Nuclear power will play an important role in meeting the world's future energy needs, International Atomic Energy Agency director general Yukiya Amano told the World Government Summit in Dubai yesterday.

The 2008 EU Amendment Act is not a justifiable legal basis for the UK government's belief that Brexit must also mean an exit from Euratom, write Jonathan Leech and Rupert Cowen.

Forward-planning is essential for countries wishing to introduce or expand nuclear power programs, participants at an International Atomic Energy Agency meeting heard last week. Ensuring effective coordination among all organisations involved is important, they agreed.

Rosatom is to receive state funding of $1.78 million for its voluntary contribution to the International Atomic Energy Agency and RUB109.5 million ($1.85 million) for nuclear industry infrastructure development in third countries. The government published the funding plan, part of the 2017-2019 Development of the Nuclear Power Industry state program, on 3 February.

The UK will seek an alternative agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency if it fails to negotiate "some sort of relationship" with the European Atomic Energy Community during Brexit negotiations, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis told the House of Commons today. The government is from today holding a debate in the lower house of the British parliament on the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) bill that it unveiled last week.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded a five-day Site and External Events Design mission to Belarus, which is building its first nuclear power reactors. The two Russian-designed 1170 MWe VVER units are scheduled to begin operations by 2020.

One year on from implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the US president said the agreement with Iran "must be measured against the alternatives". Meanwhile, Behrouz Kamalvandi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran for International, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, is on a two-day visit to Moscow to discuss progress with the JCPOA.

The International Atomic Energy Agency today outlined its highlights for 2016, ahead of its 60th anniversary year. These included a report on verification and monitoring in Iran, the entry into force of the Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, response to the outbreak of the Zika crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the promotion of safe nuclear solutions towards sustainable development worldwide.

Kazakhstan, producer of more than 20,000 tonnes of natural uranium per year, has welcomed security guidance recently developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Vienna-based agency said yesterday that Kazakhstan - which established a "comprehensive system for the control and physical protection of natural uranium" in 2010 - had contributed to an IAEA publication entitled Nuclear Security in the Uranium Extraction Industry and issued in February this year.

The safety options for France's planned deep geological repository for the disposal of high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste are "overall thorough", an International Atomic Energy Agency review team has concluded. The team also proposed recommendations for further demonstrating the robustness of the disposal system.

In an address to the United Nations General Assembly yesterday in New York, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Yukiya Amano, highlighted the role of nuclear science and technology in sustainable development.

The USA has asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor and verify the disposition of surplus plutonium in South Carolina, US energy secretary Ernest Moniz said on 5 December. Moniz's announcement was made at an IAEA conference which aims to strengthen global nuclear security.