UPDATED Swedish utility Vattenfall has signed long-term supply contracts with three nuclear fuel manufacturers, adding for the first time Russia's TVEL to its established relationships with French Areva and American Westinghouse. The agreements - worth SEK 1.2 billion in total - cover 19 consignments to Ringhals 3 and 4 between 2018 and 2025.

With the final investment decision to build the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in Somerset, together with progress in other planned new nuclear projects, 2016 has been a "momentous" year for the UK, delegates at the Nuclear Industry Association's Nuclear2016 conference in London heard yesterday.

The excavation of an underground used nuclear fuel final disposal facility at Olkiluoto, Finland, is set to begin next month. Last week the country's Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority declared waste management company Posiva to be in a position to start construction of the repository.

A consortium led by Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract to examine the future decommissioning of the Iter fusion reactor, currently under construction at Cadarache in the south of France.

SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a pre-project contract from Argentina's Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA for the Candu nuclear new build project at the Atucha site in the district of Zàrate. The Canadian engineering group said yesterday that, "if this project materialises, it would be the first Candu new build since Cernavoda Unit 2 came on line in 2007".

Areva and EDF yesterday signed a contract for the sale of Areva NP's reactor business. EDF will take exclusive control of the new entity, referred to as 'New NP' and valued at €2.5 billion ($2.7 billion).

The US Department of Energy has agreed to sell around 300,000 tonnes of depleted uranium hexafluoride to GE Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment for re-enrichment at a proposed plant to be built near DOE's Paducah site in Kentucky. The agreement paves the way for commercialisation of Silex laser enrichment technology.

Construction of China's first floating nuclear power plant has officially begun, China General Nuclear announced. The demonstration unit is expected to be completed by 2020.

Western Uranium Corporation has signed a letter of intent with Pinon Ridge Corporation to use its ablation mining technology at uranium recovery facilities at the Pinon Ridge mill site in Colorado. The technology is currently being assessed by state regulators.

The Abu Dhabi Water and Electric Company has signed the first agreement to purchase electricity generated from the United Arab Emirates' Barakah nuclear power plant, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company announced today.

A new online Nuclear Contracting Toolkit has been launched by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to help member states plan and implement procurement and contracting processes for their nuclear power projects.

US uranium producer Energy Fuels Inc has entered into a contract to secure additional quantities of a uranium-bearing alternate feed material for its White Mesa mill in Utah, the company announced today.