Testing of the steam turbine using non-nuclear steam has been completed at the demonstration high-temperature gas-cooled reactor plant at Shidaowan, in China's Shandong province. The twin-unit HTR-PM is scheduled to start operations later this year.

Preparations have begun for the construction of the fourth unit at Turkey's Akkuyu nuclear power plant, Akkuyu Nuclear has confirmed, with excavations for the reactor building, turbine hall, auxiliary reactor building and other main facilities now under way. Separately, Netherlands-based geotechnical survey company Fugro has completed a complex 6-month offshore site characterisation project on the Sinop peninsula - a prospective site for a second nuclear power plant - on behalf of Turkish utility EUAS International ICC.

The nuclear technology research and development centre Russia is building in the Bolivian city of El Alto will serve as a model not only for Latin America but for the global nuclear industry, Rusatom Overseas President Evgeny Pakermanov said in an interview with World Nuclear News. Rusatom Overseas is a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which in July announced the start of construction works for a research reactor facility at the CNTRD.

The major components have been delivered for the second nuclear reactor under construction at Rooppur in Bangladesh. The reactor pressure vessel and four steam generators weigh 1700 tonnes in total.

Romania and Canada have agreed to strengthen cooperation in nuclear energy in a key move enabling the completion, refurbishment and possible expansion of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant. The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in Bucharest yesterday follows similar agreements with the USA and France.

Romania and the USA have started cooperation work towards the expansion and modernisation of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant. A working meeting last week followed a series of strategic agreements by Romania.

Construction of unit 3 at the Xudabao nuclear power plant in China's Liaoning province officially got under way on 28 July with the pouring of first concrete for the reactor's nuclear island. The unit is one of four VVER-1200 reactors to be supplied by Russia to China under a 2018 agreement.

Regular electricity production at the Olkiluoto 3 EPR will begin in March 2022 - one month later than previously planned, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj announced. It said the delay has been caused by extra turbine overhaul and inspection works.

Georgia Power today said it now projects an in-service date in the second quarter of 2022 for Vogtle unit 3 and in the first quarter of 2023 for Vogtle unit 4, three-to-four months later than previously expected for each unit. The total project capital cost forecast has been revised to reflect the updated schedule, resulting in a USD460 million increase to Georgia Power. Meanwhile, hot functional testing has been completed at Vogtle 3.
 

Recyclable-Fuel Storage Company Ltd (RFS) now expects its interim used fuel storage facility in Mutsu, Aomori prefecture, to begin operating in fiscal year 2023 (ending March 2024). Following several previous delays, the facility - construction of which began in 2010 - had been scheduled to start up later this year. However, the construction of additional safety measures is taking longer than expected.

The dome of the inner containment shell of unit 1 of the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh is now being installed, Rosatom announced yesterday. The metal structure has a diameter of 44 metres and a weight of 185 tonnes. The operation is being carried out by Trust RosSEM, using a Liebherr heavy crawler crane that has a lifting capacity of 1350 tonnes. The day before lifting, a special mounting traverse of 15 steel cables was installed.

Spain's Council of Ministers yesterday authorised decommissioning and waste management firm Enresa to launch a tender for a contract for the design, support with licensing, manufacture and supply of a used nuclear fuel storage system for use at the Almaraz, Ascó, Cofrentes and Vandellós II nuclear power plants. The contract will be worth up to EUR220 million (USD260 million).