The core of unit 5 at the Zaporozhe nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been fully loaded with VVER-1000 fuel produced by Westinghouse, operator Energoatom announced yesterday. In July 2018, unit 3 of the South Ukraine plant became the first VVER-1000 reactor anywhere to operate with a full core of fuel not supplied by Russia.

Siberian Chemical Combine has awarded a RUB26.3 billion (USD412 million) contract to Titan-2 for the construction and installation works for the BREST-OD-300 lead-cooled fast neutron reactor facility at its site in Seversk, Russia. SCC is a subsidiary of TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturing subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has announced the retrieval of abandoned, highly radioactive used nuclear fuel assemblies from the bottom of Building 5 at Andreeva Bay in north-western Russian. Following the successful operation, radiation levels at the facility have fallen by over 40%, enabling further decommissioning work and removing "one of the most significant radiological risks to the Barent Sea region", the London-headquartered bank said.

Canada's search for a site to host a deep geological repository for its used nuclear fuel has been narrowed down to two potential locations in Ontario, the Nuclear Waste Management Organisation announced yesterday. NWMO is working to identify an acceptable site for the repository under a long-term process called Adaptive Phase Management.

Global Nuclear Fuel and X-energy are to collaborate to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium tristructural isotropic particle nuclear fuel, which they expect to be able to produce at lower costs than other potential manufacturers.

TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturer subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, has signed a contract for nuclear fuel supply to the planned units 3 and 4 of the Xudabao nuclear power plant in China's Liaoning province.

TVEL, the nuclear fuel manufacturer subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, has completed the first phase of testing its accident-tolerant fuel in a reactor, at the State Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad.

The International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday took delivery of the first shipment of low-enriched uranium at a purpose-built storage facility at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in eastern Kazakhstan. The delivery marks the official start of operation of the IAEA LEU Bank, aimed at providing assurance to countries about the availability of nuclear fuel.

BWX Technologies, Inc announced today that it is in the process of restarting its existing uranium oxycarbide tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuel production line at its Lynchburg, Virginia facility. The company - the only US manufacturer of such fuel - also plans to expand its production capacity.

China National Nuclear Corporation has started mass production of China Fuel 3 (CF3) fuel assemblies for the domestically-designed HPR1000 (Hualong One) pressurised water reactor design.

Finnish waste management company Posiva has laid the foundation stone for the start of construction of the used fuel encapsulation plant at the Olkiluoto site in western Finland. Construction of the plant is scheduled for completion in summer 2022.

The first containers of used nuclear fuel assemblies removed from the Lepse floating technical base at the Nerpa shipyard have been transported to Murmansk, Russia. The fuel is being removed under a programme managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and will be sent to Mayak for reprocessing.