Russia's Rosatom has signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazilian companies Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras (Eletrobras) and Eletrobras Termonuclear SA (Eletronuclear) to promote cooperation in nuclear power. It includes the possible construction of a new nuclear power plant in Brazil, Rosatom said.

South Africa's energy policy has not and will not change, Energy Minister David Mahlobo told the country's Portfolio Committee on Energy earlier this week. He said energy was an important catalyst and enabler for economic development, and country must ensure it used a diversity of energy resources.

The House of Commons public accounts committee has concluded that UK households have been dealt a "bad hand" by the cost of the so-called strike price - the fixed cost for electricity generated - for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project in Somerset, England. The committee of British members of parliament scrutinised the terms of the contract-for-difference agreed between the government and the planned plant's operator EDF.

China National Nuclear Corporation and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission have signed a cooperation agreement on the construction of a HPR1000 Hualong One reactor at the Chashma nuclear power plant.

Toshiba Corporation has decided to "explore alternatives" to selling to a third party its claims against Westinghouse Electric Company. This would allow the Japanese electronics company to "significantly reduce the internal resources that it is required to allocate to WEC’s rehabilitation proceedings, and to focus them on cultivating its new businesses".

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company has unveiled a proposal that would see some of the capacity that should have been provided by the VC Summer nuclear power plant project replaced with gas and solar generation. The company's shareholders would absorb the net construction costs of the abandoned nuclear project.

The UK's Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency announced today they are progressing to the next phase of their Generic Design Assessment of the UK HPR1000 reactor. This is the Hualong One design that General Nuclear Services - a subsidiary of EDF and China General Nuclear - proposes to use at a prospective new nuclear power plant in England.

Russia is to assist the Philippines in developing national policies for the development of nuclear energy through a memorandum of cooperation signed on 13 November. The cooperation will include feasibility studies on the construction of small modular reactors.

The reactor vessel for unit 2 of the Leningrad Phase II nuclear power plant was delivered to the construction site in Sosnovy Bor in western Russia yesterday. The cargo was delivered from the Izhorskiye Zavody manufacturing plant within ten days, according to a statement today by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

If the United Nations' sustainability goals are to be met, nuclear energy will need to provide at least 15% of the world's electricity by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). It notes that China continues to lead a gradual rise in nuclear output and is expected to overtake the USA by 2030 to become the largest producer of nuclear electricity.

The first of three steam generators has been installed at unit 5 at the Fuqing nuclear power plant. The unit - the first of two demonstration Hualong One units being built at the site in China's Fujian province - is expected to start up in 2019.

The recent mitigation of some of the risks connected with the construction of Vogtle 3 and 4 have further strengthened the case for proceeding with the project, its owners told the Georgia Public Service Commission this week. The PSC will make a decision on the project's future as part of the 17th Vogtle Construction Monitoring Report, for which it is currently holding public hearings.