The USA's Holtec International has signed a teaming agreement with Canada's SNC-Lavalin to collaborate in the development of Holtec's SMR-160 small modular reactor.

Rosatom's deputy director-general for international business has described the World Nuclear Association's aim to add 1000 GWe of new capacity by 2050 as fully achievable and "perhaps modest". Kirill Komarov spoke to World Nuclear News during the AtomExpo conference and exhibition held last week in Moscow.

JSC Akkuyu NPP, the Russian-owned company responsible for Turkey's first nuclear power plant, has been awarded a 49-year electricity generation licence. The company received a preliminary licence, enabling it to start investment and permitting procedures for the project, in June 2015. Turkey's energy market regulatory authority said then that JSC Akkuyu NPP would receive a production licence - needed to start generating electricity from the plant - once it met the requirements outlined in that document. The production licence was awarded yesterday.

Workers at unit 1 of the Qinshan nuclear power plant in China's Zhejiang province have made significant progress in long-term operational safety, an International Atomic Energy Agency team has concluded. The plant has applied to operate beyond its original 30-year design life.

The US Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will need to rebuild their organisational capabilities in order to restart the suspended licensing process for the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste repository, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Initial construction has been completed at the UAE's first power reactor, Barakah 1. The operating company, Nawah Energy Company, must gain approval from national regulators before the final stage of loading fuel and bringing it into service.

Lithuanian State Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate said today it had issued a permit for the start of commercial operation of the country's new interim used fuel storage facility. The announcement followed State Enterprise Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant's successful completion yesterday of hot tests with ten new design casks. The company has demonstrated it is ready to operate the facility safely, Vatesi said.

MVM Paks II has received environmental approval to build two new units at the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary. The company received an environmental licence from the Baranya County Government Office in late September, but this was challenged by Greenpeace Hungary and Energiaklub. The initial licence was then reviewed by Pest County Government Office, which gave statutory approval of the licence on 18 April.

Horizon Nuclear Power announced today it has applied for a nuclear site licence for the proposed development of Wylfa Newydd nuclear power plant in North Wales. Established in 2009 and acquired by Hitachi in November 2012, Horizon plans to deploy the UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor at two sites - Wylfa Newydd, which is on the Isle of Anglesey, and Oldbury-on-Severn, in South Gloucestershire.

Permits to decommission Germany's Biblis nuclear power plant are to be issued to RWE Power following approval of its plans by the ministry of the environment in the state of Hesse. The operation to dismantle the two reactors is expected to take about 15 years.

The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority yesterday issued the site licence required to build two new units at the Paks nuclear power plant, while the environmental licence is expected to be finalised within weeks. Attila Aszódi, the government commissioner responsible for the Paks II project, told World Nuclear News today that receiving the site licence is a "major milestone" and the target remains for the first unit to be completed in 2025 and the second in 2026.

Regulators have concluded that Westinghouse's AP1000 nuclear reactor design is suitable for construction in the UK. The Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales - which undertake the Generic Design Assessment of new reactor designs - are "satisfied that the reactor meets expectations on safety, security and environmental protection at this stage of the regulatory process".