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.

Nawah Energy Company has started up unit 1 of the Barakah nuclear power plant, located in the Al Dhafrah region of Abu Dhabi. Nawah is the joint venture nuclear operations and maintenance subsidiary of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation and the Korea Electric Power Corporation. The APR1400 attained a sustained chain reaction for the first time early yesterday morning and is expected to enter commercial operation later this year.

EDF has said the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a slowdown in construction and maintenance of its nuclear power plant fleet in both France and the UK. It has warned of further delays to the schedules for completing both the Flamanville and Hinkley Point C projects.

Unit 3 of the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in the Surat district of the Indian state of Gujarat has attained a sustained chain reaction for the first time. It is the country's first indigenously-designed 700 MWe pressurised heavy water reactor to reach the commissioning milestone. Loading of fuel into the reactor's core was completed in mid-March.

The first of 163 nuclear fuel assemblies has been loaded into unit 2 of the Leningrad II nuclear power plant, marking the start of the physical start-up of the VVER-1200, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced yesterday. After fuel is loaded, the reactor will be brought to minimum controllable power level (up to 1%), to ensure safety of all relevant processes. The physical launch will be followed by power start-up, trial operation and integrated testing.

Mexico's Ministry of Energy has authorised the renewal of the operating licence for unit 1 of the Laguna Verde nuclear power plant for an additional 30 years to 2050, by which time the unit will have been in commercial operation for 60 years.

Nuclear power plant operators are carrying out remote quality and safety related assessments of systems, structures and components to overcome physical distancing and mobility restrictions during the global COVID-19 pandemic, participants in a recent International Atomic Energy Agency webinar said. SSCs must be regularly monitored, replaced and have their quality verified.

Russian regulator Rostechnadzor has issued a permit for the pilot operation of unit 1 of the Novovoronezh II plant in an extended fuel cycle mode of 18 months. The reactor has been loaded with fresh nuclear fuel manufactured by the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant ready for the new cycle.

Loading of nuclear fuel into unit 5 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province was completed on 9 July, China National Nuclear Corporation announced the following day. Fuel loading at Tianwan 5 "laid the foundation for subsequent grid-connected power generation," it added.

Rusatom Service and MVM Group have formed a joint venture in Hungary to provide service and maintenance to nuclear industry facilities, conventional sources of power generation, renewable energy and oil and gas in Europe, they announced yesteday. The new company, European Power Services Ltd, will start work at the Paks nuclear power plant.

Darlington unit 1 has set a new Canadian and North American nuclear record with 895 consecutive days of unbroken operation. Ontario Power Generation's Candu reactor has now been online since 26 January 2018 without needing to be taken out of service for maintenance or repair.