The first consignment of natural uranium from Australia has arrived in Russia five years after the two nations signed a bilateral agreement enabling such trade to take place.

CORRECTED: Alexey Grigoriev, general director of Russian uranium enrichment company Techsnabexport (Tenex) since 2007, has stepped down to pursue another post within the nuclear power industry. The move comes as plans are announced to incorporate Tenex into Rosatom's international business unit.

An experimental lead-cooled nuclear reactor will be built at the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC). If successful, the small BREST-300 unit could be the first of a new wave of Russian fast reactors.

More contracts have been awarded for components to be used in the next generation fusion reactor, Iter, being built in France. Indian, Russian and US companies will supply components and services for the experimental reactor.

As ceremonies are held in Ukraine to mark the start of work on a new Russian-built nuclear fuel plant, the countries' fuel cycle collaboration could be set to increase still further with hints of a possible conversion and enrichment joint venture.

The Australian government is expanding the country's production of medical radioisotopes and constructing a demonstration waste treatment plant for managing the subsequent radioactive by-products.

A ceremony has been held to mark the formal acceptance for commercial operation of unit 4 of the Kalinin plant by its owner, Rosenergoatom.

Russian reactor builder AtomStroyExport (ASE) has increased its claim against Bulgaria's National Electricity Company to €1.0 billion ($1.3 billion) following the Bulgarian government's decision to scrap the Belene plant project.

The pressurizer has been installed in the reactor building of Novovoronezh Phase II unit 1, general designer and contractor AtomEnergoProekt (AEP) announced. Work to assemble and install the four main circulation pumps has also begun.

A leader has been appointed for Rusatom Overseas, Rosatom's newly-formed subsidiary for promoting Russian nuclear technology and services abroad. The company has already started creating a worldwide network of marketing offices.

The Baltiysky Zavod shipyard has won the tender to build Russia's first LK-60 model nuclear-powered icebreaker. The vessel - the largest of its kind - is scheduled to be delivered to RosAtomFlot by the end of 2017.

A new era of space exploration is dawning through the application of nuclear energy for rovers on Mars and the Moon, power generation at future bases on the surfaces of both and soon for rockets that enable interplanetary travel.