Uranium development company enCore Energy and integrated uranium exploration and development company Azarga Uranium Corp have announced plans to combine to create a 'top-tier' US in-situ leach uranium mining company with multiple assets at various stages of development.

Completion of unit 4 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant in Ukraine will be accelerated by the use of major plant components in storage since the construction of new reactors at VC Summer in the USA was cancelled. The head of Energoatom toured Westinghouse warehouses to inspect the condition of the AP1000 components.

The US Department of Energy and Norway’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance a cooperative project to eliminate all of Norway’s highly enriched uranium by downblending it to low-enriched uranium. The MoU calls for downblending activities to begin in 2022 using Norway's existing infrastructure, followed by the eventual deployment of the DOE's Mobile Melt-Consolidate system.

Both demonstration and test reactors are necessary to support the development and commercial deployment of the new reactor technologies that will expand access to reliable, clean energy, writes Kathryn Huff, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the US Department of Energy. This article was first published by the Office of Nuclear Energy on 30 July.

Energoatom of Ukraine will explore the possible deployment of NuScale small modular reactors to replace fossil fuel plants, according to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the companies. It is the latest in a series of agreements on energy signed during the visit of a Ukrainian delegation to the USA.

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction has signed an engineering service contract with X-energy of the USA for studies into the manufacture of major components for the Xe-100 small modular reactor. The South Korean company said participating in the project will help it to diversify its own SMR business.

The European Space Agency has awarded a contract to Belgian company Tractebel to evaluate the possibility of producing plutonium-238 for use in space exploration. Separately, US company X-energy, working as part of a General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems team, is to develop key fuel fabrication processes in support of a first-of-a-kind rocket powered by nuclear thermal propulsion under a contract awarded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Ukraine and the USA have agreed to "deepen and intensify" their strategic cooperation in energy. Nuclear power leads a suite of agreements with a project to complete Khmelnitsky unit 4, followed up with four new AP1000 units at a total value of USD30 billion.

A new facility opened by NuScale Power in collaboration with the University of Idaho at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, will enable users to take on the role of control room operator to learn about the innovative features and functionality unique to NuScale’s small modular reactor technology. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems this week said work in preparation for a licence application is progressing at the site where it plans to build a NuScale SMR plant.

The US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration has issued two cooperative agreements worth a total of USD37 million to NorthStar Medical Technologies, LLC to support the commercial production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99  without using high-enriched uranium. It has also launched RadSecure 100, a major radiological security initiative to enhance US radiological security at facilities in 100 metropolitan areas throughout the USA.

Holtec Decommissioning International - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Holtec International - has announced decommissioning progress at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey and the Pilgrim plant in Massachusetts. All fissile material in Oyster Creek's reactor building has now been transferred to the on-site Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation, while at Pilgrim the transfer of the used fuel in wet storage to its ISFSI is proceeding at a record rate.

Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger has called on President Joe Biden to consider the use of emergency powers to keep the Byron and Dresden nuclear power plants in operation, at least until the enactment of new state or federal laws to ensure a "level playing field" for such plants. Separately, Exelon said its Illinois nuclear fleet, including Byron and Dresden, operated at full power levels during the hottest July on record.