Canada’s General Fusion and the UK Atomic Energy Authority will collaborate on projects to "advance the commercialisation of magnetised target fusion energy".

Finnish utility Fortum has launched a two-year feasibility study to examine the prerequisites for nuclear new build in Finland and Sweden. The study will consider both small modular reactors and conventional large reactors.

The newly completed GBP10 million (USD11.4 million) extension has doubled the size of the UK Atomic Energy Authority's Materials Research Facility at Culham Science Centre in Oxfordshire.
 

The International Atomic Energy Agency has held a groundbreaking ceremony at its Seibersdorf facility near Vienna to mark the start of construction on a new nuclear applications laboratories building. The building will house three laboratories: Plant Breeding and Genetics, Terrestrial Environment and Radiochemistry, and Nuclear Science and Instrumentation.

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has issued a call for proposals for the fourth round of its Canadian Nuclear Research Initiative, which is aimed at collaborative research initiatives on small modular reactors and advanced reactors. CNL has now expanded the programme to invite project applications from Canadian universities.

Physicists at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have proposed that the formation of "hills and valleys" in magnetic field lines could be the source of sudden collapses of heat ahead of disruptions that can damage doughnut-shaped tokamak fusion facilities. Their discovery could help overcome a critical challenge facing such facilities.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has launched the SRZ-1200 advanced pressurised water reactor design. Developed in collaboration with four Japanese utilities, the 1200 MWe reactor is designed to meet the country's enhanced regulatory safety standards.

Revolutionary laser-driven technology unveiled by TAU Systems aims to place the capabilities of high-energy particle accelerators within reach of engineers and scientists the world over, with potential applications in a wide range of fields including nuclear. The Texas-based company is aiming to offer its first commercial service centres in 2027, after starting prototype applications as early as 2024.

The UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the National Decommissioning Centre have signed a three-year collaborative research agreement - the first of its kind between the nuclear and oil and gas decommissioning sectors.

Engineering group Jacobs has been selected as full lifecycle delivery partner to support infrastructure renewal projects at various facilities run by the UK's government-owned, but operationally-independent, National Nuclear Laboratory.

Nuclear energy plays a significant role in scenarios which achieve carbon neutrality in North America, Europe and Central Asia, according to a new report from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. If advanced reactors are successfully deployed to complement large scale nuclear reactors and there is progress in introducing low-carbon hydrogen infrastructure, then the role for nuclear energy is even greater.

Following a 14-year site selection process, Switzerland's national radioactive waste disposal cooperative Nagra has proposed Nördlich Lägern in northern Switzerland as the site of a deep geological repository. A used fuel encapsulation plant is to be built at the existing Zwilag interim storage facility.