Rosatom has for the first time used a new device that it says performs all types of non-destructive testing automatically and without the use of a polar crane and a reloading machine. The Kalinin plant is just over 200 miles north-west of Moscow, in the Tver region of Russia.

Scientists working on the Joint European Torus device have discovered that neon could be used to force extreme heat load away from a fusion reactor's exhaust system while maintaining high performance. Recent tests used neon to radiate and improve the edge of plasma known as a 'pedestal', which separates the very hot core from a cooler layer and away from material surfaces.

BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Inc has been awarded a contract from the US Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to manufacture TRISO nuclear fuel to support the continued development of the Transformational Challenge Reactor . The TCR project aims to build an additively manufactured microreactor, with a demonstration unit planned to be operational by 2023.

The US Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded contracts to BWX Technologies Inc, Westinghouse Government Services and X-energy LLC to each begin design work on a mobile nuclear reactor prototype. The engineering design phase of the project will last up to two years, after which one of the three teams may be selected to build and demonstrate a prototype reactor.

The US Department of Defense is seeking public comment on a proposal to construct and demonstrate a prototype advanced mobile nuclear microreactor to support its domestic and operational energy demands. This is expected to be a small advanced gas reactor using high-assay low enriched uranium tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel and air cooling.

Three recent announcements will help secure future supplies of vital medical radioisotopes. Westinghouse Electric Company and Nordion (Canada) Inc are to work together on technology to produce cobalt-60 in pressurised water reactors; Framatome and Kinectrics have launched a new joint venture to produce lutetium-177 in partnership with Bruce Power; and BWXT Technologies' proprietary technetium-99m generators have passed a testing milestone.

Lead test assemblies of accident-tolerant fuel installed in unit 1 of Southern Nuclear's Edwin I Hatch nuclear power plant in early 2018 have completed a 24-month fuel cycle. A sample of the lead test rods will now undergo testing.

The US Department of Energy has announced a plan to provide USD10 million over three years to advance particle accelerator technology for medical, security, energy, and industrial applications, with a focus on the development of novel "compact" accelerator technologies for cancer treatment and other uses.

Paul Stein, chief technology officer for Rolls-Royce, told the BBC today the British engineering firm has a target of 2029 for commissioning small modular reactors in the UK. The ambition is part of the country's aim to achieve net zero by 2050, initially using former nuclear power sites in Cumbria and Wales.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and TerraPower are to collaborate on pursuing a public private partnership to design and construct the Versatile Test Reactor for the US Department of Energy. Utility Energy Northwest will support the joint GEH-TerraPower effort, with other parties said to be interested in joining.

Siberian Chemical Combine has completed acceptance tests of its ETVS-22, ETVS-23 and ETVS-24 experimental fuel assemblies with mixed uranium-plutonium (nitride) nuclear fuel for fast neutron reactors. Based in Seversk, SCC is a subsidiary of TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturing subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Global Nuclear Fuel accident-tolerant fuel assemblies have been loaded into a US reactor for the first time. Lead test assemblies using the company's ARMOR-coated zirconium cladding and IronClad accident-tolerant fuel solutions have been installed at Exelon's Clinton boiling water reactor power plant in Illinois.