The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved the transfer of the Indian Point nuclear power plant's licences from Entergy Nuclear Operations to Holtec International, as owner, and Holtec Decommissioning International, as decommissioning operator. The transfer will help facilitate the sale of the plant from Entergy to Holtec for expedited decommissioning after the final operating unit shuts down in April next year.

EDF announced today its "proactive decision" to move the Hinkley Point B nuclear power plant into the defuelling phase, no later than 15 July 2022. The plant, which is in Somerset, England has been in operation for 45 years.

A German court has ruled in favour of Vattenfall in its case against the government relating to the nuclear power plants Brunsbüttel, Krümmel and Mülheim-Kärlich in northern Germany. The Swedish utility had argued that the conditions for compensation payments to nuclear power producers impacted by the country's nuclear phaseout policy, the Energiewende, were not clearly regulated and that previous amendments to the law could lead to a reduction of claims.

The Leningrad 2 nuclear power unit in in Sosnovy Bor in Western Russia was shut down permanently today. The RBMK, which has been in operation for 45 years, is to be replaced by Leningrad II-2, a VVER-1200, which on 6 November received regulatory approval to start pilot operation.

The last of 10 buildings at the Radioactive Materials Handling Facility at the Energy Technology Engineering Center in Ventura County, California have been demolished, accomplishing one of the US Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management's priorities for 2020.

Experts from around the world met virtually last week to provide feedback for an International Atomic Energy Agency initiative to catalogue and analyse the status of, and major challenges faced by, decommissioning programmes worldwide. The Global Status of Decommissioning project aims to complete a report by the end of next year.

Ontario Power Generation has officially opened its Centre for Canadian Nuclear Sustainability Innovation and Collaboration Space in Pickering in Ontario's Durham Region. The regional hub will integrate collaboration and research to strengthen Ontario's supply chain for nuclear decommissioning.

The Chernobyl Shelter Fund has officially been completed after receiving non-objection for closure by the assembly of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The London-headquartered bank set up the CSF in 1997 to assist Ukraine in making the site of the temporary shelter over Chernobyl's destroyed reactor 4 stable and environmentally safe. The New Safe Confinement also aims to create the conditions for the eventual dismantling and decommissioning of the contaminated structure.

The socioeconomic impacts of nuclear power plant closures are swift, severe and lasting, and the effects are felt more deeply in rural communities where most plants are located, a new report from the Nuclear Decommissioning Collaborative has found.

A decades-long effort to clean and transform the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant has been completed, marking the first-ever removal of a uranium enrichment complex, the US Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management has announced. The site in Tennessee has been transformed into a multi-use industrial park.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority today approved Shikoku Electric Power Company's decommissioning plan for unit 2 of its Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime prefecture. Decommissioning of the unit is expected to be completed by 2059.

The Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate has announced that the operating licence of the Mühleberg nuclear power plant has been replaced with a decommissioning order issued by the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication. The single unit 373 MWe boiling water reactor began operations in 1972.