Russia has shipped the reactor pressure vessel for unit 2 of the nuclear power plant under construction in Belarus, state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced yesterday. The equipment for the VVER-1200 unit weighs more than 330 tonnes, is 13 metres high and has a 4.5 metre diameter.

The French nuclear safety authority has requested five of EDF's nuclear power units are taken offline for additional inspections on their steam generators within the next three months. The steel in parts of those components has been found to contain high concentrations of carbon.

Westinghouse will work with UK shipbuilder Cammell Laird as well as the country’s Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC) on a study to explore potential design efficiencies to reduce the lead times of its small modular reactor.

Bruce Power has signed a framework agreement with SNC-Lavalin for work worth up to CAD 400 million ($300 million) as it prepares for a major program of reactor refurbishment.

Steam generators at Fessenheim and Bugey are the only current areas of action for the French Nuclear Safety Authority, which has published a list of all the uncovered irregularities in manufacturing paperwork.

Two Westinghouse AP1000s are likely to start up within a year, with hot functional tests at the first-of-a-kind reactor at Sanmen in China on course to finish next month, interim president and CEO José Emeterio Gutiérrez told delegates at the World Nuclear Association's Annual Symposium held in London last week. Fuel loading at Sanmen is expected to take place before the end of the year.

Nuclear power plant construction, long-term plant operation and decommissioning all offer potential multi-billion dollar markets over the next two decades, according to a newly released supply chain report from the World Nuclear Association.

The second pair of replacement steam generators has been delivered to the Embalse nuclear power plant in Argentina. The components will be replaced as part of a project to extend the operating period of the Candu pressurized heavy-water reactor by up to 30 years.

Ahead of the sale of its reactor business to EDF, Areva has begun the process of splitting off its nuclear fuel cycle activities into a new entity, tentatively referred to as 'New Co'.

BWX Technologies Canada is to acquire GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy Canada in a move that will enable it to offer a wider range of technical solutions and services for Candu reactors.

A serviceability certificate for one of the three steam generators installed at unit 2 of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, currently offline for maintenance, has been suspended by the French nuclear safety regulator. A number of anomalies were discovered last month in the steel of the component's lower shell.