Tokyo Electric Power Company yesterday sent a robot into the primary containment vessel of the damaged unit 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. Although the robot was unable to reach the part of the vessel directly under the reactor pressure vessel, the company said the information it gathered will help it determine how to decommission the unit.

NuGeneration has welcomed the British prime minister's comments yesterday about the importance of building a new nuclear power plant in West Cumbria, while the Institution of Mechanical Engineers has said the UK's plan to leave the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) as part of Brexit could threaten new nuclear reactor projects.

Japanese utility Chugoku Electric Power Company has submitted to the regulator an amendment to its decommissioning plan for unit 1 of its Shimane nuclear power plant.

Kansai Electric Power Company has submitted an amendment to its decommissioning plan for the shut down units 1 and 2 of its Mihama nuclear power plant in Japan's Fukui Prefecture.

"Nuclear power generation technologies are now cost competitive with fossil fuels and innovation is gathering pace across the sector," British consultancy Lloyd's Register says in a report published today. The report, titled Technology Radar - a Nuclear Perspective, is based on the "insights and opinions of leaders across the sector", as well as the views of almost 600 professionals and experts from utilities, distributors, operators and equipment manufacturers.

German power company EnBW has received approval from the Baden-Württemberg ministry of environment to decommission and dismantle unit 1 of the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant. The company expects dismantling work to begin next month and to be completed within 10-15 years.

Areva Nuclear Materials and NorthStar have formed a new joint venture, Accelerated Decommissioning Partners, to acquire and decommission shut-down US nuclear reactors. The joint venture has already begun the process to acquire nuclear facilities, including their used nuclear fuel.

Utility EDF has rejected a French parliamentary committee report on the technical and financial feasibility of decommissioning its nuclear power plants. The report claims the clean-up of French reactors will take longer, be more challenging and cost more than EDF anticipates.

The premature shutdown of America's nuclear power plants is nothing short of a national catastrophe, writes Jarret Adams.

The pouring of the concrete for the foundation plate marks a milestone in the construction of the Cemex cementation facility for liquid radioactive waste produced at Italy's Eurex pilot reprocessing facility.

The board of directors of French utility EDF yesterday approved the terms of the protocol negotiated between the company and the government for setting compensation for the closure of the Fessenheim nuclear power plant. Under France's energy policy, Fessenheim - the country's oldest nuclear power plant - must close when the Flamanville EPR is commissioned in late 2018.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has signed framework agreements with the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, a precondition for the implementation of projects under an EBRD fund to deal with the remediation of former uranium mines and processing plants.