Uranium enrichment services provider Urenco has installed the first new centrifuges as part of an expansion of its plant in Eunice, New Mexico. Meanwhile, Orano has laid the foundation stone of the extension of its Georges Besse 2 plant in France.

Fusion power developer Zap Energy, based near Seattle, has begun operations of Century, its first fully-integrated demonstration of three major plant-relevant technologies operating at up to 100 kilowatts of input power.

Six companies have been awarded contracts worth a minimum of USD2 million each to provide deconversion services, a critical part of the supply chain for high-assay low-enriched uranium.

Slovakia has been awarded a grant from the USA's Nuclear Expediting the Energy Transition (NEXT) project for help in selecting a site for the construction of small modular reactors in the country.

Maritime classification society the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has launched what it says is the industry's first comprehensive rules for floating nuclear power plants.

IsoEnergy is to acquire Anfield Energy - owner of the licensed and permitted Shootaring Canyon uranium mill in Utah - while Western Uranium & Vanadium Corp has agreed to purchase the Pinon Ridge Corporation, whose Colorado site has previously been licensed for a uranium mill.

The Salt Production Facility at the company's new Manufacturing Development Campus near Albuquerque will produce high-purity, molten salt coolant for its advanced reactors.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced it has completed preliminary development of four individual performance models in support of its SiGA silicon carbide composite nuclear fuel cladding technology.

The Board of Directors at the US Export-Import (Exim) Bank has approved a final commitment for a USD98 million loan for pre-project services needed for the development of a first-of-kind NuScale small modular reactor in Romania.

TerraPower Isotopes announced it is producing actinium-225 at commercial scale. The medical radioisotope is being produced from material recovered from a legacy uranium-233 inventory at a US national laboratory.

Unprecedented load growth, renewed interest in AP1000s, and increased recognition of the value of the existing nuclear fleet - including plans to restart closed reactors - have prompted the US Department of Energy to issue an updated version of its Pathways to Commercial Liftoff - Advanced Nuclear report.

The US Department of Energy has finalised a USD1.52 billion loan guarantee for Holtec International's project to recommission the single-unit pressurised water reactor, and the Department of Agriculture has issued USD1.3 billion in grants to two rural electric cooperatives that will purchase power from the restarted plant.