The supervisory board of Polish utility Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE) has approved the construction of two nuclear power plants by 2029 as part of a strategy plan for the period 2012 to 2035 aimed at increasing its installed generating capacity while diversifying its generating technology.

The first of four steam generators for the second phase of the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant in Russia has been transported to the construction site by rail.

Fennovoima has received commercial bids from Areva and Toshiba for the construction of its planned nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki on the western coast of Finland. A final decision on the plant supplier will be made by the end of next year.

Westinghouse has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Czech engineering company Metrostav, the latest in a series of agreements the reactor vendor has made in anticipation of the construction of AP1000 units in the Czech Republic.

Two virtual reality systems have been installed at the UK's new Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield to help in the design and manufacture of large components for nuclear power plants.

Dutch utility Delta has announced that it has postponed making a decision on whether to build a second reactor at the existing Borssele site by two to three years. Meanwhile the government has approved the construction of a replacement for the Petten research reactor.

The dome of the reactor containment building has been successfully lowered into place at unit 1 at the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China's southern island province of Hainan.

American nuclear safety regulators have approved an amendment to the AP1000 reactor design, in a major step towards US deployment of the model. Construction on new reactors could begin very soon.

August 2014 is the date that Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) expects to see power flow from its new reactor, Olkiluoto 3, according to a single-line statement issued on 21 December. The announcement brought a little more clarity to the unit's schedule compared with TVO's last announcement, which specified only the year 2014. The Finnish utility said it had been informed by the Areva-Siemens consortium building the unit that August 2014 was scheduled for commercial operation. Construction started in May 2005.

British nuclear safety regulators have granted interim acceptance to the Areva EPR and Westinghouse AP1000. About one more year of licensing work remains, however, before new build.