A ceremony has been held to mark the official start of mining operations at the Husab project in Namibia. The project is majority owned by China General Nuclear Power Corporation and is set to make Namibia one of the world's largest uranium suppliers.

A full-scale simulator for unit 3 of Russia's Smolensk nuclear power plant has begun operation. The RBMK is to be upgraded to allow extended operation.

Unit 2 of the Ningde plant in China's Fujian province has become the 19th reactor to be in commercial operation in the country. Meanwhile, the third unit at the plant has now begun pre-operational tests.

DTE Energy has applied to the US nuclear regulator for a 20-year extension to the operating licence of the Fermi 2 plant in Michigan. If granted, the single-unit plant could operate until 2045.

One month after being put in charge of decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi, Naohiro Masuda talked to World Nuclear News about his priorities for the site and its workforce.

Two Japanese regional power companies have secured capital support totalling ¥150 billion ($1.46 billion) from the state-owned Development Bank of Japan. The move comes as they announced losses for the third consecutive year, while all of Japan's nuclear power reactors remain offline awaiting restart.

General Electric has submitted a binding $13.5 billion offer to acquire Alstom's power and grid businesses. Siemens has also said it intends to submit a bid for the French engineering company's energy business.

Russian insurance group Sogaz has again won the annual tender to provide property insurance to all of the country's nuclear power plants. It is also to insure the construction of Russia's first floating nuclear power plant.

An acceleration in nuclear power plant retirements over the coming decades would lead to an increase in anticipated carbon dioxide emissions, according to futuregazing scenarios released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Two of China's recent nuclear reactor start-ups are progressing towards full operations. A final test-run has begun in preparation for commercial operation at Ningde 2, while Hongyanhe 2 is now operating at 100% power for the first time.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Westinghouse have agreed to explore opportunities to work together on a wide range of global nuclear projects.

CORRECTED The operating licences of five US nuclear power reactors have been transferred from Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG) to Exelon, making it the third-largest nuclear operator in the world.