The US Administration has issued a new report setting out initial priorities - including fusion - it says will enable it to reach net-zero by 2050, and is providing more than USD1.5 billion under Inflation Reduction Act funding to upgrade facilities and modernise infrastructure at the national laboratories which will undertake the research and innovation to support this.

Westinghouse has been awarded a grant by the UK government to complete a Pre-Front End Engineering Design study, in collaboration with Urenco, for the production of TRISO fuels at its Springfields facility in Preston, Lancashire.

The US government has announced USD150 million in funding provided by President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act for infrastructure improvements at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory to enhance nuclear energy research and development.

San Diego, California-based General Atomics has announced a steady-state, compact advanced tokamak Fusion Pilot Plant concept, which it says capitalises on its innovations and advancements in fusion technology.

The US Department of Energy has selected twelve projects looking to advance recycling of used nuclear fuel - or UNF - from commercial power reactors to receive USD38 million of funding. The projects, led by universities, private companies and national laboratories, will work towards reducing the impacts of used fuel disposal, DOE said.

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation says construction has been completed and processing equipment is now being installed in the Synroc facility which is due to begin operations in 2025.

Southern Company and TerraPower have completed construction and installation of a new test facility at TerraPower's laboratory in Everett, Washington. The Integrated Effects Test will be used in the development of the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor.

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.