The first project of the Chinese Helium-Cooled Ceramic Breeder Test Blanket System for the Iter fusion reactor project was launched on 15 March at China National Nuclear Corporation's Southwestern Institute of Physics in Chengdu, Sichuan province. It marks the start of China's implementation phase of tritium breeding technology in Iter.

Elemash Machine-building plant has launched a production site for the fabrication of fuel for China's flagship fast neutron reactor, the CFR-600. A subsidiary of Russian nuclear fuel manufacturer TVEL, Moscow-based Elemash has modernised an entire shop floor for fast reactors, and says 'dummy' fuel bundles for the CFR-600 are already being manufactured for testing.

The China Experimental Fast Reactor has been restarted and reconnected to the grid, marking its entry into its high-power operation phase. The sodium-cooled, pool-type fast reactor began a refuelling and maintenance outage at the end of July last year, having completed commissioning tests for the power test phase of the reactor, which verified that its performance had met the design requirements under stable conditions and expected transient operating conditions.

Russia's Atommash has begun the manufacture of major components for the first of two VVER-1200 reactors to be constructed at the Xudabao site in China's Liaoning province. Construction of Xudabao units 3 and 4 is expected to begin this year and next, respectively.

The dome has been installed on the containment building of unit 4 at the Fangchenggang nuclear power plant in western China. The unit is the second of two demonstration Hualong One (HPR1000) reactors being built by China General Nuclear at the site in the Guangxi Autonomous Region, about 45 kilometres from the border with Vietnam.

Following a demonstration run lasting 168 hours, unit 5 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province entered commercial operation on 30 January, China National Nuclear Corporation has announced. The unit is the first of two demonstration Hualong One reactors at the site and is the world's first Hualong One to be commissioned. Unit 6 is scheduled to begin operation by the end of this year.

The World Association of Nuclear Operators has completed a pre-startup peer review of unit 6 at the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province. Travel restrictions amid the pandemic meant the review of the domestically-designed ACPR1000 was carried out using local experts on-site with WANO experts participating remotely.

Cold functional testing has been completed at unit 6 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province, the second of two demonstration Hualong One reactors at the site. The tests mark the first time the reactor systems are operated together with the auxiliary systems.

The UK's Environment Agency has published its assessment so far of the UK Hualong One pressurised water reactor (UK HPR1000) as it invites public comment on this proposed new reactor design. The UK HPR1000 is the Hualong One design that General Nuclear Services - a subsidiary of EDF and China General Nuclear - proposes to use at a prospective new nuclear power plant in Bradwell, England.

Tests that simulate the temperatures and pressures which the reactor systems will be subjected to during normal operation have been completed at unit 6 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant in China's Jiangsu province. The ACPR1000 reactor is scheduled to enter commercial operation by the end of this year.

China General Nuclear is expected to acquire a 49% stake in Ortalyk LLP, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kazakh uranium producer Kazatomprom, by mid-2021. The transfer of the stake was part of cooperation agreements signed between CGN and Kazatomprom in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The first safety-related concrete has been poured for the nuclear island of unit 1 at the San'ao nuclear power plant in Zhejiang province, China General Nuclear has announced. A total of six Chinese-designed Hualong One pressurised water reactors are planned for the site.