Kyushu Electric Power Company today took unit 1 of its Sendai nuclear power plant offline as it had failed to meet the deadline for completion of a back-up control centre. It's the first time operation of a Japanese reactor has been temporarily suspended for this reason. It plans to take unit 2 offline in May for the same reason.

Energy Harbor Corp has rescinded the deactivation notices for the two-unit Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport, Pennsylvania, which had been scheduled to shut down in 2021. Energy Harbor's decision comes after the state began the process to join a regional initiative aiming to reduce carbon emissions through the trading of emissions allowances.
 

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved Exelon Generation Company's application for an additional 20 years of operation for Peach Bottom units 2 and 3, authorising an operating life of up to 80 years. These are the second subsequent licence renewals granted by the US regulator, following Turkey Point units 3 and 4 which were granted renewals last December. Peach Bottom 2's subsequent renewed licence will expire on 8 August 2053 and units 3's on 2 July 2054. 

The Nuclear Regulation Authority today formally accepted a report concluding unit 2 of Tohoku Electric Power Company's Onagawa plant in Miyagi Prefecture meets revised safety standards. The plant was the closest nuclear power plant to the epicentre of the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011, but sustained far less damage than expected.

Framatome has officially opened a new engineering research and operations centre at Cadarache in south-eastern France. It has also announced an expansion of its Intercontrôle automated non-destructive testing subsidiary, which is based at the same site.

EDF has disconnected France's longest serving nuclear power unit - Fessenheim 1 - from the electricity grid, thus ending the reactor's 42 years of low-carbon electricity production. The unit was removed from the network at 2am on 22 February, as scheduled. The utility said the primary circuit cooling operations had been initiated to open the reactor vessel and unload its fuel. Unit 2 is scheduled for closure on 30 June.

Framatome has signed service contracts with Teollisuuden Voima Oyj to support the long-term operation of unit 3 of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant on Finland's west coast. Grid connection of the European pressurised reactor is scheduled for November, with the start of regular electricity production expected in March 2021.

Fortum, the operator of the Loviisa nuclear power plant in Finland, has strengthened operational safety in many areas, an expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded. The team evaluated the plant's progress in addressing the findings of an IAEA review in 2018.

Nawah Energy Company has started loading fuel assemblies into unit 1 of the Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi. Once all four units at the plant begin operating, the plant will meet up to 25% of the country’s electricity needs and help to avoid around 20 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.

Workers yesterday completed hot tests at the EPR under construction as unit 3 of the Flamanville nuclear power plant in France. The tests - which began on 21 September last year - aim to simulate the temperatures and pressures which the reactor's systems will be subjected to during normal operation.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has awarded Framatome several multimillion dollar contracts for work across the company's reactor fleet. The contracts include fuel for the Browns Ferry nuclear plant, fuel handling equipment upgrades across the fleet and steam generator replacements at the Watts Bar plant.

Bruce Power has completed a training simulator at its Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario, Canada, that will be used to train and test certified operators to extend the operation of the plant to 2064. The simulator complements the existing simulators at the site and uses state-of-the-art software modelling and analytical-based computer codes.