Westinghouse can start building six AP1000s in India following an agreement signed yesterday during talks at the White House between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama. It is the first such opportunity for a US company since the countries signed a civil nuclear deal in 2008.

Fuel loading has begun at India's Kudankulam unit 2, Russian state nuclear company Rosatom has announced.

Fuel bundles removed from a leaking coolant channel at Kakrapar unit 1 are intact and undamaged, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) said today.

UPDATED: A coolant channel assembly has been identified as the source of a coolant leak at Kakrapar unit 1, India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has confirmed. The unit remains in a cold shutdown state following the 11 March incident.

India has allocated an extra 30 billion rupees ($442 million) to boost nuclear power generation projects over the next 15-20 years in its 2016 budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced on 29 February.

India has amended its atomic energy act to enable the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to form joint venture companies with other Indian public sector units (PSUs) in a move that will help the state-owned company to secure funding for new projects.

India yesterday deposited its instrument of ratification of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Areva's board of directors has given a mandate to its CEO to finalize negotiations on EDF's acquisition of a majority stake in its nuclear reactor business. The moves follows agreement by the two companies on the final valuation of Areva NP.

A deal between France and India for the construction of six EPR nuclear power reactors at Jaitapur in India's Maharashtra state is now set to be finalized by the end of this year, the countries' leaders have said.

Commercial negotiations between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd and Westinghouse on the construction of six AP1000 units at Mithi Virdi in India are on course to be finalized in 2016, the Indian cabinet has said. Separately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have welcomed progress towards identifying a new site for VVERs in India.

After many years of negotiations, India and Japan have signed a memorandum on cooperating in nuclear energy. However, certain technical and legal issues must be resolved before a final agreement can be signed.

The first shipment of uranium from Canada under a five-year contract signed in April has arrived in India. It marks Cameco's first supply of uranium to India.