EDF Energy has announced new scheduled closure dates for four of its UK Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) nuclear power plants. Meanwhile a final investment decision on the construction of the proposed Hinkley Point C plant remains pending.

French utility EDF announced its 2015 full-year results today, saying that it had met all its targets despite "unfavourable market conditions". Strong performances from its French and UK reactors helped support the company.

The government of Australia's Northern Territory has decided not to prosecute Energy Resources of Australia over the December 2013 failure of a leach tank at the Ranger uranium mine and has closed its investigation into the incident.

French utility EDF will need to spend some €100 billion ($113 billion) on upgrading its fleet of 58 nuclear power reactors by 2030, the country's state audit office has said. The upgrades are needed to meet new safety requirements and to extend the lives of the units beyond 40 years.

Swedish utility Vattenfall has announced a loss of SEK19.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2015, its third consecutive annual loss. It attributed this partly to continued low electricity prices and unprofitable Swedish nuclear power reactors.

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved a revised project to upgrade the South Ukraine nuclear power plant's water supply system, increasing its annual electricity output by up to 2.5 terawatt hours. Energoatom said yesterday that the project aims to "remove restrictions" on the plant caused by the insufficient cooling capacity of the Tashlykskaya reservoir.

Cold function tests have been completed at unit 1 of the Taishan nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province. The unit is expected to start up in the first half of next year and will be the first EPR reactor to begin operating.

Kansai Electric Power Company today restarted unit 3 of its Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture. The company soon plans to start loading fuel into unit 4 at the plant ahead of its restart.

Russian and Bulgarian companies have signed a contract to extend the operating life of unit 6 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant to 60 years. The agreement - between Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant plc and a consortium of Russia's Rusatom Services and Bulgaria's Risk Engineering Ltd - was signed during a meeting of the Bulgarian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic and scientific-technical cooperation in Sofia yesterday, by Evgeny Sal'kov, general director of Rusatom Services, and Dimitar Angelov, executive director of Kozloduy NPP plc.

China's State Council has today issued its first white paper on nuclear energy, detailing policies and measures to boost nuclear emergency preparedness and promoting nuclear security. Nuclear safety, it says, has been strengthened in parallel with development of its nuclear industry.

Entergy has asked a US federal court to reject New York State's objection to coastal certification of Indian Point, which it says was intended to block a renewal of the nuclear power plant's operating licence.

The Russian energy ministry has approved Rosenergoatom's 2016-2018 investment program, allocating almost RUB570 billion ($7 billion) to the civil nuclear power plant operator. The program was approved by a government order dated 14 January and published on the ministry's website yesterday.