The European Commission should acknowledge the importance of harmonising the European nuclear supply chain and support EU Member States in reviewing their regulatory framework to enable the use of modern high-quality components manufactured for other industries, according to Foratom. The European nuclear trade body said a strong and harmonised European nuclear supply chain can also help the EU revive its economy following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tepco Holdings Corporation and Toshiba Energy Systems Corporation have agreed to establish a joint venture company to conduct safety upgrade work at unit 6 of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant. Tepco plans to restart units 6 and 7 of the plant, which is in Japan's Niigata Prefecture.

The completion of safety countermeasures at unit 2 of the Onagawa nuclear power plant in Miyagi Prefecture, in Japan, will not be completed until March 2023, two years later than previously scheduled, Tohoku Electric Power Company announced on 30 April. Japan's nuclear regulator concluded in February the unit meets revised safety standards, clearing the way for it to resume operation.

UK engineering company Rolls-Royce has been awarded a contract by Finnish utility Fortum for a partial renewal of the engineered safety features actuation system functions of the Loviisa nuclear power plant. This is a critical nuclear instrumentation and control system which automatically manages the plant's safety features.

Construction is to be resumed of the prototype CAREM-25 reactor and a used fuel dry storage facility, as well as the refurbishment of the Atucha 1 nuclear power plant, Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA announced. Energy Minister Sergio Lanziani said the projects - work on which was suspended last year "due to breaches by contractor companies" - are vital for the country.

Bruce Power has awarded SNC-Lavalin wholly-owned subsidiary Candu Energy Inc three contracts worth a total of CAD34 million (USD26 million) for projects in support of the Major Component Replacement programme at the Bruce nuclear power plant. They include fuel channel and feeder replacement detailed designs for Bruce units 3 and 4, and a seismic margin assessment of the Ontario site.
 

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.

Bruce Power has formally begun the execution phase of its first Major Component Replacement project by taking Bruce 6 offline. Six Candu units at the Bruce site are to be upgraded between now and 2033, extending their operation to 2064.

Candu Energy, a member of Canada's SNC-Lavalin Group, has won a USD10.8 million contract from Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica for engineering analyses and assessments on unit 1 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania. The work aims to extend the operation of the unit by an additional 35,000 hours.

Framatome and Lockheed Martin have completed the installation and site acceptance testing of its Engineered Safety Features Actuation System instrumentation and control system at Exelon Generation’s Calvert Cliffs unit 2.

Bulgaria’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency has granted a 10-year extension to the operating licence of unit 6 at the Kozloduy nuclear power unit. The Russian design VVER-1000 in northern Bulgaria started operation in 1991 and can now continue generating electricity until October 2029.

The Embalse nuclear power plant in Argentina resumed commercial operation following a three-year upgrade programme that was completed in January, the country's Ministry of Energy announced on 30 May. Plant operator Nucleoelectrica Argentina has been conducting tests in the four months since first criticality.