Hot functional tests have been completed at the Olkiluoto 3 EPR, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj announced today. The company said preparations have already started for loading fuel into the core of the 1600 MWe pressurised water reactor ahead of its start-up later this year.

Fuel loading at unit 1 of the United Arab Emirates' first nuclear power plant - will now take place in late 2019 or early 2020. Nawah Energy Company said the updated start-up schedule reflects the time required to complete operator training and to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals.

Unit 5 of the Yangjiang nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province has been connected to the electricity grid, China General Nuclear announced yesterday. The unit - the first ACPR1000 reactor to be built and the first Chinese unit to feature a domestically-developed digital control system - is scheduled to enter commercial operation later this year.

The dome has today been installed on the containment building of unit 3 at the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in western China. The unit is the first of two demonstration Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors being built at the site in the Guangxi Autonomous Region, about 45 kilometres from the border with Vietnam.

Dominion Energy is to provide funding that could lead to commercialising the BWRX-300 small modular reactor, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy announced today. The 300 MWe reactor is derived from GEH's 1520 MWe Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor design.

A ceremony has been held to welcome the Akademik Lomonosov, Russia's first floating nuclear power plant, following its arrival at Atomflot's berth in the port city of Murmansk in the far northwest part of the country. Fuel will be loaded in to the vessel's two reactors prior to its delivery to Russia's northernmost city of Pevek next year.

The containment dome of unit 6 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province was installed on 5 May, marking the reactor's entry into the equipment installation phase of construction, China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation announced today. CNECC is a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corporation.

The CAREM Project has reached a new milestone in the development of the 12 steam generators for the prototype CAREM-25 in Argentina. More than 700 tubes, each 35 meters long, have been delivered to the site, Combustibles Nucleares Argentinos, announced on 4 May.

The US Department of Energy has selected 13 projects to receive USD60 million of cost-shared R&D funding for advanced nuclear technologies, including the first awards under the US Industry Opportunities for Advanced Nuclear Technology Development initiative. Recipients include NuScale Power's small modular reactor, which has become the first SMR to complete the first phase of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission design certification process.

Russia's floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov has left Baltiysky Zavod shipyard in Saint Petersburg, where its construction began in 2009. Housing two 35 MW KLT-40S nuclear reactors, similar to those used in Russia's nuclear-powered ice breakers, Akademik Lomonosov left the shipyard on 28 April and is now heading to its permanent base in Russia's northernmost city of Pevek.

First concrete was poured yesterday into what will become the foundations for the nuclear island buildings of unit 1 of the Kursk II nuclear power plant in western Russia. This is the first of the VVER-TOI (typical optimised, with enhanced information) design nuclear reactors.

The first of three steam generators for unit 5 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant has been delivered to the construction site in China's Liaoning province. The ACPR-1000 unit is scheduled to start operation in November 2019.