Belgium's Doel 4 and Tihange 3 could continue operating beyond 2025 provided certain safety upgrades are carried out, Belgium's Federal Agency for Nuclear Control has said. However, it said the government must make a prompt decision on their long-term operation and develop a global approach with all the actors involved.

The application and interpretation of the same safety objectives into specific national regulatory requirements and guidance result in significant differences between the same reactor design when deployed in different countries, writes Claude Mayoral. A more harmonised approach to regulation will be needed to enable the widespread deployment of small modular and advanced reactor designs.

Finnish radioactive waste management company Posiva Oy has submitted its application for an operating licence for the used fuel encapsulation plant and final disposal facility currently under construction at Olkiluoto. The repository - the first in the world for used fuel - is expected to begin operations in the mid-2020s.

An application to build the containment building of the first new unit at Hungary's Paks II nuclear power plant has been submitted. Project company Atomerőmű Zrt said it should be approved within 150 days. Meanwhile, Hungary's nuclear regulator has assumed a new, more independent, legal status.

The US Trade and Development Agency announced it will support Ukrainian authorities to assess NuScale's small reactor technology, with a view to future exports. A gap analysis will compare the technology to the Ukrainian regulatory system to identify potential problems and make recommendations.

Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has today received permission from the country's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority to bring the Olkiluoto 3 EPR to first criticality and conduct low-power tests. The unit is expected to begin generating electricity at the end of January, with regular electricity production starting in June 2022.

Westinghouse has submitted a pre-application regulatory engagement plan with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its eVinci microreactor, detailing the planned pre-licensing application interactions with the regulator. An REP helps reactor developers' early interactions with NRC staff and can reduce regulatory uncertainty and add predictability to licensing advanced technologies.

Two more rounds of international peer review have taken place at Belarus' Ostrovets nuclear power plant as the power plant's second reactor prepares to start up.

Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment announced it is launching legislative preparations aimed at a comprehensive reform of the country's Nuclear Energy Act. It said the future use of nuclear energy - including new technologies such as small modular reactors - requires "appropriate and up-to-date legislation."

Teollisuuden Voima Oyj has today applied to Finland's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority for permission to bring the Olkiluoto 3 EPR to first criticality and conduct low-power tests. The Finnish utility noted the start up of the unit may be brought forward from the previously announced date of January 2022.

Shikoku Electric Power Company restarted unit 3 of its Ikata nuclear power plant in Japan's Ehime Prefecture yesterday. The reactor - one of the few to have been restarted since the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant - had been offline since December 2019 due to a periodic inspection and a subsequent court injunction.

Nuclear energy offers a "golden opportunity" to create a cleaner and more equitable world, World Nuclear Association Director General Sama Bilbao y León said today at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris. However, she noted there are three major challenges hindering the nuclear industry in making its full potential contribution towards sustainable development and combatting climate change: financing, perception and regulation.