US-based GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has been awarded a three-year contract to dismantle the reactor internals of units 1 and 2 at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden.

Global nuclear generating capacity increased slightly in 2016 to 391.6 GWe net, up from 382.2 GWe at the end of 2015, according to data from the World Nuclear Association. Construction of three large reactor projects also started during 2016, while three units were permanently shut down.

Novovoronezh 3 was shut down on 25 December, becoming the oldest VVER-440 reactor to enter decommissioning. Since starting operations in December 1971, the unit produced 118.67 terawatt hours of electricity - more than half of the combined annual production of all of Russia's nuclear power plants, said Rosenergoatom, the nuclear power plant operator subsidiary of state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Japan and the UK will expand their existing collaboration in civil nuclear activities - including decommissioning, research and development, and nuclear new build - through a memorandum of cooperation signed yesterday in Tokyo.

Radioactive sludge has been transferred out of the world's oldest nuclear fuel pond for the first time, the UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd announced yesterday. The project is being delivered ten years ahead of schedule and for half the expected cost, they said in a joint statement.

The Japanese government has made the formal decision that the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor will not be restarted and steps will be taken to decommission it. However, the government also said the country's development of fast reactors would continue.

SONGS Decommissioning Solutions - a joint venture between Aecom and EnergySolutions - has been selected as the decommissioning general contractor by Southern California Edison for the San Onofre nuclear power plant. Units 2 and 3 at the plant were shut down in June 2013.

UPDATED The governor of Fukui prefecture has called the Japanese government's proposal to decommission the Monju prototype fast breeder reactor (FBR) as "totally unacceptable". However, the government announced a formal decision on 20 December to scrap the reactor.

Swiss nuclear power plant operators face lower or even no contributions to the country's decommissioning and waste disposal funds over the period 2017-2021, primarily due to the delay of some ten years in commissioning a deep geological repository.

The UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has announced its total planned expenditure for 2017-2018 will remain almost the same as last year at GBP3.24 billion ($4.1 billion). The government will fund GBP2.36 billion of this, while GBP0.88 billion will come from income from commercial operations.

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court today ruled that, although the country's 2011 phase-out legislation is essentially in compliance with the constitution, power utilities are entitled to "reasonable" compensation for the early shut down of their nuclear power reactors.

The Nuclear Skills Strategy Group (NSSG) today launched its Nuclear Skills Strategic Plan to ensure UK nuclear employers can "recruit skilled people at the required rate to meet the sector's ambitious forward program". The Strategic Plan was launched at Nuclear 2016, the Nuclear Industry Association’s annual conference in London.