Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority has today approved the decommissioning plan for units 1 and 2 of the Ohi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. Kansai Electric Power Company announced in December 2017 that it would not seek permission to restart the two 1175 MWe pressurised water reactors.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission have selected Terrestrial Energy's Integral Molten Salt Reactor for their first joint technical review of an advanced, non-light water nuclear reactor technology, Terrestrial announced yesterday.

Tohoku Electric Power Company has received initial regulatory approval to resume operation of unit 2 at its Onagawa plant in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture. The plant was the closest nuclear power plant to the epicentre of the earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011, but sustained far less damage than expected.

The site of the former Ranstad uranium mine and processing facilities has been released from oversight under the Radiation Protection Act and the Nuclear Technology Act by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority. The site, which already hosts an industrial park, is now free for any use.

The expansion of Sweden's existing SFR repository for low and intermediate-level waste at Forsmark has been approved by the Land and Environment Court in Stockholm. With approval already granted by the nuclear regulator, the government will now make a final decision on the application.

EDF has temporarily suspended operation of three units at its Cruas-Meysse nuclear power plant to assess the reactors following a magnitude 4.9 earthquake yesterday in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. No damage has been found at any nuclear facilities in the area.

British regulators see no fundamental issues that would prevent Radioactive Waste Management from developing "a fully scoped safety case in the future" for a geological disposal facility, but have identified a number of areas that RWM will need to improve when it does.

The UK is committed to strengthening its regulatory framework for nuclear and radiation safety, an International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts said yesterday, following its completion of an 11-day Integrated Regulatory Review Service mission on 25 October.

Ghana has made progress in implementing the recommendations of an International Atomic Energy Agency Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review mission, a team of IAEA and international experts said on 24 October. They conducted a follow-up INIR mission on 21-24 October requested by the government of Ghana to assess progress made since the 2017 Phase 1 INIR mission.

Energoatom has signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation with the World  Association of Nuclear Operators' Paris Centre for all its future peer reviews, starting in 2022. The Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator is currently a member of WANO’s Moscow Centre.

Corporate leadership, the support required for new entrants and units to start up safely and on time, how to maintain a safe and reliable workforce, industry innovations, and a young generation perspective of the next 30 years of the nuclear industry, were the key issues discussed during the World Association of Nuclear Operators' 15th Biennial General Meeting, held in London on 20-22 October.

The California Coastal Commission has approved a coastal development permit for Southern California Edison's (SCE's) San Onofre nuclear power plant, enabling decommissioning of the plant to begin. The utility said it expects the dismantling of major structures at the two-unit plant to begin next year.