Framatome earlier this year applied its ultra-high pressure cavitation peening process on reactor vessel primary nozzles at Dominion Energy's Millstone nuclear power plant in Waterford, Connecticut. This marked the first underwater application of this maintenance technique on reactor pressure vessel nozzles to primary pipe welds.

Achieving net-zero emissions in the USA by 2050 will require action across society, a new report from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions has concluded. It recommends the development of innovative technologies including small advanced reactors and strong policies to ensure they are deployed, including a long-term federal framework and an economy-wide carbon pricing programme.

Deep Isolation and NAC International are to cooperate in the design, development and manufacture of Deep Isolation's disposal canister technology.

Global Nuclear Fuel and X-energy are to collaborate to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium tristructural isotropic particle nuclear fuel, which they expect to be able to produce at lower costs than other potential manufacturers.

Orano TN has delivered its first NUHOMS MP197HB transport cask, which it describes as the most advanced and versatile shielded transport cask in the USA for moving used nuclear fuel assemblies and low-level radioactive waste. It is also the only transport cask available to transport high burnup and damaged used nuclear fuel in the country.

US company Centrus Energy Corp has signed a three-year contract with the Department of Energy to deploy a cascade of centrifuges to demonstrate production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium fuel for advanced reactors.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday announced the country had begun the process to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change by submitting a formal notification to the United Nations. The withdrawal will take effect one year from delivery of the notification.

Demolition of the most visible remaining structures at Oak Ridge's East Tennessee Technology Park - the Centrifuge Complex - has started as employees aim to finish major cleanup work at the site by the end of 2020.

Nuclear power can help nations attain energy security, diversity and decarbonisation, and the USA is "ready and willing" to offer its technology to achieve this, US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told a US-EU High-Level Industrial Forum this week.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has announced an agreement to collaborate on the potential application of its BWRX-300 small modular reactor technology in Poland. The North Carolina, USA-headquartered company said yesterday it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Synthos SA, a Polish manufacturer of synthetic rubber and one of the country's biggest producers of chemical raw materials.

The California Coastal Commission has approved a coastal development permit for Southern California Edison's (SCE's) San Onofre nuclear power plant, enabling decommissioning of the plant to begin. The utility said it expects the dismantling of major structures at the two-unit plant to begin next year.

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the US Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to share technical expertise and computing resources to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies.