The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved Florida Power & Light's application for a 20-year subsequent licence extension for Turkey Point units 3 and 4, the first time the regulator has issued licences authorising reactors to operate for up to 80 years.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission have selected Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor for their first joint technical review of an advanced, non-light water nuclear reactor technology, Terrestrial announced yesterday.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is to decommission the reactor internals and reactor pressure vessel at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant under a contract awarded by Holtec International and SNC-Lavalin joint venture Comprehensive Decommissioning International, LLC.

California-based Oklo Inc has announced the launch of its Aurora energy plant which is powered by a small reactor with integrated solar panels. The company is preparing to submit its first licence application for the plant.

The USA intends to send a technical team to Bulgaria to explore the possibilities for further cooperation in different areas of energy, including nuclear, President Donald Trump said yesterday in a joint statement issued with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov of Bulgaria. The two leaders also expressed support for the licensing and use of US nuclear fuel for Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant.

Isotek Systems, TerraPower and the US Department of Energy have signed a public-private partnership agreement to use material recovered from a legacy uranium-233 inventory to increase the supply of the medical radioisotope actinium-225.

Draft legislation to update the US Department of Energy's ability to manage nuclear waste - passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday - would allow DOE to build and operate interim storage sites to consolidate used fuel from decommissioned reactors. Similar draft legislation has now been introduced in the US Senate.
 

France's EDF said today it will exercise an option to sell its 49.99% stake in Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, its joint venture with US utility Exelon. CENG owns five nuclear power reactors at three sites in the USA.

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has reached a settlement agreement with MOX Services and its parent companies to resolve all contract closeout matters pertaining to the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility project at the Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina.

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.