Unit 2 of the Leningrad II nuclear power plant in Western Russia has started the final stage of its physical launch by reaching the minimum controllable power level. This means that the neutron flux control equipment has recorded stable neutron capacity, and the first self-sustained controlled nuclear reaction has commenced in the reactor core.

Fuel loading at the Olkiluoto 3 EPR will now not take place until March next year, according to a revised schedule provided to Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj by the Areva-Siemens consortium. Grid connection is now scheduled for October 2021, with regular electricity production due to start in February 2022.

US utility Exelon Generation announced today both the two-unit Byron and Dresden nuclear power plants will be retired in 2021 as "the result of market rules that favour polluting power plants over carbon-free nuclear energy". It warned that further plants are at risk of premature closure due to these unfavourable market rules.

EDF has received regulatory approval to start generating low carbon power again from Reactor 3 at Hunterston B power station in Ayrshire, Scotland. This follows a two-year inspection and investment programme. EDF also said the plant will move into the defuelling phase no later than 7 January 2022. This is subject to a further inspection in the spring of 2021 and then regulatory approval for a final six months of operation.

Řež, operator of the LVR-15 research reactor in the Czech Republic, has continued to improve safety since a previous review in 2003, implementing significant refurbishments to modernise the reactor's systems and components, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts. The team also found areas for further safety enhancements, inlcuding in organisation and operational safety programmes.

NextEra Energy Resources has said it is not feasible to repair storm damage to cooling towers at the Duane Arnold Energy Center ahead of its scheduled permanent closure on 30 October. The single-unit plant has been offline since the storm on 10 August.

Nuclear reactors generated a total 2657 TWh of electricity in 2019, up from 2563 TWh in 2018, and second only to the 2661 TWh generated in 2006, according to a new World Nuclear Association report. This is the seventh successive year that nuclear generation has risen, it noted.

Unit 1 of the Barakah nuclear power plant in the Al Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi has been connected to the grid and has begun supplying electricity to the UAE. The South Korean-supplied APR1400 is expected to enter full commercial operation later this year.

The government of Ontario has announced its support for a plan by Ontario Power Generation to extend the operating period of the Pickering nuclear power plant until the end of 2025. The six operating units are currently scheduled for closure by the end of 2024.

The China Experimental Fast Reactor completed a manual emergency shutdown test from full power on 31 July, China National Nuclear Corporation announced last week. The company said this marked the end of commissioning tests for the power test phase of the reactor and verified that its performance met the design requirements under stable conditions and expected transient operating conditions.

The French nuclear safety authority, Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, has published the report of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Pre-Operational Safety Review Team mission conducted last year at the Flamanville 3 EPR. The mission team identified eight good practices and made six recommendations and 15 suggestions.

The restarts of three advanced gas-cooled reactor units at EDF's Dungeness B and Hunterston B nuclear power plants in the UK have been postponed.