The UK government today announced its approval for the construction of two EPR reactors at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset after reaching a new agreement in principle with EDF. However, it has imposed certain conditions for foreign investment in future British nuclear power plant projects.

More high quality, high skilled jobs are being created by the UK's civil nuclear industry, new statistics from the Nuclear Industry Association show. Some 65,791 people are now working in the sector, an increase of more than 2000 on last year.

Nuclear power plant construction, long-term plant operation and decommissioning all offer potential multi-billion dollar markets over the next two decades, according to a newly released supply chain report from the World Nuclear Association.

A contract to install the nuclear islands of units 3 and 4 of the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in China has been awarded to China Nuclear Industry 23 Construction Company Limited. The units are a demonstration project for China General Nuclear's Hualong One reactor design.

Japan Electric Power Development Corp has announced a further two-year delay in the construction of additional safety measures at unit 1 of the Ohma nuclear power plant, being built in Japan's Aomori prefecture. Construction of the unit is now expected to be completed in late 2023 or early 2024.

The Nuclear Industry Association of South Africa (NIASA) has welcomed the announcement of the start date for request for proposal (RFP) for the procurement of new nuclear power plants. It called for localization to be a key factor in the selection of a vendor through a "fair and transparent" procurement process.

The first foundation stone for units 2 and 3 of the Bushehr nuclear power plant has been laid in a ceremony held at the construction site in southern Iran.

The UK's finance minister, Philip Hammond, has described the terms of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project as a "well-designed transfer of risk". Meanwhile British company Rolls-Royce has for the second time become a 'preferred bidder' for the project in Somerset, and members of EDF Energy's advisory panel have argued it is "strongly in the national interest to press ahead with the plant".

The third unit of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province has been connected to the grid. The CPR-1000 is scheduled to enter commercial operation later this year.

State financial controllers in Belarus and Russia have carried out an audit of the intergovernmental agreement between the countries for construction of Belarus' first nuclear power plant, in Ostrovets, in the Grodno region. According to Nuclear.Ru, the State Control Committee of Belarus and the Accounts Chamber of Russia have looked at the "performance of obligations" laid out in the agreement.

The first safety concrete has been poured for the containment building basemat of Tianwan nuclear power plant's sixth reactor,  in Jiangsu province, marking the official start of the unit's construction.

Argentina's National Atomic Energy Commission has awarded a contract to a joint venture between Tecna and Siemens to supply the balance of plant for the prototype CAREM-25, a domestically-designed and developed small integral reactor.