A cooperation agreement has been signed between Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) to promote the exchange of information and experience in decommissioning nuclear facilities.

L-3 MAPPS is to supply a severe accident simulator to Westinghouse for an unnamed customer in Tokyo. The contract is L-3 MAPPS' first sale of a plant simulator into the Japanese market.

Several international cooperation agreements related to nuclear safety and regulation have been signed this week on the sidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency's General Conference in Vienna.

The evacuation order has been lifted for the town of Naraha in Fukushima prefecture, allowing residents to permanently return to their homes there. Naraha, located within 20 kilometres of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, is the first of seven municipalities that were fully evacuated to have its order removed.

The flow of groundwater into the reactor buildings and port area of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan should be significantly reduced with the start of use of a new system to pump, treat, test and discharge the water.

Japan considered its nuclear power plants safe and was therefore not prepared for the March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, International Atomic Energy Agency director general Yukiya Amano has said in a comprehensive report on the accident.

Radiation levels have reduced to the point that full-face masks are not needed for 90% of the Fukushima Daiichi site but worker safety remains a high priority following a fatal accident this month.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has announced a restructuring of the company which will see its nuclear and decommissioning operations remaining under a new holding company, while its non-nuclear businesses will be spun off into three subsidiaries.

The installation of a protective cover over unit 3 of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan can start as soon as the removal of rubble from the reactor building is completed, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said.

The process to restart unit 1 of the Sendai nuclear power plant in Japan began today, marking the end of almost two years of the country's entire reactor fleet standing idle. The unit is expected to re-enter commercial operation early next month.

The removal of the fuel handling machine from the damaged reactor building of unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant helps clear the way for the transfer of used fuel from the unit's storage pool.

The operation to remove the temporary cover over the damaged reactor building of unit 1 at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began yesterday.