An agreement in principle has been reached between Electrabel and the Belgian government on the conditions for a ten-year life extension for units 1 and 2 of the Doel nuclear power plant. The tax to be paid by the country's nuclear operators has also been revised.

The newly created West African Integrated Nuclear Power Group prepared a draft memorandum of understanding and three-year action plan at its first meeting, held last week in Niamey, Niger. The heads of delegations from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal will take the MOU document to their respective governments for signature, which will commit them to proceeding with the initial planning for a regional nuclear power program.

Armenia's prime minister has confirmed a 10-year life extension of the country's only operating nuclear power plant and that negotiations are being held on the construction of new nuclear capacity.

France's National Assembly yesterday gave final approval of the country's energy transition bill. Under the legislation, France's reliance on nuclear energy will be reduced to 50% of power generation by 2025.

Two further nuclear power reactors are to be constructed and plans for four coal-fired plants have been dropped in the latest 15-year basic energy plan released by the South Korean government today.

Nuclear power generation will play a role in helping Japan meet its post-2020 greenhouse gas emissions targets. The country has announced its intended contribution towards a possible global climate agreement later this year.

South Africa will launch its nuclear power procurement process at end of this month and select a strategic partner or partners by the end of the current financial year, the country's energy ministry announced yesterday.

Rosatom has rejected Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's claim that the Russian company failed to honour agreements on construction of a nuclear fuel fabrication facility and completion of units 3 and 4 at Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant.

Spain's seven nuclear power reactors generated 57.3 TWh of electricity in 2014, accounting for one-fifth of the country's electricity, according to figures compiled by trade association Foro Nuclear.

A new study by economists at the Brattle Group has found that the nuclear industry contributes $60 billion per year to the USA's gross domestic product (GDP) in addition to limiting carbon emissions and other economic and societal benefits.

The Ukrainian government's approval last month of a pilot project to transfer electricity from unit 2 of the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant to the European Union will not only fund the addition of two reactors, but will also "open up new prospects" for the country to export power to European markets, the head of Energoatom said yesterday.

Austria's Constitutional Service of the Federal Chancellery today filed a lawsuit with the European Court against the European Commission's approval of state aid for the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in the UK.