Licences for US nuclear plants - including those for new construction and life extension - will not be issued until the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) addresses a court decision on waste confidence. However, licensing activities will continue as normal.
A facility built to evaluate the design and performance of Babcock and Wilcox's mPower small modular reactor has now reached "full reactor operating pressure and temperature conditions."
Citing the plant's low-carbon power production and economic contribution, the Spanish government has wiped away a previous ruling to allow the Garoña nuclear power plant to operate past July 2013 - opening the possibility to continue until 2019.
Unit 2 at EDF's Bugey nuclear power plant is capable of operating for a further ten years, France's nuclear regulator has concluded after the unit's third ten-year safety inspection. A final decision on its continued operation is expected before the end of the year.
The construction of the United Arab Emirates' first nuclear power plant has received approval from Abu Dhabi's environmental regulator. A construction licence is still required before building can actually begin at the Braka site.
Nuclear plant operator Electrabel has reacted with dismay to a government announcement that two of the country's seven nuclear units will not get a previously promised ten-year licence extension.
The attorney general of the state of Massachusetts has filed an appeal with a US court against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) decision to relicense the Pilgrim nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, environmental groups are calling on the NRC to delay final reactor licensing decisions until it has studied the environmental impacts of its policy for on-site used fuel storage.