Finland's radiation and nuclear safety authority has given its backing to Posiva's application to construct a final repository and waste encapsulation plant.

The UK has agreed to extend the secondment of a senior nuclear inspector to Vietnam's Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety as part of their continued cooperation. Meanwhile, US-based GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has agreed to cooperate in training for nuclear safety analysis while Russia will help promote nuclear energy in the country.

Two units at the Takahama nuclear power plant have moved one step closer to restarting following final approval by the Japanese regulator of changes in the reactor installations. They become the third and fourth reactors in Japan to gain such permission.

Unit 2 of the four-unit Tricastin nuclear power plant in southern France has been given approval by the French nuclear regulator to operate for a further ten years.

A new batch of Westinghouse fuel will be loaded into unit 3 of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant in April, the chairman of Ukraine's State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate said in an interview with Ukrainian Independent Information Agency.

Seventy-two countries party to the Convention on Nuclear Safety declared their intention to continuously improve in that area, while a proscriptive proposal to amend the convention did not gain consensus.

Texas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has announced plans to apply for a licence to construct and operate an interim storage facility for used nuclear fuel at its facility in Andrews, Texas. Areva is to assist the company with its application and related environmental report.

There are 69 reactors under construction today - the largest number in 25 years - but only one is in a liberalized electricity market, writes Edward Kee.

The UK's only operating pressurized water reactor - Sizewell B - will be able to continue generating electricity until 2025 after the UK nuclear regulator approved the plant's latest periodic safety review.

The French nuclear safety regulator has specified additional post-Fukushima safety measures to be taken at the country's fuel cycle and research facilities.

The $30 billion earmarked for the US Department of Energy in the 2016 budget proposal is 9% up on the amount it received for 2015. The $1 billion budget requested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is nearly 3% down on the previous year as its new reactor workload decreases.

Switzerland's Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate has approved upgrades proposed by utility BKW for the continued operation of the Mühleberg nuclear power plant until 2019.