Moody's Investors Service has downgraded to A2 from A1 the issuer and senior unsecured ratings of Électricité de France, outlook negative. The rationale for the negative outlook includes "the incremental risks associated with the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project in the UK, should it go ahead," Moody's said yesterday.

The UK government has announced details of almost £80 million ($115 million) in funding to support the creation of five new National Colleges that it says will support the delivery of major infrastructure projects, including new nuclear. The centres of high-tech training will "ensure the UK has skilled people in industries crucial to economic growth - high speed rail, nuclear, onshore oil and gas, digital skills and the creative industries", the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said yesterday.

Canada's L-3 MAPPS is to supply a full-scope training simulator for the Wolsong 1 Candu pressurized heavy water reactor in South Korea under a contract signed with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. It will mark L-3's first implementation of severe accident simulation for Candu plants.

The full-scope simulator at Slovenia's single-unit Krško nuclear power plant is to be upgraded by Canada-based L-3 MAPPS under a contract signed with operator Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško.

As the world celebrates International Women's Day, we should take note of the contribution women make - and have always made - to the nuclear energy industry. But the Conservative Party-led British government needs to do a lot more to show today's young women that the sector can offer them a fulfilling and rewarding career, writes Lisa Nandy.

Horizon Nuclear Power, the wholly owned UK subsidiary of Japan's Hitachi, announced today the appointment of Duncan Hawthorne as chief executive officer effective 1 May. Horizon said Hawthorne joins "as the company continues to progress its lead Wylfa Newydd project."

Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power has agreed to send dozens of its workers to the United Arab Emirates to assist with the commissioning of the first unit at the Barakah nuclear power plant.

A ceremony has been held to inaugurate the new full-scope simulator for unit 1 of Brazil's Angra nuclear power plant. It is the first simulator in the country for training nuclear operators.

L-3 MAPPS announced yesterday that it had participated in the official opening of EDF Energy's upgraded Sizewell B plant training simulator on January 21, in Suffolk, England. The Canadian company was awarded a contract to carry out the upgrade work in September 2014.

The UK's Sellafield Ltd plans to make efficiency savings to be able to work within its £2 billion ($2.85 billion) budget for the next financial year as the site "enters the most crucial period in its modern history". The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority secured the sum for Sellafield Ltd as part of the government's Spending Review, announced in November last year.

A group of nine engineering graduates from Emirati universities has joined the United Arab Emirates' Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) under the regulator's scheme to develop the country's base of nuclear experts.

The full-scope simulator for the demonstration HTR-PM high-temperature gas-cooled reactor plant under construction at Shidaowan in China's Shandong province has officially entered operation.