The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation are to hold a joint inquiry into the operations of the bulk-power system during the extreme winter weather conditions currently being experienced in parts of the USA. The severe cold weather has contributed to power outages affecting millions of electricity customers.

South African utility Eskom and the National Nuclear Regulator have refuted media reports that the reinforced concrete containment buildings at the Koeberg nuclear power plant have suffered extensive corrosion and would not be able to prevent the release of radiation in the event of a severe accident. They say tests have confirmed the performance of the structures, to which repairs have already been made.

The single-unit Grohnde nuclear power plant in Germany has produced more than 400 terawatt hours of electricity since it started up in 1984 - the only reactor to have achieved this milestone. Meanwhile, unit 1 of Canada's Darlington nuclear power plant has set a new world record with 1106 consecutive days of continuous operation.

The nuclear industry risks being left behind if it fails to follow the example of sectors like aviation to adopt digital technologies, William Magwood, director general of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency said yesterday. Speaking in the plenary session of SNETP Forum 2021, he said the research community must "make the case" for this.

Following a demonstration run lasting 168 hours, unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province entered commercial operation on 30 January, China National Nuclear Corporation has announced. The unit is the first of two demonstration Hualong One reactors at the site and is the world's first Hualong One to be commissioned. Unit 6 is scheduled to begin operation by the end of this year.

A virtual meeting was held on 13-14 January to launch the new Studsvik Material Integrity Life Extension project. The five-year project, supported by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, aims to investigate and improve the understanding of materials ageing and degradation in metallic components during the operation of a nuclear power plant.

The World Association of Nuclear Operators has completed a pre-startup peer review of unit 6 at the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province. Travel restrictions amid the pandemic meant the review of the domestically-designed ACPR1000 was carried out using local experts on-site with WANO experts participating remotely.

Armenia plans to extend the service life of its nuclear power unit in Metsamor beyond 2026 and has not abandoned plans to build a new unit, ARKA news agency reported on 14 January, following Cabinet approval of the government's new energy strategy to 2040.

Darlington unit 3 is ready to begin the next stage of its refurbishment - disassembly - after successful separation of the reactor and its systems from the three remaining operating units at the station. Installation of the final 5-tonne section of steel bulkhead needed for the isolation was completed 10 days ahead of schedule.

Unit 2 of the Leningrad II nuclear power plant in western Russia passed 1 terawatt hours of electricity production on 15 January, a milestone in its four months of pilot operation that started in November last year.

Upgrades to safety measures to comply with new regulatory requirements were completed yesterday at unit 7 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata prefecture, Tokyo Electric Power Company has announced. Although the utility has already received regulatory approval to restart the reactor, it must still obtain local consent.

Unit 3 of the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in India's Gujarat state has been connected to the electricity grid. The reactor - the country's first indigenously-designed 700 MWe pressurised heavy water reactor - achieved criticality in July last year.