| NEW NUCLEAR: |
| Iter parties agree new funding |
| 29 July 2010 |
| Countries taking part in the Iter project have agreed on the project's schedule and costs, reportedly putting in extra money after the doubling of construction costs. |
| B&W to build mPower test facility |
| 28 July 2010 |
| Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) is to construct a test facility for the mPower reactor design in Bedford County, Virginia. The facility - not far from B&W's headquarters in Lynchburg - will be used to support licensing activities for the small, modular reactor design. |
| All systems go for Jordan's first nuclear reactor |
| 27 July 2010 |
| The signature of a $70 million loan agreement by South Korea and Jordan has signalled the official start of the project to build Jordan's nuclear research reactor. |
| Romania to cut its stake in new Cernavoda units |
| 27 July 2010 |
| The Romanian government plans to cut its stake in a project to construct two new reactors at Cernavoda. Meanwhile, Romania has asked Areva to participate in building the country's second plant in Transylvania. |
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| WASTE & RECYCLING: |
| Spanish decommissioning contract for Westinghouse |
| 29 July 2010 |
| Westinghouse has been awarded a contract by Spain's decommissioning firm Enresa to dismantle the reactor vessel internals of the country's Jose Cabrera nuclear power plant, which shut down in 2006. |
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| NUCLEAR POLICIES: |
| India-US reprocessing agreement signed |
| 2 August 2010 |
| Nuclear energy cooperation between the USA and India has taken another step forward with the signature of an agreement that will enable India to reprocess US-obligated nuclear material. |
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| REGULATION & SAFETY: |
| IAEA team reviews Chinese regulatory system |
| 2 August 2010 |
| A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has completed a two-week peer review of China's governmental and regulatory framework for nuclear safety. |
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| CORPORATE: |
| Risks of new build tip EdF's balance |
| 30 July 2010 |
| Electricite de France's (EdF's) finances have been hit by a provision for the risks of new nuclear build in America, delays at Flamanville and operational issues. |
| First US AP1000 simulator contract for GSE |
| 30 July 2010 |
| GSE Systems announced that it had been awarded contracts worth over $7 million for nuclear power plant simulator work, including the construction of the first plant-specific Westinghouse AP1000 plant simulator in the USA. |
| France considers its position |
| 28 July 2010 |
| France is revising its nuclear strategy to improve reactor technology and boost cooperation between national champions Areva and Electricite de France (EdF). Up to 15% of Areva will be sold as optimisation takes place on the EPR design. |
| AECL under pressure in New Brunswick |
| 27 July 2010 |
| Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd has been criticised on its openness by the provincial government of New Brunswick in a letter to Canada's federal government as delays mount for the refurbishment of Point Lepreau. |
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| EXPLORATION & NUCLEAR FUEL: |
| New U figures for Elkon, Inca and Nyang |
| 2 August 2010 |
| Russian state uranium holding AtomRedMetZoloto (ARMZ) has published a new resource estimate for one of the world's major uranium deposits, the Elkon uranium district. Meanwhile, maiden resource figures have been released for the Nyang project in Western Australia and updated numbers for the Inca deposit in Namibia. |
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| INDUSTRY TALK: |
| Instrumentation woes delay Chalk River restart |
| 30 July 2010 |
| The return of Canada's isotope-producing NRU reactor is likely to be delayed by 10-15 days because of problems with a specific set of reactor instrumentation which was not responding as expected during fuel loading. |
| Forgemasters to review nuclear press project |
| 30 July 2010 |
| Sheffield Forgemasters welcomed a recent statement from the UK business secretary, which pledged support to the company following the cancellation of an ?80 million ($118 million) government loan to be used towards installing a 15,000 tonne press. However, the company anticipates reviewing the project in early 2011. |
| Work on Phase II of Hongyanhe plant begins |
| 29 July 2010 |
| A ceremony was held on 28 July to mark the breaking of ground for the two 1000 MWe CPR-1000 pressurized water reactors which will form Phase II of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in Liaoning province in northeast China. |
