The Japanese government has made the formal decision that the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor will not be restarted and steps will be taken to decommission it. However, the government also said the country's development of fast reactors would continue.

Professionals from academic, environmental, nuclear and other organizations have written an open letter to US President-elect Donald Trump and Rick Perry - recently named by Trump as his choice for US Energy Secretary - urging them to take action to "save and grow" the country's nuclear sector.

South African utility Eskom has released a request for information for the country's nuclear new build program. It stressed the exercise will not create any financial commitments or obligations to Eskom or the government.

Premature retirement of US nuclear power plants could be a major threat to efforts to reduce carbon emissions in both the short and long terms, a new report by the Brattle Group has found.

Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom has signed a memorandum of cooperation in peaceful uses of atomic energy with two Japanese ministries. One key area of cooperation under the agreement will be post-accident recovery at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant.

UPDATED The governor of Fukui prefecture has called the Japanese government's proposal to decommission the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor (FBR) as "totally unacceptable". However, the government announced a formal decision on 20 December to scrap the reactor.

The Czech Republic needs to decide on the mechanisms for financing the construction and operation of new nuclear power plants "as soon as possible", the executive director of the International Energy Agency said this week.

Fennovoima's environmental impact assessment program for its own used nuclear fuel disposal facility is "comprehensive" and meets legal requirements, Finland's Ministry of Employment and the Economy has said. However, the ministry expects Fennovoima to continue cooperation with the licensees of the Onkalo repository project at Olkiluoto.

Russia has put into operation its first near-surface final nuclear waste repository for solid low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste, National Operator for Radioactive Waste Management (NO RAO) has announced.

Swiss nuclear power plant operators face lower or even no contributions to the country's decommissioning and waste disposal funds over the period 2017-2021, primarily due to the delay of some ten years in commissioning a deep geological repository.

The UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has announced its total planned expenditure for 2017-2018 will remain almost the same as last year at GBP3.24 billion ($4.1 billion). The government will fund GBP2.36 billion of this, while GBP0.88 billion will come from income from commercial operations.

Donald Trump today announced his intention to nominate former Texas governor Rick Perry as US Energy Secretary when his administration takes office in January. The President-elect said yesterday ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson is to be nominated as Secretary of State.