Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors today to enable strategic restructuring amid "financial and construction challenges" in its US AP1000 power plant projects. For its Japanese majority owner, Toshiba Corp, the move helps stem further liabilities from guarantees it provided its USA-based unit, which were $9.8 billion as of December.

Areva NP has recently been awarded three patents for innovations in the fuel operation as well as anticorrosion and maintenance tooling fields. The patents were for innovations developed by Areva employees in the USA.

Nuclear professionals from across Asia will be able to use new training facilities at a soon-to-be-opened Indian research centre under extended cooperation between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

China General Nuclear and the Kenya Nuclear Electricity Board have extended their cooperation in the development of nuclear energy in the African country with the signing of two new agreements.

Nuclear industry leaders from the UK and France gathered in London this week to encourage students and young professionals to showcase their talents in science, technology, engineering and maths, collectively known as STEM subjects. The workshop for the Spark! Contest, held at the French embassy on 13 March, included a jury of 15 executives and 15 teams of finalists.

The operator of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant on Finland's southwestern coast has demonstrated a strong commitment to safety, an expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded. However, the mission made recommendations to Teollisuuden Voima Oyj to reinforce some safety measures.

The Coega Development Corporation has agreed to cooperate with utility Eskom in supporting the South African government's plans to build local capacity for its nuclear new build program through supplier development and localisation.

Russia's Rosatom aims to become one of the three most successful global technology companies by the beginning of the 2040s, transformed from the state-backed nuclear power corporation it is today, according to its new director-general. "I know some will be sceptical about this, as if it's a fantasy, but I believe it's possible," Alexey Likhachov said in an interview for the company's weekly newspaper Strana Rosatom.

The two simulators at South Africa's Koeberg nuclear power plant are to be upgraded by Canada-based L3 MAPPS, taking into account the changes that the replacement of steam generators in the actual units will make on the plant's performance.

A group of 28 Vietnamese students have become the first international graduates of a course on nuclear technology at Russia's National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. The six-year course is part of a program supported by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Public exposure to radiation resulting from the generation of electricity by nuclear power plants is just a fraction of that from coal-powered plants, according to a report from the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.

The nuclear energy industry must demonstrate improved gender diversity to ensure it has the best talent to meet the challenges it faces, speakers at the Women in Nuclear UK conference in London said today.