A proposal to hold a referendum on restarting the recently shut-down Maanshan nuclear power plant has been passed in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan.

Unit 2 of the Maanshan nuclear power plant - Taiwan's last operating reactor - has been disconnected from the grid and will be decommissioned following the expiry of its 40-year operating licence, in accordance with Taiwan's nuclear phase-out policy. 

Belgium's federal parliament has voted by a large majority to repeal a 2003 law for the phase-out of nuclear power and banning the construction of new nuclear generating capacity. Meanwhile, the Danish parliament has approved an analysis of the potential use of nuclear, which has been banned for the past 40 years.

Following bilateral talks a joint statement says the two countries have "agreed to expedite negotiations and the signing of intergovernmental agreements on the construction of nuclear power plants in Vietnam".

Spain's nuclear power plants generated almost 20% of its total net electricity production in 2024 and became its second largest source of electricity production, according to the country's nuclear industry forum ForoNuclear. The recent blackout that struck the Iberian peninsula highlights nuclear's role in providing inertia and stability to the electricity system, it says.

The European Commission has published a roadmap for the European Union to end its dependency on Russian energy by stopping the import of Russian gas and oil and phasing out Russian nuclear energy. The commission said it will make legislative proposals next month.

The US President's initial discretionary budget request for fiscal 2026 cuts some USD4.7 billion from the Department of Energy's federal funding, including a USD408 million cut to the Office of Nuclear Energy.

As the governors of Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming sign a cooperation agreement towards building a regional "energy corridor" underpinned by advanced nuclear technology, small modular reactor developer Holtec International has signed a tripartite cooperation agreement to support its plans for the deployment of SMR-300s in Utah and the broader Mountain West region.

South Africa's Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has told a G20 working group meeting that decarbonisation and development can be complementary, and nuclear energy should play its part.

The first expert session within the framework of the BRICS Nuclear Energy Platform has been held in China, with leading experts discussing best practices for implementing modern solutions in the energy sector.

Senior figures at the World Bank have said it should consider changing its lending policy to include nuclear energy projects.

The Czech Republic's competition authority has dismissed EDF's appeal against the process used to select Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power for new nuclear power capacity in the country.