Small modular reactors could be operating in the UK by 2030 if action is taken to create investor confidence through development of a suitable policy framework, according to a new report by the Energy Technologies Institute.

The final agreements enabling construction of two EPR units at Hinkley Point C to proceed were signed today in London by the UK government, EDF and China General Nuclear.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation has the expertise and resources it needs should it receive a request from government to assess China's Hualong One reactor design, its chief nuclear inspector, Richard Savage, said today. ONR's chief executive, Adriènne Kelbie, added that she sees no need for wholesale change at the organisation and that recruitment of inspectors and other staff is on target. They spoke to World Nuclear News during the International Atomic Energy Agency's 60th General Conference being held this week in Vienna.

Extensive geotechnical and geophysical site characterization at the Moorside site in West Cumbria, UK, will be mostly complete by the end of the year, according to geotechnical survey specialists Fugro. The campaign has included onshore and offshore geological investigations.

Magnox Ltd has announced the successful decontamination of ponds used to store used nuclear fuel at the former Bradwell nuclear power plant in Essex, England.

The UK government's approval of EDF Energy's Hinkley Point C project has "blazed the trail" for other nuclear new build developers at home and abroad, delegates at the World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium heard last week.

Unit 2 of the UK's Heysham II nuclear power plant was taken offline today for a scheduled maintenance and inspection outage, setting a new world record for the uninterrupted operation of a commercial power reactor. The achievement was announced by Vincent de Rivaz, CEO of EDF Energy, at the World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium in London.

The UK government today announced its approval for the construction of two EPR reactors at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset after reaching a new agreement in principle with EDF. However, it has imposed certain conditions for foreign investment in future British nuclear power plant projects.

More high quality, high skilled jobs are being created by the UK's civil nuclear industry, new statistics from the Nuclear Industry Association show. Some 65,791 people are now working in the sector, an increase of more than 2000 on last year.

The UK's finance minister, Philip Hammond, has described the terms of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project as a "well-designed transfer of risk". Meanwhile British company Rolls-Royce has for the second time become a 'preferred bidder' for the project in Somerset, and members of EDF Energy's advisory panel have argued it is "strongly in the national interest to press ahead with the plant".

The owner and operator of the UK's Sellafield complex, together with the country's nuclear regulator, have dismissed safety concerns raised in a BBC documentary investigating "the shocking state of Britain's most hazardous nuclear site".