Russian-owned JSC Akkuyu Nuclear has announced delivery of the core melt trap for unit 2 of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant to the construction site in Mersin Province, Turkey. The company describes the equipment as the most important part of the unit's passive safety system.

Rosatom has approved a project to upgrade an experimental shop-floor for nuclear fuel fabrication at the site of the Siberian Chemical Combine, which is in Seversk, in the Tomsk region of Russia. The move will enable SCC to manufacture fuel assemblies with uranium-plutonium REMIX (regenerated mixture) fuel matrix for VVER-1000 reactors.

Rosatom has not revised its portfolio of construction projects abroad but anticipates the coronavirus pandemic may affect some of its contracts, Alexey Likhachov, the Russian state nuclear corporation's director general, said during the Army-2020 conference in Moscow on 23 August, according to Tass. Separately, local Egyptian media said today that Egypt would issue a construction licence for the planned El Dabaa nuclear power plant in the second-half of 2021.

Atommash, part of the Volgodonsk branch of Russia's AEM Technology, is ready to ship four steam generators to unit 1 of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant under construction in Turkey. The equipment, each weighing 355 tonnes, will be transported 3000 km by ship to the construction site in Mersin province, in the south of the country.

Alexey Likhachov, director general of Rosatom, congratulated his staff today on the 75th anniversary of Russia's nuclear industry. To emphasise how the corporation is looking to the future, Rosatom has announced its switch to a 'united brand' by using its Mobius strip logo for all of its subsidiaries.

Experts from the Moscow Centre of the World Association of Nuclear Operators have completed a pre-start-up peer review of unit 2 of the Leningrad II nuclear power plant in Western Russia. The purpose of review was to assess the readiness of the unit for safe start-up and further operation. Peer reviews are conducted at operating nuclear power plants once every four years, including at the start-up stage.

The manufacture of the first full reload batch of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel for unit 4 of the Beloyarsk nuclear power plant in Russia has been completed by the Mining and Chemical Combine in Zheleznogorsk, in the Krasnoyarsk region. The 169 fuel assemblies have been accepted by operator Rosenergoatom, and its authorised representative VPO ZAES, which has confirmed the consignment is ready for shipment.

Rosenergoatom, the operator subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, is establishing a new experimental and demonstration engineering centre for the decommissioning of RBMK reactors. The new centre will be based at the Leningrad plant site in the Leningrad region of Russia, with a branch at the Beloyarsk plant in the Sverdlovsk region.

The first of 163 nuclear fuel assemblies has been loaded into unit 2 of the Leningrad II nuclear power plant, marking the start of the physical start-up of the VVER-1200, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom announced yesterday. After fuel is loaded, the reactor will be brought to minimum controllable power level (up to 1%), to ensure safety of all relevant processes. The physical launch will be followed by power start-up, trial operation and integrated testing.

Atommash has completed hydraulic tests on the reactor pressure vessel of unit 1 of the Rooppur nuclear power plant under construction for Bangladesh. Atommash is part of Atomenergomash, the engineering division of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Atommash, part of the Volgodonsk branch of Russia's AEM Technology, has completed hydraulic tests on the reactor pressure vessel of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant under construction in Mersin province, in southern Turkey.

Russian regulator Rostechnadzor has issued a permit for the pilot operation of unit 1 of the Novovoronezh II plant in an extended fuel cycle mode of 18 months. The reactor has been loaded with fresh nuclear fuel manufactured by the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant ready for the new cycle.