Dutch nuclear energy development company ULC-Energy BV has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with US utility Constellation to support the deployment of a fleet of Rolls-Royce small modular reactors in the Netherlands.

Estonia's Fermi Energia has said it will accept tenders from three small modular reactor developers: GE Hitachi, NuScale and Rolls-Royce. The company said bids with comprehensive technical documentation needed to estimate the construction cost are expected by December, and the technology selection will be made in February 2023.

Hundreds of coal power plant sites across the USA could be converted to nuclear plant sites, providing huge decarbonisation gains as well as bringing tangible economic, employment and environmental benefits to the communities where those plants are located, a new US Department of Energy study has found.

NuScale Power and Polish copper and silver producer KGHM Polska Miedź SA have signed the first task order and a statement of commencement to begin work under the Early Works Agreement signed by the companies earlier this year. Meanwhile, NuScale has signed a contract for the supply of neutron monitoring equipment for use in its small modular reactor.

Romanian utility Nuclearelectrica and Polish copper and silver producer KGHM Polska Miedź SA have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the development of small modular reactors. Both companies have previously signed agreements with NuScale of the USA on the deployment of its SMR technology.

Rolls-Royce SMR of the UK has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Škoda JS to explore areas of collaboration for the Rolls-Royce small modular reactor plant, for deployment both in the Czech Republic and broader central European regions.

The UK government has announced GBP3.3 million (USD3.8 million) in funding to support the development of advanced nuclear technology. Six projects aimed at developing Advanced Modular Reactors in the UK have been selected to receive funding totalling GBP2.5 million.

Rolls-Royce SMR has signed an exclusive agreement with Dutch nuclear energy development company ULC-Energy BV to collaborate on the deployment of Rolls-Royce small modular reactor power plants in the Netherlands.

A new Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies will see NuScale Power support Fermi Energia in evaluating the deployment of a NuScale small modular reactor plant in Estonia by 2031. Fermi's plans for SMR deployment are growing in popularity in Estonia, according to the company's latest survey.

Holtec International says it has "significantly boosted" its clean energy R&D budget and now aims to bring the first SMR-160 online as early as 2029 - a year ahead of its previous schedule. It plans to pair the SMR-160 with a clean energy storage and generation system dubbed the Green Boiler.

The US Department of Energy awarded USD40 million in funds for the six-year project to complete the basic design of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, which it says is instrumental in paving a path towards X-energy's multi-billion-dollar demonstration project and the USA's first commercial facility to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium-based fuel for next-generation reactors.

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation has declared open the Pilot Fuel Manufacturing facility, which will produce the first fuel for testing and qualification for use in the company's advanced Micro Modular Reactor. The plant will be the USA's first producer of private-sector TRISO and USNC's patented Fully Ceramic-Microencapsulated - or FCM - fuel.