The UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change has been scrapped and its brief folded into the newly created Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy department. The formation of BEIS, which was announced yesterday following Theresa May's appointment as the new British Prime Minister, adds energy-related matters to the remit of its predecessor the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The UK's decision to leave the European Union has not changed the country's commitment to investing in low-carbon energy, including new nuclear, nor its efforts to tackle climate change, Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom told members of parliament (MPs) today. Meanwhile, a report issued by the National Audit Office (NAO) says the UK "lacks a proven, skilled supply chain to support the construction of a new power station".

Bulgaria has signed a €72 million ($80 million) agreement with a consortium to build a radioactive waste repository for its Kozloduy nuclear power plant that is expected start operations in 2021, the country's energy ministry said yesterday. The consortium consists of German Nukem Technologies, which is owned by Russia's AtomStroyExport, and four Bulgarian companies.

Andrea Leadsom, minister of state at the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change, has reiterated the important role of nuclear power in the country's current and future electricity mix. In a speech at the Utility Week Energy Summit about the Future of Energy in the UK yesterday, Leadsom said "energy security is non-negotiable, and is our top priority".

The conclusion of a consultation with EDF's Central Works Council yesterday has cleared the way for a final investment decision to be made on the Hinkley Point C project. In addition, the French state-owned company said the UK referendum vote to leave the European Union is no barrier to the new nuclear power plant project, which is based in Somerset, England.

The UK's decision to leave the European Union has not changed the government's commitment to new nuclear power, or to its climate change goals, says Amber Rudd.

EDF Energy, NuGeneration and Horizon Nuclear Power have all stressed their commitment to the UK's nuclear new build program, despite the country's decision to leave the European Union. Nevertheless, the majority vote in favour of 'Brexit' - decided in a national referendum held yesterday - may have implications for investment in new reactors and nuclear research, as well as for the UK's future role in meeting climate change targets, industry participants said.

A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to launch the start of construction of a new laboratory building at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre at Karlsruhe in Germany. The new building will replace older ones on the site.

The design of European wholesale electricity markets and the emissions trading system will be improved to help - and no longer hinder - nuclear energy as a low-carbon source of electricity, a European Commission official assured delegates at a nuclear financing conference held in Paris last week. The conference, titled Nuclear energy's role in the 21st century: addressing the challenge of financing, was jointly organised by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation.

A crucial project at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant can now proceed to its final stages thanks to additional pledges by the international donor community at a conference in Kiev yesterday. On the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl accident, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and President of the European Council Donald Tusk held talks by telephone during which Tusk underlined the EU's "comprehensive support" to Ukraine in overcoming the consequences of the disaster.

The European Commission today pledged to the Nuclear Safety Account fund the largest part of the €45 million ($51 million) expected from the G7 and the Commission in addition to the existing support. This fund supports in particular the safe decommissioning of units 1 to 3 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The European Commission and Iran are to launch their first nuclear safety cooperation project under a joint statement issued during an EU delegation's visit to Tehran.