China's first bulk export order for nuclear-grade zirconium sponge has begun its journey to Russia, China National Nuclear Corporation announced today. Nuclear-grade zirconium sponge is used to produce zirconium alloys for nuclear reactor components, such as the cladding for fuel rods.

Romania has launched a tender for a new feasibility study to complete units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant for which it is prepared to pay up to RON1 million (USD245,000). There is also the option of a single unit being put up for auction, according to a report by Economica.Net.

Romania plans to create a Strategic Coordination Committee for the project to build units 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, according to a notice in the government’s official gazette on 14 July. The notice followed another published the same day, stating that the prime minister's 2018 decision to establish a working group for the negotiation of a draft intergovernmental agreement between Romania and China for the project had been abrogated.

The US Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) has awarded multiple contracts to provide nationwide deactivation, decommissioning and removal services at "excess" facilities across the EM complex.

US company X-energy has announced it is to be the exclusive counterparty to supply fuel to Japan's high-temperature gas-cooled reactor under a teaming arrangement with Nuclear Fuel Industries of Japan.

SNC-Lavalin's Isotek Systems, LLC business and the US Department of Energy have signed a USD254 million contract modification to perform processing operations to dispose of uranium-233 material up until 2024 on the Uranium-233 Disposition Project at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. This contract modification, SNC-Lavalin said, is aligned with the company's new strategy to move towards engineering services and greater growth.

A US district judge has ruled that the power purchase agreement (PPA) signed in 2008 between JEA and Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) for electricity from the AP1000 units under construction at the Vogtle site in Georgia is "valid and enforceable". JEA, together with the City of Jacksonville, Florida, launched a series of legal and regulatory cases in 2018 in an attempt to have the agreement invalidated.

Framatome's digital instrumentation and control (I&C) systems at the Doel nuclear power plant in Belgium have passed the final site acceptance test. The milestone marks the completion of the project to modernise the control and emergency systems at units 1 and 2 of the plant.

Finnish utility Fortum and Uniper Sweden have agreed to collaborate on the dismantling of major systems and components at the Oskarshamn and Barsebäck nuclear power plants in Sweden. Fortum was awarded the contract by Uniper Sweden - a Fortum subsidiary - in a competitive bidding process.

French utility EDF has notified three energy suppliers - Alpiq, Gazel Energie and Total Direct Energie - of the termination of their contracts under a mechanism that allows rival suppliers to buy electricity produced by EDF's nuclear power plants. The suppliers had sought to invoke the force majeure clause in their supply contracts with EDF.

The Czech government has agreed the next steps towards investment in a new nuclear power plant and given Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček a mandate for talks on the project with the European Commission.

UK engineering company Rolls-Royce has been awarded a contract by Finnish utility Fortum for a partial renewal of the engineered safety features actuation system functions of the Loviisa nuclear power plant. This is a critical nuclear instrumentation and control system which automatically manages the plant's safety features.