbus Safran Launchers, Nuvia and Cegelec CEM is to develop a remote handling system for the Iter project under the largest fusion energy robotics contract ever awarded, Fusion for Energy has announced.

Work to upgrade unit 5 of the Kozloduy nuclear plant in Bulgaria has been completed, extending its operations by 30 years to 2047, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and Bulgaria's Energy Ministry both announced yesterday. Meanwhile, Bulgaria today committed itself to fast-tracking payment of the debt it incurred to Russian companies for scrapping the Belene nuclear power plant project.

The "active phase" of construction work on a central used fuel storage facility at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is expected to start in March 2017, Oleksandr Rybchuk, general director of Atomprojectengineering said.

Finnish waste management company Posiva will share its experience and know-how of developing a repository for used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste with the Czech Republic's Radioactive Waste Repository Authority through a four-year service contract.