Finland's Olkiluoto 3 will start operations in 2018, 13 years after work began on the first-of-a-kind EPR, the Areva-Siemens consortium building the plant has informed client Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO).

The third stage of the generic design assessment (GDA) for the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) is to begin in September after regulators completed their initial high-level assessment of the Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy reactor design without identifying any fundamental issues to prevent it from being built in the UK.

South Korean designers have secured help from Argonne National Laboratory to develop an advanced reactor, which is partly based on America's successful EBR-II prototype. A 150 MWe sodium-cooled demonstration unit is slated for 2028.

Public support for the construction of Poland's first nuclear power plant has soared to 64%, but an independent Polish think-tank warns that public debate must be refocused away from current concerns about international political crises if that support is to be long lived.

China National Nuclear Corporation has signed a cooperation agreement with hydroelectric company China Three Gorges Corporation. The two companies will work together on nuclear power projects.

Unit 1 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province has been connected to the electricity grid, becoming China National Nuclear Corporation's tenth operating power reactor. It is expected to enter commercial operation by the end of the year.

Westinghouse and Blue Castle Holdings have signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue the development of a two-unit AP1000 plant at Green River in Utah.

Poland will reduce dependence on brown and black coal by introducing nuclear power and renewables, according a draft energy policy to 2050 released for consultation.

At Sanmen 1 the first components of the reactor itself have been put into position after a year of preparation. The reactor internals are steel structures sit within the reactor pressure vessel and will support the fuel assemblies and control rods.

A prototype helium fan for use in China's HTR-PM high-temperature gas-cooled reactor has successfully completed testing. A demonstration plant based on twin HTR-PM units is currently under construction at Shidaowan, Shandong province.

Jordan has made "notable progress" in developing its nuclear infrastructure, a mission led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found. The team made several recommendations to the country for developing this further.

Veteran Russian rock band Chaif yesterday toured Beloyarsk 4 - a 789 MWe fast-neutron reactor of the BN-800 design, which Rosenergoatom brought to first criticality in June.