France's Framatome has signed a long-term service contract with the Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company Limited to support operations of units 1 and 2 at the Taishan nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province. The 1750-megawatt EPRs entered commercial operation in December 2018 and September 2019, respectively.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power has signed a contract with Canadian nuclear engineering firm Kinectrics to provide decommissioning engineering support, building on a memorandum of understanding on the dismantling of nuclear power plants they signed in August 2019. The contract will see Korean nuclear power plant decommissioning personnel dispatched overseas for the first time.

Finnish utility Fortum has been awarded a contract by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to decommission the Finnish Reactor 1 research reactor in Espoo. It will be the first nuclear reactor to be decommissioned in Finland.

ProZorro, the public e-procurement system that Ukraine launched in 2016, saved nuclear power plant operator Energoatom more than UAH1 billion last year and the average number of offers per purchase increased by 8.5%. ProZorro was developed by anti-corruption organisation Transparency International Ukraine as a collaborative effort between the government, business sector and social groups.

Framatome has signed service contracts with Teollisuuden Voima Oyj to support the long-term operation of unit 3 of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant on Finland's west coast. Grid connection of the European pressurised reactor is scheduled for November, with the start of regular electricity production expected in March 2021.

Industrial engineering firm Bilfinger has been awarded a balance of plant contract - worth about GBP58 million (USD76 million) - by EDF Energy. The contract involves the design, pre-fabrication and supply of around 56km of specialised piping systems that support the operation of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, under construction in Somerset, UK.

Swedish engineering consultancy company Sweco will prepare the detailed design of the planned used nuclear fuel repository at Forsmark under a contract from waste and fuel management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB. In addition, Sweco will supply the detailed design for the extension of the existing final repository for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste, also at Forsmark.

France's Framatome has been awarded a contract by the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) to support research that will inform the development of new materials to be used in the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider, a major upgrade to the existing Large Hadron Collider.

Candu Energy, a member of Canada's SNC-Lavalin Group, has won a USD10.8 million contract from Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica for engineering analyses and assessments on unit 1 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania. The work aims to extend the operation of the unit by an additional 35,000 hours.

Spanish manufacturer Equipos Nucleares SA (ENSA) has shipped two replacement steam generators to France, completing an order received at the end of 2012 from Framatome for three such components for use in 900 MWe-class pressurised water reactors. It was not disclosed at which plant the steam generators are to be installed.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories is to take part in the decommissioning of a prototype boiling water reactor in Lingen, Germany under a subcontract awarded by Atkins Energy Germany GmbH. The four-year contract includes the secondment of CNL staff as well as the provision of specialist equipment services and will see CNL for the first time apply skills and capabilities gained from Canadian decommissioning projects in the international market.

Uzbekistan has signed contracts worth more than USD1 billion for the supply of uranium to Japan, Kun.uz reported yesterday, without stating its source. The contracts were signed as part of the December visit of the president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to Japan.