UPDATED Lightbridge Corporation has received final regulatory approval for irradiation testing of its metallic fuel at Norway's Halden research reactor. The company has also entered an agreement with US fabricator BWXT Nuclear Energy to evaluate the possible fabrication of fuel samples at BWXT's US facilities.

Amphibious robots that can measure radiation levels underwater are to be developed through a joint project involving British and Japanese researchers. Such machines could help in clean-up and decommissioning activities at nuclear power facilities.

A US House of Representatives committee has approved a bipartisan bill to support federal research and development (R&D) and stimulate private investment in advanced nuclear reactor technologies. The approval came as President Barack Obama said the country must move away from "dirty energy".

Canadian company Terrestrial Energy has secured CAD$10 million ($7 million) in Series A funding to support its program to bring its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology to industrial markets in the 2020s.

A team led by Battelle Memorial Institute has been selected by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to drill a 16,000 feet (4880 metre) test borehole into a crystalline basement rock formation in North Dakota as part of studies into the feasibility of using boreholes for nuclear waste disposal.

A prototype fuel assembly for China's CAP1400 pressurized water reactor design has been produced at the Baotou fuel fabrication facility in Inner Mongolia. The fuel's performance will now be verified.

Four Russian institutes have successfully conducted an experiment on the isolation and separation of americium and curium from used nuclear fuel. In a statement today, Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer TVEL said this was a crucial development in work aimed at closing the fuel cycle of fast reactors.

US nuclear energy programs, including small modular reactors and the development of new advanced reactors, are to receive $960 million under an appropriations act signed into law by President Barack Obama.

After more than a year of technical preparations and tests, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator has produced its first helium plasma.

A new Centre for Advanced Nuclear Systems at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, is due to be fully operational early next year. The centre will examine the irradiation of reactor materials, which will help in the life extension of the Canadian province's nuclear power units.

Engineers from the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission have received training from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization ahead of the start-up of Jordan's first research reactor.

A power assist suit to help workers following a serious nuclear accident has been jointly developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Japan Atomic Power Company. The device enables workers to lift loads up to 40kg.