Scana Corporation announced yesterday that its principal subsidiary, South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, had filed a formal request with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to withdraw the combined operating licences for units 2 and 3 of the VC Summer nuclear power plant.

Russia plans to start construction next year of a nuclear fuel fabrication facility for its lead-cooled fast-neutron Brest-OD-300 reactor, Siberian Chemical Combine said on 27 December. Based in Tomsk, Siberia, SCC is a subsidiary of TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturing unit of state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

A number of "deficiencies" in the project to construct and commission units 1 and 2 of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant have been identified by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. A performance audit was conducted to assess whether Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited exercised prudent financial management and implemented the project in an efficient manner.

Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited has announced a further three-year delay in the schedule for completing the Rokkasho reprocessing plant and J-MOX mixed-oxide fuel fabrication plant. The delay is due to additional regulatory requirements.

UPDATED: The Georgia Public Service Commission has today unanimously approved Georgia Power's recommendation to complete Vogtle units 3 and 4. The project's owners have agreed to new penalties for delays and cost increases stipulated by the PSC.

The assembly of the reactor of Rostov 4 has been completed, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom said yesterday.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj announced today that hot functional tests have started at the first-of-a-kind EPR unit at Olkiluoto. These key pre-operational tests ensure coolant circuits and nuclear safety systems are functioning properly before fuel is loaded.

Toshiba has completed the early payment of $3.225 billion, reflecting the remaining outstanding amount of its $3.68 billion parent company guarantee obligation to the owners of the Vogtle nuclear construction project in the USA. The company is negotiating the settlement of the full guaranteed amount due to the owners of the VC Summer project.

Turkey has formally launched construction of its first nuclear power plant with the pouring of concrete for the sub-base foundation of the nuclear island. A ceremony held at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant site to mark the launch on 10 December, followed the issuance of a limited construction permit.

Around two-thirds of Poles believe the construction of a nuclear power plant in the country is a good way to combat climate change, according to a survey commissioned by the Polish Energy Ministry. A similar proportion support the construction of power reactors to increase the country's energy security.

The process of loading the 163 fuel assemblies into the core of unit 1 of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant in western Russia began on 8 December, state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced. The VVER-1200 unit is scheduled to start up next year.

Construction of the Iter fusion reactor, being built at Cadarache in the south of France, is now 50% complete, the Iter Organisation has announced. The reactor - construction of which began in 2010 - is scheduled to achieve first plasma in 2025.