| NEW NUCLEAR: |
| Construction starts on second Leningrad II unit |
| 19 April 2010 |
| The first concrete has been poured for the foundation plate of the second unit at phase two of the Leningrad nuclear power plant (Leningrad II). In addition, first concrete has also been poured for the foundation plate of the unit's turbine building. |
| First concrete for second Taishan reactor |
| 16 April 2010 |
| The first concrete has been poured at the Taishan nuclear power plant in Guangdong province, China, marking the official start of construction for the site's second EPR. |
| Contract for Iter buildings |
| 15 April 2010 |
| A consortium of European companies has been awarded the architect engineer contract for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) buildings and civil infrastructures. The contract is said to be the one of the biggest engineering contracts ever in Europe. |
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| WASTE & RECYCLING: |
| Triple push for reprocessing |
| 15 April 2010 |
| There have been moves in favour of reprocessing and recycling used nuclear fuel on three continents. |
| Now Washington State sues over Yucca Mountain |
| 14 April 2010 |
| Washington State - home of the Hanford nuclear weapons development site - has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Energy (DoE) to prevent it abandoning plans for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in Nevada. |
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| NUCLEAR POLICIES: |
| Nuclear progress for Kuwait, Saudi |
| 19 April 2010 |
| France and Kuwait have signed a cooperation agreement on the development of peaceful nuclear energy in the middle eastern country, while Saudi Arabia has established a new national agency to take the lead role in its nuclear activities. |
| Argentina agrees again to cooperate with Russia |
| 15 April 2010 |
| Russia and Argentina have signed their third nuclear energy cooperation agreement in 18 months, covering the possible construction of Russian-designed nuclear reactors and the development of fuel cycle facilities in Argentina. |
| Consensus for step-change in nuclear security |
| 14 April 2010 |
| Forty-seven states have committed to maximise security for nuclear materials, bring all relevant conventions into force and continue peaceful nuclear energy. |
| Early results from nuclear summit |
| 13 April 2010 |
| The summit on nuclear security taking place on Washington DC has seen announcements on its first day. Both Ukraine and Canada have near-term goals to secure their high-enriched uranium. |
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| REGULATION & SAFETY: |
| Ceremony marks end of a nuclear era |
| 16 April 2010 |
| Production of weapons-grade plutonium has ended in Russia with the closure of a 47-year-old reactor in the centre of the country. |
| Industry pushes for standardization |
| 13 April 2010 |
| The major players of the nuclear industry today pledged support for a cooperative effort between the industry and regulatory authorities to achieve greater standardization of reactor design requirements across the world. |
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| CORPORATE: |
| Sweden scraps talks on reactor co-ownership |
| 19 April 2010 |
| Sweden's government has ended negotiations into breaking up the joint ownership of the country's nuclear power plants. The Swedish Competition Authority had called for the end of co-ownership of the plants to improve competition in the energy market. |
| Fresh setback for Khan |
| 14 April 2010 |
| Sovereign risk has again hit Khan Resources' plans to develop Mongolian uranium deposits after the country's government suspended its licenses for the second time. |
| Improvement in Japanese reactor performance |
| 13 April 2010 |
| The average capacity factor of Japan's nuclear power reactors over the past year has improved slightly with the return to service of two earthquake-affected reactors. Meanwhile, nuclear is expected to increase its share of Japanese electricity generation from 30% to around 40% over the next decade. |
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| EXPLORATION & NUCLEAR FUEL: |
| 'Significant milestones' for Wyoming projects |
| 15 April 2010 |
| Developers Peninsula Minerals and Titan Uranium have made new announcements about two Wyoming uranium projects. Peninsula has released maiden resource estimates for Lance, while Titan has completed a preliminary feasibility study for Sheep Mountain. |
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| INDUSTRY TALK: |
| South Africa's NTP eyes US isotope market |
| 14 April 2010 |
| NTP Radioisotopes (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiary of Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (Necsa), is aiming to become the sole supplier of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) to the USA, filling the gap left by the prolonged shutdown of the NRU reactor. |
| Sizewell B outage duration uncertain |
| 13 April 2010 |
| Sizewell B is to remain offline pending the development of techniques to repair a pressurizer, part of the unit's cooling circuit. The unit was manually shut down on 9 March when higher than normal moisture conditions were detected in the containment building. |
