Japanese heavy-industry engineering and manufacturing company IHI Corporation is to invest in small modular reactor developer NuScale Power and become a strategic supplier for NuScale plants under a new commercial agreement between the two companies. Separately, NuScale has announced it is working with public electric utility Grant County Public Utility District to explore the deployment of nuclear energy in central Washington state.

Kansai Electric Power Co has announced plans to restart Mihama unit 3 in June. The unit will return to full operations in July, but Takahama units 1 and 2 will not be able restart until further facilities are completed at those units.

The governor of Japan's Fukui Prefecture today approved the restart of three reactors owned by Kansai Electric Power Company - Takahama units 1 and 2, and Mihama unit 3. His consent was the final approval needed for the reactors - all aged over 40 years old - to resume operation.

Japan's nuclear regulator today approved Tokyo Electric Power Company's decommissioning plan for the four reactors at its Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, close to the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has today issued an administrative order to Tokyo Electric Power Company preventing it from transporting nuclear fuel stored at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant or loading it into reactors. The order - issued in response to a series of security breaches at the site - will delay Tepco's planned restart of unit 7 at the plant in Niigata Prefecture.

The Japanese government today announced its formal decision that the treated water stored at the Fukushima Daiichi site will be discharged into the sea. Tokyo Electric Power Company is expected to start discharging the mildly-radioactive water in 2023 in line with international standards and regulations.

Japanese engineering, procurement, and construction firm JGC Holdings Corporation has agreed to invest USD40 million in small modular reactor developer NuScale Power. It will also partner with Fluor Corporation - NuScale's majority investor - on the deployment of NuScale power plants.

The Hiroshima High Court today overturned a temporary injunction against the operation of unit 3 at Shikoku Electric Power Company's Ikata nuclear power plant in Japan's Ehime prefecture. Meanwhile, the Mito District Court has ordered a suspension of the operation of unit 2 at Japan Atomic Power Company's Tokai plant in Ibaraki prefecture.

Tokyo Electric Power Company has failed in its duty to protect nuclear materials at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture, according to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority. A series of security breaches has prompted the regulator to suspend the process for inspections needed to restart unit 7 at the plant.

The March 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant "galvanised the international community," International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today. He outlined the work the IAEA and its Member States have done to strengthen nuclear safety in the ten years since the accident.

The slow-down in the development of nuclear energy globally, as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, poses dire consequences for our fight against climate change, global human health and the resilience of global electricity systems, writes Sama Bilbao y León, director general of World Nuclear Association.

Increased incidences of radiation-related health effects among those exposed from the March 2011 accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are unlikely to be discernible, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation said in a new report today. The report's major findings and conclusions broadly confirm those of UNSCEAR's 2013 report on the accident.